Not too far away, Lobbus was about to leave home to meet an old friend – a llama named Roy – for a game of backgammon. Suddenly, at the end of his street he saw a big scary grey dog running as fast as it could straight for him. He realised it was Grayston running towards him as fast as Grayston could run – which was very fast indeed.

Oh no, Lobbus thought, Grayston is angry that we took the rubber ball back from him for the children, and now he’s after me!

Lobbus started running away from Grayston down the other end of the street. But Grayston was a very fast runner and he was catching up, getting closer and closer.

Grayston was puffing and panting but he managed to call out. ‘Lobbus! Hey, Lobbus!’

Lobbus too was puffing and panting, but he turned his head in the direction of Grayston as he was running away from him and said, ‘It’s not me. You’ve made a mistake.’

‘It is you,’ called Grayston.

‘No, it’s someone else entirely, someone who just looks like me,’ called Lobbus, puffing very hard.

To make matters worse, when he got to King’s Square Street, some of the humans from Friend’s Herring Shop accidentally got in the way. They were putting up signs, posters and banners telling everyone that tomorrow was the opening of herring season, a day to be celebrated by all. But Lobbus was not so happy to see all of these signs. They forced him to slow down, and now there was nothing between him and Grayston but a table and two chairs.

‘Stop running away, Lobbus!’ shouted Grayston between puffs.

‘I tell you, I’m not running away!’ said Lobbus, moving around one side of the table.

‘Yes you are!’ puffed Grayston as he got to the other side.

‘Oh yes, you’re right. What I meant to say is, “I tell you, I’m not Lobbus”.’

‘You’re not Lobbus?’ asked Grayston, still chasing Lobbus.

‘No.’

‘But you are running away,’ said Grayston. He circled around the table trying to catch up with Lobbus, who was also circling around the table as he tried to keep away from Grayston.

‘All right, I’ll grant you that I am slightly running away, yes, it’s true.’

‘You sure look like Lobbus,’ said Grayston, trying to catch him around the table.

‘A lot of people say that,’ said Lobbus, trying to pick up speed.

A number of humans who had been standing in line at Friend’s Herring Shop waiting to buy some fried cod with chopped onions moved away quickly at the sight of what looked like two crazy dogs running around a table outside.

Then these people narrowly avoided being hit by other people who were riding their bicycles. The bicycle bells suddenly rang out and the people who were almost hit called out ‘Sorry!’ They didn’t know which way to turn.

‘If you’re not Lobbus, why are you slightly running away?’ asked Grayston.

‘Because,’ puffed Lobbus, ‘you think I’m Lobbus and I wouldn’t want to be Lobbus right now.’

‘Why not?’ asked a huffing Grayston as he went around the table after Lobbus.

‘Because I think you might want to bite Lobbus on the rump,’ cried Lobbus.

‘No, I don’t!’ said the puffing Grayston.

‘Well, Lobbus doesn’t believe you,’ said Lobbus, very much out of breath now.

‘I thought you said you weren’t Lobbus.’

‘I’m not. I meant to say, if Lobbus were here he wouldn’t believe you.’

‘How do you know?’ asked Grayston, going around the table in the direction of Lobbus’s tail.

‘I know just how Lobbus would react in this situation,’ said Lobbus, running around the table.

‘How would he react?’ asked Grayston.

‘He would react very much like me,’ said Lobbus.

‘Amazing!’ said Grayston, still going around the table. ‘You and Lobbus don’t just look alike, you even think alike.’

Some of the tourists standing near Friend’s Herring Shop came closer to the table and started taking photos.

‘Would you like me to give him a message?’ asked the exhausted Lobbus.

‘Who?’ asked Grayston.

‘Lobbus!’ said Lobbus as he went around the table.

‘Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble?’ asked Grayston as he went around the table still after Lobbus.

‘No, not at all,’ said Lobbus, wondering how many times he was going to have to go around the table.

‘Okay,’ said Grayston, ‘please tell Lobbus … Oh, I haven’t planned out my message properly. I don’t want to get it wrong,’ said Grayston, still chasing Lobbus.

‘Well, do you want to go home, think about it and come back?’ asked Lobbus, puffing.

‘Will you still be here running around this table when I get back?’ asked Grayston.

‘I can’t see why not,’ said Lobbus as he went around the table one more time.

But just then both dogs heard a voice.

‘Hey, Lobbus, there you are! I thought we were meant to be playing backgammon.’

Both Lobbus and Grayston stopped to see Roy Llama approaching them in front of Friend’s Herring Shop. They each stood on the spot, panting heavily.

Grayston looked hard at Lobbus on the other side of the table. He tilted his head from side to side. Then he started to laugh and laugh.

Lobbus didn’t know what was going to happen next. He tried to remember that ‘brave’ was part of his name as he fought back the feeling of being frightened.

‘Ha!’ said Grayston. ‘That stupid llama thinks you’re Lobbus!’