It was New Year’s Day, 1913 and Andrew was bored.
Everyone in the house was sleeping off the after effects of the Ball which his
parents insisted on holding every year.
This meant that no one would be driving the motor car
that day and this made Andrew smile. All he needed was to rev the old beast
up, find Buster and then the two of them could be off to the seaside.
Buster wasn’t just Andrew’s dog, he was his best pal and
was probably much cleverer than the boy but Buster wasn’t one to brag.
Andrew sat Buster in the driving seat as he pushed the
car silently out of the stables and under the nose of Reynolds – the little man
who looked after everything mechanical for the big house.
Andrew’s father promised him his own motor car when it
came to the time that he would go up to Oxford – until then he had to take
every opportunity to teach himself the rudiments of driving. How hard could it
be? I mean, Buster was steering the car along the drive and he was a dog.
Before they got to the big gates Andrew checked there
was enough fuel to get them to the coast and back.
“Good man, Reynolds,” thought Andrew - Reynolds always
kept the motor car in ship shape and ready for the off. All Andrew had to do
was turn the crank and that would be that. The motor car spluttered into life,
shaking and banging before it settled down and began purr like a big cat.
Andrew hopped in and made Buster sit in the passenger seat
much to the dog’s annoyance. It was several minutes before the dog looked in
Andrew’s direction again. Okay, so the dog was very clever and very friendly
but it could get annoyed if it didn’t get its own way. Andrew knew how to bring
Buster around by giving him a saucer of champagne – and not just any kind of
champagne it had to be the 1893 and it had to be served at room temperature.
Buster was a snob, as if I need to tell you.
It wasn’t long before they were on the road to the
coast. Naturally being New Year’s Day, the road was empty of traffic with not
even a horse to be seen.
The road was straight enough that Andrew felt
confident to let Buster steer the car, Andrew worked all the other buttons and
pedals.
Whether it was the late night or all the dancing at the
Ball, sleep crept up on Andrew and he fell into a deep dream. Buster hadn’t
noticed and wasn’t caring since he was driving a human car and it felt great.
As they drove through the next town, a Mrs Styler of
Heyham High Street looked out her window to see one of those new fangled motor
cars being driven by a dog and a man (who looked unconscious) in the other
seat. She was going to mention it to her husband when she decided that he was already
looking for an excuse to get her locked up and this would be the perfect gift
for him, so she went back to bed and lay down in a darkened room.
Somewhere just outside of town the car ran out of fuel
and Buster guided it to the side of the road. He then started to bark at
Andrew.
Okay Andrew would have heard it as barking but to Buster
it sounded as if he was telling his lazy friend to fill up the car with more
fuel.
After what seemed a very long time (which in dog’s years
was probably quite true) Buster decided to fill up the car with fuel himself; a
farmer who was in field nearby saw this and decided that he had been working
too hard and for the first time in his life went home early.
Once again Buster barked and barked but he couldn’t get
Andrew to waken so being a very self reliant dog, it decided to turn the crank
handle itself. With Andrew’s hands and feet still on the buttons and such like,
the motor car suddenly moved off on its own. It shot down the coast road with
Buster running behind barking that someone should try and stop the human motor
car.
The Reverend Dunlop was opening his church doors when he
saw a motor car driving down the road with the driver asleep and a dog running
behind barking. He smiled to himself and continued with his work.
Just as the motor car entered town, Buster managed to
jump back on board and turned the car along the coast road. Buster knew he
couldn’t stop the car so his only options were to drive it into the sea, or let
it run out of fuel, or try and turn the motor car around and head for home.
Just then, Buster noticed a large house with many dogs
and bitches running around the garden. He turned the motor car into the drive
and as the car laboured up the hill, he invited the others to jump aboard. As
he drove the car out of the grounds there must have been nearly twenty dogs and
bitches sitting in the motor car. Two of them were on top of the sleeping
Andrew.
Buster continued along the coast and at the big pier,
the car once again ran out of fuel. Leaving the sleeping Andrew in the car,
Buster and his pals spent several hours running along the beach and stealing
food when the humans weren’t looking.
All too quickly the sun started to go down and so Buster
filled the car with the last of the fuel, and got several of his pals to turn
the crank.
After a very satisfying day, Buster drove back through
the dogs’ home, dropping off his friends.
It was dark when the car reached home and as Buster had
no way of stopping it, he drove the car into the garage hoping the something
would bring it to a halt. Actually the car burst through the back wall and
continued across the lawn but by this time Buster had already jumped off.
Reynolds found a very confused Andrew several miles away
in the forest where the motor car had eventually run out of fuel by that time
Buster was fast asleep and dreaming of his next adventure.
bobby stevenson
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