Chapter Seven

We used to love going out in the car, Bonnie and I. I would sit with my head hanging outside and watch everything rush by. I did not mind if the wind got into my eyes or flapped my ears. Bonnie was much smaller than me so she could not put her head outside but would sit with her nose pressed against the hard clear stuff that surrounded us.

Boss would drive us miles and miles and always to places where there were lots of open spaces and trees. We never knew where we were going on these long trips. On shorter trips, I always knew. I would recognise the streets we turned into or even the direction we were going. As soon as I would see a familiar turning I would stand up and wag my tail furiously and lick the back of Boss's neck. He was always curious as to how I knew. I think he was continually amazed at how clever I was.

One day we had been on one of our long drives. I knew we were going to have some fun because we had taken along my best toy. It was a kind of round flat thing that they would throw and it would fly through the air and I would gallop at full speed after it, often catching it in mid flight. This particular evening was lovely, the warmth of the sun on my back, the smell of earth and grass, the sound of the things that flew in the sky and made twittering noises.

I had been having a good old game with boss for about ten minutes when Mrs. Boss said she would like to throw my toy. Well, she certainly threw it because when she did, it completely disappeared! Even with my super keen sense of smell I could not find it.

Well, Boss and Mrs. Boss hunted high and low. I had to grin to myself when I saw their heads disappearing into greenery or they crawled on their hands and knees almost as if they were animals themselves. They lifted things up, pulled things apart, went outside the boundary of the field. No sign of it. Neither Bonnie nor I could find it. Not that Bonnie cared much. She never had the slightest interest in toys of any kind. She told me that even when she was very very tiny and first came to our home that the humans could never get her interested. I tried to tell her what fun it was but I think she considered it a waste of energy.

The light faded and we had not found my toy. So we went back the next night, then a couple of nights later and the humans searched again high and low but they never did find it. I was sorry to lose it but they soon bought me a new one so that was alright.

Often after we had played our games on these trips, Boss and Mrs. Boss would stop at places I heard them call "pubs". They would have something light to eat and a container of some sort of liquid. They would sit outside in the late sun and chat together and we would lie by their feet, exhausted from our running around , being fed little bits and pieces from time and time. Lots of humans went to these places and Bonnie and I would fall fast asleep with their chattering in our ears.