Crash

Silverstone

The next morning, Penelope's peaceful-but-slightly-hungover slumber was rudely interrupted by what could only be described as loud barking coming from the hotel hallway. At first, she figured she must be dreaming again, some kind of weird sleep state. Unfortunately, after a few long minutes of noise, she concluded that wasn't the case. 

"Charles," she grumbled, nudging him with her foot as he snored beside her, seemingly undisturbed. "Wake up."

No response. His eyes remained firmly shut as he continued to sleep, even when she kicked him again. This time, she put a little more force into it, and he opened one eye, pulling a face. "Wake  up," she said again, another loud bark echoing from outside. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" he mumbled, already starting to slip back into sleep. 

"The dog barking. It's like 6am, can you go see what's going on?"

With his eyes closed, Charles snuggled back under the duvet, doing the exact opposite of what she wanted. "Maybe later..."

Outside, the noise seemed to grow closer. This time, however, it was accompanied by a loud knocking on their door, sudden enough to startle her. Penelope looked at her sleeping boyfriend and came to the realisation that if she wanted something done around here, she'd have to do it herself. "Fine," she said, pulling her slippers on and stomping towards the door. "Guess I'll go, then."

Again, someone pounded at the door. "Alright, alright!" Penelope called, fumbling with the lock. This was strange. She wasn't expecting anyone, and it was too early for someone to be looking for Charles. His day wasn't scheduled to start until 8:30am. So, when she opened her door and found a woman standing there carrying a very small, squirming puppy, it was safe to say that she was extremely confused. 

"Oh!" the stranger said, her hair a mess and her face flustered. "Finally! Here, take this."

Suddenly, Penelope found herself holding a dog, her mouth agape. The woman nodded her head like her mission was complete, hanging a bag full of what looked like puppy essentials on her arm and placing a stack of papers into her hand. "Um-"

"That's everything I discussed with Mr Leclerc. Any questions?"

"I, uh-yes. Yes, actually, a lot of questions. I'm sorry, I think there's been some kind of mistake. This isn't my dog."

"Is this room 16?"

Penelope nodded, still holding the dog. It had calmed now, sitting happily against her chest despite how awkwardly she was clutching it. 

"And are you Penelope Jonas?"

Again, Penelope nodded, suddenly aware of the fact that she'd answered the door in nothing but a T-shirt. 

"Well then, this is your dog. As I said, everything previously discussed is in that info pack. There's enough food in the bag to last until you fly home and she's been cleared to travel. Listen, I really have to run. Good luck!"

Penelope's eyes went as wide as saucers as she struggled to stop the door from closing. "Wait!" she called, the dog barking at the sound of her voice. "Don't go! You forgot your dog!"

Unfortunately, the woman either didn't hear her, or was too busy to care. It was like being visited by Santa on Christmas morning, except Santa was a brown-haired woman in her thirties without a beard, and instead of presents she'd been given a very small furry mistake that wasn't at all on Penelope's wish list.  

For a minute, Penelope and the dog just stared at each other, neither sure what to do. She was young, that was clear, with blonde fur so pale it was almost white. She knew enough about dogs to recognise that she was a Labrador, straight out of the Andrex commercials. The more she frowned, the more the puppy seemed to fuss. "Uh...hello?" she said, patting her head. "Hi buddy. Don't suppose you know where you're supposed to be, do you?"