Chpt.01 - Hide & Seek

Written to 3 music pieces: (please save in new windows)

**** FLStudioBeat - Keiron Key

**** In the Wind - 'I hate bush too'

**** Music Box Lullaby - Paul Collier

All programmed to Autoplay & loop - when viewed on desktop/laptop. Not compatible with mobile devices and possible smaller electronics like ipad.

 

 

 

When I turned around you weren’t with me,

So I ran back,

…I never found you.

 

****

 It was out of adoration and loyalty for his captor that kept him slumped and hushed inside the dark and stuffy confines of a stale-smelling, shoulder slung rucksack. Sharp book edges poked and prodded his sides while a moldy vapor of soggy socks and forgotten peanut butter wafted up into his nostrils - poisoning his senses to almost tears. And yet all Mog felt was affection from being placed among some of his favorite things by his favorite person. It wasn’t as if he had been naughty and had been chucked inside against his will either. In fact he even considered it a treat to be granted the privilege. He just wasn’t sure how long this game of ‘Hide & Seek’ was going to go on for and he was starting to become slightly bored and restless, listening to all the snappy voices of Mum, Dad and His Boy – Ashley from inside the depths of his fabric cage.

“Come on, you poxy heap of rubbish!“

“NED!”

“MOVE, for crying out loud, MOOOVE! COME ON!”

“It’s a car Ned, not a camel.”

"It doesn’t matter whether it’s secondhand or new. If I buy it, it’s bound to be a heap of rubbish. Every car I've ever owned has broken down on me. That’s Fledd’s luck that is. All of us Fledd’s have had lousy luck throughout our lives. Old Uncle Jed and Ted were always accident prone and Great Aunt Freda Fledd set fire to her own thatched roof back in the day. I tell you Beryl, if it’s not the washing machine breaking down its the tumble dryer, and if it’s not the tumble dryer then the water boilers burst again. Every other year it’s the car!”

“Are you sure you refilled the petrol? Didn’t I tell you to make sure you had before we came to set off?”

“Do I look so stupid that you think I wouldn’t think of such a thing?”

“Well just check. Be on the safe side.”

“I’m a mechanic, not an idiot.”

“Well we haven’t got all night either have we?”

“I tell you Beryl, people don’t have these sorts of troubles living down by the seaside. When we get there we’ll leave the Fledd curse behind us, that’s a fact we will. Because I refuse to take it with us, I can tell you that now.”

“At this rate we’ll be cursed to live here forever if we don’t get going soon. A full night’s journey is enough to bear without wasting time playing ‘Silly Buggers’ to start with.”

“MUM, can we get in the car yet? It’s starting to rain, I can feel it.”

“I’ve told you already Ashley to stop your whining. We’ll get in when your Dad has pulled out of the drive and there’s room to open the doors without hitting the driveway walls. You’ll remember I told your father at the time that he dug out this drive far too narrow.”

“Well if I hadn’t of had to work around that blooming great big oaf you stuck center of the front garden I could’ve widened it, couldn’t I?”

“But Mum!”

“That oaf, Ned, is my bush.”

“Well your bush grew into a giant great loaf of a fir tree. Look at it obscuring the front of our whole house and up past the chimney.”

“MUM!”

“The man at the Garden Center told me it was a “Flowering Shrub”. I took his word for it. I wasn’t to know any different. ”

“Muuuuhhh-UM!”

“Ashley, hold on a second, we can’t get in while your father’s still pinned in the drive can we!”

“Then how did Dad get in?”

“Your father’s got skinny legs, unlike us”

“My legs are ‘normal’”, muttered Dad.

“Well it’s not as if our legs aren’t!”

“If this heap of crap doesn’t tick over in a minute I’m getting out and kicking it! That’s a fact I will.”

“What good will ‘that’ do?”

“Teach it a lesson, see if it doesn’t.”

“If you break it, we won’t be moving anywhere, will we?”

“Well I don’t want to move anyway. I want to stay here and have my Kai back, and practice for the school play. Move by yourself, f’all I care.”

“Ashley we’re moving whether you like it or not.”

 All Mog heard from the world ‘outside-in’ was nothing but spoken nonsense in various tones; while inside his rucksack he felt an urge to twiddle some feeling back into his squashed numbing toes. A ‘slick-stickiness’ made it hard to attempt but through determination he managed, causing the smell of Peanut Butter to intensify and rise up to drown him along with all the slumping books; until he felt as if he needed to swim back above the surface of the vapor just to breathe. Mog began to fidget straining for the last of the fresh air quickly disappearing above his head. But even that last clear bit of air became contaminated almost as soon as he reached it because from somewhere outside his rucksack, a smoggy cloud seeped inside through the enclosing zip, produced from a throttled-cough squealing out into the crisp evening breeze, turning itself into a gurgled searing scream; followed by a tempered growl of Dad, and very soon after did his fabric rucksack begin to jerk in an awkward spasm against Ashley’s back; rattling Mog and everything else inside along with the tempered boy’s tantrum, shaking up the fumes into one unbearable toxin. At that moment Mog wished to have back the smell of the soggy socks because they had been the most bearable to cope with.

“I.WANT.TO.GET.IN.IT’S.RAIN-NING.I.AM.COLD”

“Well where’s your coat Ashley? Didn’t I tell you to put it on? ”

“-sake, its green!”

“I don’t care, it’s a coat and it does its job. Where is it?”

“I’m not wearing it.”

“Grow up Ashley, you’re ten not a toddler. And why, when I tell you to put everything in the boot are you still wearing your school bag?”

“BOOKS! OR.I.WILL.BE.BORED.”

“Good, then maybe you’ll sleep.”

The rucksack went into spasm mode again and all the squashing contents flumped against each other, causing Mog’s head to jiggle in a giddy rattle [much like when he took a snooze ‘atop the tumble-dryer’] and his feet smeared deeper into the gooey mess somewhere at the bottom of the bag.

“If I let you keep the books you had better wear your coat. Now take the bag off and put the coat on”

“-sake!”

“Just do it Ashley please. I’m not in the mood to argue with you.”

A sensation of ‘rapid plunging’ ended with a thumping THWOMP, as if the rucksack had been dropped.  Spitting an angry hiss, Mog sunk his teeth into the closest book out of spite. Mog was beginning to not like this game of ‘Hide & Seek’ anymore and he decided he’d let his boy know this with a well-deserved ‘claw swipe’ once the bag was unzipped again.

Another throttled scream erupted with more swearing from Dad. A slam of a car door came, then a stomp and a kicking ‘blomp’ against thick rubber.

“Well that’s it then. We’re not moving house after all. Everyone unpack the stuff we’re staying here. I’ve had enough“, Dad announced in a petty tempered defeat.

“Right, where’s the petrol can, I’ve had enough of this palaver? I bet you’ve forgotten to fill it up”

“Wha-? Its in the boot. I’ve already told you Beryl, I’m not stupid, I’m a mechanic by trade. It’s not the poxy petrol, it’s the car! It’s a heap of crap is what it is, can’t handle the cold. If the garage hadn’t of fallen in-”

“Well, we’ll see if it makes a difference when we ‘top it up’ then, wont we.”

“Beryl, are you really going to go rooting through all the luggage, just to be proved wrong- f’sake almighty!“

Along with a metal pop and an uplifting wheeze from the car boot, Mog in his dumped rucksack found himself suddenly yanked upwards and flung side to side awkwardly. He felt as wibbly in his tummy as the time when he had been plonked on a park See-Saw – dropped, thudded, and propelled to flight.

Scrambling, rattling and clanking, with carrier bags crackling, Mum was soon heard huffing.

“Excuse me Ned, but what’s this?” Mum sounded smug as she sloshed what sounded like a heavy volume of liquid inside a plastic carton “It’s completely full. I got this precisely because the car broke down at the end of the road yesterday and I had to push it home and walk to get some. I told you to refill it ready for today, didn’t I? That was what I specifically told you to do and you told me you had. But oh look! What do I find? The precise thing I told you do – undone!”

When Mum ‘started’, she often enjoyed herself so much, she forgot to stop.

                                         *

**** 

With Dad reversing the family car out from the little narrow drive for the last time and stopping against the small bordering brick wall of the front garden, Mum and Ashley hopped down from the grassy garden mound, off the crumbling wall to the road and unclicked their car doors clambering inside; Mum in the front passenger seat and Ashley in the back with his rucksack soon dropped on the floor at his feet. Looking out through the shiny condensed windows for one last look at the guarding fir tree, knowing the sleeping vacant house was snuggly tucked up behind it, the whole family gave a sorrowful sigh. Who knew that saying goodbye to your only-known and cursed-accused house, on a hope of seaside happiness, could be so sad.

 “Well, our dear old ‘Tumbledown’ sure will be missed,” Mum said “I’m sure it’ll give its new owners just as much jip as it has us…with a bit of luck it will an’all”

“It’s like leaving a friend, isn’t it.”

“Or your Mog” Ashley replied sulkily.

“A whole lifetime we’ve spent here, Ned.”

“Well, say goodbye house…and with a bit of luck ‘Good bye curse’ as well. This time tomorrow we'll all be snuggled together watching T.V in our new house, a short walkway from the beach." Dad replied, “Just like we always hoped for.”

“But why do we have to go at night? …and it’s the night before Halloween when all the ‘Creepies’ will be getting ready to come out. What happens if some of them come out early?"

"There’s nothing scary about Halloween, Ashley. You won’t see anything out of these windows. Not now it’s evening, it’s too dark, so there’s nothing to be scared of," Dad answered tactfully, “If anything, they should be scared of us. We’ve got a car to run them over with.” and then he ruined it by adding “If it doesn’t break down on purpose first of course, then we’ve probably ‘had it’”

"Night time is the best time to go because if you’re lucky you can sleep away the travel” Mum added.

“Unless you happen to be the driver…we’re not all so lucky.”

“We’ve got a long journey ahead of us. We’re going to be driving for hours, arriving early morning…that is if your father knows where he’s going, of course.”

Dad groaned in frustration, “Even if I wasn’t driving I’m sure you wouldn’t let me sleep would you Beryl.”

“I don’t want to move anyway.”

“Well you’ll feel differently when you get there Ashley. Now get some sleep.”

"And dream about living here again with Kai?" Ashley sulked to perfection. He had a secret to keep and he was playing his role with his best school play acting.

As the engine began to groan and growl the car set to motion once more and the family were finally leaving for their new seaside home.

"I'm sorry Ashley, but cats just don't get used to moving houses. They run away as soon as you let them outside because they're not used to their new surroundings. You don't want Kai to get lost do you? GrandPop will look after him and you can see him every time we visit. Hopefully your allergies will improve too."

“I don’t care if fur makes me cough. Your perfume makes Kai sneeze.”

“Then all the more reason for Kai to stay with GrandPop.”

“I WANT MY MOG BACK!”

What Ashley wanted he had, because his Mog already sat secretly on his knee, wrapped up in the boy’s coat with only his head poking out, shielded by a large book that the young boy was pretending to read.

Mog was smiling up at a nose-scratched Ashley and Ashley was smiling down at a sticky-eyed Mog. The two of them had a sneaky secret that Mog wasn't sure of, but Ashley seemed to know for the both of them.

"GrandPop loves cats you know that and we haven’t had Kai that long. He’ll grow used to GrandPop in no time at all. We didn’t know you were allergic to cats when we got you one. You don’t want GrandPop to be lonely do you? With us gone he’ll need a friend and Kai loves everyone."

Mum kept talking from the front passenger seat but Mog and Ashley weren’t concentrating. Instead they were playing their game of 'Tease, Scratch and Bite' with Ashley's dark brown fringe and a coat cord.

"Ashley, are you listening?"

"He's not a stupid Cat he's a Mog. GrandPop said so…actually."

'Grampop says so' Mog mimicked inside his own head while smiling his gooey eyes up at his boy in adoration.

"GrandPop is just old fashioned. A Mog is a Cat, silly."

"Nope, they look different...actually. Mogs have a crescent moon shaped head with large eyes that take up the whole of their faces and Cats have rounder heads and smaller eyes, actually. GrandPop told me, because he used to have one as well."

"Ashley, watch your tone of voice with me please! Tell him Ned."

Dad grunted from his driver’s seat and soon told the young boy off for his cheeky tone with his Mother.

"Kai will be fine. He'll keep GrandPop company" - was Dad’s best effort in convincing his pet-pining son.

Ashley looked away from Mog and over his book to his parents in the front seats, "GrandPop will keep him bored in the garden shed, talking on and on about Lawn mowers, metal washers and chick peas...and he smells like cheese and mop-water mixed together."

"Ashley!"

“Well he does…actually.”

“GrandPop loves Kai, and Kai happily plays with anyone. He won’t even notice we’ve gone.”

“That’s because old people never notice nothing.”

“I was referring to Kai. The two will be fine together. We’ll get you a Budgie.”

“I love Kai, he’s my Mog. GrandPop said that his Mog back in the day was his best’est friend and Kai is mine.”

Ashley slunk down into his seat, hidden by his shielding book, snuggling his face into Mog's, quietly sniggering like the naughty ten year old he was. Mog rubbed his face against the boy's, not at all worried about the goo from his eye-corners smearing against Ashley's clawed cheek and he purred quite loudly in his happiness, threatening their shared secret and startling Ashley.

"Shh!" Ashley hushed, tapping Mog’s nose harshly to shut him up. Mog hissed at Ashley, who then tried to clamp Mog's mouth shut with a thumb and index finger; to which Mog bit those fingers and hissed again quite vehemently.

"YAOWW, OUCH!"

Pulling back his fingers Ashley tried to shake out the pain. Mog's front teeth were as sharp as pins.

As Mum began to shuffle her weight around in the passenger seat to look back at her fidgeting son, Ashley only just managed to cover his Mog completely in his coat. Mum was now staring at Ashley suspiciously and confused over his behavior.

"What?" said the boy defensively glaring back at her.

"Tone, Ashley! What have you done?"

"Bent my finger on my book...actually." the boy replied in a temper.

Mum heaved herself back around with a groan and a “be more careful”, while Mog started to worm his head back out from the coat fabric, desperate to breathe again.

"Shh you silly," Ashley whispered, "You have to 'hide' until we get there, otherwise you’ll give us away and we’ll both be in trouble. We’re too close to home, they can always turn the car back around."

Mog was listening, but the only thing he fully understood were the words 'hide'. Mog and Ashley were always playing 'Hide & Seek'… or in Mog’s case - 'Hide & Hide'. When Mog had to hide, he hid, and when Mog had to seek, he also hid; often beside Ashley and the young boy never knew whether he'd been 'sought' or if Mog just didn't understand the rules properly; whereas Mog was just happy that the two of them were hiding together.

"Ashley?”

“Mmm?”

“In the back there at your feet, behind Dad’s seat is a bag or two of sandwiches, crisps and fruit; there’s juice cartons too. So help yourself when you get hungry, but don’t eat it all at once, because it has to last the journey. When it runs out, it runs out.”

"Mmm" Ashley hummed again smiling back down into Mog's large gooey blinking eyes. He wasn’t letting anyone or anything separate him from his Mog.

“Luckily you were spared the school play this year hey?” - a good subject change on Dad’s part.

“I was the Lobster.”

“Ah well, there you are then see, nothing to miss out on; a gnome with an egg and spoon last year, lobster this year…you’ll get much better parts at your new school down by the beach.”

“My teacher said I was the most talented and I could choose first from the list of parts.”

“And you chose a Lobster?”

“The Lobsters get to read a poem actually Dad.”

“Well yeah. That’s the least they could’ve given to such a silly part, isn’t it?”

“Ned, don’t be so insensitive, he’s young. If he wanted to be a Lobster in the Nativity Play that was his choice.”

“‘Noah’s Ark’ actually…Idiots!”

“Ashley, Language!

                                                                                                            *

****

It wasn’t long before the car journey turned quiet from chatter as the late evening soon deepened into night and everyone was beginning to tire and long for silence. The Boy and his Mog kept their secret in the back seat and when they had exhausted all their secret game playing they decided they would eat instead, with Ashley feeding Mog ripped off pieces of his cheese sandwich and squirting him some blackcurrant juice through his carton straw to lap at as it hit his furry face. The clanking car engine hid Mogs forgetful purrs and with the warm blower turned up high everyone was kept toasty warm. Even the digital clock on the dashboard was too snug and lazy to keep the time as they travelled, blinking only a faltered number change whenever it could be bothered. As Dad kept driving, the road kept coming like an endless conveyor belt and the starry clouds outside kept sailing away over the top of their roof.

 Eventually Ashley fell asleep led along the back seat curled up under his coat cuddling Mog, while Mog stared out of the car windows watching the ‘Blinkety’ night stars and the occasional zipping-light that streamed past. Mog was excited to be going on a car trip, but couldn’t wait to get to his new house.  For Mog, today was the day that everything seemed slower than usual: longer time with the books, longer car journey and even longer to wait for his own second ‘plate of dinner’. However, at this moment he was content enough to just curl up by his boy and sail the night away, playing together their longest game of ‘Hide & Seek’ Mog had ever played.

Beside his Boy, Mog was happy; the two of them secured in each other’s closeness.

………

It was later into the night when Mog felt the vibration settle to a steady stop and he yawned; his mouth stretching so wide that his ears pulled back stretching his eyes open. Mog found himself bathed in an orange glow, changing his shiny black fur to a soft ginger. Following the orange light Mog found himself staring out through a condensed window and up at a warp-looming streetlamp. Mog had to squint his large eyes away, because even though it was such a soft light, it was still too much to bear after his cozy nap. Another wide mouthed yawn pulled back his ears for a second time, reclosing his eyes, so he settled back down to continue snoozing. Secure in the warmth of their little family car, Mog paid no mind to the scent of outside rain, nicely mixed with the car’s woodland tree hanging fragrance [dropped somewhere underneath the front gear stick]. He lay contently, listening to the heartbeat and all the lunch-eaten tummy rumbles of his boy. With Ashley, Mog knew he was always safely protected, so he slept with both eyes firmly closed and his ears shut, snuggled like a Teddy Bear in the boys embrace.

*

“Right, we should be at this point…we’ve just gone past Less-Co supermarket and we went under the bridge turning away from Leipy-Gruff’s estate. Then we turned left at the roundabout, away from going straight into Didderkit Town, and so we should now be here just at the edge of ‘Fleet Way’ estate.”

“I thought you knew all the back roads Ned? Short-cuts you said.”

“As I’ve said Beryl, I do know where I’m going. It’s the map that doesn’t make sense. It must be past its sell by date because I’ve already studied the route and none of this is adding up.”

“We’ve only been driving for a few hours, and we’re lost already. Typical! Typical!”

“I keep telling you Beryl, ‘we’re not lost!’, and if you could read a map properly, I’d give it back to you instead of having to keep pulling over at the curb and reading it myself.”

“We’ll be spending this coming winter in a random barn at this rate. Then Ashley can have his Nativity Play and we’ll all know who’s fault it is as to why we never made it to Quormuall.”

“Well if that’s so, I’m sure Ashley will be fine living as a Lobster and writing poems.”

“Avoid the motorway congestion, huh? Great idea that was.”

“Let’s just take a breather and eat our sandwiches…cost me three quid each they did, just for a poultry three-pack.”

“That’s Less-Co’s for you. I’m sure they’re not the cheapest supermarket like they claim to be. I always preferred ‘The Cashda’, myself.”

 Disturbed from his attempt to sleep, Mog wasn’t happy. Looking between the gap of the two front seats, he could see Mum and Dad bickering from where he lay. Turning away he looked back at his boy Ashley, who was still fast asleep led down beside him and hugging his coat wrapped around the two of them. Mog smiled and tucked his sleepy fuzzy face back against the boys chin, closing his eyes to sleep again. Remembering that Ashley had told him to stay hidden, he kept himself snuggled in the boy's coat despite the clammy heat, and it wasn’t long before the vibration of the car started again and the drive continued. Mog dreamt of his favorite times, sitting underneath Ashley’s bed covers with a torch light looking at colourful story pages as the boy read to him (their shared night time routine). Mog didn’t know all the words or what the stories were about, but he liked listening to Ashley’s voice and viewing all the colours of the pages. It was a content and pleasant dream for Mog.

But Mog didn’t stay asleep very long because a harsh sneeze in his ear startled him back to consciousness. Mog frowned at the surprise spray to his face. Blinking, he then smiled and went straight back to snuggling his face beside Ashley’s cheek, slightly higher than before, avoiding his previous dribble patch on the boys skin; his own sticky nose now against Ashley’s sticky nose. The two stuck together like PVA glue pasted between a piece of fuzzy-felt and soft foam. Rain tapped against the window panes unnoticed.

 The next time Mog awoke the car was shrouded in darkness with no annoying orange streetlamps. The air seeping into the car from outside smelt like the rain had deepened and Mog closed his eyes hoping to go back to sleep; but Mum and Dad were talking again.

“Ashley must still be asleep across the back seat, I can’t see him.” said Mum.

“Peace and quiet then.” Dad replied.

“Yes, especially while you’re checking the name of the village, Ned. I could do with a breather of peace.”

“I told you already we’re on the right track, this is Haccaburn Village I know it. We’ve just this second past the Duck Pond, as it stated we would on the map.”

“Well just check it is the right village so as we know we’re on the right route. It doesn’t hurt to be sure.“

“No it doesn’t, but it’s me who’ll be getting soaked through from getting out and having to look, wont it. Why don’t you go and check?”

“Because I’m… sorting out the food rubbish for when you come back, so as you can go and find a bin before we set off again.”

Mum’s nagging disturbed Mog and so did Dad’s groaning. Mog just wished to sleep.

“Poxy rain. That’s flipping Englian weather for you; never known such bad weather as we get here in Poxy Englia. I tell you Beryl, we won’t get rain like this down at the beach.”

 Mog soon found that he was sweltering hot wrapped inside his boy’s coat, so sneakily he quietly shuffled out of it, allowing himself to cool down on top instead. With the intent to sneak back inside once he had cooled, he felt no less securely hidden under the cover of darkness as he had been inside the coat. Trampling down the coat fabric and fidgeting into his new position he tried to continue his nap, but re-opened his eyes as he heard the sound of the driver’s door clicking open. A refreshing flood of coldness filled the inside of the car swirling away all the clamminess in seconds; but the actions of Dad were unexpected and Mog tensed wondering what was going on. Could they be at ‘New House’ already? Mog wondered if he had slept away the many hours of the journey in such a short time. Perhaps he had had more sleep than he realized.

As Mog lay alert on top of Ashley’s coat he listened to Dad’s footsteps getting further and further away on the outside of the car, and once the sound completely disappeared he tilted his head straining to hear them better. Mum was next to startle him as she began to rattle carrier bags and crackle plastic in her passenger seat. Mog soon found himself with only a few seconds to notice her invading hand reaching blindly into the back with him and Ashley through the gap of the two front seats, stretching out towards him. Mog knew that Mum’s claw swipe was no match for his and just as he was going to take his shot at her to show her so, she changed direction and felt about at the edge of their seat instead; eventually reaching further down towards the floor and pulling up a carrier bag. Mog slunk himself as far back against Ashley as he could while watching Mum pulling away Ashley’s used food bag.

Mog blinked and relaxed hoping to get comfortable again but Mum wasn’t quite finished. As Mog made to go back to sleep she began to rattle foils and plastics, causing Mog to re-open his eyes looking miserable. Soon a stuffed carrier bag full of rubbish was stuffed back down onto the backseat floor annoying Mog further. When Dad’s footsteps were heard returning Mog was more pleased and it wasn’t long before the driver’s door was opened by Dad, poking his rain-wet face back inside. Soon, Mog knew, the soothing vibration of driving would rock him back to sleep, so he waited patiently to relax again. But it wasn’t so.

“Well?”

“Yeah it is Haccaburn. I told you so.”

“How do you know?”

“Because…there’s a Village sign halfway down the road.”

“The bag of rubbish is down in the back on the floor, so you might as well check on Ashley while you’re there. Make sure he hasn’t got one of his fevers again. Hopefully they’ll start to get better from now on.”

With the telltale sign of Dad’s feet moving towards the back seat door of the car, Mog’s ears pricked up and his tail straightened instantly, eyes wide and neck fur on end.

“We’re playing ‘Hide & Seek’ until we get to ‘New House’” Ashley had strictly warned him before he had then been coaxed inside the boy’s rucksack earlier that morning in ‘Grampop’s garden. Again in the car Ashley had said “You must hide until we get there” and Mog wasn’t sure they were even ‘there’ yet. After all, Ashley hadn’t said they were, he was still sleeping.

Dependent on Ashley, Mog panicked.

If they weren’t at ‘New House’ yet, then that meant the game wasn’t over. With his boy hugging the coat too tightly, believing he was still hugging Mog, there was no space to crawl back inside and hide.

 With the clunk of the back door handle, Mog darted on reflex with an impulse to obey Ashley and hide from Dad.

“I’m glad he’s finally asleep. When he wakes up, this old life will seem no more than a dream and we can all start afresh.”

*

 With the back door now open and the smell and sound of heavy rain flooding into the comfortable warmth of the car, Mog crouched in the gathered mess of empty drink cartons, raggy cling film pieces, bread crusts and sharp smelling crisp packets; hidden inside the floaty bubble of a flimsy plastic carrier bag. It wasn’t much like Ashley’s school bag [the one he had originally been stuffed in] because this bag didn’t have closed zips to undo and was already open for him to crawl inside. But this one, unlike Ashley’s, felt less secure and every movement and breath he might make would become a crackling threat to giving away where he was. So staying completely silent he waited for Dad to hurry up and go away again so as he could climb back on top of Ashley and snuggle himself down to sleep. However, Dad’s actions were not distinguished by any sounds and Mog had no clues as to how secure his hiding place was or what Dad was up to. All he could do was wait patiently under the security of darkness and the distraction of the rain. When he did finally hear a noise from Dad it was nothing more than a slight shuffle against the fabric of the car seat and Mog tilted his head, sharpening his ears to listen harder, allowing a few bag crackles to escape around him.

But it was then, as Mog was blinking his eyes and hoping Dad was leaving, that there was a crinkled scrunch to the handles of his carrier bag. With the flimsy plastic gripped not far above his head, Mog was yanked and hauled up from the carpeted car floor. The sudden disappearance of the surface beneath his feet had him slumping down into a mixed up sea of snack rubbish. 

All too soon came the clunk of the back door closing and with the sudden chill of the cold night, Mog started to panic about what was going on. Dregs of blackcurrant juice spat at him from dribbly carton straws as he and all his surrounding contents swung back and forth beneath Dad’s grip. His flimsy bag plastic, now pelted on from the rain and jabbing him at every angle, offered no safety or comfort and even the cold was able to bite at him through its delicate cover.

"Poxy Englian weather, always flipping raining…we won’t get rain like this down at the Beach!"

Dad’s wet slapping footsteps hurried them both along into the miserable unfamiliar of the angry night. Mog just rocked in motion, perplexed. Light and shadow tinged around his bag plastic until it all turned dark. Not far into the outta edge of the car light’s perimeter did Dad stop, refusing to trespass any deeper into the pitch black. Here Mog found himself swung and jerked about into a giddiness.

“Expected to find a bin in a village that clearly hasn’t heard of street lamps am I? Well that’s Fledd’s luck that is. That’s Fledd’s luck.”

There was a short pause, and then a hurried sway and running patter. Not knowing what he should do, Mog stayed quietly slunk among his sea of rubbish. This was the strangest game of Hide & Seek he had ever played and he no longer liked it very much. He liked it even less when there came a sudden bump to his back and the carrier bag handles were rustled about with leaving a new side surface against his back instead of under his feet.

“This’ll just have to do. It’s raining ‘Cats and Dogs’ and I’m not soaking myself to the bone in this dead and dingy old place.”

The next thing Mog noticed was that Dad’s voice sounded as if it had lifted away. Then when he heard Dad’s wet slapping footsteps quickly hurrying off, yet he himself wasn’t moving, his ears sunk and his fur turned static as he hugged his tail. When the distant sound of the family car started up to then fade in a faint hum, it was confirmed to Mog that he had been left all alone.