3 Heads & a Tail (43 page)

They took it really slow so that David could keep up. Glen padded along protectively
beside
him, forcing Ben to walk there too. It
didn
'
t seem
lost on the dog that David
had
saved him that day in the forest
. They crossed the road and rounded the corner
where
the familiar sight of the park greeted them. The tall
,
silver birch
es seemed to sparkle.

“
Thanks for
forcing
me
out,
”
said Dav
id.
“
I was getting cabin fever.
”

“
We didn
'
t want you getting tubby
now that you
'
ve got a girlfriend
,
”
joked Josie.

David laughed
, although he was struggling with
the
crutches. His hair kept falling in his eyes and he didn
'
t have a free hand to flick it.
It was very irritating.
“
Maybe
it
'
s time I got my hair cut,
”
he mumbled.
“
It
'
s tickling!
”

Josie reached up and tried to flick it back, but she couldn
'
t reach.
“
Sorry, I can
'
t help.
Why don
'
t you
get
a George Clooney cut?
The girls always
go
for
gorgeous
George
!
”

“
There they are!
”
said Ben, pointing to two figures in the distance, standing
by the lake.
He
unclipped Glen
'
s lead so
he could charge off and greet
Mimi, who was wagging her tail
. Ms Hill waved. 

David
bounced his crutches forward.
“
There are
a few things I want to ask her,
”
he
mumbled
,
slightly out of breath. He moved
as fast
as he could towards Ms Hill.

Josie stared after David
, wondering what he was up to.
He was
moving
pretty fast for a guy on crutches. That leg must
have been feeling
a whole lot better.
She looked up to speak to Ben, but he
was no longer
there
. Turning, she saw that he was
staring at something
in the lake. A few swans were gathered, along with some geese. Some pretty noisy geese if truth be told.
Josie walked backwards to see what it was.

“
What
'
s up?
”
she asked
, squinting in the
sun
.

“
I was just watching these swans
,
”
said Ben
awkwardly
.
“
They are so...
white
.
”

Josie
looked
at the lake.
“
Yep
,
they certainly are
very
white. They are
beautiful, b
ut I think they
'
re going to s
tart chasing the geese soon. T
hey usua
lly do when they get too near.
”

“
I guess they
'
re territorial and like their own space,
”
said Ben.

“
I guess
so
. T
hey
'
re prettier
than the geese too.
I bet the geese are pretty
peeved
about that,
”
she replied.

“
I used to
really like
my own space,
”
said Ben.

“
Yeah
, it
'
s nice.
I hate it when people on the train get too clo
se
.
”

“
That
'
s not the
kind
of space I meant.
”

“
Oh.
”
Not knowing what to say, she
went quiet.

Josie, embarrassed, suddenly
wanted to catch up with the others. Time was creeping along
at an unbearable pace
. She wished one of the swans would jump up the bank of the lake and hurtle
,
squaw
king
,
in their direction
just to break
the silence.

Ben turned towards her and she thought s
he was going to go bright red. S
he looked
down at her feet where b
lades of grass poked up like green stalks around her purple trainers. T
he edges looked really sharp as if
th
ey were standing to attention – the sun glinted on their tips.

Looking down
to see what Josie was staring at
, Ben
realised
she must be feeling as
awkward
as he was
because she was staring at her feet
.
A flicker of a smile passed over his lips. He
had
been thinking lately how similar they were.

“
Do you fancy leaving these guys for a bi
t and just going for a walk
?
”
he asked.
“
It
'
s
such
a nice day.
”

Josie swallowed.
“
Erm, alright
.
”

Realising she
had
better look up before
Ben thought she was some kind of
crazy person
,
Josie
peeked up,
sort of
straining
her neck
at a weird angle. Although
she
wanted to kick herself
for being
so
silly
,
she couldn
'
t look him in
the eye.
She twisted the
edge
of her T
-shirt in one hand
. Th
is was just too awkward.

“
Oh
,
sod it,
”
said Ben
,
and before she could move he leant forward and kissed her.

“
Oh
!
”
she said,
her eyes widening.

Ben stood back.
“
I
'
m sorry, but if you knew
how long I
'
d wanted to do that
.
”

“
Oh!
”
Josie bit her lip. She hadn
'
t been expecting this... e
v
er. He liked her!
She looked up at his soft
brown
eyes, which were focused on her, and then sh
e knew s
he wasn
'
t going to be moving on any ti
me soon. This rolling s
tone was going to
gather some moss
.

“
I guess it
'
s time you did it again then,
”
she said, giving him her
shyest but
biggest smile.

From across the park, two dogs, a woman and a man on crutches were watching. The one with the biggest grin was Glen.
“
Voof!
”

The dog end

Have a voofing nice day!

About the Author

Vickie Johnstone lives in London, editing magazines and writing poetry about life and delightful prose about cats.  Some day she plans to live by the sea with fluffy cats and a lifetime supply of Milky Bar chocolate.

If you enjoyed 3
Heads & a Tail or
if you have comments, questions or constructive criticism, you can contact Vickie at [email protected].

You can follow Vickie on Twitter at @vickiejohnstone.

You can read more about Vickie on her blog at VickieJohnstone.blogspot.com or her website
http://kiwiincatcity.com/

Kiwi
In Cat City

Kiwi and the Missing Magic

Kiwi
and
the
Living Nightmare

Kiwi
and
the
Serpent of the Isle

Also look for her poetry
:

Kaleidoscope

Travelling Light

Life
'
s Rhythms (316 Haiku)

These books are available at Amazon, Smashwords,
and
fine booksellers everywhere.