A flash of ginger fur vanishing under shrubs was all I saw till the evening he passed the kitchen window, thin to the point of emaciation. Nobody's cat, in a hostile world. I knew then that any home he had only existed in my imagination. He was invisible when I placed food outside but when I let the dogs out for their last run the dish was empty.

The next night I watched from behind the kitchen window and saw him slink out from the bushes and gulp down the food before vanishing. The following night I put the food in the same place at the same time and sat silent and still in a garden chair where I could see him but not near enough to pose a threat. Just when I was about to give up and go back indoors he appeared. He gave no sign that he knew I was there, just ate and vanished.

For three weeks I watched him gulp his tea before vanishing. Each night I placed my chair and his dish of food closer. I sat very still talking to him quietly while he ate. . .

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I was standing at the sink filling the jug for coffee when I saw him turn in at the gate and head for the back door. There was something about his jaunty, confident air that caught my interest, in spite of the self-absorbed agonising that was causing me such inner turmoil. I even smiled slightly as I opened the kitchen door.

He walked straight in and 'smiled' at me, just for all the world as if he were welcoming me to his home!

"Hello, there!" He was an engaging little fellow. Crisp black curls, bright eyes; "Where have you sprung from?"

The grin widened, showing a bright pink tongue; he jumped up on his hind legs wagging his tail so vigorously that the absurd pom-pom at the end was just a blur. In spite of myself I found that I was grinning back. I looked on his collar, a red, jewelled affair, for some clue to his identity. There was none. I straightened up and he sat down, head on one side, looking at me.

"If this is a social call, you’ve come at the right moment, I’m just about to have a drink." As if it had ears the jug boiled on cue. I turned to flick it off.

"How about joining me?" He seemed to think this was a good idea, and sat down to supervise. I made my coffee and put out a saucer of milk. In deference to my unexpected guest I opened a packet of sweet biscuits. He cocked his head and wagged his tail in approval. I guessed he must be from one of the other holiday cottages in the area, he certainly wasn’t a stray. He was far too well fed, well groomed and confident for that. I loved dogs and had a particularly soft spot for small black Poodles for just such a dog as this had been my friend and confidante as a child.

This is the opening of the title story in TIME AWAY. It is a fictional story about a dog – there is another animal story in the book – about a cat. To read the rest buy at the SPECIAL offer price of $15 plu $2.50 mail and handling. To read more about fiction written by Ann Walker as Louise Pakeman go to Louise Pakeman

I do not believe that animals were created and put here specifically for the use and convenience of humans. In my journey through life I have met so many remarkable and highly individual animal personalities displaying all the same emotions and feelings as we humans; fear, anger, aggression, friendship, maternal love, grief and above all love for each other and for us two-legged creatures, the differences between us far less than the similarities.

They have been my friends and teachers, my spiritual gurus. God, the Great Spirit, All That Is – whatever name you give him, did not, I came to believe, create animals solely for our convenience. They have another purpose in living than to be used by humans.

When we accept that we, and the other living creatures, are all part of the great web of life we begin to reconsider our attitude to animals and to question our right to exploit them. To eat them, use their bodies as living test tubes to test medicines for our benefit, hunt them for pleasure, exploit them for our entertainment, treat them as pieces of merchandise, often in totally abhorrent conditions, and in our arrogance destroy massive areas of their habitat so whole species are endangered. The animals who have walked Life's path with me have given me so much in love and comradeship; they have taught me that breeding for physical beauty, as we see it, is the sheerest arrogance and to move gradually to a different way of living and, hopefully a lighter tread on our fragile planet.

Over the years I have learned to listen to my animal friends, not just talk to, or worse, at them; in my books I endeavour to share what I have learned with other animal lovers and convince those who still see animals as 'things' without mind or spirit to look a little deeper.

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