Page 30 of Break the Ice

Lordy, this man is easily pleased. ‘I guess I’ve seen it before so it’s lost its impact on me.’

‘It’s the history of it, you know? The early fundamentals of engineering, basic physics, the mystery of how it would have been constructed, the spiritual meaning of the arrangement.’

‘The projectional geometry,’ I add, beginning to get why he’s so amazed by it all. ‘It’s a maths thing. I guess I always look at it and think it’s a bit rudimentary, compared to something like the pyramids, you know? You should come here in June, when all the midsummer crazies come out and dance around them. It will be warmer at least,’ I say, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

‘Do you know people do that as they think it’s an ancient calendar to mark the solstices?’ he says.

‘They do it naked covered in flowers. Norah once had a fact file that said it was a place for sacrificial rituals. The sort of place you’d burn witches and cuckolds. On a quiet day, you can hear their cries.’

‘Really?’ he says, leaning into the silence.

‘I’m pulling your leg. I’m cold.’ I go into my pocket and pass him a mince pie.

‘You had these in your pocket?’

‘For energy,’ I tell him. ‘Mince pies for us, treats for Steve in the other pocket,’ I go on, reaching down to give him one. But as I look down, I see Steve has gone.

We both look around in panic, Joshua spots there is no dog at the end of his lead. ‘You unclipped him?’ he asks.

‘So he could have a little wander,’ I say.

‘But what’s his recall like?’ he says, panic-stricken.

‘His what now?’ I say. ‘I… I assumed there’s no one about. I thought he’d just have a wander and then come back – Steve?’ I call out.

‘Phoebe, we literally christened him two hours ago. He doesn’t know that’s his name yet? STEVE!’ he says, freaking out.

Never mind the bloody snow and these stupid stone formations, I’ve lost the dog. Don’t dogs just come back? Why would he have run away from us? We’re nice people. ‘STEEEVVVE!’ My voice echoes through the fields as we run up and down along the fence. How the hell am I going to explain this? We took the dog to see Stonehenge, we let him have a run, he disappeared. Sorry. I can almost see Norah now, rolling her eyes at me, swearing lightly under her breath.

‘Joshua? Can you see him?’ I say, running back to him. He looks pale, his breath clouding the air.

‘Oh crap,’ he suddenly mumbles. ‘That’s not…’

I follow his gaze over to the majesty of the stones, where Steve is in a squatting position basically having a dump. It must be the shock of seeing these stones and their magical presence. It’s too much. How did he jump the fence? How do I jump the fence? I put my foot in the wire and use a wooden post to lever myself over, and land ungracefully on the cold snowy ground. Did Joshua just laugh at me? If he did, I’m going to kick him in the baubles. He hurdles over the fence much more ably than I did and we trudge through the snow. ‘STEVE!’ I yell, but that wasn’t the best move. He must hear my frustration, eyeballs me and scoots off again.

‘Don’t shout at him, you’re scaring him,’ Joshua says.

‘Then how will I get his attention?’

‘Change your tone. Let him know you’re not angry.’

‘I gave the dog frigging Evian, he should know I’m not an enemy,’ I say, lifting my legs high to get through the snow.

We reach the point where Steve was squatting. Holy hell. That’s not good poo and I’ll guess it’s because he’s had quite a mix of food in the past few hours. I watch it steam in a heaped mess, like a wart on this perfect white landscape. I have to pick this up, don’t I? Mainly because it’s so amazingly visible in the white. Maybe we can pass it off as some sort of religious offering to the stones.

‘Geez, Louise. That’s like something out of Jurassic Park,’ Joshua says. ‘How did that fit inside of him?’

‘I don’t bloody know! I haven’t had a dog before!’ I snap back, reaching into my bag to get my festive poo bags. ‘I don’t even know how to pick it up. I need a shovel or something!’ I wear the poo bags like gloves and scoop up as much as I can, a grimace etched on to my face. ‘Frigging yucks and shit and fuck and urrgh…’

‘It must have been all the walking, must have triggered something inside him,’ Joshua says.

‘Like IBS?’ I shout angrily. Joshua knows to back away at this point. He dodges in and around the stones to look for Steve, like he may be hiding from us.

‘Is he chipped? Tagged?’ he calls out to me.

You literally told me all this dog needed was treats and pats on the head. ‘I don’t bloody know. You didn’t tell me about the recall thing or I never would have let him off the lead.’

Joshua stops for a moment to look at me. ‘Hold up there. That’s just common sense. You barely know that dog, you don’t just let him run free.’