Superstars: Irish Courage

Irish Courage - Chapter 10

Alice had gotten into a rhythm; her arms pumped on either side of her and her feet hit the pavement at a steady pace as she sprinted through the long lush green grass of the field just off the road into Melody Hills.

Romeo was running beside her, panting after every stride, and kept up with her as they ran. Mud was kicked up and it coated the both of them thoroughly because of the storm from earlier but that didn’t stop them, they’d been running for a full forty-five minutes already and were still going strong but Alice decided it was time for a break. She slowed to a jog and started to cool her muscles as she let her heart beat calm then moved to a walk, she moved towards a lone tree that stood in the middle of the field and leant against the trunk as she tipped her head back and breathed deeply. Her run was good and having Romeo with her had been a plus but now the big hound was laying on the ground, in the mud, tongue panting and acting as if he’d run around the world in less than an hour.

Alice sighed and observed the scenery around her and knew that she would never see anything like it again; the grass was so lush and fresh that it looked like it was something out of a painting with blades of lemon yellow and dark green while purple and blue wildflowers were dotted around in clusters. The tree she leant against was tall and wide with healthy green leaves and branches that were low enough to climb up on without too much effort and since the town was tucked away there was no road noise what so ever.

She looked down at Romeo who was looking up at her from where his head lay now in his paws and pursed her lips; she took in a breath then let out whistle. His ears perked up and he lifted his head as Alice cocked her head to the side, she did it again but this time let her pitch go higher and then back to normal as she added another part to her melody.

Romeo stood up and then sat on his hind legs as he looked up at her with his head cocked to the side as if trying to understand what she was doing. Alice smiled and knelt down in front of him then looked him dead in the eye and whistled her tune again, he kept her gaze and then lowered his head as Alice scratched in-between his ears.

Alice remembered that Bud said as long as she was authoritive Romeo would do what she wanted and Alice thought that she should maybe put that to the test. She looked around and when her eyes fell and a fairly sized stick she picked it up and hefted it in her hand then looked down at Romeo.

He stood up quickly and started barking and jumping as Alice walked out from underneath the tree and threw it through the air. Before she could even look Romeo had disappeared into the long grass and she lost sight of him, she knew he would be searching after the stick and she knew that it had landed quite far away from where she stood but it still made her nervous about not seeing him.

Alice looked out for him a little longer and then decided it was time to call him back, she took a deep breath and then whistled, even though it was quiet Romeo would of heard it. It was proven that dogs could hear up to a mile away in some situations and Alice knew for a fact that Romeo was only a few yards away.

She could hear the grass rustling after she finished whistling and knew that he was on his way; she stood back and watched as he jumped out from the long grass and landed in front of her with a thud. He dropped the stick that he held in his mouth onto the ground and barked at her to throw it again.

Alice laughed and did again before whistling for him to come back and they started running again. They took a short trip through the forest and let the smells and colours overwhelm them as they started to make their way back which meant they had to re-trace their steps to get back to the field they were at before.

However when they did step out of the cover of the forest and into the field Alice spotted a tall shape at the tree where they were stood once before, She strained her eyes to try and see who it was but came to the conclusion that she didn’t know.