WAVE WOLF

The waves pounded on my head pushing me down and down and then I saw the dog a big grey animal. It arced in a circle towards me, in the mist and spray and our eyes locked before the waves swallowed me.

I woke sweating and my heart was pounding so lowdly i thought it would wake everyone and everything in the orphanage. The grey dog,it was in my dreams for the third time and what did it mean?.

The breakfast bell rang and I got dressed and went down the corridor and in to the kitchen ward were most of the other kids were already seated around the big tables. I made my way to my place and sat down. Almost immediately the matron plonked a bowl of half cooked porridge in front of me. I hated meals in this place, I’d only been here for three weeks and I was convinced that this place, like the breakfast was a thing to take the spirit out of life.
After breakfast we were all herded together for a walk.

We were always taken to the beach and left there for three hours a day, then we were taken back to the orpganage to bathe, eat, and play quietly or do chores until bed time which was at seven thirty.

At the beach I went to the very end were the river met the sea and it was always cool and breezy. I was sitting on the sand watching the ripples break the surface of the river and sending glinting shimmers against the current when I saw a dog. It was grey and resembled a wolf but it had the stature of a sheep dog or lassie. It tested the wind and then wirled and looked me straight in the eye. I knew those eyes, I knew them the moment I saw them and an excited shiver went down my spine.

It was the dog in my dreams.

The dog turned and begun to lope away towards the rocks and the sea. I ran after the dog all the way out on to the rocks but the dog had gone. Suddenly a great wave swelled up and knocked me side ways then before I could regain my feet another wave covered me and pounded me in to the rock. I saw a blurred shape loping towards me before my head was whacked onto the rocks and the last thing I remembered was being pulled off the rocks by strong jaws.

“Jack,Jack wake up”.

I struggled to conciousness and opened my eyes. All around me were doctors and nurses and a drip was fastened to my arm. Standing by my bed was a matron from the orphanage and soon a tray was brought to me and on it was the nicest food I had eaten since I was found behind the bakery where I had lived for two months before being put in Saint Gardens orphanage.

After I had eaten and the matron had signed all the papers and forms that were handed to her I was taken back to the orphanage and given a big rave by the orphanage manager about not going near the rocks ever again.

I had not taken in much of her ravings because all that my mind could focus on was the wolf dog. I knew what had saved me when that wave almost took my life from me and now I knew what the dreams where about.