Me: I’m in trouble again.
Nell: Why?
Me: Dave gave me a reproachful look.
Nell: Being Left Behind is never easy.
Me: What do you mean?
Nell: We mature dogs are used to Being Left Behind but the younger ones struggle and David is still young at heart.
Me: Are you talking about Alice and I going out to lunch?
Nell: Going out to lunch at the Cottage Hotel you mean.
Me: Well, yes.
Nell: My favourite hotel.
Me: You weren’t Left Behind on your own. Kev was there and he said Dave and Harriet were happily playing in the garden.
Nell: No mention of me?
Me: You’re happy resting in the yellow chair nowadays, Nell.
Nell: And your point is?
Me: Everyone had lots of cuddles when we came home.
Nell: Guilty Cuddles.
Me: Stop it. This is a very special time for me. It might be a year before I see Alice again.
Nell: I know. I’m only teasing you. We’re all happy to see you happy.
Me: Thank you.
Nell: Now, you know Mothew and Harriet have been in meetings with Sally?
Me: Yes.
Nell: According to a reliable source, the Beefies have formed a new alliance.
Me: Is the reliable source your friend Dorothy?
Nell: I couldn’t possibly say.
Me: Is NOIR involved?
Nell: The Notorious Organisation of International Rooks?
Me: Yes.
Nell: It might be.
Me: Who else?
Nell: Herr Hoffmann knows.
Me: But Herr Hoffmann is a good bear.
Nell: We thought he’d started calling the Beefies his ‘darlinks’.
Me: Wasn’t it ‘luffly girls’?
Nell: The point is, he was actually talking about the Starlings.
Me: Starlings?
Nell: Mothew saw one with a Beefy on top of the wardrobe.
Me: Maybe they flew in by mistake?
Nell: With a half-eaten biscuit?
Me: Right. Sorry.
