~ October 1st, 1927 9:20am

I think we might have a problem. Anna says I'm making too much of it. 'You're making a mountain out of a mole hill, John Bates.' But still, she admitted to me he had put his head on her lap and asked her to scratch his ears.

It all began when I bought William that blasted book about Balto, the Wonder Dog. He has been obsessed with it ever since. It's the only book he will listen to at bedtime. He even finishes the sentences for me. I'm sure he could recite it by heart.

Well, that's fine. I can understand that. I was the same way about Gulliver's Travels when I was a lad. And Treasure Island. One whole summer I pretended to be Long John Silver. I tried to convince my mum to let me carry her canary, Honey, around on my shoulder. I remember walking with a limp because I imagined myself to have a peg leg. It is rather ironic now that I think about it. My father used to wrap me on the head for that. We would never resort to that, but Will's imagination has taken it a step too far, in my opinion.

As I said, Anna thinks it's all perfectly normal for an intelligent, enthusiastic four year old and she might be right.

I can understand him wanting us to call him Balto, after his new hero, but the boy will answer to nothing else. Last night when I tucked him in bed and leaned over to kiss him he licked my face! Anna just chuckled and thought it was 'too cute'.

And then this morning I came into the kitchen and caught Will drinking out of Jack's water bowl. Jack was none too happy about it, and a barking stand-off ensued between Will and dog. Well, I'd had enough.

I picked the boy up and sat him down on his chair and ordered him to stay put. It was no surprise that he started sobbing and kicking his legs. Anna glared at me. I just threw up my hands and left for work.

Everything seemed back to normal when Anna and the children came over for lunch. I had even begun to see the humour in it...that was until we heard and saw William shooting past the doorway on all fours barking up a storm, in hot pursuit of a laughing Daisy. Good Lord...

~ John Bates

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~Goodbye, Balto Bates ~

John sat at his desk, contentedly sipping at his tea. The day was cool but dry and cloudless, with the first signs of fall in the air. From his window he could clearly see their back garden and the kitchen side of the cottage. A beautiful cottage, he was thinking, renovated and well kept, enough to make those who happened to walked by it stop to dream about living there themselves. But what he enjoyed the most was the inside of the home, for it held so much happiness and love. He had never imagined he would have all this in his life and now that he did, well, it seemed like a dream.

He turned back to his desk, sighing, looking over at all of the paperwork. Paperwork he would have to start on once his tea break was finished, a task he didn't really look forward to. Taking one last look outside before getting back to work, he happened to spy William coming from the kitchen into the garden, crawling on all fours like a proper dog.

'That boy,' he whispered to himself, shaking his head slowly. He waited for his son's next move. Surely when Anna caught him crawling on his knees around the garden he would have the scolding of his life.

William then made his way over to Jack, who was sleeping peacefully on the grass and started head-butting him, more like a cat than a dog. Jack was not well pleased with this, and curling his lip at the boy, he rose and made his way to the other side of the garden. John watched as William threw back his head and gave mournful howl as his faithful companion left. He could only roll his eyes.

John remembered being a child and doing all sorts of crazy things but this...he didn't know how to react to his son drinking from a dog bowl and this worried him. He rose from his chair and walked towards the window, trying to see if he could spot Anna in the kitchen, but he couldn't see any movement there. Maybe she is tending to the twins, he thought.

And the boy continued his game. Crawling around and even lifting his leg to every flower and tree. It tried John's patience. What if a guest happened to look out of an upstairs window? He wanted his children to feel free enough to express themselves, but in business appearances really did matter and it certainly wouldn't do to have Will nipping at the heels of a patron or worse yet, cocking up his leg on one.

'William!' He cracked open the window and wrapped on the pane. 'Stop crawling around on that grass. You'll ruin your new trousers!'

The boy continued on as if he hadn't heard his father.

'William! Your mother will pull your ear off if you dirty them, do you hear me?'

Nothing...

'Oh for crying out loud...' John muttered.

What happened next was the last straw. William was making his way to Anna's flower beds. Crawling fast, with a naughty dog-like expression on his face and his tongue hanging from the side of his mouth.

John stuck his head out of the window and called the boy's name again. Absolutely no reaction from his son.

To Will's way of thinking his name was Balto. Without hesitation he began to dig a hole in his mother's flower bed, uprooting any flowers in his way, hoping to find one of Jack's tasty bones.

That's when John ran out the backdoor of his office. 'Boy!' he lifted his son from the ground. Will's hands were filled with dirt and pulled up flowers. 'Are you deaf?' he scolded him, shaking off the mud from his trousers. 'Didn't you hear me speaking to you? Look at what you've done!' He nodded at the evidence in Will's hands. 'Do you think it's right to ruin your mother's flower beds?'

William pouted, upset, without saying a word.

'You, sir, will be staying inside for the rest of the day!'

John drug the boy along with him to the kitchen, where he pulled out a chair from the table, placed it against the wall and sat him there. He looked at his son for a moment, who sat cross-armed, with a very unpleasant look on his face.

'What do you have to say, William? Do you think it's right? Mummy will be upset about it.' John tried to speak with his son but the boy only turned his head and wouldn't answer.

'Whatever is the- Oh my! You are a mess, William Bates. What happened?' Anna entered the kitchen with one of the babies at her breast.

'Well, he dug a hole in one of your flowerbeds. I called for him to stop but he totally ignored me. I got to him before he could completely ruin it but I'm afraid some of the flowers are gone,' John said, looking over at his wife.

'Why did you do that?' Anna asked the boy, trying to remain calm.

'I didn't know daddy was talking to me,' Will sighed regretfully.

'Who else is called William around this house?' John asked, quite annoyed.

'Not me, daddy. My name is Balto!'

John felt his neck turning red, but before he could answer back he felt his wife's hand on his arm.

'You have work to do at the hotel, don't you? Go, and don't be late for dinner, please. I'll take care of this.' She smiled at him and he nodded.

Placing a kiss on her temple John happily left it all in Anna's capable hands.

Later that day, he arrived home for dinner, his eyes rather dizzy from all the paperwork. He kissed his wife and took some time to see to his daughters before Anna called the family for dinner. His son came down the stairs, sat with them, quite well-behaved and waited patiently until his plate was served.

'So?' Anna shot the boy a look, and he crinkled his nose, defeated.

'My name is William Bates...again,' he spoke.

'Ah! Is it really? Well I'm glad to hear it.' John looked at Anna questioningly.

'I put a bowl down for him, next to Jack's, a blanket on the floor and told him his loo was now in the garden…and no toilet paper. He was not very pleased with that, were you?' Anna asked Will, mussing his hair playfully, and the little boy shook his head sullenly.

'I would have to sleep on the floor if I was a dog,' he said. 'And I couldn't have bedtime stories, or go on drives to the country or go to Miss Marigold's birthday party. And I couldn't help you at the hotel anymore.'

'No, you couldn't. Dogs don't work,' John remarked trying to suppress a chuckle. 'I would really miss your help too.'

'Yeah…' William sighed. 'I'd rather help you than be a dog...I guess.'

'And you guess right! Now let's eat. I made lamb with baked potatoes,' Anna said.

'My favourite!' John and William spoke in unison.

'Well, aren't you one of a kind? I hope you don't start barking at night, Mr Bates.' Anna giggled and John smirked, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Later that night, after thoroughly rewarding Anna for being the most wonderful mummy in the whole world - after all, she did fix the Will/Balto conundrum - John barked softly in her ear and licked her cheek.

Anna couldn't help but give him a good smack for that. She certainly wouldn't have another dog in the house!

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Oct 1st, 1927 9:30 pm

Oh my, this family of mine! We've had quite the time of it this week when William decided he no longer wanted to be a little boy, but rather Balto the Wonder Dog. I daresay John will think twice about the books he brings home from now on.

It really bothered him, but I can't fathom why, he usually praises Will's imagination. I think it's fairly common for children to want to be something or someone else at some point. John was just beside himself about how to address it. This, from a man who freely admits to walking around pretending he had a peg leg a good part of one whole summer.

John was very impressed with the way I handled the situation though, I must say. You might even say I'm his new hero...

First thing in the morning I'm marching Will out into the garden to help me repair my flowerbed. I'm just glad John was able to stop him before more damage was done. Will explained he wasn't trying to be destructive. He was just looking for one of Jack's bones. I'd love to know what all goes on in the boy's head - or maybe it's just as well I don't.

The girls are already asleep for the night and John is in reading William his bedtime story. He fretted long and hard about what to read him and settled on The Little Big Book of Nursery Stories. I fear that won't satisfy Will's craving for adventure for very long.

I hear John coming. I'll end this and crawl in bed now.

~ Anna Bates

The journal entries are written by handy for the bus & terriejane.

We'd like to thank the lovely annamays (aka fuzzydream) for being our beta.

Thank you for reading :) please review