YSJ Anthology 2015

see outside that night was falling. He buried his face in the dog’s
shoulder and his stiff fingers found Finn’s leather collar and, gripping
his hands tightly around it, he allowed the dog to lead him out into
the ghostly twilight of the shadowy shore. Together they made slow
and painful progress up beside the dry stone wall that marked the
fisherman’s path up the side of the cliff to the fields above. The
powerful hound floundered as the snowless shore gave way to the
snow-covered field, but John held on tightly; together they pushed
through the snow as it got deeper and deeper until at last they could
use the stones of the wall to climb forward onto the icy crust on top
of the snow and slither back over the eerily lit and curiously quiet
landscape towards the clachan and the warm hearth of The Kennels.
As they approached the little house, the light from the candles at the
window fell across the snow and Finn raised his head and howled
into the night and into the hearing of Tom.
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