Copyright ｩ The authors as named on the book cover and in contents.
Copyright ｩ Artwork/ designs contained on the covers and within.
First Edition 2013.
This Revised Edition 2014.
The authors have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of these works.
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
We All Have Issues
Chapter One
Backyard Blues
The hard, cold concrete floor is wet in a way that makes my skin itch. The sore on my leg grows ever wider, regardless of how often I lick it clean. I scratch behind my ear and the pain is overwhelming. My stomach growls like an angry pit bull; it’s raging with impatient insistence. Yet still no food again today. I lap up a lazy slug that had been skulking in a murky puddle. My throat aches to pull it down to my stomach; a stomach that seems to have forgotten what to do with it. Will it ever remember?
Dark clouds shout and spit at me as if I deserve no less, do I? I shiver and it is not only at the cold. A lightening flash and the sky glares at me. I suppress the yelp before it escapes my mouth. Shouting will only get me kicked again, or worse.
I gaze toward the fence that stands so near. Beyond that lies the fabled Fledgling Field. A field to a forsaken freedom, only a six foot distance that has become an eternity away. The heavy chain around my neck will let me within a pawstep of that wonderfully wavy green grass. Grasses close enough to sniff at, yet never to touch. The chain gets too tight by then; it crushes my neck until I can’t draw breath. Yet the agony is somehow worth the effort. I can barely crawl anymore; my muscles are too withered to bear my weight.
Yet I know it’s there; beyond that gate lies the Fledgling Field enshrouded by an ethereal mist leading to a promised land where pain itself dare not travel.
I hear the Beach of the Big Beyond as she calls to me; whispering my name on the wind, stirring memories in those ancient sands of so many departed canines. She sings to me. With each new day, that cherubic chanting calls a little louder. She sings to me, beckons me to frolic beyond the Fledgling Field. The snowflakes tell me; I will go there soon.
Quivering and cowering now in the darkest of the dark; I feel the growing tension in my tail as the human ‘kicks off again’. He’s louder than usual, in a way that makes my head and my ears hurt. The fighting inside is worse than ever and fear creeps over my sodden fur. I quiver alone in the cold that always holds me; but will never take me from this existence, to that painless land of play and safety and food. The songs have told me of that place, a place where there are no collars and a bounty of the finest foods, endless frolicking and only occasional baths.
The door opens with a sudden crash; and my reverie is rudely ruptured. I try to slink into the shadows, but the human has seen me. Dread fills every fibre of my being and I close my eyes against the tortuous torment that I am doomed to die in. I try not to think of the misery yet to come. The whimper of fear in my throat manages to escape and I cover my quivering face with my tattered paws. I lay awaiting the inevitable barrage of hurt and hate that will hopefully take me from this wicked world that lies six feet and one kick away.
Oddly enough the kicks and punches don’t come and I slowly uncover one eye with my paw to peek out. This human isn’t my usual tormentor; it has a look of something I have only ever heard of before; heard as a rumour from other dogs that walk and play in that field. Suddenly I feel liberated as long arms encircle me and bleary eyes look down at me. He’s making human sounds that ring with the dulcet tones of compassion and a kindness that I have never known until this moment. In this wonderful moment I think that the Big Beyond has found me, because the singing has suddenly stopped.
I’m not dead, for once I am alive! The Field of Freedom has given me new found strength; as I gather my paws to stand. My legs wobble and I can feel myself faltering, and then falling. Suddenly those long arms scoop me right up and hold me, embrace me in the kind of warmth that I have never felt before. In this moment I know that I am alive; and that for once I feel great! Better than that, I have discovered a new hope and a new home that will be there long after I am. A home filled with the love, warmth and kindness I’ve yearned for, for so very very long.
My apologies to the Beach, although I can no longer hear your song and your call has fallen from the breeze. I will see you again one day in a far off future. In those days I will play and roam in freedom with new found friends that I haven’t yet had chance to meet.
That’s why I’m not sure why I bit him. I mean the only time that any human had ever shown me warmth and kindness, and I bit him. He screamed and dropped me. I could still taste his blood as I ran. I could never be sure where the energy came from, but I got away from there as fast as my legs could carry me. The feeling of the wind in my fur was an exhilaration I’d never felt before. My heart racing, I ran and ran. I had never felt so alive; because just for once I was alive. I wanted to live, and go on living; and so I ran.
I was free at last and the Beach and it’s Great Beyond had never been so far from my mind. The wind whistled through my ears as I ran, and my tongue could taste the air of freedom and joy. I wanted every one of my senses to rejoice in my new found liberation; and yet I ran with fear in my fur and panic in my paws.
The human world suddenly seemed vast and alien. The black floor was smooth, with white painted on them. Huge metal beasts roared and honked and screeched to a sudden halt as I raced along the dark-ways. I passed houses full of strange smells and sounds. This was one big wide world, and I explored it at high speed.
It all ended as suddenly as it had begun, a huge beast suddenly rammed me, as it honked and screeched to a halt. I was crying in pain as my legs forgot how to work; and the blood- taste in my mouth became my own. The world went as black as the floor and the little white line turned red as I saw the humans coming, coming for me. The Beach was back in my head again and the voices were beautiful, they sang my name and I smelt the grass that wasn’t there; until the blackness of the dark-ways consumed me.