Firstborn

Chapter 2: Khamosh Valley

"Please just get us over the gate and then I will give you the money and you can go."

"Look, you don't have to do much - just keep you taxi's headlights on so we can see," Una pleaded.

The taxi driver looked over at Una and then brushed Dad's arm off and made his way to the gate. Una looked gratefully at him.

"What are you going to do about the dog?" the taxi driver asked Dad tersely. Dad didn't respond.

All this time the dog had been quiet but that didn't mean it wasn't ready to pounce once their legs were dangling on the other side. Una nudged her Dad, "The DOG?"

"Father we are going to climb the gate, call off your dog," Dad pleaded.

"Tommy come! Tommy come!" Her grandfather tried a few times without much conviction and as expected Tommy didn't heed him at all.

"Sorry Vivek, Tommy's new and isn't yet trained to come when commanded. We have to tie him up to keep him away from our guests, and he needs to be much calmer for me to be able to do that. Go and come back tomorrow morning, this gate is not opening until then."

  "Father, just open the gate..." Dad tapered off his words when the old man closed the inside door and the accompanying light disappeared.

Tommy was still calmly gazing at her. Could she take a chance with him Una wondered? Perhaps she should test the waters first.

"Dad don't say anything just be very quiet while I try something."

Her Dad was about to protest but she had already starting whispering to Tommy, "Good boy, Tommy, good boy." Tommy whined softly – she didn't have a dog but that had to be a good sign. Nervously she crouched down on her heels close to the gate, side on in the least threatening way possible. Tommy scuffled closer towards her. Once he was nearby she patted her leg and he came even closer and shyly placed his paw on her lap.

"Handshake? Hmm," Una spoke to him in a very calm voice and gently picked up his paw in her hand and shook it lightly. Keenly, Tommy nosed further; holding his ears back slightly with his tail held a little off the ground and made a wide sweeping wag. He tried to put his nose through, but failed. Una took his eagerness to mean he was curious so without any hesitation, she put her hand through the grill very slowly. He clearly liked her smell and his eyes relaxed and mouth closed. She couldn't help chuckling; she hadn't thought it was possible to get closer but he did with a mighty THUD! He shifted on his bottom until he was comfortable, whilst maintaining friendly eye contact with her. Una confidently ventured her hand further, much further until she was able to reach under his ears and neck and stroke him.  Tommy was beating his tail against the gravel on the other side, completely at ease with her.  The taxi driver was getting impatient and pretended to cough. With a last pat she got up and dusted her legs down.

"Fine, I'll climb the gate and show my grandfather whose boss."

Boldly, she placed her foot onto the grill and kindly Tommy moved back a few paces, intuitively giving her space and then lay on his tummy and put his head on his front paws and just watched. 

The gates were mostly made of fancy grills. Fortunately for her, the holes were large enough for her to put her feet in, consequently making it easy for her to climb rapidly to the top. Once she was at the penultimate grill, she realised her luck had run out; the spikes were sharp long spears with potential to, at the minimum lance her skin, through her favourite Levis or do serious damage if she miscalculated the height of the spike while raising her crotch over it. By her assessment there was no way her dad was going to scale the gate because his size twelve feet toecap weren't going to fit in the grill and if they did the spears would be too challenging. Her Dad owed her one. Sensing the moment of the crossing of the spike, the taxi driver shone the light over them precisely, and in slow motion she slowly lifted her leg over the spikes and brought it down the other side. Levis intact, she nippily slid down the other side to the padlocks at the half way position.

"Dad, from this moment on, just follow my instructions without questioning them."

"Fine" he curtly retorted.

"Okay first of all switch off the headlights of the car...and no questions remember." The taxi driver went over to the taxi's steering wheel and switched off the lights, after handing the torch to her Dad who looked a little flummoxed. How was it that the taxi driver could fathom what his daughter was up to and he couldn't?

"Dad pass the suitcases and the rest of the stuff," She had to use her head to help balance the suitcases down; she wished she could just drop them over the side but they contained Grandma's English porcelain figurines. She sneaked a quick look at Tommy who besides cocking an ear was relaxing and resting his eyes while his head rested over his forelegs.

"Now Dad I am going to unlock the padlock and you are going to unlatch the door from the top quietly. First I need someone to shine the torch light onto the padlock."

He nodded in agreement but couldn't quite comprehend how she was going to open a lock without a key? Oh boy was he in for a shock! Nimbly she stepped down on to the ground and coolly took out one of the larger hairpins holding up her hair and then snapped it into two at the bend. She swiftly bent one straight end at ninety degrees and then bent it again two thirds of the way down for leverage. Next she deftly pulled a smaller and thinner pin from the back of her hair, snapped it in half and put the straight half in her mouth. Tools a ready,  she positioned the larger bent pin in the bottom part of the lock and applied some pressure on it. Next she coolly took the thinner one out of her mouth and placed it in the top hole and wiggled it about. She kept adding a little more tension on the bottom until click!

Her dad just stared at his daughter in disbelief. He wanted to reprimand her on one hand and on the other congratulate her. His mind mulled over his locked storage at home. Perhaps her handiwork explained why his recently purchased duty free premium Vodka tasted of water...

"Pick up your jaw from the ground Dad and pass me the torch." Quietly he passed the torch to her; released the latch and slinked through the gapping gates, brought the two gates back together quickly and applied the latch again. Una in turn snapped the padlock closed, switched on the torch and walked quickly over to Tommy and began to pet him heavily to distract him.

All this time, Tommy had been quiet. However as soon as her Dad walked away from the gate towards the house, he rose quickly and began to make low growling sounds whist baring his gnashes at Dad again.

"Hey Tommy this is my Dad, he's your owner's son. I know he looks nasty but he isn't" she spoke in a gentle and calming tone.  She was kneeling on his side again and carried on quietly talking to him as she pet him under the collar. Her Dad made his way to his father's veranda and then stopped abruptly, "Wait! I've got to hand the torch and the money to the driver."

They both turned to where the gate was but they couldn't make out the shape of the car or the taxi driver. The car and taxi driver had vanished.

"How is it that we didn't hear the car doors opening and closing, or the engine starting or even the wheels reversing on the gravel?" Una asked incredulously.

She didn't expect a reply and wasn't given one.

Tommy began to bark again; Una could sense a presence at the gate but couldn't see it. Tommy sensed it too. He paced two steps forward, cocked his ears and then lifted his canine head and like his ancestors of old, let out a mournful howl. A huskier and longer howl resonated in answer through the chilly evening air, forcefully parting the clouds away from the moon. Mesmerised, Una stared up at the moon and when she brought her gaze down she literally jumped out of her skin when she met Tommy's glowing eyes glued on her.  He must have had them before when she used the torch and the headlights were on but they hadn't registered.

"See what you have done – you have only called the wolf out," an outraged voice growled. Una ascended the steps and for the first time in her life, she stood face to face with her Grandad, separated by a screen door.  In the light of the lamp she glared back at him. He stepped back and this time he allowed them in.

On the other side of the gate a lone wolf stood and watched with a taxi driver's badge tightly clutched in his mouth.

A/N
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