rom somewhere deep in your memory you recall a piece of advice about dogs. It’s . . . what is it? Yes, now you remember. ‘Play dead!’ you yell at your mother. ‘Lie down and play dead. They won’t be interested in you then.’

She looks a bit doubtful but the dogs are almost on top of you and there isn’t much choice. You both quickly throw yourselves on the ground and shut your eyes. An instant later you can feel the hot breath of the dogs on your face. One of them seems to be about a centimetre from you. You give yourself up, but nothing seems to be happening. Then you hear Stacey say to her mother: ‘Come on, we might as well go back. We can safely leave them to the dogs.’

You hear their footsteps as they walk off. You still don’t dare open your eyes, though. Over to your left you hear some funny scuffling noises. To your right your mother whispers, ‘What’s happening?’

‘Shh,’ you say, ‘don’t move, whatever you do.’

After about three minutes something strange happens. You feel the dog’s hot breath again. You lie doggo . . . sorry, you lie still. Then, to your amazement, the dog picks you up in its giant jaws. Wow, are these dogs ever strong. Lucky you didn’t try to fight them. You’d have had no chance. But brains outwit brawn every time, that’s what you tell yourself. The dog’s dragging you over some rough ground. Then it drops you. You fall about two metres, which is further than you expected. Very strange, this. Suddenly dirt starts showering on your face. Now at last you open your eyes. And now at last you realise what’s happening. There’s one important fact about dogs that you completely forgot. Oh oh. Big mistake that. Big big mistake.

Yes, the one important fact that you forgot is that dogs like to bury fresh meat for a week or two before they eat it. Whoops. Was that ever a big mistake!