The Dog Walker – Part 2: Heel

By December, Kofi owned his own lead.

It was a plain brown leather one, bought in a hurry at a pet shop the evening before. He clipped it onto Bernd's collar in the grey half-light of a Berlin morning, with frost on the grass and breath curling from the dogs' noses, and the wolfhound regarded him with an expression of grave satisfaction.

"He's yours for the morning," said Nils.

"I'm not sure he thinks so."

"He's been waiting since November."

They walked the usual circuit, round the pond, along the avenue, past the little iced-over fountain. The sun rose low and orange between the trees. Dogs bounded through frozen leaves. Kofi had begun to walk without checking his phone. He had begun to know the names of the dogs, the regulars, the old man with the dachshund, the woman who fed the ducks.

At dusk, they took the pack out again, a short evening round. The park was empty, silver with frost, lit by a thin lemon sky. The dogs raced and tumbled in the snow. Nils walked beside Kofi with his hands in his pockets, quiet.

"What's wrong?" said Kofi.

"Nothing."

"You're quiet."

"I'm working up to something."

"Is it a lot of work?"

"It's an enormous amount." Nils laughed shakily. "Bernd, could you help?"

Bernd, with a great ponderous sigh, planted his rump firmly between the two men and leaned. The two men were pushed shoulder to shoulder. They looked down at him, and then at each other, and then they both began to laugh.

"Can I ask you something?" said Nils.

"Yes."

"May I kiss you? Bernd has arranged it."

"Yes," said Kofi, grinning. "And if you say stop, you must walk with me every day."

"That's not a punishment."

"I know."

Nils kissed him, cold-nosed and warm-mouthed, a gloved hand rising to his jaw. Kofi kissed him back with a deep, glad warmth, his fingers curling in the canvas jacket. The whippet barked once. Frost glittered on the leaves. Bernd sighed and sat on both their feet.

When they parted, both of them were smiling.

"Green?" asked Nils.

"Green," said Kofi. "Very green."

They walk the pack together every morning. Kofi leaves the phone at home. Bernd goes to sleep on the sofa, between them, as heavy as a sack of coal.

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