A day later I casually strolled through customs at Cape Town International Airport with William stowed in my backpack. Superintendent Spears had put us on a direct flight from London that landed around the same time as a flight from South America. My parents needed never know where I had been.
I scanned the crowd in the arrivals hall. Someone from the IDA, pretending to be the school secretary, had telephoned my parents to notify them of my arrival.
Yes! There they were!
“We missed you so much, Alex!” said my mom, wiping back a tear.
“But where is the rest of the soccer team, son?” my dad wanted to know.
“Oh, they’re taking a later flight,” I quickly replied. “But I missed you so much I decided to head back a day early and my coach said it was okay.”
Just what any parent would love to hear! But the mood turned sombre as we got in the car to drive home. “Son, I have some bad news … my dad said. “While you were gone, William went missing. He must have run away. We looked everywhere, we put up posters and advertised in the local papers, but he seemed to have disappeared without a trace. I’m so very sorry.”
On the seat next to me in the back of the car, my backpack stirred. William was having a good laugh.
“Don’t worry, Alex. I’m sure he’ll turn up sooner or later.” My mom sounded tearful.
I quickly thought of something to make her feel better.
“You know guys, maybe he just went to stay at one of my friends. Maybe he could be at James’s?”
William wiggled again in the backpack. He had never liked James. I nudged him to stop squirming.
“Did you try calling James’s place?” I innocently asked.
“But wasn’t he on the soccer tour with you?” asked my mom.
Oops! I had to think quickly! “Uh, actually he had to stay at home because he injured his knee,” I said, trying to sound confident. “I’m sure William is at his house. He was probably lonely at home without me, you two always being at work and all that.”
“We hadn’t thought of that,” said my dad and pulled out of the parking lot.
I loosened one of the clips of my backpack to give William some air. He peeped out and winked at me.
* * *
A few months later, just before Christmas, there was a knock on our front door. My mom went to see who it was and a few minutes later she came back carrying a huge bunch of flowers – Silver Tulips!
Her face shone.
“Look what the delivery man brought! Aren’t these the most beautiful flowers you’ve ever seen?”
The silvery leaves of the tulips glittered in the early morning sun. Their perfume filled the room.
“Oh, there’s a card!” my dad said, glancing up from the newspaper he was reading. He picked it from the bouquet and opened it to read. A frown appeared on his forehead. “This is weird. The card is addressed to William. The flowers were sent from someone with the odd name of Carl Cloghopper. It must be some kind of prank.”
William just sat there with a knowing grin on his face.
“Well, the flowers are gorgeous,” said my mom. “Let’s make a deal, William,” she said, leaning down towards our spotted companion, “I’ll trade you these flowers for a bone. What do you say about that?”
William wagged his stubby tail until it knocked on the wooden floor.
Even the best dogtective cannot resist a juicy bone!