Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist)

© irene waters 2014

I took off on my usual route down Skye Road. I let the dogs off the lead as soon as we reached the school as from this point on the traffic was non-existent with only a few houses on the route. As we passed the first house I stopped for a few seconds to chat with a friend who was out in her garden. Jerry was keen to go in to say hallo as he was often given meaty treats here but I stopped him and continued on.

The walk down the road was always relaxing. The vista we looked out on was paddocks down to the Barrington River with the cows grazing. Hares were plentiful along this road and the dogs were good at flushing them out but they never succeeded in catching one. Ducks were also common and I used to worry about the adult duck that would do a peculiar walk as though injured managing to keep just ahead of the dogs as they gave chase. It didn’t take me long to realise that this duck was acting as the decoy to give his young a chance to escape to safety as they could not yet fly. 

This day however there was no animal life apart from the cows visible and we had an enjoyable amble to the river at the end of the road and then we returned. We were some way from my friend’s house when Jerry broke into a run and raced in to her front yard. I heard the screams and broke into a run myself.

She was screaming like a banshee. “He’s got my cat. He’s got my cat.” I called for Jerry to come which he did immediately. Thank fully there was no evidence of blood or fur on his mouth and naturally the cat had gone into hiding. She continued to scream that the cat was injured under the house. Bit by bit I calmed her down, reassuring her that nothing had happened to her cat whilst inwardly I was praying nothing had.

I had been there  for around fifteen minutes and she was finally managing to smile when her husband came out of the house with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was red in the face turning to white when he saw that she was alright and laughing.

“Don’t you ever scream like that again” he said. “I thought someone was killing you. I heard you scream and I jumped out of the bath and slipped on the floor and hit my head. I’ve been trying to get out here since and here you are laughing.” It was no wonder he was angry and I felt very guilty that I had been responsible for all this angst.

I got home and the conversation was still in full swing and they hardly noticed my return. I sat and worried until I rang later in the evening and found that both the cat and the husband were fine after their ordeal. The next time I walked down the road workman were busy installing gates that could be closed. 

© irene waters 2014