15
The next morning when the wind had stopped blowing, the mist came down thicker than I’d seen before. It lapped at my feet when I opened the door, like my house was an island. Dog strode off into it, and lost his legs and hovered smoothly. In the woolshed I dug out the unopened fox bait that had been there since I moved in. I put it in my pocket and thought about how probably I wouldn’t lay it, but it was good to feel like I could if I wanted to. I doubted it would do anything much to an animal the size of the one I’d seen on the way home. I tried to remember the shape of the thing, but all I had left in my memory was a set of yellow eyes.
Outside Lloyd was shaking his finger at Dog. I started when he yelled, ‘No!’
Dog sat at Lloyd’s feet, with his ears back and one foot raised. He looked pissed off.
‘What’s going on?’
Lloyd ignored me and said Dog’s name in a creepy way. He was saying it the way people talk to a baby, with too many ups and downs so it sounded like ‘Doo-erg’, and looking Dog right in the eye at the same time. The hackles on Dog’s shoulders were up more every time Lloyd said it, until Dog couldn’t take it any more and barked his warning bark, the high-pitched one that meant Get lost. As soon as he’d barked, Lloyd yelled ‘NO!’ in a deep voice and Dog cowered down, but his ears flicked about and he looked ready to murder.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ I asked.
When Lloyd looked up, Dog started to slink away up the field.
‘The book says you need to get him to know his name.’ He bent down and picked up the book lying on the ground which he’d taken with him from the pub. I hoped nobody had seen. He read out, in a booming voice, ‘“Your puppy should learn his name right away. Say his name often in a gentle voice.”’
‘Dog is four years old, and he knows he’s Dog already,’ I said. ‘You’re just pissing him off. He’ll bite you.’
Lloyd carried on, ‘“It is imperative you teach your dog not to bark when working. Yell NO! at him harshly. If he does not listen, grab him by the nose and say NO! firmly.”’
‘He is going to bite you,’ I said again.
Lloyd waved his hand at me. ‘We have an understanding now,’ he said and looked around for Dog, who was still trying to make his way inside without being noticed. ‘Here!’ Lloyd shouted sternly, pointing to his feet, and fair do, Dog shuffled back to him. ‘See!’ said Lloyd, resting his weight on a crook and looking very pleased with himself. ‘He knows who’s boss.’
I went back inside, put on a pot of coffee and watched from the kitchen window. Lloyd started up with his gooey naming again and Dog barked, three times, so Lloyd shouted NO! NO! NO! one for each bark.
Dog’s ears were flat to his head, and he put his bum up in the air, his chin down low. ‘Doo-erg,’ said Lloyd, pointing at him. Dog made six high-pitched yips, wiggled his arse and lunged at Lloyd’s face. After impact, Dog seemed free of rage, and trotted happily back towards the house, his work completed.
Lloyd was bent over, cupping his nose in his hand. He checked for blood and there must have been some because then he threw his crook away from him and stamped his foot like a toddler. I let Dog in and gave him a biscuit.
When Lloyd came in he had his scarf wrapped around his face and neither of us mentioned it. He glanced at Dog and Dog pretended not to see him.
‘I’m going to check on the sheep,’ I said, looking at the space near his head.
‘Great,’ he said, maybe a bit too brightly, ‘I’ll come too.’
‘I did warn you, and to be fair, so did Dog.’
Lloyd poured himself some coffee. He took his scarf off to drink.
‘It was more of a head-butt than a bite,’ he said.
I nodded, taking in his red nose. ‘He must like you.’
Lloyd squinted at me like he was trying to work out if I was taking the piss, and I tried to look serious.
On our way out the door, Dog caught a mouse and tossed it about while it squeaked, keeping it alive for too long. Eventually though, he crunched it up. Lloyd avoided looking at him.
‘Sometimes I don’t know you at all,’ I said to Dog, but he wasn’t bothered.
We walked in silence up the steep way to the top field. Lloyd wheezed behind me. When I looked there was a soft frown on his face and he leant heavily on his stick. I stopped and pretended to check the fence. Lloyd panted.
‘What are those for?’ he asked, pointing at some dried moles that hung from the fence. Don’s work.
‘Telling the time,’ I said.
‘Really?’ He bent down and squinted at the closest mole, as flat and dry as the sole of a shoe. ‘Is it like a sundial?’
I looked at him to see if he was joking. He switched eyes.
‘They make the ground lumpy,’ I said, but he either misunderstood or didn’t understand anything at all because he continued to squint at the mole from different angles. We moved on up the hill towards the top field, and I picked an old sloe and handed it to Lloyd.
‘You can eat these,’ I said, and he bit into it.
‘Fuck,’ he said, and spat it out.
I laughed. ‘Have you not seen Crocodile Dundee?’
Lloyd wiped his mouth over and over on the back of his hand.
‘Stop picking on me,’ he said.
At the top of the hill, I shook a can of feed and watched the faces bob up and scrutinise me. A few of the greedier and more pregnant ewes started forward, their bellies swaying like hammocks.
‘I need to move some of them into the shed,’ I said. ‘Could use your help.’ Usually one or two went their own way when I tried mustering them down to the pens, and it took a while on my own to get them back.
Lloyd looked steadily at the sheep approaching and said nothing. He looked like he was thinking about running away. I tied Dog to the fence so he wouldn’t interfere.
‘You stand there,’ I said, pointing to a spot just beyond the gate, ‘and stop them from escaping.’ I opened the gate to the top field. ‘Wave your hands about if they run for you. Shout at them. That sort of thing.’
‘What do I shout?’
I looked at him.
‘Whatever you like.’
I rattled the shaker again and a few more lifted their heads up and stared. Some began bustling down towards us, others followed.
‘Here sheep sheep sheep,’ I called.
As they got closer, I backed away, so that they would follow me into the other field. The first fifteen or so were in the bottom field, and then a Blueface with twins inside her gave the eye to Lloyd. He saw her coming and sent his legs wide apart and waved his arms about. The sheep kept on going, and Lloyd yelled, ‘Fuck you!’ at the sheep, which peeled off away from him and back down the hill. Dog whipped around on the end of his rope like a pike eel.
I closed the gate and gave them what was in the shaker.
Lloyd untied Dog, who peed angrily against the gate post then patrolled up and down, his hair raised. Lloyd leant heavily on the fence.