When apricots will forget - FINISHED -

Behind the fence

I have always walked around apricots. My parents had plenty of them in their garden and their smell awakens something nostalgic in me. But apricots don't grow in winter and weren't enough to save my mother and younger brother from starvation.

"Curry! Curry! Cuuuuuurry!"

Ezik screamed at the top of his lungs and looked around. The path he had been walking on for an hour now was deserted and the lack of wind left the trees around him still. He could only hear the sound of birds flying from tree to tree. After a few seconds, he stepped between two groves. As he entered a darker part of the forest, he swore as his left foot disappeared into a pool of slush. I've been crawling behind him for at least twenty minutes, he grumbled to himself, and for all I know, that ingrate will be coming back to me fresh from chasing rabbits.

Ezik stopped, out of breath, and shouted again. The screams that came out of his mouth rasped in his throat and he cursed the cigarettes he smoked daily. Long before he had vowed to quit at thirty, but had recently shifted that limit to thirty-five, unable to keep his resolution.

Seeing that his calls were unsuccessful, and having caught his breath, he took his phone out of his pocket and hesitated to call home. But to say what? That maybe he had lost the dog? That he would be home late, but he didn't know when? Or to ask his wife to come and help him in his search? It was best not to panic. He checked the time on the screen; it was not yet eight o'clock in the evening and the sun would not set for a good half hour. It was a good thing it was summer, he thought, the good days are long in northern Germany. It was to take advantage of these extra hours of sunshine that he had decided to take the car and go for a walk away from the traffic and the people. On the route they had taken on foot from their improvised parking place, he and Curry had only come across one hiker in two hours. Ezik had enjoyed the flat path between the wheat fields where small wooden signs on the side of the road regularly reminded walkers of the distance to the next notorious Jesus on the Cross.

Ezik set off again, heading deeper into the forest. He was getting more and more worried that he was going the wrong way and getting further away from his furry friend, instead of closer to him. He thought he would be able to find his way back with the help of the GPS on his phone, but leaving without his dog was out of the question.

Actually, Curry wasn't Ezik's dog. Ezik had "adopted" the animal automatically when he got married and if Ezik had been rather indifferent to animals until then, he had come to know the dog, to love it and to consider it a full member of their family. He had become accustomed to going out with him, sometimes alone, for several hours at a time and loved the special relationship they had developed over time.

As he considered turning back, hoping, but not expecting, to find Curry waiting quietly at the car, he heard a bark in the distance. He threw himself towards the noise, ignoring the state of his clothes rubbing against the tree trunks, unknowingly scratching his hands and face as the thin brambles passed by. He alternated walking and running through the thickets and came to a clearing. His eyes appreciated the renewed natural light and he could look into the distance.

A little lower down, Ezik saw a small house with a red façade and a steep roof, typical of the region. He approached it, looking around to see if he could see Curry. When he was close enough, he saw that a fence separated him from the house and several dozen meters of garden. He saw a brown shape wiggling at a point on the fence. Relieved to have found his dog in its entirety, Ezik quickened his steps and only at the last moment noticed the white shadow kneeling next to the animal, stroking it through the bars.

The dog sensed his master's presence and jumped towards Ezik. Ezik bent down and wrapped his arms around the animal's neck. Curry was a medium-sized Labrador with a short German Shepherd coat and a black patch on his back that stood out against his brown coat. After having accepted, without ceasing to wag his tail in satisfaction, several caresses from his reassured master, the dog pointed his muzzle towards the fence and walked nonchalantly towards the white silhouette which had meanwhile risen.