Chapter 8

Jane

Jane threw the droopy dandelions in the trash and poured the water from the vase down the sink. She had given them the night to regain their strength and stand themselves up but they were too weak from being manhandled so she threw them out. She smiled amused that her first bunch of flowers from Harvey had been weeds, similar to the ones she removed from her farm on a daily basis.

She pulled her gardening boots on and went to check on her seedlings in the greenhouse. The moment she stepped through the sliding glass door the humidity hit her. The warm air was welcoming and such a difference to the blustery weather outside. She checked on her cranberry seedlings which were growing well inside the greenhouse. Her pumpkin plants were doing well. She looked forward to harvesting them and turning them in to pumpkin soup, but that wouldn't be for a while yet – they were still tiny. She reached up to her apple tree and picked a few apples then placed them in her wicker basket, carefully so as not to bruise them. She noticed that her orange tree was full of delicious oranges so she picked a few of those as well.

As she returned to her farmhouse with her basket she noticed a large fluffy brown carpet on front steps. She stopped still and looked around the farm wondering who had put it there and worried they might still be hanging about. She set the basket down on the ground by her feet and called out, 'Hello?'

The carpet moved, and lifted up its head. Jane backed away and accidentally knocked the basket with her boot. Some of the apples fell out and rolled away. Two big blue eyes stared back at her, and then a long pink tongue rolled out of the carpets mouth as it yawned exposing a mouthful of sharp teeth. The loud yowl noise that followed was enough to make her run and she did but she wasn't fast enough and the carpet lunged at her and sent her crashing to the ground. 'Ow!' she exclaimed. The carpet excitedly licked her face with its coarse tongue. 'Get off me!'

Underneath all that fluff was a dog, and a very smelly one at that. Jane held her breath, the smell was awful. There must have been months of filth embedded in the animal's fur. She managed to shove the dog off her and stood up brushing her dungarees down. 'Go on now! Go home!' She picked up her basket, abandoned the escapee apples and dashed in to the house. She heard a thud against the door as the dog had tried to follow her in.

Jane wasn't a dog person, she preferred cats but she didn't have the time to care for an animal so she chose not to have a pet. The dog scratched at the door. 'Go away, I have no food for you!' She washed her hands in the kitchen sink and splashed some water on her face to get the slobber off. After drying her hands she went over to her store cupboard and selected some vegetables to add to the basket of apples and oranges. She added four ears of corn, plenty of tomatoes, and a handful of radishes. She listened at the door for the dog, and satisfied it had gone she headed out with her basket of produce hooked in the crook of her elbow and carried it in to town.

She had almost made it when she heard a 'woof woof' and turned around to see the giant dog in the distance bounding towards her. Its ears flapped and its tongue flicked drool in every direction. It caught up to her and stood up on its hind legs and planted its front paws on her chest. 'Yoba you are a big dog! And you stink so bad! You can't come with me, I'm on important business and you need to go home.' Jane turned back towards the town and carried on walking, the dog followed at her side wagging its tail excitedly. When she realised the dog wasn't going to stop following her, she gave up trying to shoo it away.

As she arrived at the clinic she was about to push the door open when instead it opened inwards and Demetrius stepped out on the street. He had a Kleenex to his face and looked full of cold. 'Woah!' he exclaimed as the dog squeezed past him and entered the clinic almost taking his feet out from underneath him. His nose was red and his lips look chapped from having to constantly wipe his runny nose. 'Was that your dog?' he asked blowing his nose.

'No, I don't have a dog. You look terrible Demetrius! Get yourself home and tucked up in bed.'

'I think I might just do that. Maybe Robin will make me some nice hot soup.' He chuckled and headed up the steps towards the grassy park area.

Jane pushed the door open and entered the clinic. The dog had practically destroyed the waiting room, and was running amok. Torn magazines were scattered across the floor, a plant had been knocked over. The pot had smashed and soil was on the tiles. Harvey had managed to grab the dog by the scruff of its neck and was dry heaving. Jane couldn't help but laugh, the dog smelt revolting. When he spotted Jane he said, 'Open the door!' She held it open, allowing Harvey to drag the dog outside. He quickly closed the door behind him. 'Oh that dog smelt awful! Where did it come from?' he asked looking queasy.

'I found it outside my house on the farm.'

'So you decided to bring it here, to my sterile clinic?' he asked frowning. Jane followed him up to his apartment where he scrubbed his hands with antibacterial hand wash.

'No Harvey, that walking carpet followed me.' When she saw him reaching for the hand wash again she said, 'you're hands are clean Harvey. Look how red your skin is from the hot water.'

Harvey looked at hot steam coming off his red hands, and then saw she was carrying a basket. 'You can't be too careful when handling stray animals... or people for that matter.' He laughed nervously and then nodded towards the basket, 'What have you got there?' He grabbed a towel and patted his hands dry.

'Oh yeah, I brought this for you from the farm. I thought you could use some expertly grown fruit and vegetables.' She smiled and carried the basket in to his kitchen where she lifted it up on to the work surface. 'These apples are really sweet, and the oranges are so juicy. I got you some tomatoes and radishes that you can either use to make a pasta sauce or have them in a salad.' She found a bowl for the fruit and placed the vegetables on a shelf in the refrigerator.

'Wow, that's really generous of you. Thank you.' He looked slightly amused, perhaps wondering how on earth you make pasta sauce. He gave Jane a hug and then said, 'I feel awful for saying this, because I could stay here all day with you, but I need to clean up the mess in the waiting room. I've got patients to see this afternoon, and I don't think I can handle anymore visits from Mayor Lewis. He's already marked me down as drunk and disorderly. I don't want him accusing me of running an unclean surgery.'

Jane laughed at his last comment. 'No worries, I just wanted to drop that food off as I had a free moment.' They walked down to the clinic and Jane glanced over at the reception desk. She noticed the chair behind the desk was empty 'No Maru today?' she asked him.

He shook his head. 'She didn't turn up for work this morning and I tried calling her but her cell phone was switched off. It's unusual for her to not come in, she's so punctual and I can't recall her ever missing a day's work.' He removed his glasses and cleaned them with the corner of his white doctor's coat. 'Her father was here for an appointment this morning. He said Maru was in bed when I enquired after her. I guess she's got a cold like Demetrious has.'

Jane put her hand on the door handle and bit her lip. Did Harvey really not see what was going on? . She asked, 'Will I see you later?'

Harvey beamed. 'Sure, what did you have in mind?' He leaned down and kissed her neck. Jane giggled because it tickled. She loved having her neck kissed.

'I was thinking dinner at my place, and maybe a bottle of wine or two.'

'That sounds lovely, I'll look forward to it.' He stopped kissing her neck and kissed her on the mouth. When he broke for air, he said 'what about I close up early and we take this back upstairs?'

'Later Harvey, I've got errands to run and so much still to do on the farm.' She smiled, thinking she'd love nothing more than to spend the rest of the day in bed with him.

'Okay okay,' he said and kissed her once more. He pretended to look sad and disappointed when she left which made her laugh.

Outside the dog was sitting there patiently waiting for her. She rolled her eyes and continued with her errands with the dog in tow. It followed her to Pierre's store where she purchased some ingredients she needed to make dinner later. It also followed her to Cindersap Forest and dashed about chasing rabbits whilst she foraged for wild mushrooms for dinner and some blackberries for dessert.

When she returned to her farmhouse she didn't bother shooing the dog away, but she was adamant that the dog would not enter her house. She put her shopping away, and grabbed an old bowl from under the cupboard. She'd bought a bag of dog food as she felt sorry for the smelly beast that had followed at her heels all morning. She tore open the bag, filled the bowl and took it outside.

The dog was so excited by the smell of the biscuits that it almost knocked her over trying to get at the bowl. 'Woah, calm down! Here it is. You must have been starving.' Jane put the bowl down on the decking and the dog dived right in, eating messily but making sure to gobble up any biscuits it knocked out of the bowl. Jane sighed, 'I guess I should choose a name for you.' The dog licked at her boots, and Jane laughed as she patted its huge shaggy head.

Harvey

Shane was sitting slumped over near the edge of the water by Leah's house, exactly where Leah said she'd found him. As Harvey made his way over to Shane he noticed the large volume of discarded crumpled beer cans and an empty grease stained pizza box lying open on the ground. He cleared some of the litter with his foot and knelt down beside Shane.

Harvey put his hand on Shane's shoulder and said, 'It's Dr Harvey, can you look at me?' It was more an instruction than a request. Shane turned his head and looked up. Harvey could smell the alcohol on Shane's breath. 'I think we'd better get you home. You're Aunt Marnie will be worried.'

Shane belched and shrugged his shoulders. 'She won't be worried. Leave me alone, I don't want your help.' Shane slurred and opened another beer can.

Harvey sighed, and looked up at Leah who had been standing behind them. Leah had woken him up at 10pm, banging on the clinic door. She told him she had heard someone outside her house and when she'd seen the state Shane was in she thought he might need medical assistance. It had taken Harvey less than five minutes to wake up, pull his white doctors coat over his pyjamas, and grab his bag.

Looking up at Leah, he could tell she was just as tired as he felt. 'Thanks for your help, I think I can handle this from here. You should head on home; you look like you could do with some sleep.' He smiled at her.

Leah smiled back, and said, 'Thanks Doctor Harvey. If you need anything, don't hesitate to knock on my door.'

Harvey watched as she went inside her house and closed the door. He heard the lock click, and the deadbolt slide across. He looked back at Shane and said, 'Come on Shane, let's get you to your feet.' He stood up, trying to pull Shane to his feet and stumbled. Shane twisted round; his arms flailed and caught Harvey across the face with a slap. His spectacles were knocked from his face, and there was a 'plonk' sound as they disappeared in to the river. 'Nooo!' Harvey exclaimed, 'Shane! Why do you have to get in to this state all the time? Why?' Harvey couldn't help his grumpiness, feeling frustrated at losing his glasses.

'What do you care? It's my life!' Shane responded equally as grumpy. He saw Shane's blurry shape stand up and stumble away from him. Harvey's eyesight was awful without his glasses on, which was another reason why his dream of becoming a pilot never happened. Even if he'd not had a fear of heights having to wear eyeglasses ruled him out. The darkness made his vision worse. Leah's house was just a dark shape, and the trees were a fuzz of green and brown. Harvey reached out and grabbed Shane's arm. 'Fuck off!'

Harvey gritted his teeth, 'Take us home Shane! It's too late for this, and we both need our sleep.'

Shane belched again, and then stumbled drunkenly towards home with Harvey clinging on to his sleeve. Shane hammered on the front door and when his Aunt saw him she gave him an earful. 'Shane! What are you doing wasting the poor Doc's time? Get in the house and get straight to bed! ' Shane squeezed past her and mumbled something inaudible. 'I'm so sorry Doc, can I make you a coffee?'

Harvey shook his head, 'Thanks, but I'm going to head home. I need my bed. He could make out her large frame, and red hair but couldn't see her features clearly.

'Who's at the door Marn?' A man's voice called to her from inside the house.

Marnie didn't answer the man, and instead she said good night to Harvey and closed the door. The light from Marnie's house disappeared as the door slammed in to his frame.

Harvey pulled his coat around his body and made his way home. Leaves crunched beneath his shoes and an owl hooted nearby. The wind blew the tree branches sending leaves through the air. He rubbed his eyes feeling the tiredness return, and yawned. He stopped still when he heard a loud crack. He froze, hoping it was just a tree branch swaying in the wind. He waited for a moment and when no further sound came he decided to carry on, so he walked on until he came across a fence. He traced the dry wood with his fingers, remembering the fence that ran along Marnie's ranch and felt relieved to be walking in the right direction.

At that moment Harvey remember he was meant to be having dinner with Jane. He had completely forgotten! He had been so busy after Jane left the clinic in the morning. He had an urgent visit at Evelyn and George's home. They were an elderly couple who lived not far from the clinic. George being in a wheelchair was unable to help his wife, so had telephoned the clinic. Harvey had responded immediately. Evelyn had been preparing lunch for herself and her husband when the saucepan had slipped from the cooker stove spilling the hot contents down both legs. Harvey treated her burns but insisted on going with her in the ambulance to the hospital. He'd been there most of the day. He'd meant to leave sooner, but he got chatting with some of his old friends from medical school. By the time he returned home it was late and he could think of nothing more than going to bed. He felt awful, and was sure Jane would be absolutely livid with him. He would go to her farm in the morning and plead for her forgiveness, or perhaps he would wait for the angry redhead to come to him. He wasn't sure which frightened him more.

He laughed nervously, thinking about what he was going to say to her the next day. There was another crack, followed by a strange sound. Harvey's nerves got the better of him and he started running, not wanting to find out whatever was out there stalking him. He ran parallel with the fence, his heart pounding in his chest. Without realising what was in front of him, he ran straight in to a tree and was knocked backwards on to the ground. He lay on the floor for a few seconds feeling disorientated. The wind was knocked out of him. It was so dark and he couldn't tell which way he'd come from. He stood up and brushed himself down. Upon hearing the strange noise again he started running again but was met with another tree. He tried another direction but there was another tree. He turned back but there more trees. Panic started to set in. Where am I?

Jane

The dog was barking frantically outside her house. Jane thought it had wandered off in to Cindersap forest, but it must have found its way back to her farm. It was barking loudly.

Jane opened her front door to tell the dog to keep quiet when she noticed it wasn't barking to be let in, it was barking to warn someone or something to back off.

Cautiously she stepped out on to her porch, but not before grabbing her wood cutting axe that she kept by the front door. 'Who's out there?' she called out to the darkness. She could see the tree branches bending in the wind. The dog bolted for the tree line. 'No, wait!' Without thinking she followed the dog towards the trees. She shone her torch across the tree trunks searching for signs of life, and hoping not to find anything lurking in the section of land she hadn't yet cleared. An owl hooted and flew out from the tree above her which made her jump. She was used to hearing noises in the night, but being out alone still made her a bit nervous. The trees creaked and swayed, and the wildlife chattered about. The dogs barking, however, had made her jumpy. 'Slow down,' she called to the dog but it didn't respond. The barking changed to a low guttural growl. The smelly dog had found something.

Jane felt out of breath by the time she found the dog. 'What is it?' she said to the dog, contemplating grabbing its scruffy fur but changed her mind when she remembered how filthy it was. The dog barked, and then growled. Jane moved the torch across the trees in front of her and saw something white. 'Hello? Is someone there?' She lifted up her axe as she slowly approached the figure behind the tree.

'Ahhh! Help!'

Jane stopped, lowering the axe. 'Harvey?' she blinked clearing her vision thinking she was seeing things. He was definitely there. He was stood still, hands holding his white coat together. He was also shaking with fear. 'Harvey are you ok? Come here.' She pulled him in to a tight hug. 'What are you doing out here?'She could feel his body trembling against her own.

He rested his head on her shoulder, gripping her tightly with his hands. 'To cut a long story short, I lost my glasses and couldn't find my way home. Then I heard something in the forest and ran, and I couldn't find my way back home.'

'Come, let's get you in doors. You can warm yourself by the fire.' Jane led Harvey back to her farmhouse. The dog followed. 'Not you, you stay outside.' The dog whined in protest as she shut the door.

Jane noticed Harvey was wearing pyjamas beneath his white doctor's coat, and wondered whether he'd been sleep walking and that was the real reason he was out wandering so late at night. She sat him down in the armchair near the fire and put the kettle on. 'You know when I said come for dinner; I meant 6 or 7pm, not almost midnight.' When the water had boiled she made hot chocolate and handed him a cup. 'Here, drink this. It'll warm you up.'

She had baked a lasagne and used her grandmother's sauce recipe, which was one her favourites. After spending two hours glancing at the clock, and popping her head out of the front door she had resigned to the fact that Harvey wasn't coming. She felt disappointed, but scooped herself a large portion of lasagne on to a plate and ate it in front of the television. She watched a few of her favourite romance movies and had begun drifting off in the armchair. It was then that she'd heard the dog barking at something on the farm.

'Thank you Jane,' he smiled but still looked a little shaken. 'Yeah, about that... I'm terribly sorry I got caught up at work and I forgot about dinner. I understand if you are m...m... mad at me and never want to see me again,' he stuttered nervously and because he was so cold.

Jane chewed on her lip. 'Harvey it's okay. I was upset. I made us a delicious dinner, and was looking forward to that glass of wine. But I figured you'd be on some urgent doctor business.'

'I'm sorry Jane, I'll make it up to you I promise.' He looked different without his glasses on, sort of glossy eyed.

She smiled and said, 'I'll hold you to that. Anyway, what were you doing out so late wandering about in your pyjamas?'

'There was an incident with Shane and as the only doctor in town I'm always on call.' He took a sip of his drink. 'I suppose that's why Lewis doesn't want me drinking. You never know when someone might need a doctor.'

Jane dragged a dining chair over and sat down. She looked in to the fire, watching the orange flames dance about. 'Oh Harvey, stop moping... of course you can have a drink. Anyway, what happened? Is Shane alright?'

Harvey frowned at her clearly annoyed that she'd reprimanded him. 'Shane was drunk and I helped him home, but not without a bit of a difficulty. That's when I lost my glasses. I'm practically blind without them. I honestly don't know how I'm going to make my way home. I have a spare pair in my apartment.'

Jane ran her fingers through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes. 'You can stay here tonight.' She watched as Harvey closed his eyes enjoying the feel of her touch. 'Unless you want me to walk you home?'

He set his cup down on the floor next to the armchair. Taking her hand in his he pulled her towards the bedroom. His smile returned. 'I don't want to go home.' He kissed her softly on the lips and she began unbuttoning his pyjama shirt.

'Then stay the night,' Jane smiled as she slipped her hand down the front of his pyjama bottoms. There was a hunger in Harvey's eyes, and Jane took satisfaction in the fact that that hunger was for her and no one else.