‘Okay, ready to go? Where’s Bruce?’ Walter asked on Thursday afternoon.
‘In her bed in reception. I just checked,’ Erica replied.
They were in the hallway just about to place Milton Barrow in the hearse for his final journey to the nearby cemetery. Erica had done a few of these trips, but today she felt a cloak of overwhelming sadness around her. Knowing it was probably all about Bruce and Erica projecting human emotions onto the dog didn’t seem to help. Every time she’d looked at her curled up in the soft bed, she thought the dog looked forlorn. She’d noticed Bruce was occasionally still a little wary near Walter, which made them both sad and him a bit frustrated. Erica could tell. She regularly shuddered at idly wondering what the poor dog might have been through and had to overcome.
They’d discussed taking her with them, but Walter had said it was too soon. Erica agreed they couldn’t risk the dog getting in the way and tripping someone over by getting underfoot. And there was the lingering question over the comment about her being too nippy. She supposed it just wasn’t worth the risk until they knew her better. Though she’d spent a lot of time with Bruce and hadn’t had any issues – the dog had been beautifully behaved.
She did of course have in the back of her mind Michelle’s story about the time she’d taken Daphne into the child care centre she managed – where she’d caused utter mayhem – as a reminder that dogs could be unpredictable at any time. Apparently, Daphne had taken the kids’ squealing with fear as squealing with delight, and when they’d hidden under the desks she had sought them out, thinking she was playing hide and seek. And Daphne was impeccably well trained and behaved!
‘Never again,’ Michelle had declared. ‘I see why they say never work with children or animals; what was I thinking mixing both?’ Thankfully no one had got into any trouble, though they had brought in a counsellor to talk to the scared kids, just in case. But it had been an ‘absolute headfuck’, Michelle had said a week later after downing several quick glasses of wine – purely medicinal and absolutely necessary, she’d declared when she’d looked up and noticed her friends’ raised eyebrows at both her drinking and spray of foul language, in neither of which she usually indulged. All the while Daphne, causer of said mayhem, had sat beneath the table with a smug grin on her face.
Having noticed the dog, Renee had laughed and said that perhaps the poor dog hadn’t relished spending time with children, either, and had deliberately got her wish for it to be a once-off event.
‘As if she’s that clever,’ Michelle had said.
But it had left Erica wondering. Renee always said animals were smarter than humans gave them credit for. And often smarter than humans, full stop. Michelle usually agreed, but had been mentally too scarred by Daphne’s recent shenanigans to do so right then.
Bruce had barked several times spontaneously and randomly and had even growled on a few occasions. At absolutely nothing, as far as Walter and Erica could tell.
She didn’t tell Walter, but it triggered her trauma and she became jumpy all over again – not that she’d completely stopped being like that.
‘Maybe there are ghosts in here,’ Walter had said idly while going through some paperwork at the desk, not pausing or looking up at one bout of barking.
‘Stop it, Bruce,’ he’d commanded and the dog had. Erica hoped the dog’s behaviour had something to do with its previous master still being in the building and that peace would reign after today’s service.
‘Right. Good to go?’ Walter asked when they were all loaded and seated in the hearse in the garage at the back of the building.
‘Yep,’ Erica replied and snapped her seatbelt closed as the roller door behind the hearse went up.
At the cemetery, Erica wished whoever was in charge had planted some trees. As it was, it was quite desolate. She thought this every time she came out here. They obviously needed to leave space around the perimeter to keep extending the area, and she supposed there wasn’t enough of a gap between the rows of graves for planting. It was neat and tidy, which was more important, she decided. And at least out here it was unlikely anyone would be required to take their relative’s headstone because the grave was needed for someone else, as she’d heard was happening in the city, where they’d run out of space. Here paddocks left bare or planted with crops came up to the fence.
They’d just finished getting everything set up and greeted Jennifer, who was officiating, when the first car arrived. Today was just a graveside service – no church or hall portion first. They’d come out earlier and set up the portable gazebo for shade. It also doubled as protection from rain, but today was fine.
As they’d left to go back to get Milton, Erica had been about to query if it was safe to leave the gazebo unattended – she’d have offered to stay with it – but then reminded herself that this was the country.
They greeted Edith and Aiden and the rest of the family surrounding them and ushered them to their seats. Erica noticed Edith was now using a walker with wheels and seemed to have aged a lot since they’d seen her standing outside her house just a matter of days earlier. It caused another wave of sadness to roll through her, but she pushed it away to focus on the event.
It turned out to be a small gathering – they’d ended up printing far too many of the service sheets.
They had just pressed play for the first piece of music in the service when out of the corner of her eye Erica noticed a dog trotting across the gravel towards them. It was a blue heeler who looked just like … Bruce …
Oh, fuck, it is Bruce! She tried to catch Walter’s eye, but he was looking at the ground at his feet on the other side of the grave from Erica. Erica watched the dog trot over to Edith Barrow and sit not at her feet, but right on top of them, her head between the old lady’s knees, her eyes looking up at her. Edith patted the dog and then leant forwards and wrapped her arms around Bruce’s face, having to bend down low and close to the dog.
‘Bruce!’ Erica heard one of the young granddaughters exclaim, only to be silenced by a glare from her father and a tap on the hand by her mother on her other side.
Erica held her breath, not sure what to do. How the hell had the dog got there?
No, it must be a different dog, she thought, relaxing slightly. Bruce didn’t really have any distinguishing features; she was just a blue stubby thickset cattle dog. No doubt she was sister to this one. She relaxed a little. Yes, that was it. Bruce was locked up safely back at the office – they’d made sure.
But hadn’t the girl said her name? She must have misheard. Erica looked up at the same moment Walter did. His mouth went into an O shape and she was sure accompanying the tilt of his head towards the dog and the frown etched in his face were the mouthed words, What the hell? Erica made her eyes wide and shrugged slightly in response. She thought she heard Jennifer clear her throat.
Soon the service was almost over and she was handing out flowers to those present to toss into the casket along with their final thoughts or words. Today it was heads of lavender in their basket – from someone’s garden and dropped in earlier that morning by a friend of the family.
After a while the scent started to bother Erica. Her nose really had become super-sensitive since leaving her job on the ground floor of David Jones. It didn’t help that everyone seemed to be inadvertently crushing the lavender heads – or perhaps on purpose – before releasing them.
When the casket had been fully lowered and the small crowd dispersed, Aiden Barrow came over and, ignoring Jennifer but glaring from Walter to Erica and back again, hissed, ‘What the fuck is that stupid dog doing here?’
‘Oh, so it is Bruce, then?’ Walter said.
‘Of course it’s bloody Bruce! It’s your bloody dog. Well, you took it in.’
Suddenly Erica wondered where Bruce had gone – she’d got caught up with finishing the service and had lost track of her. She and Walter turned and looked over and there was Bruce still sitting at Mrs Barrow’s feet.
‘With all due respect, Aiden, she doesn’t seem to be doing any harm,’ Walter said.
‘In fact, your mother appears to be enjoying her company,’ Jennifer chimed in.
Without another word, Aiden stalked away and gathered his wife and son to him. Then, as if as an afterthought, he went to his mother – left alone with one of the young grandchildren and Bruce. He was clearly the head of the remaining household. The other adult siblings stood by silently, having been herded into a small group. Erica gasped as he gave Bruce a shove with his foot. She glanced at Walter, who said in a growl, ‘Aiden. Don’t you dare be cruel to the dog.’ Erica was a little shocked, but wanted to throw her arms around Walter for defending the creature.
‘Yes, Daddy, don’t hurt Bruce,’ the child said.
‘Aiden,’ Edith said, in a half-hearted warning tone.
Erica watched them leave and, when they couldn’t see her, looked at Walter, who had his lips pursed and was shaking his head slowly from side to side. She’d never seen him look so stern. And it was her fault – she’d assured him Bruce was locked up safe and sound.
Keen to mitigate some of the damage, Erica strode over to where Edith Barrow was being shoved into an empty wheelchair by her son.
‘I can walk,’ Edith snapped. ‘I’m not dead yet.’
‘Edith, Mrs Barrow, I’m really sorry about Bruce’s intrusion.’
‘I’m not; it was a lovely surprise.’
‘Oh. Um, well, does that mean you want to take her back?’ Erica held her breath as she waited for the reply. She looked from Edith to the child beside her, who she thought looked about eight.
‘Dad won’t let us have her,’ said the child.
‘And I can’t: I’m being put into the home. Thank you for taking her,’ Edith said.
Erica was careful to let her breath out quietly. ‘She’s a lovely dog. Though, a little bit naughty, judging by today’s antics,’ she added, smiling.
‘Can I come and visit Bruce some time?’ asked the girl standing beside her grandmother.
‘Yes, of course you can. Any time you like,’ Erica said, a little startled at realising how young the child looked up close. ‘Perhaps I could bring her to visit you at the home, too, Mrs Barrow.’
‘Oh. That might be nice. But only if it’s no trouble. Thank you,’ Mrs Barrow said, and gave Erica’s hand a squeeze.
‘Come on,’ Aiden Barrow said.
‘Thanks for everything,’ Mrs Barrow said to Walter and Erica as she was pushed past them.
Erica suddenly remembered Bruce and reached down and grabbed her collar as she was about to move past.
‘Sorry, Bruce, you naughty girl, you’re with us. God, Walter, I am so, so sorry,’ Erica said when the family was out of earshot. ‘I can’t believe she slipped past me and out the doors at some point without me noticing. But she must have.’
‘I didn’t see her escaping either, and she would have had to go out under the back roller door. We’d better be more vigilant in future – for one, we don’t want her getting hit by a car. As for today, what’s done is done; no point worrying about it now,’ he said with a wave of his hand.
‘I thought it was a great addition to the service,’ Jennifer said, with a cheeky twinkle to her eye. ‘Well, I must be off. I’ll see you good people again soon. And you, Bruce – you were the star of today’s show. Made my day, you did – no offence, Walter and Erica,’ she added as she patted Bruce.
The three of them hugged briefly and said goodbye. Erica held Bruce’s collar while Jennifer drove away, before letting her go while they packed up.
‘I shouldn’t say it, but some services leave you feeling disappointed in humans,’ Walter said as they were packing the gazebo into its carry case. ‘And that was one of them.’
‘Hmm,’ Erica said, nodding. She followed Walter’s gaze as it landed on Bruce, who was now sitting in the sun, the picture of innocence.
‘Well, at least we know Bruce can behave with other people. You’re not nippy at all, are you, lovely girl?’ he added, bending down to ruffle the dog’s ears.
Erica joined in. ‘Aiden was pretty pissed off,’ she said.
‘Yes. But something tells me that’s probably just his usual MO. Did you get the impression Edith didn’t want to give up Bruce?’
‘I did. And I also thought it looked like she was being made out to be frailer than she really is. Though that could be my imagination,’ Erica said.
‘No, I think you’re spot on. I suspect she’s being shipped off into an old folks’ home before her time to get her out of the way, but I didn’t say that out loud.’
‘Elder abuse, you mean?’ Erica said.
‘Yes, but obviously I have no proof. And financial abuse could be at play, too – out here with generations of farming families it wouldn’t surprise me if they both went hand in hand.’
‘So, what can we do?’
‘Nothing. We have no evidence of anything untoward. Unfortunately, being grumpy and disrespectful isn’t a crime. And every family is different. Take your pick of clichés.’
‘But that’s a bit, um …’ Erica was lost.
‘Defeatist?’
‘It’s none of our business. As I said, we have no proof of anything untoward – certainly not illegal. You’ll go mad if you take on other people’s problems and try to fix them, Erica. Our job was to treat everyone with respect and give Milton a satisfactory send-off based on his and his loved ones’ wishes. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. And, remember, each person handles loss in their own way. What we’ve seen is maybe their grief and how they’re dealing with things.’
‘I guess.’
‘Anyway, don’t forget, we’ve technically gone way beyond our duty in taking in our friend Bruce here.’
‘She’s so lovely. I still think it’s awful they didn’t want her.’
‘Well, it’s our gain. I’ve seen a lot of callousness out here. Don’t let the media reports of everyone banding together during emergencies fool you that these places are warm and fuzzy all the time. A lot of terrible things go on behind closed doors and behind silos when no one is looking. You just haven’t been here long enough to see it or hear about it. I hope you only ever come across the good, but, sadly, that’s unlikely. They don’t say life on the land is hard for nothing. I think in a lot of cases it makes you hard, too.’
‘That’s sad.’
‘Yep, and it’s a fact, which is why we can’t afford to get too caught up in things that don’t directly affect us. If we become jaded, we can’t do our jobs well.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘Sorry, I’m rambling now. I agree, it’s sad. And I hear you. But it is what it is and not our business.’
‘I guess at least they can’t really come and demand Bruce back now we’ve changed her registration details, can they? I’d be devastated.’
‘True. But we’ll have to keep a better eye on missy here, who has proven to be a slippery little sucker, haven’t you, you naughty girl?’
‘I wonder if she knew it was Milton in the car or just didn’t want to be left behind on her own,’ Erica mused.
‘No idea. But, like you say, she’s proved she can be trusted to be included. Or not trusted to be left behind, actually,’ Walter said with a laugh. ‘Just what have we taken on?’ He sighed as they clambered into the front of the hearse, with Bruce climbing onto Erica to get into the centre seat, where she sat up looking out of the window, appearing to be very pleased with herself.
‘Are you right there?’ Erica said with a laugh to the dog.
‘Apparently,’ Walter said, giving Bruce a pat. ‘Lucky this car has a bench seat. I wish she had her harness on, though,’ he said, as he started the vehicle.