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He glanced down at Claude, trotting along beside him at the end of the sparkly pink lead, his oversized black ears perked up and listening to the world around thereement could be amended to allow pets He knew at the moment they were forbidden, but perhaps that could be fixed Or if he moved …
He’d already put an eet a transfer Maple Drive hadn’t lived up to his expectations at all No point hanging around to see if things changed; they never did, in his experience No, it was ti elsewhere But in the ive him the companionship he craved
A proper dog, though One with a decent tail for wagging, and less obtrusive ears
‘Well, I guess we’d better see if anyone around here knohere your owners are, boy’ Great, noas even talking to the dog That’s how hard up for human connection he was
Except … he’d connected with Holly At least, he thought he had It had been a while since he’d felt that sort of connection with, well, anyone Perhaps he’d been i ‘Who is this strange ?’
All in all, it had been a strange encounter all around Although that didn’ther again later
But first he had to finish his round And find so very close as he trotted alongside
‘I just hope soet in touch with Mr and Mrs McCawley’ Who knehat he’d have to do with Claude otherwise ClaudeJack over, as if he had the exact same fears Maybe he did, Jack allowed, as he did a little hop-juled in Claude’s lead Nobody liked to be left alone, after all
Jack knew that feeling Except he hadn’t been left, exactly He’d chosen to leave He had to remember that
The first couple of houses they came to were dark Jack knocked on the doors anyway, as he pushed their Christh the letterbox, but there was no answer The next door was opened by a harried-looking young wohtened This house had to be a better shot After all, if the mum was home with the baby, surely she’d have more contact with the rest of the community
‘Hi, I ondering if you could help uy’s owners The McCawleys At nuhout, but it didn’t see the s at Claude
‘No thanks,’ she mumbled, as she shut the door
Jack sighed He’d known that finding soh to be able to fill hi shot, but he hadn’t expected it to be so hard to even find so to listen to him
As he trudged back up the driveway, grateful for his winter coat in the bitter Dece Jack fished it out fro the lead around his ankles
‘Hello?’ Jack said, carefully stepping out froain
‘Jack? It’s Bill’ His boss Jack tensed Even though he knew this probably had to do with the eht, there was always the chance that it was so worse But then Bill said, ‘About this eh to head to the bus shelter at the end of Maple Drive and sit dohile they talked Claude entertained his, before curling up on Jack’s boots
‘Yeah What do you think? Is it possible?’
‘A transfer? Yeah, I guess so Probably It ht take a while, but … to be honest, Jack, I’m more interested in why you want one’ Bill sounded personally affronted Maybe he should have gone and talked to the guy in person, instead of just e It was just that it had been late, he’d been frustrated, and he’d wanted to do soain
‘It’s nothing to do with you, or the job,’ Jack said quickly ‘Honestly, I’ here Very happy’
‘Except for the part where you want to leave,’ Bill coain, I have to ask … why?’
Jack sighed How to explain it? ‘I guess … you knohen you have an idea of how things are going to be? What your life will be like when you reach a certain point, a certain place?’
‘Yeah Sure’
‘Well, I thought being here, living on Maple Drive would be … different’
‘Different how?’ Bill asked
That, Jack knew he couldn’t explain Maybe to soruff, contented Bill Bill had lived in the local area all his life, he’d told Jack proudly on his first day, and worked for the post office since he left school Bill had his children, his grandchildren, his siblings, his nieces and nephews, his cousins, and every school friend that everwithin a twenty ed
And Jack hadn’t belonged anywhere since he left the army But he was determined that he would
It just see Nobody wanted anything to do with each other, as far as he could tell And that wasn’t the sort of place that Jack wanted to call home