Retired

The key klinks in the doorlock. With difficulties I am getting to my feet, finally, my master is back. Wagging my tail I follow my mistress to the door.

"Any news?“ Her voice sounds excited like last night when the master had to leave suddenly. He is shaking his head.

"We searched half of the wood but there is no sign oft he girl. She must be somewhere but the dogs cannot find a trace of her.”

"Wuff?", I say looking at him questioningly. He bends down to me and strokes my head.

"Yes, old boy, you had found her long ago, hadn’t you? Damned arthritis. But sooner or later even the best track hound has to retire.”

He finishes off half a sandwich standing and drops the rest into my bowl. Is he crazy? We have a job to do. A child is missing. How could I even , dare to eat now? I push my snout into his popliteal.

"Not now, Harras, I need to go again.” He graps his jacket and starts leaving.

"Will you take Asta with you?” He nods his head. Asta? Isn’t this the new dog in his team who still does not know what is expected of her?

"Wuff", I say again when the door closes behind the master. The mistress kneels down by my side. She looks just as sad as I am feeling now.

"It’s not nice not to be needed any more, is it?“

I run to he door as quickly as my old bones allow me to looking at her questioningly. At least she should understand what I want to tell her.

"Would you like to go for a walk? Maybe this is not a bad idea.”

She puts on her jacket and me on the leash. I drag her behind me  into the wood. My instincts are telling me where we need to go. Even if I never smelled the girl. The boy was there, too, long ago when I had just joined the team.

"Where are you going to? This is not our evening walk!”

She tries to hold me back. Why? Doesn’t she understand that I need to do my job now? We are fighting our way through the undergrowth.The path is difficult and my back aches. But I’m storming forward, ignoring her grumbling. We have advanced deep into the wood now, much deeper than I have walked for a long time. The mistress is silent now. Does she finally understand now?

I am not quite sure where to go. Cluelessly I am sniffing on the ground. And then suddenly, there is a familiar smell which reminds me of something. A person must have come this way recently. Ignoring my pains I am storming forward again, following the track, barking every few steps just like in all my assignments. And finally she understands.

"Search,Harras, good dog!“

She has switched on the torch she carries with her all the time, just like the master. I am on duty again, yes, Madam! The thicket is beginning to thin and here I know my way again even if normally we come from a different direction. Ahead of us is the small forest lake. I follow the track to the bank but then suddenly it is gone. For a while I run up and down excitedly, then I sit down and start the saddest howl I know.

"No!“ The mistress‘ voice sounds just as sad as I am „This must not be the end, she must be somewhere here!”

She shines her torch on the surface of t he lake but in vain.

"Sarah!", she calls again and again. I am sittng there listening and absorbing all the smells. Then I notice something familiar I wade into the shallow waters on the bank.She does not even notice, the leash has dropped out of her hand.

The water is cold and I have not swom for a long time but I am on the right track. On the bank, only a few meters away from the mistress, I notice something in the reeds. This must be her.

She is lying in the water up to her belly and does not move but my instincts are telling me that she is alive. Alternately I am licking through her face and bark. Finally I can see the torch light approach. The mistress takes the child into her arms and carries her tot he bank.

"Mama?"

"She is alive!"

Well, I could have told you myself! Expectingly I am looking up tothe mistreess. She wraps the girl into her jacket talking to her reassuringly.

"Where ist he dog?“ Says the little girl and finally I get my reward. Plenty of cuddles and a promiss in which the largest bone in the world plays a main role.

 

Reassured I hear her call the master on his cell phone telling him where he can find us. Then we wait fort he rest oft the dogs unit