Free The Bomber Dog by Megan Rix Page B

bigger than him, but he wouldn’t
let them intimidate him and he wouldn’t let them hurt Grey.
    ‘Hitler’s got a dog school
that’s teaching dogs to talk.’
    ‘Here, look.’ The pilot
pulled a crumpled newspaper clipping from his pocket and handed it to Nathan. It was
about a place called the Asra Talking School for Dogs, based near Hanover in
Germany. The Nazis were sponsoring research into whether dogs could actually speak,
and the article claimed that dogs were being trained to talk and count at the
school.
    ‘So Hitler really is trying to get
dogs to talk,’ Nathan said, and he shook his head in disbelief. The men
weren’t joking. He gave the pilot his newspaper cutting back and looked into
Grey’sblue eyes. If dogs could talk he was sure Grey would
be able to. But then he decided Grey didn’t need to speak because one look or
movement from his eyes or a tilt of his head was enough to tell Nathan exactly what
he wanted.
    ‘Successfully teaching a dog to
speak is about as likely as being able to teach one to jump out of a plane,’
Gordon, the other soldier, laughed.
    ‘It’s been done before,
actually,’ Nathan told him. ‘Grey won’t be the first paradog by a
long shot.’
    ‘Well, I won’t believe it
until I’ve seen it with my own eyes,’ Gordon said.
    ‘Let’s be honest –
it’s hard enough for a soldier to jump out of a plane, and I should know
because I fly the planes they go up in, so I can’t imagine it would be any
easier for a dog,’ Tommy told him.
    Nathan half agreed with Tommy but what
he said was, ‘If any dog can do it, Grey can. He’s going to help our
soldiers and save lots oflives – maybe even your life; maybe even
mine.’ His heart swelled with pride at the very thought of it.
    Muttering apologies, Tommy and Gordon
sloped off to the mess hall and it was time for Grey’s breakfast.
    The parachute regiment didn’t have
any dog food yet but Grey certainly didn’t mind when Nathan came back with
food that Bert the cook had given him. Eggs and bacon with sausages, black pudding
and potatoes for breakfast was just fine by Grey.
    ‘You are one lucky dog,’
Nathan told him as he watched him eating.
    The dog had become such a big part of
his life now that it was hard to remember what life had been like before he knew
him. How on earth had he managed without a dog before? He couldn’t imagine
life without one now.
    Grey had almost finished his breakfast
when he started wagging his tail.
    ‘What’s
going on?’ Nathan asked, as the dog gulped down the last bit of black
pudding.
    He looked over and saw the regimental
goat being led along by the Goat Major on a lead. It bleated as it trotted past
Grey.
    ‘Meh-eh-eh!’
    Nathan grinned as Grey’s tail
carried on wagging. ‘Already making friends, I see,’ he said.

Chapter 10
    The men and dogs of the parachute
regiment needed to be exceptionally fit, and daily three-mile runs, which Grey came
on too, were the norm come rain or shine.
    Nathan hadn’t had nearly as much
physical training as the other men and was also a lot younger and slighter than
them. Although he did his best, he usually ended up at the back.
    ‘Come on, you slow coaches,’
Sergeant Harris shouted at the running soldiers. ‘This dog can run twice as
fast as you lot.’
    Nathan thought that was probably – nodefinitely – true. He gritted his teeth and kept running while he
watched Grey wagging his tail as he raced to the men at the front and then back to
join Nathan. The dog easily ran twice as far as the rest of them and yet
didn’t seem to be half as tired at the end of the run.
    It was a breezy morning and Nathan had
a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stood with the other soldiers on
the jump practice field.
    ‘It’s no good doing a
perfect jump if you don’t land right,’ the sergeant told the men and
Grey. ‘Far more of you are going to be injured on landing than at any other
time during your jump. So the first thing