THIS IS WHERE THE MAGIC STARTED.

In the early stages of the blog, I celebrated Ellie’s life by describing some of our experiences with her. I’ve recently moved on to share how Ruby is doing, highlighting all the fun and joy she brings us each day. In an earlier instalment, I briefly mentioned Sally; she lived with us before Ellie arrived and was another wonderful companion.

In the ‘Thank you, Ellie’, as a thunderstorm approaches, Ellie senses danger; it’s part of the adventure where the shared telepathy with Grace develops into pre-cognition. In terms of the book, why not? There’s already some ‘magic’ going on, so a little more won’t hurt! Now, it’s easy to make up magic to fit in a plot, but sometimes, it actually happens and inspires future writing.

About fifteen years ago, I had a proper job. One day, I had to drive to a conference in a nearby town. I was fully laden when I left the house, so I had to put a few things down to open the car. In the process, I placed my mobile on the car roof. In the few minutes it took to get ready to leave, I forgot all about my phone and reversed off the drive. We live in a cul-de-sac with plenty of cars parked on either side, so it’s always a slow, careful drive away from the house. At the end, a t-junction allows access to the main road.

On arriving at the conference, I needed to make a call and discovered I was phoneless. I borrowed a colleague’s mobile to call mine but, unsurprisingly, just heard my voice answering with a request to leave a message. At that point, I couldn’t remember leaving it on the car roof, but I was sure I’d picked it up before leaving the house. As the day wore on, I convinced myself I must have left it at home and would find it on my return. But, of course, I didn’t!

I was frustrated at the prospect of the imminent inconvenience, so I thought the best thing to do was to chill and take Sally out for an evening walk. She was just over thirteen years old and healthy but slow! She radiated calm, and the time spent in her company was very relaxing. As we left the house and wandered along the cul-de-sac in a stately fashion, I told her all about losing my phone. We arrived at the t-junction, and although we usually turned right to walk to the nearby park, Sally led me left, repeating the turn I had taken in the morning. At regular intervals, the council had recently planted saplings in the wide grass verge between the pavement and the road. We passed the first one and slowly approached the second. Because the young trees were quite floppy, the workmen had driven a circular stake alongside each of them for support. Five feet of stake protruded above ground ending in a flat, round top with a diameter of about three inches. At the second sapling, Sally hesitated and sat down. I thought she was taking an age-related rest, so I glanced casually around before noticing, right in front of me, just below my eye-line, a slightly battered phone lying on top of the stake. Naturally, I reached out to pick it up, and it was mine!

In a flash, it all became clear. I remembered placing the phone on the car’s roof, so it must have remained there during the slow journey to the main road and the careful left turn before dropping off as I accelerated away. Later, a kind soul spotted it and decided, rightly in the event, that it might be retrieved by the owner if left highly visible. That was the only explanation, but how had Sally known where to pause? I’m not sure I would have noticed it unless I had been made to stop right in front of it. Logic might say that my lingering scent on the phone had encouraged Sally’s reaction. Logic might say that, but I prefer a much more magical version!

I would have been able to swap the damaged phone for one in pristine condition, but mine still worked, and I valued looking at its ‘battle scars’ and being reminded about Sally’s special role in its rescue.

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