"Come on, Susie," he pleaded desperately, "a game is fine but this is getting silly."

There was no reply but then he hadn't really expected one. For one thing Susie was nowhere to be seen - she'd disappeared half an hour before - and for another thing, Springer Spaniels aren't that strong on conversation anyway.

Tony sighed, if that's what the rasping wheeze that crept from his lungs could be called. Springers might not talk much, he reflected, but they certainly could run a lot, especially if they spotted a particularly delectable looking rabbit. Susie could be anywhere, most likely trying to dig herself into the rabbit's burrow. She wouldn't give up the chase easily - not as easily as her owner anyway. The unaccustomed exercise had left him feeling tired and unsteady on his feet. It wasn't that he was unfit - no more than any other middle-aged, slightly over-weight smoker anyway. His feet felt heavy and clumsy and when he stepped onto a patch of mushrooms, they turned to instant slippery mush and sent him flying forward to land face first with his nose buried, in a most undignified fashion, in another patch of the infernal fungi. Shaken but unhurt, he pulled himself back up, using a fallen tree trunk for support.

He was exhausted and the fall gave him an excuse to rest for a moment. He perched himself on the tree trunk and looked around the unfamiliar landscape as he fished a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. If he'd been a little less irritable and slightly less out of breath, he would have conceded that it was a lovely place for a picnic.

The grass was unmown but still less than knee-high and, growing among the green stalks, he spotted dozens of wild flowers that he was unable to identify. He grinned wryly at the thought that he might recognise a flower that he knew. The chances of his being able to remember the name of a single bloom were vanishingly slim - in Tony's life, flowers came from florists - all wrapped up, labelled and priced. The only contact he had with the great outdoors was Susie's daily walk and that was more an act of remembrance for his dead wife than any overwhelming desire for fresh air and exercise. He lit the cigarette that was hanging from his lip and flipped the match carelessly, a few feet in front of him.

"Do you mind?" said a querulous voice.

Tony looked up, startled, and searched for the source of the voice. There was nobody to be seen and he began to wonder if he'd imagined it. It wouldn't be the first time that he'd thought that he had seen or heard something that was a product of his wishful thinking. In the first few months after Linda died, he had seen her so many times, walking along the street in front him or vanishing into a crowd on the opposite side of the road. So many times he had run up to strangers who had the misfortune to be wearing the same colour coat as the one she had worn or had a similar way of walking. He pushed the morbid thoughts away. He was over all that now. He had accepted, years ago that she was dead and that life had to go on - except that it hadn't. Life had stopped at the same moment that Linda's heart had ceased to beat and now walking Susie was the only contact he had with the life that he'd had. "Is anyone there?" he said, feeling slightly foolish at talking to thin air......(cont)