Lotht!

India and Rohan were following a trail.  There was something completely engrossing about locking on to a really interesting scent.  This wasn’t what they had intended to do.  The original plan had been to go to the end of the field and see what was happening, to which the answer was – not much.  However, they had run into the neighbours’ dogs, which naturally led to a prolonged game of ‘tick’ and a good deal of running around in ever widening circles.  It was on one of these forays that India had picked up the trail of this really interesting scent and, as the neighbours’ dogs had now gone home, she and Rohan had set off to see what they could find.

“Injure?” Rohan said, trailing behind her by a few metres.

“What?” India snapped, crossly, as her focus on the scent was rudely disrupted.

“Are we lotht?”

“Hmm?  Lost?  No, of course we’re not lost!”  India continued to plough through the undergrowth, nose firmly clamped to the floor.

Rohan stopped, sat down, and looked around him.

“I think we’re lotht!”  He said, glumly.

India stopped her headlong pursuit of the trail and looked back at her young companion.

“We are NOT lost!”  She snapped, “one of the hallmarks of a Labrador is that we always know where we are”

“I’m a Labrador and I don’t know where I am” Rohan pointed out, reasonably.

“You’re a Labrador/Retriever.  It’s not quite the same thing.  Plus, of course, you don’t have my years of experience” India looked quite pleased with herself.

“Alright, if we’re not lotht, where are we?” Rohan asked.

“Well, we’re…” India looked around and realised, for the first time, that she didn’t recognise any of their surroundings.  “Well, we must be, erm…”

“I think we’re lotht”

“Will you stop saying that!”  India was cross with herself for getting so engrossed in the scent that she hadn’t taken any notice of where they were going.  “Look, we can’t be lost when all we’ve got to do is to follow our own trail back again, now can we?”

“It’th thtarting to rain ath well” Rohan observed, gloomily.

“No, it’s not” India denied the obvious precipitation, “it’s just a bit of damp in the air, it’ll soon pass over.  Come on, let’s follow our tracks back home”

India set off in the opposite direction, with Rohan bounding behind.  After a while;

“Injure?”

“What now?”

“You know that ‘damp in the air’?”

“Yes”

“Well, itth dripping off my eyelathes” Rohan shook his head, vigorously and water sprayed everywhere.  There was no question that it was raining pretty heavily, now.

“It’s just a shower!”  India protested, unconvincingly, “anyway, I don’t know why you’re complaining about getting wet, given the amount of time you spend splashing about in that duck pond!”

“That’th different” Rohan grumbled, “I can get out of that when I want to.  Thith ith everwhere!  Pluth, I can’t thmell anything anymore, can you?”

India didn’t want to admit it, but she hadn’t been able to smell their trail for a while.  The rain had had the effect of washing away the scents on which she had been relying.

“There is nothing to worry about” India said with a confidence she definitely was not feeling, “we’re heading in the right direction and, even if we can’t smell our trail, we can see it, can’t we?  All the broken grass and paw prints?”

“I can’t make out our printth in all thith mud” Rohan stared miserably at the muddy trail before him, “I don’t think thith ith uth for a thtart off, not unleth we’ve got hooveth!”

India looked down at the ground before them and could see what he meant.

“We’re lotht, aren’t we?”

“No, not as long as we keep heading in this direction.  We’re bound to get back home…eventually” India looked worried.

“You thee that tree over there?” Rohan nodded toward a gnarly old hawthorn.

“Yes, quite an interesting shape, isn’t it?” India observed.

“I’ve theen it before”

“Well, you would have done” India set off again, “we must have passed it on the way out”

“No, not then.” Rohan shook his head and remained seated, so that India had to double back to him, “I thaw it about five minuteth ago” He added, glumly.

“You can’t have done!”

“Did!” Rohan insisted, “I think we’re going around in thircleth”

“Nonsense!” India snapped, but she was beginning to doubt herself.

“It’th not nonthenth!  I think I’ve theen it more than oneth”

“More than once?”

“Yeth, at leatht three timeth” Rohan nodded, “we’re lotht!”

“Look, we can’t be far from home.  We haven’t been gone all that long”

“It’th getting dark” Rohan looked up at the greying sky.

“It is NOT getting dark!” India insisted, despite the evidence.

“We’re lotht and we’ll never thee home again” Rohan sniffed, on the brink of tears.

“Now that’s just silly!”

“We’re lotht and that’th all there ith to it” Rohan grumbled miserably and lay down with his head on his front paws.

“Now you’re being silly AND you’re covered in mud! What will Mom say when she sees you like that, eh?”

“Won’t thee me. Won’t thee me ever again” Rohan whimpered, “I’m jutht going to lie here until it’th all over”

“Now look…” India began, but then pricked up her ears, “did you hear that?”

“Didn’t hear nothing” Rohan mumbled from between his paws.

“I’m sure I…”

“Rohan! India! Where are you?”

It was very faint but unmistakeable.

“Did you hear that, then?” India asked, excitedly.

“I’m jutht going to lie here and I won’t care if the wolveth come and take me…” Rohan was wallowing in misery, as well as mud.

“That was Mom and Flynn!”  India jumped up and began to bark, as loudly as she could.  “Come on, bark if you want them to find us!”

“Won’t find uth, won’t thee them ever again…” Rohan shook his head and continued with his litany of misery.

“BARK!” India snapped.  Rohan hauled himself up to a sitting position, his fine gold coat covered in mud, and did as he was told.

There was a crashing sound as two people made their way through the long grass as fast as they could, and then…

“India! Rohan!  Where have you been?”  Mom asked, crossly, but her beaming smile was at odds with her voice.

“I knew you’d come! I told India you’d find uth but thee didn’t believe me” Rohan yelped in excitement, as he jumped up and covered his rescuers in mud.

“You little liar!” India frowned at him, “and it’s no good, anyway, because they don’t speak ‘dog’ so they won’t understand a word you’re saying”

“You are very naughty dogs!  What did I say about staying where we could see you, eh?” Mom had her hands on her hips and a cross expression.

“It wath India! I wath jutht following her!” Rohan protested.

“You little sneak!  Just you wait ‘til I get you home!” India growled softly.

Rohan bounded ahead, turned and put his tongue out at India.

‘I don’t know, pups today!’ India thought as they made their way through the rough grass,  ‘He would have been completely lost if it hadn’t been for me’ she thought, indignantly, but it was difficult to stay cross when you’re heading home in the fading light, with your family all around you and the welcoming form of Turnpike Cottage up ahead.

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