THE NIGHT THE STARS FELL FIRST CONTACT

Todd lay bunched up on the floor, terrified that Lasko was dead. He could not bring himself to turn his head in the direction of the gunshot until he heard the low angry growl coming from his left, he turned his head. Lasko was on top of the gunman, his huge paws holding him down one paw placed on each shoulder, and Lasko’s face was so dangerously close to the man’s face and for one awful moment he thought Lasko was going to rip his face off, his teeth looked so long and sharp it even scared Todd who felt helpless. The man’s balaclava now hung around his neck so Todd could see how white his face looked, and his wide staring eyes remained fixed on Lasko’s bright blue ones, and intuitively knew he meant business. He heard Lasko speak.

“Why are you doing this to your fellow humans? “

Todd looked around at the other customers lying on the ground, and he could not understand why they could not hear the dog speak.

He heard Sirens remarkably close by, and suddenly the people on the floor were on their feet running for the door. Todd let out a huge sigh of relief. The other two robbers dropped to their knees terrified and spread-eagled themselves on the floor.

“From today…You will change from what you are now. You WILL abide by the law…And if you do not, I will come back for you and take you to a place you would NEVER want to be…Somewhere that would be your worst nightmare!” Lasko’s lips turned up into a snarl, one Todd had never seen before.

“Do you understand me clearly?”

The gunman nodded his head wildly…...” I DO I DO”.

Todd stood silently because the voice coming from Lasko, was not the voice he knew, it sounded, tinny, yet so clear, and as loud as thunder, it was coming from above him as if it was God talking directly from the clouds.

“I promise I WILL find you and punish you! I know where you come from, I’ll know where to find you!! is that clear enough for you?”

Todd pushed himself up, his legs felt weak. But he managed to stand up on jellied eel legs feeling so scared yet proud of the dog. He had never seen anything like this before.

The next thing he heard were the sirens getting closer to the bank.

“YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Lasko growled at the man on the ground and turned to Todd. “Let’s get out of here!”

***

Ellen waited for Brian to get his coat; her hand hovering over the telephone, she wanted to pick it up, and call the hospital, yet not want to know if anything bad had happened. A million and one things ran through her mind. Brian came back with his coat on and his car keys dangling on the middle finger of his right hand.

“You going to ring?” he asked as he walked past her to the door.

“Yes.”

Ellen knew the number off by heart, she had rung that number so many times in the last few years it had been imprinted on her brain.

“Look,” Brian said, he went back and put his arms around her.

“We have a dog a large dog with powers to do anything, and I know, I mean I know that he would protect Todd with his life! I feel it…I just know they are both ok.”

Ellen looked up at him. “Do you? But I feel a dread inside Brian; although Lasko is not human, he is not infallible either, as far as I know, he is not! He could die! No one is immune to death Brian.”

“I know,” he said quietly planting kisses on her cheek and running his hand down her back. “But I just feel they are both ok, I’m sure.”

Ellen still did not feel confident in Brian’s calming words.

Suddenly she heard Todd’s voice, laughing loudly, and his jumble of excited words as they both came in the side door, Lasko’s tail was wagging furiously, and Todd’s eyes were lit up like lanterns.

“Where the HELL have you two been?”

In trotted Lasko followed by a pale-faced Todd. Ellen grasped the back of the chair to stop herself from fainting in a heap on the floor.

“WE HAVE BEEN SO WORRIED” she almost screamed. “You should have been home hours ago!”

“MUM, I’m sorry, we had a spot of bother!”

Ellen frowned and gazed at him. “And what spot of bother are we talking about here?” she asked shaking her head slightly.

“The bank was held up by armed robbers…Lasko jumped right in, Mum, he saved a lot of people, and he pinned the gunman to the floor…Mum, you should have seen him! Wow, talk about Superman.”

Ellen posted her eyes on Lasko, who stood sheepishly by the door, half-heartedly wagging his furry tail, with a look of confusion on his face, then sat down with his tail curled around his haunches. Ellen’s voice seemed to be stuck in her throat and Brian’s lips were pursed, he too was lost for words. Finally, Brian pulled out the kitchen chair and gestured for them to sit down.

“Todd,” he said grimly, “There are such things as mobile devices, which are available for use! And I know you possess one!”

“DAD, it all happened so quickly, one minute I was standing at the counter the next I was flat on my face on the floor. It all happened so fast, I couldn’t pull out my phone, call you and say ‘hi dad, going to be late we have just been held up by an armed bank robber’! That wouldn’t have gone down well”.

Ellen quickly found her voice “You tackled ARMED ROBBERS! What are you an adrenalin junkie now!”

“No Mum! Not me, Lasko….He was Brilliant!”

Ellen closed her eyes and counted to ten, wondering if she was having a tiny, minuscule brain clot! Then she opened them again.

“You could have both been killed? Playing about with Armed Robbers! What were you thinking? Why didn’t you just run?”

“Because there was no time Mum! I already told you! We probably would have been shot trying to run away!” Todd was feeling frustrated now, there was nothing he hated more than having to explain himself repeatedly.

Lasko stood up and trotted over to Ellen. “PARENTS! He said loudly. “How many times have I told you that I would NEVER let anything happen to Todd? Huh? How many times?”

His eyes widened and he tipped his head to one side, maintaining that serious visage that he had when he wanted to reassure someone. Ellen and Brian almost laughed. They were in no doubt whatsoever that Lasko would lay down his life for Todd.

***

After they had dinner, Todd was about to announce he was taking Lasko to the park, when they were interrupted by the doorbell.

Ellen looked at Brian. “Are you expecting someone?”

Brian shook his head, “No.”

She got up and went to answer the door. Two people stood on the doorstep, a young woman with fair hair and large blue eyes in a grey suit, and grey furry boots that covered most of her legs up to the knee. She carried a large beige handbag and pushed a strand of hair from her face that had blown there from a sharp gust of wind. Standing next to her in a dark pinstripe suit carrying a briefcase almost the same as Brian’s was a middle-aged man with glasses, pale brown flecked eyes and salt and pepper hair that was receding in the front. They both smiled amiably as the woman spoke.

“Good evening, Mrs. Harper, We’re from the St. Georges press department. I wonder if it would be a good time to talk to you. I appreciate it’s late, but we were in the area; if it’s not convenient we can make another appointment at another time.” For a moment Ellen looked a little confused, then on remembering how the Doctor had told her they may get a visit from their press office, her face broke out in a smile.

“OH, yes of course I had forgotten for a moment, do come in.”

They followed her down the large wide hallway towards the kitchen.

“Brian, Todd, these people are from the press office at St Georges,” she turned to them and said, “Please sit down.” Todd looked up and grinned…’ Here goes the grilling’. Lasko moved to the corner of the kitchen where he usually parked and lay down with paws stretched out in front of him. He was not going to miss any of this!

Ellen asked, “Would you like tea or coffee?” Both declined.

The young woman gave Todd the widest smile he had ever seen in his life, it was almost as wide as the cup Mum used when she needed an extra fluid boost in the morning!

“So, you’re Todd?”

“That’s me.” He grinned, hoping this was not going to take a whole day, he felt exhausted after his harrowing morning with the bank robbers.

“Well, I’m Mrs Joanne Taylor and my colleague is Mr Neville Browning.” The man smiled and nodded his head. “We would like to ask you some questions, is that ok?”

“Guess so.”

“OK, would you mind if we record our conversation, it’s for hospital use only, it will not be made public Todd.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Brilliant. At what time did you notice the tumours had gone?”

“Uhm. a couple of weeks ago, I just got up one morning feeling well, I mean well.” He emphasized. “I just knew things had changed.”

“Todd, have you been taking any other medication? Like vitamins, food supplements, plant-based medicines?”

“If you mean medical cannabis no, Besides, I will never take anything without the hospitals saying so anyway, it could counteract the chemo.”

“Yes, quite right.” She smiled, normally this time.

“And nothing herbal?” Mr. Browning concluded. Todd shook his head.

“Well, that’s amazing. Not in the history of medical science has a glioblastoma vanished, as if it had never been there in the first place.” Added Browning. “Truly remarkable.”

Mrs Taylor opened her notepad and said, “The reason we were sent here was to find out if there was anything else you may have been using to help with symptoms of this dreadful disease that could help the hospital with future case studies, things in certain pills, for example, could have a link to cures for all kinds of cancers.”

“Yeah, I can understand that, but I have only been taking medicine the hospital gave me, for headaches, they used to be quite shocking sometimes.”

Mrs Taylor looked at Todd with sincere sympathy in her eyes. “I cannot imagine what it was like for you Todd, I only know it must have been horrific, but thank god it has gone, I am so happy for you and your family.” She looked over at Lasko who was starting to snore loudly in the corner. Joanne grinned.

“He’s a super dog, what breed is he?”

Todd laughed. “Heinze 57 I think, he’s very intelligent.” Lasko opened one eye and focused on Todd.

“I have a little sheltie, she’s one year old now.”

“They are a nice little dog, a relative of the sheepdog,” Brian remarked.

“Well, we must be going now.” They both stood up and shook hands with Ellen and Brian. “Thanks’ so much for your help, and you know Todd your case will go down in medical history, you could one day be famous.” Joanne laughed.

Todd gave her a nod of his head and wished at that moment he could tell her his recovery had nothing to do with luck, medicine, grey matter, or anything else, but Alien intervention! He couldn’t!

Ellen and Brian saw them out. She walked back to the kitchen and sighed, she was also feeling tired, but her weariness came from stress.

“Tell you what, let’s go into the living room I’ll make us a cup of tea, Lasko and Todd can have hot chocolate then we can go to bed.”

“Sounds good to me Brian remarked. You must be tired my man after all you had a stressful day.”

“Yeah, I am dad, I’m sorry we caused you worry.” Todd’s eyes looked soulfully into his father’s eyes and Brian noticed that although Todd looked tired, his brown eyes lit up with that sparkle of life and now he was just an ordinary happy healthy fifteen-year-old boy. Then he looked at Lasko who was waiting patiently beside Ellen waiting for his hot chocolate, and he thought. How lucky they were that whoever had sent this beautiful animal to save their son, was the one true saviour. And by God, Brian loved him and was so happy they didn’t take him to the shelter that day.

“I’ll do the dishes in the morning,” Ellen said putting the cups on a tray to carry to the living room.

“I’ll do them, Mum,” Todd replied already heading for the sink to put them in the dishwasher.

Lasko moved to the kitchen door and looked beseechingly up at Ellen. “Could I have some peanut butter on some digestive biscuits please?”

“Of course.” Ellen grinned scratching his ears. “How many do you want?”

“Half a packet please, with a jar of peanut butter.”

Ellen placed the tray on the table and went to the cupboard for the digestives.

“You are going to get fat my furry friend.” She laughed.