Thankfully Tessa always kept a few spare leashes in Effie’s Jeep just in case an emergency dog-walking opportunity popped up. Effie dug around in the side-door compartments – ugh, where were they? Checking that Theo was distracted by the corgi (he was still muttering to himself about its heft), she used her magic to pinpoint the leashes. Under the passenger seat. Of course.
Leashes in hand, she hurried over to Theo, clipping one of the leashes to the corgi’s collar.
Meanwhile, the terrier had approached and was running circles around them, barking like this whole situation was a grand game.
‘That one’s trouble,’ said Theo with a chuckle. ‘I like him.’
‘We’ll bribe the others with the baked goods,’ decided Effie. ‘But no chocolate, I promise.’
She grabbed a paper plate of angel cake and waggled it, wafting her hand to spread the scent of the food. The golden retriever perked up, lumbering over with curiosity in its eyes.
‘Gotcha,’ said Theo, clipping a leash on the dog and stroking its soft head. ‘There’s a good boy.’
Using a combination of cake bribes, whispered invitations and (when Theo wasn’t looking) the odd sparkle of magic, they slowly rounded up the others, using Theo’s belt and Effie’s purse strap as emergency leashes when Tessa’s leash collection ran low.
In true terrier form, the patch-eyed dog remained elusive, darting back every time Effie or Theo tried to catch him. But he remained close by, happily barking up a storm.
‘Now what?’ said Theo, who was being pulled in all directions by the dogs, like a balloon seller on a windy day.
‘They’re not going to fit in the Jeep,’ said Effie. ‘Well, maybe that little guy.’
The terrier ruffed joyfully.
‘Why don’t you let him ride with you, and I’ll follow on foot,’ said Theo.
‘Deal,’ said Effie. She tempted the terrier inside the Jeep with the promise of even more baked goods. He climbed on her lap, poking his head out the window and barking the entire way as the car crawled down to Bowow’s, Theo and his profusion of dogs following after them.
Watching him in her mirrors, Effie couldn’t help but laugh. This was all so silly, and she was loving every minute of it. The awkward situation with Tessa and Bonnie earlier had all but slipped from her mind.
‘Bowow’s house is that one,’ she called out the window, pointing at an enormous manor of a place with a wrought-iron fence decorated with gilded dog medallions. The house was a gorgeous red-brick estate with decorative masonry and wraparound verandas, on which Bowow’s extensive canine family napped on sunny days. When they weren’t running around the streets.
She pulled over, waiting for Theo to catch up.
‘Wow, she’s committed to the whole dog thing, isn’t she,’ marvelled Theo, taking in the dog statues dotted around the ample lawns. Effie’s favourite was the fountain sculpted toshow three dogs playing, with the top one leaping for a frisbee. In the summer, Bowow would have the water on, and the frisbee would spurt water from all directions back into the base of the fountain.
‘Truly. I was the notary on her name change.’
‘Really?’ Theo blinked in surprise.
Effie laughed. ‘No. My goodness. Come on – let’s get these poor dogs home.’
She turned the Jeep into the driveway, preparing to type Bowow’s gate code into the keypad (the birth year of her favourite romance cover-model). But there was no need, as the gate was wide open.
‘I think I see the problem.’ Theo grimaced. Then he turned his attention back to the dogs, patting them in turn as they clamoured for his affection.
Maybe there was something wrong with the gate mechanism. Effie couldn’t imagine Bowow leaving the gate open, not with all of her pups running around. She was the kind of person who double-checked everything: whether she’d turned the stove off, the front door locks, the prognostications of her horoscope.
They hammered on the door for what felt like hours until Bowow answered, clad in Dalmatian robes that she was very hasty to explain were not from real Dalmatians.
‘Do you know what time— Oh!’ Her tune changed immediately when she realized that the duo had come bearing a veritable army of dogs on leashes. ‘Are you volunteering to walk them?’
‘They were running about all over the place,’ said Effie. (The unleashed terrier still was, in fact.) ‘I think your gate is broken.’
Bowow’s brow furrowed as she stooped to hug her dogs. ‘It can’t be. I had it serviced just last month. And I definitely...’ She squinted over at the gate. ‘I definitelythinkI closed it.’
‘I think they’re all accounted for,’ said Effie. ‘We didn’t see anyone else running around.’
Kneeling, Bowow patted the velvety heads of her dogs, murmuring gentle words to them in a tone that sounded to Effie almost like a spell. Because that was what so many spells were, something spoken with heartfelt intent, a cadence with intonation that meant something. There were whole phrases in the language that changed the state of the world – pronouncing two people married, for example – and others that reshaped or reinvigorated emotion, feeling.
