Missing Tata

Leonard was at work when the email from Leonora arrived. He had been to the company's gym for a physio session and then wandered into one of the small kitchens to make a cup of tea to have with his sandwiches. After that he returned to his desk feeling somewhat exhausted.

He flicked on his emails and started reading them. Then he saw one had come from Leonora so he scrolled down quickly to read that one, pleased that she had finally written. Smiling, he started to read it. His smile disappeared immediately and he suddenly felt a huge knot in his stomach.

Leonora's email did not sound remotely friendly or jokey. Why was she being like that? What had he said to annoy her so much? Sometimes he just did not understand Leonora at all. He had sent such nice pictures too of Tata and the pigs. And he didn't think he had said much about geocaching and shooting. Leonora was so rude about his interests.

He read the email a couple more times to see if he had missed a hint of a joke or a touch of warmth anywhere. No. He had to admit to himself, this was one of Leonora's prize put-downs. He closed the email gloomily and decided to reply later. He got on with some work for the rest of the morning, thinking he would tell Tata all about it when he arrived home at lunch time.

Tata was nowhere to be seen when he got in. Leonard panicked. Where on earth was she? Leonora's email was bad enough, but the disappearance of Tata would be the last straw. He remembered the cows that had been abducted out of the field by aliens and wondered if aliens had descended on the house and taken Tata.

He opened the bedroom door and the weight fell from his shoulders. There she was, pulling a silly face at him and tail wagging furiously. The duvet was all ruffled up and seemed warmer than usual. But Leonard didn't care if she had been on the bed, here she was, happy to see him, and not abducted by aliens.

"Wonderful dog," he said, giving her a huge hug. Tata wagged her tail even faster, relieved to have got away with her morning snooze on their bed. After all it wasn't her fault the door had shut behind her when she wandered in, so what else was she to do for the rest of the morning when there was a nice comfy bed to lie on?

"Listen Tata," he said, "I got an email from Leonora today."

"Grrr ruff ruff. Grrr ruff ruff," barked Tata excitedly.

"No, she didn't say anything about coming back. She said she wanted to call it a day."

Tata stood rigid in shock. Then she recovered herself.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr?"

"No she didn't say anything about missing you," Leonard had to say, although knowing how upset that would make Tata.

Tata's eyes were very big and sad. How could Leonora not be missing her, especially after seeing all those wonderful photos she had posed for?

"Ruff?" she barked in a very tiny voice.

"Yes, she did say the photos were beautiful and thanked us both for them," he said, which was true.

"Ruff ruff?"

"But no, it didn't make any difference and she is not coming back."

Tata thought. They clearly hadn't taken enough photos.

"Ruff ruff ruff," she barked.

"Well, maybe we could go out geocaching this evening and take some more. That's not a bad idea. But I'm not to mention geocaching again, she says she is not interested in it.

"I'll just have to say you wanted to go out for a walk and send her some more photos from you, what do you think?"

"Ruff, ruff ruff," she replied, pleased with her idea and happy to have cheered Leonard up a bit. She still couldn't believe that Leonora was not missing her, surely Leonard must have got that one wrong.

When Leonard got back to work he decided to send Leonora a brief email saying he was sorry he had annoyed her and that it certainly hadn't been his intention. For good measure he told her how upset Tata was and that she sent her love to Leonora and missed her very much.

Then he thought when he went out caching after work and took more lovely photos of Tata, he would send another email with the photos, and tell Leonora that Mrs Leonard was upset too.

If the woman had a conscience that should do the trick. He wasn't sure whether Leonora did have a conscience though.