Chapter 3: The Dog Prince

Past

Jeremy chased Miles down the corridor. His faded tee-shirt and shorts were so big they flapped around his arms and legs. He didn’t care, he was having fun. The boys ran fast and when they rounded the corner they bumped into a wall, bounced off it and landed in a laughing heap.

‘What’s all this racket?’ Mrs Chester came down the corridor, walking faster than the boys could run. ‘Jeremy and Miles, get up off the floor!’

Her voice was cross, but then she smiled. ‘You’ll hurt yourself. Go to your room for some quiet time.’

‘Yes, Mrs Chester.’

‘Oh, and take this. You need it more than me.’

She gave them a brown paper bag. Miles opened it up and sniffed. ‘Vegemite sandwiches!’

‘My favourite!’ Jeremy stretched his neck long like an ostrich and smiled with his teeth.

The boys ran to the dormitory where the youngest children slept. Third corridor on the right, then the second on the left, then the fourth door. Everything looked the same here. Same corridors, same doors, same dormitories.

They were puffing when they reached their room. Jeremy’s bed was fifth from the right and Miles’s was fourth. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, they were all an identical grey, like a box fort with no exit.

The room was empty. The sandwich was all theirs.

‘Deeee-licious!’ Jeremy gave an adult-sized nod of his head.

‘She didn’t even yell at us for sneaking inside at playtime.’ Miles spoke with a mouthful of Vegemite.

‘Yeah, we’re not in trouble at all!’ Jeremy bounced on the mattress.

The metal bed creaked each time he moved. Grey paint flaking off a grey frame, grey sheets, grey blankets. Miles had the same bed. So did all the other boys. But some colours managed to sneak in. Ricky’s teddy bear with its red bowtie, Miles’s collection of toy soldiers, Jeremy’s drawings on the wall.

A small set of drawers sat next to Jeremy’s bed. In his top drawer he kept the collection of clothes strangers had donated. In his second drawer he kept his most prized possessions, a notepad and a packet of fat crayons.

Jeremy took them out and began to draw. Miles scattered his soldiers across the floor and Jeremy drew them playing footy. He drew Ricky’s teddy bear cheering. When Jeremy saw something he liked, he drew it. When he thought of something he wanted, he drew it.

He turned the page and drew a man and a lady holding hands with a messy-haired boy. The boy’s mouth was a U.

Jeremy and Miles were outside, chasing each other again. They ran across every centimetre of the grounds, reaching up as high as their arms could stretch, squeezing into as many corners as they could find. They were dogs, they were soldiers, and they were winged horses flying away to a new land.

The boys ran around the building where they lived. It took a while because it was big. A big, old house with peeling paint and windows that went up three levels. Jeremy thought the windows, with their criss-crossed bars, looked like a game of checkers.

Jeremy and Miles ran alongside the brick walls that surrounded the house. Jeremy looked up but couldn’t see over. He didn’t care. When he ran with this friend, he was free.

The boys only stopped when they crashed into Mrs Chester’s legs. Jeremy looked up at her face to see if she was smiling or frowning. Her mouth was a straight line, but she pat Jeremy and Miles on the heads. It was the same way Ricky pat his teddy bear when he was tired.

‘Attention, children!’ Mrs Chester’s voice was loud.

Bit by bit all the children gathered in front of Mrs Chester. They jiggled and chattered as they waited for her to speak, but she was waiting for them to be quiet. It took a while for the children’s excitement to drain away to stillness.

‘Everyone, I need you to come with me to the hall right now. I have a very special announcement.’

Mrs Chester’s voice didn’t sound excited like it normally did when she mentioned something special.

Jeremy and Miles walked side by side, keeping to the back of the group so they could speak without Mrs Chester hearing.

Ricky slowed down to join them. ‘What’s a special announcement?’

‘Not sure.’ Jeremy thought about Mrs Chester’s serious voice. ‘Maybe some news for us?’

‘A surprise!’ Miles jumped around like a juice box being shaken.

‘Maybe we’re getting a present like we did at Christmas!’ Ricky jumped up and down too.

‘It could be toy soldiers!’ Miles’s voice got louder.

‘I don’t think so…’ Jeremy remembered Mrs Chester at Christmas and it was different from today. But he wanted to be excited like his friends, so he blinked away his worries.

‘It could be more Vegemite. Or crayons!’ Faster than he could run, Jeremy made plans in his head about the things he’d draw with new crayons and paper. Horses flying in the sky, dogs, aeroplanes, the whole world.

‘I don’t care what it is.’ Ricky stopped jumping. ‘As long as it’s something.’

Jeremy and Miles high-fived. ‘Yeah!’

The three boys ran to catch up with the other kids who were shoving each other to get through the door. They burst into the hall, then ran to the front where the youngest children sat. Behind them sat the older children and at the back children who were hardly children sat on chairs.

From their cross-legged position, Jeremy and Miles had a view of adult feet standing in front of them. Sometimes they’d play with Mrs Chester’s shoes, brushing off flecks of dust and tracing scratches with their fingers. But this time Mrs Chester gently kicked away their hands.

Next to Mrs Chester’s old brown shoes were a pair of shiny black ones. They were laced in a perfect bow and had pointy toes. Jeremy could see his reflection in them. He looked up and saw a man who looked just like his shoes. His beard was pointy and so black it shone. So were his hair and clothes. The man’s eyes were black too, like pieces of coal that filled a naughty kid’s stocking at Christmas.

Everyone was fidgeting, even the adults. They spoke to each other using their fingers, as though they were tracing question marks in the air. Mrs Chester scuffed her shoes against each other and looked around the hall.

The only person who didn’t move was the man. Even his eyes were still. Jeremy thought the man might not be real until he opened his mouth to show a tidy row of tiny white teeth. Jeremy’s heart moved up to his throat and his body shivered.

Mrs Chester cleared her throat. ‘Okay children, time to listen. As you can see, a special guest has come to talk to you. But first I have some important news.’

Jeremy and Miles looked at each other.

‘Presents!’ Miles spoke with his lips but not with his voice.

Jeremy gave Miles a thumbs-up even though he knew there wouldn’t be any presents from that man.

Mrs Chester continued. ‘You are such lucky children. Wonderful things are going to happen to you.’ She looked around the room swift enough to avoid eye contact with any child. ‘Until now, we’ve never had enough money to care for you in the way you deserve. Until now, we’ve never had enough money to get you the new clothes and schoolbooks you need.’

‘And presents,’ Miles whispered.

Mrs Chester didn’t mention presents though. ‘We try our best, but sometimes the world doesn’t care about orphans. You don’t have as much as other children. And I’m sorry for that.’

It was a speech they’d heard before. Jeremy and Miles started pinching each other. Soon Mrs Chester would tell them that at least they had a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in and that she’d always be there to look after them.

She didn’t tell them that, though. ‘From now on, things will change. Things will be better. From now on, you’re going to have even more than other children.’

The boys stopped playing and sat up straight.

‘You’re such lucky children because a very kind organisation has taken an interest in you. They’re going to help you so that you can grow up with everything you need, and more. You’ll be given a good education. You’ll be taken on field trips and taught all sorts of interesting things.’

Mrs Chester stopped talking and smiled at the children. Jeremy wondered why her smile looked like plastic. Eventually, the older kids at the back of the hall clapped politely. The younger ones joined in.

When they finished, Mrs Chester spoke again. ‘Doctor Gottlieb works at this kind organisation. He’s come here today to talk about his plans for you. Can I hear a round of applause for Doctor Gottlieb?’

Before the children could clap again, the man with the pointy beard stepped forward with his hand held out in a stop motion. He walked in a wincey way. A man in a bright yellow jacket came through the door with a chair and the pointy-bearded man sat down.

‘Thank you, Mrs Chester, but there’s no need for the children to applaud. I hope you’ll all forgive me if I sit. My back is painful. War injury, mates.’

‘Oooh!’ Miles grinned.

The man spoke quietly and everyone leaned forward to hear. Jeremy thought Doctor Gottlieb’s voice sounded like a cat, if a cat could talk. But he couldn’t tell if the man was happy or sad. He couldn’t tell by looking at his face either.

Doctor Gottlieb used a lot of long words Jeremy didn’t understand. And he kept calling the children mates, which seemed like the odd word out in his speech. The doctor’s purring voice made Jeremy feel sleepy. Soon he stopped trying to listen and instead poked at a new hole in his shoe.

After a long time, Doctor Gottlieb finished talking. Mrs Chester said that seeing as today was such a special occasion the children could go outside for extra playtime.

‘No presents!’ Miles sighed as the boys pushed their way towards the playground.

‘Just school stuff.’ Jeremy sighed too. ‘Who cares about that?’

Ricky pouted. ‘Not me!’

‘But I do care about extra playtime!’ Miles ran off outside with his arms spread in an aeroplane position.

Jeremy and Ricky chased after him, shrieking.

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