Chapter 3

Rock at home

When they all arrived home, Lucas took Cuch by the lead into the kitchen and proudly showed him his new bed, complete with large, comfy cushion in the corner, next to the fridge.

There was an alcove in the kitchen where a walk-in pantry used to be, but the family removed the pantry door and a wall to make more space. It created a nice snug area. There was a sloping roof in the corner because the stairs from the hallway were above.

“Here’s your bed, c’mon boy,” he said.

“And here’s your toys and your own bowls and your new blanket...”

Lucas carried on, fully aware of his mates mimicking him, making daft noises as if he was talking to a baby.

“You’re never gonna be cold again,” Lucas promised, ignoring his mates’ mock shivering.

“Tell you what mate,” Tom said. “I’ll give him a week here and he’ll be pleading to go back to the rescue centre. At least it was peace and quiet there. He didn’t have to listen to your mum and dad’s rock music!”

Lucas just gave a sideways look and carried on giving all his attention to his new four-legged friend.

There were a few more days until it was new term at school, so there was plenty of time for walks and kicks about with the football in the park - with the dog in tow.

Lucas was just beaming. And, as it turned out, he wasn’t the only one who was besotted. Him mum and dad loved Cuch instantly too and he quickly became the fourth family member.

Word got round that the Lucas household had acquired a dog, so a few days later another of Lucas’s school friends (who he had a secret crush on) turned up at the front door.

“Hi. I’ve come to see the dog with the stupid name,” Grace said, standing on the doorstep, blonde messy, curly hair blowing in the wind.

“Cuch!” Lucas shouted. “Come and meet the girl with the stupid hairstyle!”

Cuch came romping through to the hallway and was met by squeals of delight from the one with the unruly hair.

“Does he sit? Does he give his paw?” she asked.

“Of course he does,” Lucas answered. “And more.”

Luke proceeded to show off Cuch’s newly learnt skills, which included sitting, giving paws, rolling over and heeling - following Lucas to heel whatever direction he went.

Cuch could also smile and sneeze to order!

“He smiles and sneezes when you ask him to?” Grace said. “Don’t be so stupid! No dog’ll do that.”

Lucas got Cuch to concentrate.

“Cuch,” he said quietly and determinedly. Give us a smile. Smile!”

And Cuch responded by raising his upper lip - not in a malicious way, but just sort of showing his top set of choppers, which resulted in the funniest looking smile!

Lucas then breathed in and gave a big mock sneeze - and so did Cuch!

Grace laughed and laughed - so much that her curls seemed to bounce all by themselves.

“You clever boy!” she announced - to the dog, that is. All eyes were for the dog, not Lucas.

To Grace, Lucas was just a good mate, none of this girlfriend/boyfriend nonsense.

Janine popped into the kitchen to make a coffee - then disappeared back into the lounge to do some ironing.

The sounds of Quo’s Roll Over Lay Down boomed through the hatch between the kitchen and the lounge. Not too loud for once, but loud enough.

“Still rockin’ then?” Grace said, nodding towards the hatch.

“Yea, it’s old lady rock,” Tom laughed.

“Hey look! Cuch is rocking too! He likes the music!” Grace said.

“What you on about?” Lucas replied, thinking she was just winding him up as usual.

But - no - unmistakeably - the dog’s head was going up and down - in time to the music!

Lucas watched with his mouth open, unable to say anything.

A kind of gasp came out of Lucas’s mouth, a kind of incredulous gasp.

And the more he watched, the more he found it hard to say any words that made sense.

It was Grace who eventually said the obvious: “Lucas. Your dog is headbanging!”

The track on his mum’s compilation CD was coming to an end. Lucas had heard the CD so many times before that he knew what was up next: The Final Countdown by Europe.

There was a slight pause, then the opening bars, then Cuch’s head was unmistakeably going up and down.

Lucas burst into the lounge.

“Mum! I need more Status Quo! Now!”

“What?” Janine said puzzled. “You hate Status Quo.”

But Lucas was already gabbling something about ‘great 12-bar beat, something to get handbanging to’ and he was rummaging frantically through the CD collection like someone demented.

“Got it!” he yelled.

Janine actually unplugged the iron...

‘I got a big fat momma’ blasted out, as Lucas turned up the volume and ran into the kitchen.

He ran back into the lounge with Grace and Cuch and shrieked at his mum to watch.

“Watch what?” she said.

Lucas stood in the centre of the lounge as if to start a performance.

“C’mon boy, let’s dance!” he said.

And Cuch promptly jumped up onto his hind legs, placed his front paws on Lucas’s waist - and the pair of them headbanged together in perfect timing throughout the song!

When the song finished Janine stared at the pair of them.

Cuch’s tail was wagging like crazy - and he was smiling!

“What did I just see?” Janine asked.

“Mrs L - your dog loves rock music!” Grace pointed out the daft news.

“Dogs aren’t into music,” Janine said, not sounding at all convincing. “They can’t tell one piece of music from another.”

“OK, let’s try that woeful CD someone bought you for your birthday, that Abba one,” Lucas said. He quickly found it amongst the scattered pile on the floor.

The sounds of the classic ‘Dancing Queen’ filled the room.

All eyes were on Cuch - who lay flat on the floor - and put his two front paws over his ears.

Lucas cut the track short and rummaged for another classic.

“Let’s try this,” he said - setting up Black Sabbath’s Paranoid to play.

As soon as the first bars played Cuch was up on his hind legs, from paws resting on Lucas. The pair twirled around, heads going in time to the beat.

Cuch even managed a little jumping flourish as the final bars ended.

Janine sat in the silence with her eyes wide open.

Cuch ran around the room, tail wagging - and a great big smile on his face.

“Mrs L, this is not normal,” Grace said slowly. “This - is - NOT - normal.”

Janine still couldn’t speak.

Eventually she managed quietly, “There must be some explanation.”

“Yea. Cuch loves rock music!” Lucas said. “Let’s try another naff one, then another rock one.”

On came the sounds of a Barry Manilow CD, bought by Janine in one of her more reflective moments.

No response from the dog. He just wandered off looking bored.

Next up: Metallica.

Now Cuch seemed to let himself go even more. Not only was he headbanging, every now and then his back legs would leave the floor altogether as he did a kind of leap into the air.

“This - is - awesome,” Lucas said. “I just can’t wait to show Tom and Louis.”

And he was straight onto his mobile phone.

“You have just got to come round to my house, right now,” he told Tom, sounding breathless and excited. “Bring Louis with you.

“I have something really awesome to show you.”

Louis was knocking on the door within 10 minutes, closely followed by Tom, whose brown, shoulder-length hair looked uncombed to say the least. It seemed as if Tom had fled straight out of the door when he got Louis’ call.

Louis, fairer skinned than Tom, looked as if he would burst with anticipation. His long spikey, sticky-up hair, looked equally unkempt.

“What’s so awesome that we have to rush round right now?” Tom asked, not unreasonably.

“Just come and see THIS...!” Lucas kind of shrieked as he ran into the lounge shouting ‘Cuch! Here Cuch! Here boy!’

“Yea, we know. It’s your dog,” Tom said, sounding really disappointed.

“Sit down!” Lucas barked at his mates.

Tom and Louis, sensing this was something serious, did as they were told - but exchanged glances which spoke volumes.

“Lucas has lost it,” their eyes said.

Lucas started rummaging like someone deranged through the CDs.

“Yes!” he shrieked, picking up an Iron Maiden classic.

“Cuch. You’re really gonna love this one!”

Tom and Louis glanced at each other again, now feeling slightly uneasy.

The opening bars of ‘Fear of the Dark’ sounded heavy and melodic.

Cuch’s ears pricked up. He sat up. The song hadn’t got going yet.

“What the... ”Tom tried.

“Shhh! Wait and see!” Lucas told him.

And then the twin-lead guitar riffs pierced through the air and the song’s tempo really picked up.

And so did Cuch.

He did a kind of twisted leap into the air, then really got into the music.

Lucas joined in with the dance. He and the dog twirled, leapt and headbanged together right to the end of the track.

Lucas didn’t even look at his mates once during the whole ‘performance’ - because he was laughing and enjoying himself so much.

The song finished and Lucas turned the stereo off.

Tom and Louis were sitting staring - in silence.

It seemed like an age, but then Tom leapt up and shrieked ‘You Tube!’

By the end of the afternoon there was footage of Cuch with Lucas, his mum and dad, Louis, Tom and Grace all having a dancing party to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. They watched the footage back on the computer and laughed at Cuch’s antics until they were breathless.

Later that night, when Alex came home from work everyone wouldn’t even let him take his painter’s overalls off before he watched You Tube.

Even Cuch watched himself on the screen - and looked pretty pleased with himself.

“That is one crazy rockin’ dog,” Alex said after watching the footage to the end. “Know what? I bet he’d love to go to a rock gig!”

He was joking, but that statement somehow planted a seed in Lucas’s mind - a seed which just grew and grew.