Dragon Extract
This is an extract from a book I wrote a long time ago when I was much younger. It's certainly not my best piece of writing but I think it still has something about it that makes it interesting. And dragons. Who doesn't like dragons?
Content
© Kelley Townley
www.kelleytownley.com
Extract from Untitled dragon book
Cape wrath, north western tip of Scotland.
Angus threw the stick as far as he could along the empty, wind swept beach. It whistled sharply as it spun through the air with a black streak bounding after it. Boneo wasn’t quite quick enough and crashed head first into the tall grasses that edged the dunes. The grasses shook for a while and then Boneo re-emerged triumph, stick in mouth. Angus beckoned him forward and Boneo trotted back to his master, dropping the stick to the ground and then jumping up excitedly trying to grab it again as Angus picked it up. “Okay, last one,” Angus said throwing the stick with extra effort. “It’s blooming freezing out here.” Unfortunately the rushing wind grabbed at the flying stick and took it off course, carrying it out to sea a bit. Both Angus and Boneo looked out to the bobbing stick in the cold blue water with dismay. “Well, go on then,” urged Angus. “T’was a good stick that.” Boneo replied with a look that simply said ‘No way’. “Well, I suppose I could have a go, if y’er too chicken,” Angus grumbled. He took off his shabby wellies and socks, placing them on the sand and began rolling his trouser legs up. Boneo got excited and started to jump and bark. “It’s not funny you rotter. I shalt bother in a minute.” Angus dipped a toe in the sea. It really was cold. He could feel the hairs rise up on the back of his neck and his stomach clench. With grim determination he planted his sole firmly on the seabed and proceeded with the other foot until he was a few meters out. Boneo jumped back and forth from the water, lapping at it occasionally and barking at the wind. Angus concentrated on the stick, reaching out with his hand he tried to encourage it nearer with soft words. He inched his way closer and closer to the stick, his heavy feet sinking two or three inches into the soft sand with every step. The water lapped around his ankles and then his calves and then wetted his rolled up denim at the knees as the waves gleefully kept the stick just out of range. He was so nearly there, just a little farther, and
then he had it. Finally. He turned, pleased with himself, back to shore and waved the stick to show Boneo who still jumped and barked at the waters edge. A big wave came up behind him and he yelled out as the cold water soaked through to his underwear. Boneo seemed to die laughing rolling around in the sand. “You just wait you ungrateful hound,” Angus began to shout trudging back to shore. Suddenly his bare foot brushed against something under the water, puzzled Angus pulled back and stared through the crystal clear waters of the north sea waiting for the ripples to die down enough to see what it was. The shimmering form of several big white spheres began to take shape, all knotted together in a kind of net. “Someone’s lost a whole net of footballs,” he mused kicking one with his foot. The texture alarmed him. It certainly wasn’t a football, it was more organic like a...a jelly. Angus suddenly bolted away and back to the safety of the shore. He struggled desperately against the friction of the water and ploughed head first on the sand, crawling away from the water. “Blooming hell!” he yelled examining his feet. “Blooming jelly fish!” Boneo looked sympathetic and licked at Angus’ salty toes, but Angus soon found to his relief that there were no stinging sensations or pinky rash forming. He frowned. “Must a got lucky,” he told Boneo, slightly confused. “Or maybe they weren’t jellyfish.” After all he hadn’t actually seen them properly, maybe they were some kind of seaweed, or debris fallen off a boat or something. Curiosity began to get the better of him and with his fear and then embarrassment over with, Angus ventured back into the waters to hook the net of white balls on the end of Boneo’s stick, which he noted Boneo wasn’t too happy about, and then dragged them ashore. Laid out on the beach it was still unclear what they were. Boneo sniffed around them again and again, playful barking at a few but didn’t have any helpful suggestions. Angus put his socks and wellies back on and began to poke the strange things with the stick at first and then with his fingers. Fourteen shiny white balls lay before him, slightly smaller than footballs, all wrapped up in a stringy substance. They reminded him of giant turtle eggs, like the ones you see on telly with the mummy turtles burying them on the beaches at night, all soft and smooth like Ping-Pong balls. But these were like Ping-Pong balls after a good hard game, all slightly dented and squished out of shape, indeed some of them were totally squished or broken open. They weren’t man-made that was for sure. Angus was pretty sure they were eggs, but what of? After some thought Angus took out a pen knife and started to cut away at the stringy
material. He picked the healthiest looking ‘egg’ although he wasn’t exactly sure what was healthy and what wasn’t with these, and threw the remaining ‘balls’ back into the sea, where they just bobbed up and down for a bit, threatening to be washed back in with the tide, before sinking below the surface, then he and Boneo started the coastal climb home. They returned home to their modest white-washed cottage and slammed the door closed against the wind. Felix sat on the kitchen table and surveyed them both with disgust, the wind from the opened door had ruffled his fur which only a moment ago had been basking in the heat of the stove. “Move aside there, Felix,” Angus said flinging his coat on a peg and sitting at the kitchen table. “And come have a look at this.” Felix tried to feign disinterest but curiosity overcame him and he came sniffing over. Boneo lapped at his water bowl briefly and then sat down next to Angus, putting his head on his lap. “I reckon it’s an egg. Don’t know what of though. Maybe’s a whale or... no wait mammals don’t lay eggs, so it can’t be a whale. Must be a fish or a squid or some thing.” Felix meowed loudly which was unusual for him. “What?” asked Angus puzzled. Felix walked around in a circles a few times then flopped his massive ginger weight down in frustration. “I dunno what he’s tryna say!” he said to Boneo. Boneo stretched out his neck and tried to lick out at Angus who rubbed him affectionately under the chin. “All right then I reckon we’ll put this in the bath with some salt water and see what happens. Can’t be nothing bad cos it’ll only be a baby, right. If it is something bad we can always kill it and have it for tea,” he nodded in decision and grabbing the salt pot in one hand and the egg in the other he proceeded up the stairs, with Felix and Boneo following close behind. The egg stayed in the tub for four weeks, green slimy stuff building up the sides. Angus rarely, if ever, actually bathed, so it remained undisturbed. He hardly ever saw people and he figured animals couldn’t care less if you smelled a bit, so he didn’t see the point in bathing, anyway he went in the sea often enough, soap was for women. He’d been back down to the beach the day after he’d found the egg to see if he might save some of the others but there had been no sign of them, probably washed back out to sea. Angus added more seawater regularly, losing the excess out of the overflow. He would have given up hope of hatching something weeks ago if he couldn’t actually see movement within the egg. The first time he saw something move inside he thought it was
hatching but nothing happened even though he sat there with Boneo on his lap and Felix curled up on the toilet seat for the best part of a day. On the Wednesday of the fourth week at about 3pm Felix had begun meowing from his new favourite place of the toilet seat (indeed Felix was so glued to that spot that Angus had been forced to pee in the sink). Angus and Boneo had run up the stairs to find Felix balancing on the edge of the bath tub staring at the submerged egg. The shock of Boneo bounding into the room nearly landed Felix in the tub but he recovered nicely and with calm indifference returned to his toilet seat. Angus knelt beside the enamel nest and peered eagerly at his beloved egg. It did appear to be moving more than usual. Boneo began to bark with excitement. “No, no, Boneo, be quiet, don’t scare the little fellow. It’s his, or her, first day.” Angus swirled the water, causing ripples to bounce against the shell. The egg responded with taps from the inside and caused ripples of it’s own. Suddenly a hole appeared in the shell wall and a tiny cream coloured triangle could be seen. It wiggled relentlessly and the hole began to get bigger. Angus pulled his hand gingerly out of the bath, better safe than sorry. After all this time of waiting his heart was racing and his nerves tingled all over. What would it be? He grabbed Boneo and pulled him away from the bath. “Just in case,” he smiled patting the disappointed dog. The actual hatching took hours. Slowly, piece by piece with long resting breaks in between, the animal inside the egg emerged. The three of them stared down into the swirling mass of egg debris and tried to make out the exact shape and size of the thing. It was very long, about the length of an entire arm, shoulder to fingertips but not very fat. The exact colour was hard to tell it almost seemed to change colours but Angus settled on mottled grey. There was a definite head end and a tail end but details were impossible to make out through the now murky water. It had four clearly distinguishable limbs although there was argument for a third pair, in between the standard two, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure about was that it wasn’t a fish or a squid or even a whale. It’s skin was like a very smooth lizard but, after a internal struggle over whether or not to touch the creature, Angus reached out and discovered it was warm bloodied which he knew meant it wasn’t a reptile either. Whatever it was it was very exotic and so Angus gave it the most exotic name he could think of, Salsa. Well, it was the most exotic thing he had ever heard of and normally he just named animals after the food they ate so that he could remember it easily but he hadn’t a clue what this thing ate. Luckily for the first days of it’s life it still had egg bits to eat and then
Angus hit upon the idea to fetch seaweed and the like because he figured if it was meant to hatch from the sea then it must be able to survive in it, and survive it did. Salsa grew in girth at an astonishing rate, doubling in size every week. Angus’ heart nearly gave out the day he turned away from the bath then back again to face a huge billowing mast of mottled grey skin fluttering in his face. It turned out the possible third pair of limbs were actually wings and Salsa had leaned up with his front paws on the edge of the bath and stretched them out for the first time. Angus assumed they helped him swim under water like a penguin. A month after hatching and Salsa no longer fitted in the bath. Angus had already caught him trying to climb out of the tub several times and tried ushering him back in, but now it was a hopeless case and Salsa came down the stairs for the very first time. Angus sat with his feet up by the stove in the kitchen, Felix on the table and Boneo on the mat. They each looked up when they heard a scrabbling and then a plop from upstairs and stared intently at the top of the stairs. Normally at this point Angus would jump up and usher Salsa back in the tub but this time he didn’t. Salsa made a funny noise. He always had done, a low beeping noise. Angus assumed it was like sonar when under water. There came a Beep Beep! from the landing. “It’s all right, Salsa, we’re down here,” called Angus. There was a scrabbling sound as if someone was having difficulty walking and then a head popped out at the top step. ‘Beep!’ “Yep, that’s right you can come down if you want to.” A little leg extended beneath the head and groped for the step. Alas the leg was too short. The head and leg disappeared and a tail swung out. Salsa began descending the stairs backwards wiggling his legs until they met solid ground. Angus winced as the creature wobbled from step to step growing more confident with each one conquered. He finally rounded the final step and flopped on to the flagstone floor illuminated by the large kitchen window. The bathroom had no windows and only a small pull switch light so Angus hadn’t really been able to see Salsa very clearly before and, if the truth be told, he hadn’t really tried. He’d never felt threatened by Salsa but the bits Angus could see were quite scary looking. Angus stared at the unknown creature he had hatched from an egg and was now standing in his kitchen. He was surprised to see Salsa wasn’t grey at all any more but rather he was a bright green. He had short stocky legs and his feet were chunky pads of reptilian skin that wiggled four toes, each topped with half inch thick, creamy claws. His body had filled out considerably and must have been a foot and a half around. His skin
was still smooth and although it appeared shiny and wet, later investigation would prove it was perfectly dry. Salsa noticed Boneo wagging his tail at him and copied, waving his long, thick, scaly tail that had a solid spade shaped end, like a dog. Angus finally looked at Salsa’s face in the full glory of daylight. He had been particularly nervous of this. The head was similar to that of a crocodile in that his eyes were in a raised back bit that lead out to a snout with two large nostrils at the end and big canine like teeth overlapping his bottom lip. There appeared to be ears or ‘horns’ on the top of the head but they were mixed in with some sort of raised patterning and it was hard to tell. He really was a fearsome looking creature. Angus finally looked into Salsa’s eyes, reluctant as to what he might find. He was met by a look of expectant joy that lit up the entire face like a smile and Angus couldn’t help but get up and embrace the strange creature that now shared his home. Life continued as normal during that winter. Firewood was chopped, the chickens were fed, socks were darned and Angus went to the village once a week on his old motorcycle and brought back fresh bread and meat. A few things changed like there was always a bucket of sea water and another dinner bowl next to Boneo and Felix’s bowls but Salsa never touched either, instead he would wander around the house and chew on the house plants. Considering the size of his canines Angus had deduced that Salsa must be a carnivore and tried to tempt him with Boneo and Felix’s food, much to their annoyance, which Salsa dutifully sniffed at but ultimately returned to looking for house plants. There were many strange things about Salsa that Angus didn’t really understand. The creature was obviously lost, coming from some place very remote that even nature programmers hadn’t been yet, but what really got him was that Salsa was just as happy out in the air as he was under the water. While he used to sleep in the bath now he had discovered the rest of the house and had decided to sleep on the mat in front of the stove with Boneo on one side and Felix on the other, happily breathing air. Angus thought there was a word for it, when an animal can live on both land and water, amphibious or something. And so the four of them lived together happily for four months, working outside in the garden or in the barn during the day and then curling up in front of the telly every night, Salsa and Boneo fighting over the only other armchair until one conceded and Felix carefully perched on the top, eyes closed. It was on one of these nights in midwinter when Angus, sitting in his chair with a blanket around him watching the telly as usual with the three animals curled up together, realised that when it came to spring he would have to take Salsa back down to the sea
and let him go, set him free to find his real home and the thought stung his eyes. Spring did come and Salsa, more so than any of the others seemed totally overexcited. He would scamper around the house at great speed, digging groves into the wooden flooring with his claws, encouraging Boneo to bark loudly for no reason and staring wistfully out of the window watching the snow melt and the first flowers appear. When he was outside Angus would loose him for hours and then find him rolling in the new grass like a puppy. It seemed also that this spring was the brightest and best spring Angus had ever known here, even when Claire, his wife, had still been alive. He wondered what she would have made of Salsa. She certainty wouldn’t have let Angus hatch him in the house and would probably have wanted to tell people, maybe phone the university or the zoo, nothing nasty like, just to figure out what he was and what was best for him, but Angus didn’t care much for other people’s views. Salsa was happy, he looked healthy, he didn’t have a vicious bone in his body and they was no way Angus was gonna hand him over so that he could be poked and prodded by a bunch of nosey scientists for no good reason. As spring developed Angus knew he should take Salsa down to the beach but he kept putting it of. Then as the days went on Salsa began to get a little mopey and sad, growing restless until finally the day arrived when Angus resolved to show him the sea, where he had come from. Boneo came as usual and Felix watched from the window as the trio made their way to the cliffs and then down the path to the beach. They went in the early morning to avoid being seen, not that many people ever came here, but just in case. Angus breathed in the heady sea air and smiled. He loved it here, everything was perfect, except for Claire of course, but then that was life, death came to us all eventually, just earlier to some than to others. He was glad Claire and him hadn’t had any children, he didn’t think he was strong enough for that, he couldn’t look at mini Claire’s everyday and still smile. He liked to think that Claire was always just upstairs, or in the next room reading or sewing. If he needed her he only had to call but he wouldn’t disturb her, let her come in her own time he would think. This would be how he coped with losing Salsa too, he’d always be in the bath upstairs or on the mat downstairs or rolling in the grass outside, just not whenever he happened to be. Lost in these thoughts he hadn’t noticed they had reached the beach and Salsa was making his first steps on sand. Angus marvelled at Salsa’s face as he tried to understand where his feet went as they sunk under his weight into the soft surface but then he noticed the sea and all else was forgotten. Angus knelt beside him and they stared out together.
“That’s where you came from and that’s where you belong. We’ll all miss you and I hope that you might miss us a bit too but ultimately you belong out there. You should just go, you know no long good-byes or ...” Suddenly Salsa was gone, there was a brief splash and then nothing. Angus stood back up, startled, and then smiled. It had been fun. Boneo came up to him, rubbing against his legs and Angus sighed turning to go. Two seconds later Salsa was back, he danced around on the sand for a couple of minutes then disappeared into the sea again. Angus and Boneo looked at each other mystified. A while later Salsa emerged again and, being covered in green slimy stuff, shook himself all over Angus and Boneo who were sat looking out to sea, making them both fall backwards in amusement. Salsa was looming over them as happy as he had ever been when his tummy rumbled loudly. “Good grief , Salsa, what have you been eating?” Angus smiled leaning up on his elbows. Salsa looked a little unsure and then his tummy rumbled again even louder. Angus was just getting up to reassure him when Salsa belched a jet of pure fire that scorched the eyebrows clean off Angus’ face and sent Boneo running for cover. Salsa looked suddenly pleased with himself and burped again causing another stream of flame to erupt out of his mouth. Angus got to his feet with the look of realisation finally blossoming over his face as he stared at Salsa, who was running around the beach belching flames in all directions. “Blooming Hell, Salsa.” he stammered gently rubbing his empty eyebrows. “You’re a dragon!” ****************************************** Things were never the same after that, but then they weren’t much changed either. Angus stilled lived in his cosy little cottage, but with a dragon. He stilled watched television every night with Boneo and Felix, but also with a dragon and he still avoided people like the plague but now it had a special purpose other than simple dislike. Angus had to protect Salsa. If the world knew dragons existed who knows what would happen! They would certainly take Salsa away and put him in a zoo or worse, experiment on him, cut him open and turn his inside into plastic for the world to gawp at and he certainly couldn’t let that happen. Angus had tried on several occasions to encourage Salsa to return to the sea where he would be safe - Angus also worried that a mummy or daddy dragon might turn up one day and devour him for stealing their child - but Salsa would never leave. Angus had even
tried leaving Salsa in the sea and then running home before he was seen but Salsa seemed to easily navigate his way back to the cottage and peer through the window to be let back in. In all honesty Angus wasn’t too displeased by Salsa’s reluctance to leave, he was part of the Angus clan now, with Boneo and Felix. It was amazing how the three of them got on, Boneo and Felix tolerated each other but Salsa seems to positively thrive in their company and they in his. Angus had to admit that the nights never seemed as dark or as long, or the rain as cold or the wind as harsh since Salsa had arrived. He could truly say he loved Salsa as if he was his own child, and that’s how they lived, like a family. As the years past Angus learnt a lot about dragons, for he was utterly convinced that Salsa could be nothing else, although he studied the nature programmes diligently in case a colony of warm bloodied, fire breathing reptiles was ever found somewhere, but noting ever came close. Dragons, well at least this one, seemed to be vegetarian. Salsa wouldn’t eat anything offered to him although he looked quite guilty about it. What he did eat was grass and leaves, and also flowers if left alone in the garden too long. Angus had once thought Salsa might be eating fish which is why he spent so much time in the sea but his breath never smelled fishy (not that Angus often got too close to Salsa’s mouth in case he should burp his eyebrows off again) and he was normally tinted with slimy green stuff. Thus Angus concluded Salsa was eating even more vegetation from the sea. This was very surprising since all the literature Angus read, which he ordered from the very good Amazon web site he found while ‘surfing’ the net in the village library, said unanimously that dragons were carnivores, without a shadow of a doubt, but Salsa wasn’t even an omnivore. He only ate fresh vegetation. Angus had once tried to pick some leaves for Salsa and put them in a bowl so they could eat together but still Salsa wouldn’t eat it. Only fresh, straight from the land. It was particularly strange though because the garden had never looked better even though Salsa was constantly nibbling at it, it always looked plump and luscious with green stuff. Angus also learnt that dragons were very intelligent. Salsa seemed to understand everything that was said to him such as ‘Don’t you dare eat my Rhododendrons,’ or ‘Hurry up,’ which wasn’t very miraculous considering Boneo also responded to such words, but when Salsa had obediently picked up the salt pot one evening and diligently walked over to Angus dropping it in his lap after he had causally, and amusingly he thought, asked one dinner time, ‘Can someone please pass the salt,’ Angus had surmised dragons could
understand more than dogs. Salsa was also perfectly capable of solving puzzles like door handles and even light switches although he had got his head stuck in the railings of the stairs once. Boneo had barked excitedly until Angus had come rushing in from the garage rubbing his hands on a oily rag to see Salsa wiggling his head to and fro completely wedged, Lord alone knows how he got it in there. Angus was just about to fetch a saw when Salsa crashed through the railings splintering half of them as he pulled himself through and putting a dent in the back wall. It was one of the rare occasions when Salsa demonstrated his strength. Angus wasn’t an idiot, he understood that a 20 stone (and still growing) dragon was incredibly strong but Salsa had never even once appeared threatening to him or the others, so he wasn’t worried. With all this mind Angus had tried on several occasions to develop a kind of code with Salsa, like a mini language but Salsa would only beep at him indiscriminately which Felix seemed to find incredibly amusing. The most interesting things Angus noticed however, were, for want of a better word ‘magical’. Salsa had been known on occasion to forewarn Angus that a particular person was coming to the house, well before Boneo had even started barking. He seemed to know when things would happen such as when Felix would knock things over as he shifted his ginger mass along the kitchen table or the when telephone would ring. The most bizarre event, however, happened when Angus, who was carrying a freshly boiled pot of hot water to clean some motorcycle parts across the kitchen, had collided with Boneo, who tripped him up and the heavy pot got upturned and fell out of his hands; he wasn’t exactly getting any younger. Boneo was sure to get the whole lot poured all over him and then be hammered on the head with the heavy pot - a very severe injury that could have been fatal - but it never happened. Just when the pot and all it’s contents were about to hit Boneo it all seemed to hover, almost frozen, most unnaturally, just long enough for Boneo to dash out of the way, a mere split second. Angus had glanced at Salsa who was stood rock solid staring at the pot as if in a trance before returning back to his normal happy go lucky self. And so that was how Angus McKay, born in Dundee, Scotland in 1926, trained as a mechanical engineer, moved north to the coast, worked for a local company, married Claire and then lost her in an unfortunate accident spent the last nineteen years of his life. ***************************************
The saddest day in Salsa’s life was the day he woke up with a funny feeling in his tummy. It was still dark outside, too early to rise, but he felt strange and so got up from the mat anyway. The remaining logs inside the stove were only barely glowing so he nudged open the door and lifted some more in before igniting it all in a dramatic burst of morning flames. Satisfied the logs were burning well he nudged the stove door closed again and padded around the empty kitchen wondering what to do with himself. The house seemed darker and sadder after recent events and he found himself restless and worried. With nothing left to do Salsa attempted to climb the stairs. He had found to his dismay that this had become increasingly difficult in the last few months. The walls seemed to have got closer together and the steps smaller. In fact the more he thought about it he was convinced the whole house was getting smaller. He breathed in and manoeuvred his way up the narrow stairs. The first room he could see was the bathroom, the room in which he had hatched, the smell of soap and bleach still instilled warm happy feelings inside of him. Angus’ bedroom was the only other room upstairs and the door was slightly ajar. He nudged it open a little bit more and waited for a response from within, but none came. He nudged it open further until it was completely open and peered into the darkness. Nothing stirred. Creeping up to the bed Salsa sniffed the air, it smelt all right, of sweaty Angus socks and oil from his clothes, just like normal. He popped his head over the edge of the bed and surveyed the raised lump. Salsa listened carefully. He could hear nothing accept the gentle thump, thump, thump, of Angus’ heart and his shallow breathing but it all seemed more laboured than usual, just like Felix’s had been before he had fallen asleep. Salsa remembered back to when he had been in the kitchen alone with Felix. Both of them were dozing on the mat and listening to the stove crackle and Angus muttering to Boneo outside when Salsa had noticed Felix’s shallow breathing, it puzzled him briefly but he was sleepy and soon dozed off. When he had woken up again he became aware he couldn’t hear Felix breathing at all anymore or his heart, which was strange because he could see him. Salsa had nudged him, trying to wake him up so that he could tell Salsa why his breathing had stopped, but he seemed in a very deep sleep. Salsa had continued to try for quite a while but the ginger body had just grown colder and colder. He had become confused and had pushed the body nearer the stove to warm it up again but this nudging only distorted the finely curled up ball into a shape of anguish and when Angus and Boneo had burst in from the cold outside and seen Salsa looming over a distorted Felix, Angus had gone mad, screaming at him sending him cowering into a corner. Boneo had sniffed at Felix and Angus had put his hand on him,
then the most bizarre thing happened, water had begun to flow out of Angus’ eyes and Boneo spun around in circles, whining. Angus soon called Salsa to him and nervously Salsa had crept back towards him. Angus grabbed him and held him close saying he was sorry he had shouted, he hadn’t realized what had happened and he was sorry, so sorry, so very very sorry. They had sat there for a long time and then they had gone into the garden and dug a hole under the Rhododendrons, the three of them digging together. Finally Angus had wrapped Felix in a blanket and put him in the hole, covering it again with soil. He then delicately picked the finest flower in the garden and placed it gently on the top. Salsa watched with curiosity and happiness, he had thought that this was the way to wake Felix back up and he had patiently waited next to the mound for Felix to re-emerge but nothing happened. Eventually Angus came over and sat with him. “I don’t think you understand,” Angus had said sadly. “Felix is not coming back. We each have one life and one day it must come to an end. Felix did very well, he was twentyone years old. It’s a miracle that he lasted so long. But we can be glad that he didn’t suffer, he just went to sleep and will never wake up. Maybe he’s living out a dream somewhere. Nobody knows.” Salsa had still sat there for the rest of the day trying to make sense of it all, watching the flower slowly wilt. Felix had gone, but his body was still here, but he couldn’t come back. Salsa knew he missed Felix and that his heart hurt but Angus and Boneo had continued as normal and so Salsa decided to follow their lead and continued as normal too but the house always felt much emptier after that. Then just last week Boneo had gone too, fallen asleep, forever. Angus and Salsa had gone looking for him in the garden, they had split up and Salsa spied him near the Rhododendrons. He thought Boneo might be waiting for Felix to come back and was just going over to tell him that sadly Felix wasn’t coming back, when he had realised he couldn’t hear Boneo’s breathing or his heart beating. He had raced closer hoping it was the noise of the wind in his ears that masked the sound but it wasn’t. He beeped sadly and Angus came around the corner. ‘Have you found him?’ he had asked cheerfully. Angus had fallen over when he had realised Boneo had fallen asleep and Salsa hadn’t know what to do, he had just waited until Angus had stopped cradling Boneo’s head in his arms and finally got back up and fetched a shovel. They had dung the hole together, right next to Felix under the Rhododendrons, Angus with his shovel and Salsa with his claws until it was big enough. Angus had touched his lips to Boneo’s head and Salsa had
followed suit nuzzling Boneo before they put him into the ground. After patting the earth flat Angus had stepped back and water rolled out of his eyes until he threatened to fall over again. Then he had reached up to pluck another flower but all the blossoms had gone and he had let his hand drop sadly, suddenly the Rhododendrons had all burst into flower and shone with outrageous beauty until wilting and losing their petals all within a matter of minutes. He had turned to Salsa and simply said, “Thank you,”. Angus hadn’t been quite the same since. It was bad enough after Felix fell into his deep sleep but now that Boneo had joined him the house was deadly quiet and cold. Salsa was drawn back from his memories by Angus rolling over in the bed, the sunrise now beginning to creep through the curtains turning the room orange. Angus smiled in greeting at Salsa as he sat with his head still resting on the edge of the bed. “Hello,” he said sleepily. “Don’t see you up here much any more, too big. Is it time to get up already?” he sighed. “I feel a bit worse for wear this morning. I think I might stay in bed a little longer. Do you mind?” Salsa shook his head from side to side. “Nothing to do any more, anyway,” Angus sighed rolling back over and closing his eyes. Salsa sat down on the floor and waited. The sun came up and then went down again and Salsa never moved. When the sun came up the next morning he could wait no more. He approached the bed for the last time and listened. This time there was no thump, thump, thump and no shallow breathing. He wandered around to the other side of the bed to see if he could hear it from there but he couldn’t. He sniffed the lump that lay in the middle of the bed and noticed it wasn’t as warm as usual, just like Felix had been before he just got colder and colder. Salsa wandered out into the landing and sat down. He looked at the bathroom with it’s smells of soap and bleach but they had no effect on him now, he sniffed the familiar smells of a wood burning stove and a greasy frying pan from downstairs but they could do nothing to distract him from the heavy silence behind him. Suddenly a huge emotional weight fell on him and he felt crushed beyond all reason, his sides burned and his muscles hurt all over, his head hammered and his blood pumped violently and then from nowhere an earth shattering ROAR erupted from deep within and spilled into reality like a violent volcano. It took great care and difficulty but he managed to bring Angus’ body, wrapped in his blankets, down the stairs. He carried him out of the open door and towards the large hole he had dug, all by himself, under the Rhododendrons. He carefully placed the body into the ground and nuzzled the lifeless form before recovering it with earth. This time the entire garden burst into bloom and showered petals onto Salsa like confetti.
Evening came and Salsa settled in for the night in front of the stove, alone. There was no cooking, or telly or even warm silence, the house was cold and dark and empty. He suddenly realised that there was no one left to put him in the ground when he fell into his final sleep and so he returned to the garden and dug himself a hole. Exhausted and emotionally drained Salsa laid down to sleep. ~ End ~
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Extract from Untitled dragon book
Cape wrath, north western tip of Scotland.
Angus threw the stick as far as he could along the empty, wind swept beach. It whistled sharply as it spun through the air with a black streak bounding after it. Boneo wasn’t quite quick enough and crashed head first into the tall grasses that edged the dunes. The grasses shook for a while and then Boneo re-emerged triumph, stick in mouth. Angus beckoned him forward and Boneo trotted back to his master, dropping the stick to the ground and then jumping up excitedly trying to grab it again as Angus picked it up. “Okay, last one,” Angus said throwing the stick with extra effort. “It’s blooming freezing out here.” Unfortunately the rushing wind grabbed at the flying stick and took it off course, carrying it out to sea a bit. Both Angus and Boneo looked out to the bobbing stick in the cold blue water with dismay. “Well, go on then,” urged Angus. “T’was a good stick that.” Boneo replied with a look that simply said ‘No way’. “Well, I suppose I could have a go, if y’er too chicken,” Angus grumbled. He took off his shabby wellies and socks, placing them on the sand and began rolling his trouser legs up. Boneo got excited and started to jump and bark. “It’s not funny you rotter. I shalt bother in a minute.” Angus dipped a toe in the sea. It really was cold. He could feel the hairs rise up on the back of his neck and his stomach clench. With grim determination he planted his sole firmly on the seabed and proceeded with the other foot until he was a few meters out. Boneo jumped back and forth from the water, lapping at it occasionally and barking at the wind. Angus concentrated on the stick, reaching out with his hand he tried to encourage it nearer with soft words. He inched his way closer and closer to the stick, his heavy feet sinking two or three inches into the soft sand with every step. The water lapped around his ankles and then his calves and then wetted his rolled up denim at the knees as the waves gleefully kept the stick just out of range. He was so nearly there, just a little farther, and
then he had it. Finally. He turned, pleased with himself, back to shore and waved the stick to show Boneo who still jumped and barked at the waters edge. A big wave came up behind him and he yelled out as the cold water soaked through to his underwear. Boneo seemed to die laughing rolling around in the sand. “You just wait you ungrateful hound,” Angus began to shout trudging back to shore. Suddenly his bare foot brushed against something under the water, puzzled Angus pulled back and stared through the crystal clear waters of the north sea waiting for the ripples to die down enough to see what it was. The shimmering form of several big white spheres began to take shape, all knotted together in a kind of net. “Someone’s lost a whole net of footballs,” he mused kicking one with his foot. The texture alarmed him. It certainly wasn’t a football, it was more organic like a...a jelly. Angus suddenly bolted away and back to the safety of the shore. He struggled desperately against the friction of the water and ploughed head first on the sand, crawling away from the water. “Blooming hell!” he yelled examining his feet. “Blooming jelly fish!” Boneo looked sympathetic and licked at Angus’ salty toes, but Angus soon found to his relief that there were no stinging sensations or pinky rash forming. He frowned. “Must a got lucky,” he told Boneo, slightly confused. “Or maybe they weren’t jellyfish.” After all he hadn’t actually seen them properly, maybe they were some kind of seaweed, or debris fallen off a boat or something. Curiosity began to get the better of him and with his fear and then embarrassment over with, Angus ventured back into the waters to hook the net of white balls on the end of Boneo’s stick, which he noted Boneo wasn’t too happy about, and then dragged them ashore. Laid out on the beach it was still unclear what they were. Boneo sniffed around them again and again, playful barking at a few but didn’t have any helpful suggestions. Angus put his socks and wellies back on and began to poke the strange things with the stick at first and then with his fingers. Fourteen shiny white balls lay before him, slightly smaller than footballs, all wrapped up in a stringy substance. They reminded him of giant turtle eggs, like the ones you see on telly with the mummy turtles burying them on the beaches at night, all soft and smooth like Ping-Pong balls. But these were like Ping-Pong balls after a good hard game, all slightly dented and squished out of shape, indeed some of them were totally squished or broken open. They weren’t man-made that was for sure. Angus was pretty sure they were eggs, but what of? After some thought Angus took out a pen knife and started to cut away at the stringy
material. He picked the healthiest looking ‘egg’ although he wasn’t exactly sure what was healthy and what wasn’t with these, and threw the remaining ‘balls’ back into the sea, where they just bobbed up and down for a bit, threatening to be washed back in with the tide, before sinking below the surface, then he and Boneo started the coastal climb home. They returned home to their modest white-washed cottage and slammed the door closed against the wind. Felix sat on the kitchen table and surveyed them both with disgust, the wind from the opened door had ruffled his fur which only a moment ago had been basking in the heat of the stove. “Move aside there, Felix,” Angus said flinging his coat on a peg and sitting at the kitchen table. “And come have a look at this.” Felix tried to feign disinterest but curiosity overcame him and he came sniffing over. Boneo lapped at his water bowl briefly and then sat down next to Angus, putting his head on his lap. “I reckon it’s an egg. Don’t know what of though. Maybe’s a whale or... no wait mammals don’t lay eggs, so it can’t be a whale. Must be a fish or a squid or some thing.” Felix meowed loudly which was unusual for him. “What?” asked Angus puzzled. Felix walked around in a circles a few times then flopped his massive ginger weight down in frustration. “I dunno what he’s tryna say!” he said to Boneo. Boneo stretched out his neck and tried to lick out at Angus who rubbed him affectionately under the chin. “All right then I reckon we’ll put this in the bath with some salt water and see what happens. Can’t be nothing bad cos it’ll only be a baby, right. If it is something bad we can always kill it and have it for tea,” he nodded in decision and grabbing the salt pot in one hand and the egg in the other he proceeded up the stairs, with Felix and Boneo following close behind. The egg stayed in the tub for four weeks, green slimy stuff building up the sides. Angus rarely, if ever, actually bathed, so it remained undisturbed. He hardly ever saw people and he figured animals couldn’t care less if you smelled a bit, so he didn’t see the point in bathing, anyway he went in the sea often enough, soap was for women. He’d been back down to the beach the day after he’d found the egg to see if he might save some of the others but there had been no sign of them, probably washed back out to sea. Angus added more seawater regularly, losing the excess out of the overflow. He would have given up hope of hatching something weeks ago if he couldn’t actually see movement within the egg. The first time he saw something move inside he thought it was
hatching but nothing happened even though he sat there with Boneo on his lap and Felix curled up on the toilet seat for the best part of a day. On the Wednesday of the fourth week at about 3pm Felix had begun meowing from his new favourite place of the toilet seat (indeed Felix was so glued to that spot that Angus had been forced to pee in the sink). Angus and Boneo had run up the stairs to find Felix balancing on the edge of the bath tub staring at the submerged egg. The shock of Boneo bounding into the room nearly landed Felix in the tub but he recovered nicely and with calm indifference returned to his toilet seat. Angus knelt beside the enamel nest and peered eagerly at his beloved egg. It did appear to be moving more than usual. Boneo began to bark with excitement. “No, no, Boneo, be quiet, don’t scare the little fellow. It’s his, or her, first day.” Angus swirled the water, causing ripples to bounce against the shell. The egg responded with taps from the inside and caused ripples of it’s own. Suddenly a hole appeared in the shell wall and a tiny cream coloured triangle could be seen. It wiggled relentlessly and the hole began to get bigger. Angus pulled his hand gingerly out of the bath, better safe than sorry. After all this time of waiting his heart was racing and his nerves tingled all over. What would it be? He grabbed Boneo and pulled him away from the bath. “Just in case,” he smiled patting the disappointed dog. The actual hatching took hours. Slowly, piece by piece with long resting breaks in between, the animal inside the egg emerged. The three of them stared down into the swirling mass of egg debris and tried to make out the exact shape and size of the thing. It was very long, about the length of an entire arm, shoulder to fingertips but not very fat. The exact colour was hard to tell it almost seemed to change colours but Angus settled on mottled grey. There was a definite head end and a tail end but details were impossible to make out through the now murky water. It had four clearly distinguishable limbs although there was argument for a third pair, in between the standard two, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure about was that it wasn’t a fish or a squid or even a whale. It’s skin was like a very smooth lizard but, after a internal struggle over whether or not to touch the creature, Angus reached out and discovered it was warm bloodied which he knew meant it wasn’t a reptile either. Whatever it was it was very exotic and so Angus gave it the most exotic name he could think of, Salsa. Well, it was the most exotic thing he had ever heard of and normally he just named animals after the food they ate so that he could remember it easily but he hadn’t a clue what this thing ate. Luckily for the first days of it’s life it still had egg bits to eat and then
Angus hit upon the idea to fetch seaweed and the like because he figured if it was meant to hatch from the sea then it must be able to survive in it, and survive it did. Salsa grew in girth at an astonishing rate, doubling in size every week. Angus’ heart nearly gave out the day he turned away from the bath then back again to face a huge billowing mast of mottled grey skin fluttering in his face. It turned out the possible third pair of limbs were actually wings and Salsa had leaned up with his front paws on the edge of the bath and stretched them out for the first time. Angus assumed they helped him swim under water like a penguin. A month after hatching and Salsa no longer fitted in the bath. Angus had already caught him trying to climb out of the tub several times and tried ushering him back in, but now it was a hopeless case and Salsa came down the stairs for the very first time. Angus sat with his feet up by the stove in the kitchen, Felix on the table and Boneo on the mat. They each looked up when they heard a scrabbling and then a plop from upstairs and stared intently at the top of the stairs. Normally at this point Angus would jump up and usher Salsa back in the tub but this time he didn’t. Salsa made a funny noise. He always had done, a low beeping noise. Angus assumed it was like sonar when under water. There came a Beep Beep! from the landing. “It’s all right, Salsa, we’re down here,” called Angus. There was a scrabbling sound as if someone was having difficulty walking and then a head popped out at the top step. ‘Beep!’ “Yep, that’s right you can come down if you want to.” A little leg extended beneath the head and groped for the step. Alas the leg was too short. The head and leg disappeared and a tail swung out. Salsa began descending the stairs backwards wiggling his legs until they met solid ground. Angus winced as the creature wobbled from step to step growing more confident with each one conquered. He finally rounded the final step and flopped on to the flagstone floor illuminated by the large kitchen window. The bathroom had no windows and only a small pull switch light so Angus hadn’t really been able to see Salsa very clearly before and, if the truth be told, he hadn’t really tried. He’d never felt threatened by Salsa but the bits Angus could see were quite scary looking. Angus stared at the unknown creature he had hatched from an egg and was now standing in his kitchen. He was surprised to see Salsa wasn’t grey at all any more but rather he was a bright green. He had short stocky legs and his feet were chunky pads of reptilian skin that wiggled four toes, each topped with half inch thick, creamy claws. His body had filled out considerably and must have been a foot and a half around. His skin
was still smooth and although it appeared shiny and wet, later investigation would prove it was perfectly dry. Salsa noticed Boneo wagging his tail at him and copied, waving his long, thick, scaly tail that had a solid spade shaped end, like a dog. Angus finally looked at Salsa’s face in the full glory of daylight. He had been particularly nervous of this. The head was similar to that of a crocodile in that his eyes were in a raised back bit that lead out to a snout with two large nostrils at the end and big canine like teeth overlapping his bottom lip. There appeared to be ears or ‘horns’ on the top of the head but they were mixed in with some sort of raised patterning and it was hard to tell. He really was a fearsome looking creature. Angus finally looked into Salsa’s eyes, reluctant as to what he might find. He was met by a look of expectant joy that lit up the entire face like a smile and Angus couldn’t help but get up and embrace the strange creature that now shared his home. Life continued as normal during that winter. Firewood was chopped, the chickens were fed, socks were darned and Angus went to the village once a week on his old motorcycle and brought back fresh bread and meat. A few things changed like there was always a bucket of sea water and another dinner bowl next to Boneo and Felix’s bowls but Salsa never touched either, instead he would wander around the house and chew on the house plants. Considering the size of his canines Angus had deduced that Salsa must be a carnivore and tried to tempt him with Boneo and Felix’s food, much to their annoyance, which Salsa dutifully sniffed at but ultimately returned to looking for house plants. There were many strange things about Salsa that Angus didn’t really understand. The creature was obviously lost, coming from some place very remote that even nature programmers hadn’t been yet, but what really got him was that Salsa was just as happy out in the air as he was under the water. While he used to sleep in the bath now he had discovered the rest of the house and had decided to sleep on the mat in front of the stove with Boneo on one side and Felix on the other, happily breathing air. Angus thought there was a word for it, when an animal can live on both land and water, amphibious or something. And so the four of them lived together happily for four months, working outside in the garden or in the barn during the day and then curling up in front of the telly every night, Salsa and Boneo fighting over the only other armchair until one conceded and Felix carefully perched on the top, eyes closed. It was on one of these nights in midwinter when Angus, sitting in his chair with a blanket around him watching the telly as usual with the three animals curled up together, realised that when it came to spring he would have to take Salsa back down to the sea
and let him go, set him free to find his real home and the thought stung his eyes. Spring did come and Salsa, more so than any of the others seemed totally overexcited. He would scamper around the house at great speed, digging groves into the wooden flooring with his claws, encouraging Boneo to bark loudly for no reason and staring wistfully out of the window watching the snow melt and the first flowers appear. When he was outside Angus would loose him for hours and then find him rolling in the new grass like a puppy. It seemed also that this spring was the brightest and best spring Angus had ever known here, even when Claire, his wife, had still been alive. He wondered what she would have made of Salsa. She certainty wouldn’t have let Angus hatch him in the house and would probably have wanted to tell people, maybe phone the university or the zoo, nothing nasty like, just to figure out what he was and what was best for him, but Angus didn’t care much for other people’s views. Salsa was happy, he looked healthy, he didn’t have a vicious bone in his body and they was no way Angus was gonna hand him over so that he could be poked and prodded by a bunch of nosey scientists for no good reason. As spring developed Angus knew he should take Salsa down to the beach but he kept putting it of. Then as the days went on Salsa began to get a little mopey and sad, growing restless until finally the day arrived when Angus resolved to show him the sea, where he had come from. Boneo came as usual and Felix watched from the window as the trio made their way to the cliffs and then down the path to the beach. They went in the early morning to avoid being seen, not that many people ever came here, but just in case. Angus breathed in the heady sea air and smiled. He loved it here, everything was perfect, except for Claire of course, but then that was life, death came to us all eventually, just earlier to some than to others. He was glad Claire and him hadn’t had any children, he didn’t think he was strong enough for that, he couldn’t look at mini Claire’s everyday and still smile. He liked to think that Claire was always just upstairs, or in the next room reading or sewing. If he needed her he only had to call but he wouldn’t disturb her, let her come in her own time he would think. This would be how he coped with losing Salsa too, he’d always be in the bath upstairs or on the mat downstairs or rolling in the grass outside, just not whenever he happened to be. Lost in these thoughts he hadn’t noticed they had reached the beach and Salsa was making his first steps on sand. Angus marvelled at Salsa’s face as he tried to understand where his feet went as they sunk under his weight into the soft surface but then he noticed the sea and all else was forgotten. Angus knelt beside him and they stared out together.
“That’s where you came from and that’s where you belong. We’ll all miss you and I hope that you might miss us a bit too but ultimately you belong out there. You should just go, you know no long good-byes or ...” Suddenly Salsa was gone, there was a brief splash and then nothing. Angus stood back up, startled, and then smiled. It had been fun. Boneo came up to him, rubbing against his legs and Angus sighed turning to go. Two seconds later Salsa was back, he danced around on the sand for a couple of minutes then disappeared into the sea again. Angus and Boneo looked at each other mystified. A while later Salsa emerged again and, being covered in green slimy stuff, shook himself all over Angus and Boneo who were sat looking out to sea, making them both fall backwards in amusement. Salsa was looming over them as happy as he had ever been when his tummy rumbled loudly. “Good grief , Salsa, what have you been eating?” Angus smiled leaning up on his elbows. Salsa looked a little unsure and then his tummy rumbled again even louder. Angus was just getting up to reassure him when Salsa belched a jet of pure fire that scorched the eyebrows clean off Angus’ face and sent Boneo running for cover. Salsa looked suddenly pleased with himself and burped again causing another stream of flame to erupt out of his mouth. Angus got to his feet with the look of realisation finally blossoming over his face as he stared at Salsa, who was running around the beach belching flames in all directions. “Blooming Hell, Salsa.” he stammered gently rubbing his empty eyebrows. “You’re a dragon!” ****************************************** Things were never the same after that, but then they weren’t much changed either. Angus stilled lived in his cosy little cottage, but with a dragon. He stilled watched television every night with Boneo and Felix, but also with a dragon and he still avoided people like the plague but now it had a special purpose other than simple dislike. Angus had to protect Salsa. If the world knew dragons existed who knows what would happen! They would certainly take Salsa away and put him in a zoo or worse, experiment on him, cut him open and turn his inside into plastic for the world to gawp at and he certainly couldn’t let that happen. Angus had tried on several occasions to encourage Salsa to return to the sea where he would be safe - Angus also worried that a mummy or daddy dragon might turn up one day and devour him for stealing their child - but Salsa would never leave. Angus had even
tried leaving Salsa in the sea and then running home before he was seen but Salsa seemed to easily navigate his way back to the cottage and peer through the window to be let back in. In all honesty Angus wasn’t too displeased by Salsa’s reluctance to leave, he was part of the Angus clan now, with Boneo and Felix. It was amazing how the three of them got on, Boneo and Felix tolerated each other but Salsa seems to positively thrive in their company and they in his. Angus had to admit that the nights never seemed as dark or as long, or the rain as cold or the wind as harsh since Salsa had arrived. He could truly say he loved Salsa as if he was his own child, and that’s how they lived, like a family. As the years past Angus learnt a lot about dragons, for he was utterly convinced that Salsa could be nothing else, although he studied the nature programmes diligently in case a colony of warm bloodied, fire breathing reptiles was ever found somewhere, but noting ever came close. Dragons, well at least this one, seemed to be vegetarian. Salsa wouldn’t eat anything offered to him although he looked quite guilty about it. What he did eat was grass and leaves, and also flowers if left alone in the garden too long. Angus had once thought Salsa might be eating fish which is why he spent so much time in the sea but his breath never smelled fishy (not that Angus often got too close to Salsa’s mouth in case he should burp his eyebrows off again) and he was normally tinted with slimy green stuff. Thus Angus concluded Salsa was eating even more vegetation from the sea. This was very surprising since all the literature Angus read, which he ordered from the very good Amazon web site he found while ‘surfing’ the net in the village library, said unanimously that dragons were carnivores, without a shadow of a doubt, but Salsa wasn’t even an omnivore. He only ate fresh vegetation. Angus had once tried to pick some leaves for Salsa and put them in a bowl so they could eat together but still Salsa wouldn’t eat it. Only fresh, straight from the land. It was particularly strange though because the garden had never looked better even though Salsa was constantly nibbling at it, it always looked plump and luscious with green stuff. Angus also learnt that dragons were very intelligent. Salsa seemed to understand everything that was said to him such as ‘Don’t you dare eat my Rhododendrons,’ or ‘Hurry up,’ which wasn’t very miraculous considering Boneo also responded to such words, but when Salsa had obediently picked up the salt pot one evening and diligently walked over to Angus dropping it in his lap after he had causally, and amusingly he thought, asked one dinner time, ‘Can someone please pass the salt,’ Angus had surmised dragons could
understand more than dogs. Salsa was also perfectly capable of solving puzzles like door handles and even light switches although he had got his head stuck in the railings of the stairs once. Boneo had barked excitedly until Angus had come rushing in from the garage rubbing his hands on a oily rag to see Salsa wiggling his head to and fro completely wedged, Lord alone knows how he got it in there. Angus was just about to fetch a saw when Salsa crashed through the railings splintering half of them as he pulled himself through and putting a dent in the back wall. It was one of the rare occasions when Salsa demonstrated his strength. Angus wasn’t an idiot, he understood that a 20 stone (and still growing) dragon was incredibly strong but Salsa had never even once appeared threatening to him or the others, so he wasn’t worried. With all this mind Angus had tried on several occasions to develop a kind of code with Salsa, like a mini language but Salsa would only beep at him indiscriminately which Felix seemed to find incredibly amusing. The most interesting things Angus noticed however, were, for want of a better word ‘magical’. Salsa had been known on occasion to forewarn Angus that a particular person was coming to the house, well before Boneo had even started barking. He seemed to know when things would happen such as when Felix would knock things over as he shifted his ginger mass along the kitchen table or the when telephone would ring. The most bizarre event, however, happened when Angus, who was carrying a freshly boiled pot of hot water to clean some motorcycle parts across the kitchen, had collided with Boneo, who tripped him up and the heavy pot got upturned and fell out of his hands; he wasn’t exactly getting any younger. Boneo was sure to get the whole lot poured all over him and then be hammered on the head with the heavy pot - a very severe injury that could have been fatal - but it never happened. Just when the pot and all it’s contents were about to hit Boneo it all seemed to hover, almost frozen, most unnaturally, just long enough for Boneo to dash out of the way, a mere split second. Angus had glanced at Salsa who was stood rock solid staring at the pot as if in a trance before returning back to his normal happy go lucky self. And so that was how Angus McKay, born in Dundee, Scotland in 1926, trained as a mechanical engineer, moved north to the coast, worked for a local company, married Claire and then lost her in an unfortunate accident spent the last nineteen years of his life. ***************************************
The saddest day in Salsa’s life was the day he woke up with a funny feeling in his tummy. It was still dark outside, too early to rise, but he felt strange and so got up from the mat anyway. The remaining logs inside the stove were only barely glowing so he nudged open the door and lifted some more in before igniting it all in a dramatic burst of morning flames. Satisfied the logs were burning well he nudged the stove door closed again and padded around the empty kitchen wondering what to do with himself. The house seemed darker and sadder after recent events and he found himself restless and worried. With nothing left to do Salsa attempted to climb the stairs. He had found to his dismay that this had become increasingly difficult in the last few months. The walls seemed to have got closer together and the steps smaller. In fact the more he thought about it he was convinced the whole house was getting smaller. He breathed in and manoeuvred his way up the narrow stairs. The first room he could see was the bathroom, the room in which he had hatched, the smell of soap and bleach still instilled warm happy feelings inside of him. Angus’ bedroom was the only other room upstairs and the door was slightly ajar. He nudged it open a little bit more and waited for a response from within, but none came. He nudged it open further until it was completely open and peered into the darkness. Nothing stirred. Creeping up to the bed Salsa sniffed the air, it smelt all right, of sweaty Angus socks and oil from his clothes, just like normal. He popped his head over the edge of the bed and surveyed the raised lump. Salsa listened carefully. He could hear nothing accept the gentle thump, thump, thump, of Angus’ heart and his shallow breathing but it all seemed more laboured than usual, just like Felix’s had been before he had fallen asleep. Salsa remembered back to when he had been in the kitchen alone with Felix. Both of them were dozing on the mat and listening to the stove crackle and Angus muttering to Boneo outside when Salsa had noticed Felix’s shallow breathing, it puzzled him briefly but he was sleepy and soon dozed off. When he had woken up again he became aware he couldn’t hear Felix breathing at all anymore or his heart, which was strange because he could see him. Salsa had nudged him, trying to wake him up so that he could tell Salsa why his breathing had stopped, but he seemed in a very deep sleep. Salsa had continued to try for quite a while but the ginger body had just grown colder and colder. He had become confused and had pushed the body nearer the stove to warm it up again but this nudging only distorted the finely curled up ball into a shape of anguish and when Angus and Boneo had burst in from the cold outside and seen Salsa looming over a distorted Felix, Angus had gone mad, screaming at him sending him cowering into a corner. Boneo had sniffed at Felix and Angus had put his hand on him,
then the most bizarre thing happened, water had begun to flow out of Angus’ eyes and Boneo spun around in circles, whining. Angus soon called Salsa to him and nervously Salsa had crept back towards him. Angus grabbed him and held him close saying he was sorry he had shouted, he hadn’t realized what had happened and he was sorry, so sorry, so very very sorry. They had sat there for a long time and then they had gone into the garden and dug a hole under the Rhododendrons, the three of them digging together. Finally Angus had wrapped Felix in a blanket and put him in the hole, covering it again with soil. He then delicately picked the finest flower in the garden and placed it gently on the top. Salsa watched with curiosity and happiness, he had thought that this was the way to wake Felix back up and he had patiently waited next to the mound for Felix to re-emerge but nothing happened. Eventually Angus came over and sat with him. “I don’t think you understand,” Angus had said sadly. “Felix is not coming back. We each have one life and one day it must come to an end. Felix did very well, he was twentyone years old. It’s a miracle that he lasted so long. But we can be glad that he didn’t suffer, he just went to sleep and will never wake up. Maybe he’s living out a dream somewhere. Nobody knows.” Salsa had still sat there for the rest of the day trying to make sense of it all, watching the flower slowly wilt. Felix had gone, but his body was still here, but he couldn’t come back. Salsa knew he missed Felix and that his heart hurt but Angus and Boneo had continued as normal and so Salsa decided to follow their lead and continued as normal too but the house always felt much emptier after that. Then just last week Boneo had gone too, fallen asleep, forever. Angus and Salsa had gone looking for him in the garden, they had split up and Salsa spied him near the Rhododendrons. He thought Boneo might be waiting for Felix to come back and was just going over to tell him that sadly Felix wasn’t coming back, when he had realised he couldn’t hear Boneo’s breathing or his heart beating. He had raced closer hoping it was the noise of the wind in his ears that masked the sound but it wasn’t. He beeped sadly and Angus came around the corner. ‘Have you found him?’ he had asked cheerfully. Angus had fallen over when he had realised Boneo had fallen asleep and Salsa hadn’t know what to do, he had just waited until Angus had stopped cradling Boneo’s head in his arms and finally got back up and fetched a shovel. They had dung the hole together, right next to Felix under the Rhododendrons, Angus with his shovel and Salsa with his claws until it was big enough. Angus had touched his lips to Boneo’s head and Salsa had
followed suit nuzzling Boneo before they put him into the ground. After patting the earth flat Angus had stepped back and water rolled out of his eyes until he threatened to fall over again. Then he had reached up to pluck another flower but all the blossoms had gone and he had let his hand drop sadly, suddenly the Rhododendrons had all burst into flower and shone with outrageous beauty until wilting and losing their petals all within a matter of minutes. He had turned to Salsa and simply said, “Thank you,”. Angus hadn’t been quite the same since. It was bad enough after Felix fell into his deep sleep but now that Boneo had joined him the house was deadly quiet and cold. Salsa was drawn back from his memories by Angus rolling over in the bed, the sunrise now beginning to creep through the curtains turning the room orange. Angus smiled in greeting at Salsa as he sat with his head still resting on the edge of the bed. “Hello,” he said sleepily. “Don’t see you up here much any more, too big. Is it time to get up already?” he sighed. “I feel a bit worse for wear this morning. I think I might stay in bed a little longer. Do you mind?” Salsa shook his head from side to side. “Nothing to do any more, anyway,” Angus sighed rolling back over and closing his eyes. Salsa sat down on the floor and waited. The sun came up and then went down again and Salsa never moved. When the sun came up the next morning he could wait no more. He approached the bed for the last time and listened. This time there was no thump, thump, thump and no shallow breathing. He wandered around to the other side of the bed to see if he could hear it from there but he couldn’t. He sniffed the lump that lay in the middle of the bed and noticed it wasn’t as warm as usual, just like Felix had been before he just got colder and colder. Salsa wandered out into the landing and sat down. He looked at the bathroom with it’s smells of soap and bleach but they had no effect on him now, he sniffed the familiar smells of a wood burning stove and a greasy frying pan from downstairs but they could do nothing to distract him from the heavy silence behind him. Suddenly a huge emotional weight fell on him and he felt crushed beyond all reason, his sides burned and his muscles hurt all over, his head hammered and his blood pumped violently and then from nowhere an earth shattering ROAR erupted from deep within and spilled into reality like a violent volcano. It took great care and difficulty but he managed to bring Angus’ body, wrapped in his blankets, down the stairs. He carried him out of the open door and towards the large hole he had dug, all by himself, under the Rhododendrons. He carefully placed the body into the ground and nuzzled the lifeless form before recovering it with earth. This time the entire garden burst into bloom and showered petals onto Salsa like confetti.
Evening came and Salsa settled in for the night in front of the stove, alone. There was no cooking, or telly or even warm silence, the house was cold and dark and empty. He suddenly realised that there was no one left to put him in the ground when he fell into his final sleep and so he returned to the garden and dug himself a hole. Exhausted and emotionally drained Salsa laid down to sleep. ~ End ~
