Mrs. Venter found Larry crouching next to the duckpond, idly skimming pebbles across its surface. He was startled at the sound of her footsteps and stood up awkwardly.

”Hi, Larry,” she said. ”How about you and me going for a walk?”

As he opened his mouth to offer a polite protest, Mrs. Venter took his hand firmly in hers and turned towards a path that led off past the duckpond and vegetable garden into the bush.

”Where are we going?” Larry asked, a little nervously.

”Oh, just for a walk,” replied Mrs. Venter with a gentle smile. ”You haven’t been all over the farm, have you? I think you’ve only seen the section immediately around the house. We have chickens, ducks and geese behind those trees there,” she pointed to their right, ”and we also have sheep. Did you know that?”

Larry shook his head. They were now walking single as the path was narrow and the bush on either side had become thick and unkempt. Larry kept his eyes to the ground to keep from stumbling over the rocks and stones that were strewn across the rough track. The path now made a detour around a small elevated area and, as they passed it, Larry’s heart gave a small jerk. To their right ran a wired fence and he was sure he’d caught a glimpse in the distance of a sparkle of water and the back of a noticeboard hanging at an angle from a tree. If that was so, the elevated area they had just passed was the one he’d climbed when he’d first seen the farmhouse and they were now heading in the general direction of the old hut.

Mrs. Venter clasped Larry’s hand more firmly as he attempted to free it, and continued talking calmly.

”We have a compound at the bottom of the farm where all the workers live. At night you can hear the drums as they dance around the fires.”

Larry’s heart beat quickened as they skirted the rocky outcrop. There was no doubt at all in his mind that they were heading for the hut. Almost frantic now, he tugged at his hand, his mind screaming wildly for an excuse to go back.

”My foot!” he cried suddenly. ”Oh – I’ve twisted my foot, Mrs. Venter.”

The large woman stopped and turned around. Her eyes were kind as she gently massaged the foot Larry was holding off the ground.

”Perhaps we’d better go back,” suggested Larry hopefully, but, having reassured herself that in fact Larry’s foot was quite all right, Mrs. Venter had once again taken a firm hold of his hand and was pulling him forward once more.

”Well, here we are.” Her voice was quiet but firm as she stepped to one side at the edge of the clearing. In front of Larry the old hut stood, the gaping entrance seeming to beckon to him. He stared at the doorway where, at its foot, untouched as if it had happened yesterday, lay the small circle of stones he’d built and the grey ashes of the fire he’d burned. The only thing that was missing was the snake, the thought of which set him trembling from head to toe. As Mrs. Venter pulled him gently forward his eyes were drawn to the ground in front of the hut. Sure enough smudged by numerous large footprints, the words ”Larry and Max were here” could still be made out in the dust.

Mesmerized, Larry stepped past the fire and into the little hut. At the back of the room was the pile of straw and, lying on its side, an empty tin of Coke. His eyes becoming more accustomed to the dark, he next made out the empty box of cheese and a dirty scrap of greaseproof paper bearing the brand name of the Vienna sausages he’d brought to the hut that night. As he stared, Larry felt a great, hard lump rise in his throat. He swallowed hard again and again, but when his eyes dropped to the half-chewed bone at his feet, he could contain himself no longer. With a great cry of pain, the tears spurted from his eyes and he rocked himself back and forth as the sobs wrecked his body.

Mrs. Venter knelt to the ground and gently drew the heart-broken little boy into her arms. Stroking his hair, she waited patiently as the sobs tore at his body. Gradually the intensity of the storm of his anguish passed, the sobs began to subside and quieten, the shaking lessened and the tears began to dry up. Mrs. Venter felt in the pocket of her apron and handed Larry a large handkerchief which he wiped around his face and used to blow his nose on noisily.

”There!” she said finally, and helped Larry away from her.

”You feel better now, don’t you?’

Larry suddenly realized that he did. That storm of crying had dissolved and washed away the hard tight ball of anguish he’d kept imprisoned in his chest for the last few weeks. The sadness was still there because his Max was gone forever, but he felt clean and whole inside, and at peace. The pain had gone. Larry raised his head, wonder in his eyes, and gave Mrs. Venter a small, uncertain smile.

”Yes, I think I do,” he said, the tears still glistening on his lashes.

Mrs. Venter smiled and gave him a quick hug. Heaving herself to her feet, she tucked the handkerchief back into her apron pocket and said, briskly:

”And now I have a surprise for you. Come on, back to the farm we go.”

This time there was no need to hold Larry’s hand as they came out of the hut and crossed the clearing. Larry threw it one last glance before tripping down the path after Mrs. Venter, still marvelling at the lightness he felt inside him. He actually felt as if he wanted to skip, and if he could have laughed out loud without making Mrs. Venter wonder what was so funny, he would have!

They made their way back to the farmhouse by the same route Mr. Venter had taken when he’d carried the distraught Larry in his arms just a few weeks before. In a short while the farmhouse was in sight and, without hesitation, Larry now made his way to the large spreading tree under which lay Max’s grave.

”I’m just going to have a chat with your folks,” called Mrs. Venter, heading for the front door of he farmhouse. ”I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Larry stopped at the foot of Max’s grave. The mound of soil was hard now, having been weathered by the sun and the wind in the last few weeks. The rough cross he’d made had slipped and was now lying at an angle. Slowly Larry bent down and patted the mound. He straightened the cross and then smiled.

Max wasn’t here at all! His bones might be lying under this heap of soil, but the real Max was gone. The real Max was free, his spirit racing joyfully through the bushes as he’d always loved to, leaping and pouncing on invisible prey. With this new realization, Larry’s release from the captivity of his sorrow was complete. He rose slowly to his feet. The sadness was gone. His heart was singing and his mind was finally at peace.

”Larry!”

A few minutes had passed as Larry had stood there, savouring with pleasure the sense of freedom that had now taken up residence in his body.

At the sound of his father’s voice he turned slowly and then stopped dead, his heart beginning to pound.

Grouped at the door of the farmhouse were his folks and Mr. and Mrs. Venter, their eyes fixed on him, but in front of them, and gazing intently at the boy as he stood next to his pet’s grave, was a miniature Max.

It was a puppy, with soft, fluffy black and tan fur. As Larry moved slowly towards it, the little creature cocked its head to one side, one little ear up and the other down. With a gesture that was now purely Max’s, it lifted its little right paw off the ground and stood watching Larry, an enquiring look on the bright little face. With a great surge of joy, Larry suddenly knew with certainty that this little creature was Max’s offspring. Stopping momentarily in his tracks as the thought struck him, Larry wondered if in fact Max’s spirit, instead of leaping and pouncing in the bushes of a dog’s paradise somewhere, had rather housed itself in this little creature’s body and Max had so come back to life.

”He’s all yours, boy.” It was Mr. Venter who had spoken, his gruff voice breaking the spell of Larry’s thoughts.

”When you were here we knew that our Betty was pregnant, but we didn’t know that Old Man was the father. It was only after the puppies were born and this little chap here turned out exactly like his Dad that we knew.”

”Your folks have agreed that you can have him,” he added and Larry flashed a wide-eyed, questioning glance at his parents. Mrs. Lawrence, with tears in her eyes, nodded and smiled and slipped her arm around her husband as he pulled her to his side.

Larry took a few more paces forward and stopped in front of the puppy. He bent down and scooped the warm little bundle of fur into his arms. The puppy held its head back for a moment, the eyes a little wary and unsure, and then suddenly it darted its head at Larry’s face and the little tongue flew out and licked frantically at every spot it could get to. Larry buried his head in the soft warm fur and felt the little heart beating strongly beneath his fingers. As the puppy wriggled and fastened sharp teeth into the lobe of Larry’s ear, the boy let out a shout of laughter, lowered the puppy quickly to the ground and began to caper around the garden with the little dog jumping and nipping and barking shrilly at his feet.

”Come on, puppy!” he shouted. ”Come on…Max!”

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence exchanged glances of relief mingled with pure happiness. They smiled gratefully at the Venters and then turned and went back into the house with the farmer and his wife. Behind them, as music to their ears, Larry screeched joyfully. It was the first time they had heard him laugh in weeks.

As the door closed behind them, Larry was left to his own as had so often been the case in the last few months. And yet he was not on his own, nor would he ever be again. His shrill laughter mingling with the excited yapping of the puppy, Larry’s newly regained happiness was marking the beginning of a whole new life for himself and for his newfound buddy and future companion, the young Max.

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The End

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Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-1
Chapter 2 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-2
Chapter 3 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-3
Chapter 4 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-4
Chapter 5 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-5
Chapter 6 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-6
Chapter 7 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-7
Chapter 8 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-8
Chapter 9 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-9
Chapter 10 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-10
Chapter 11 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-11
Chapter 12 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-12
Chapter 13 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-13
Chapter 14 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-14
Chapter 15 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-15
Chapter 16 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-16
Chapter 17 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-17
Chapter 18 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-18
Chapter 19 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-19
Chapter 20 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-20
Chapter 21 - https://steemit.com/fiction/@bdmomuae/larry-finds-a-buddy-fiction-chapter-21