Benny Gets a Dog - short story

---

Benny Gets a Dog was available for ‘rent’ from Liskeard Library in 2024. 

Peter McAllister (Competition Judge) said,"The standard of entries was incredibly high and I’d like to congratulate all those who entered on producing such fantastic work. From love and loss in Eighteenth century Cornwall to zombie apocalypses in eastern Asia, it was great fun to read and judge. All shortlisters and our overall winner should be particularly proud and I wish them all the best in their future writing."

Benny Gets a Dog has been edited for sharing on my website. Benny, Chase and their humans feature in my novel The Lamp Room.

Benny Gets a Dog

Benny the cat liked to fight. Each day he’d sit by the open patio door, hidden by the potted plant, and wait for a cat to stroll through his garden. Then he’d fly out, a mass of teeth and claws, and catch them by surprise. If they were quick, they escaped over the garden wall and he’d strut back to his house to bask in the adoration of his human servant.

But sometimes cats would stand their ground. Those were good days. There was nothing quite like the excitement of swiping at your opponent's face while simultaneously trying to avoid being bitten on the head. And Benny could always depend on his servant to cheer him on with words of encouragement such as ‘stop it’ and ‘get inside’. 

He strutted around like a Big Cat but soon cats stopped passing through his garden. So he started pouncing on his servant instead. He’d hide behind an open door and wait for her to walk through. Then he’d bite her feet to make her run, and bound after her with his eyes wide and his tail up. The spare human wasn’t neglected either. He’d swipe at her hair with his claws or bite her hand as she came up the stairs.

‘You’re too rough,’ observed Angel the seagull, as Benny sunbathed outside. ‘You need to cultivate people. No one will want you around if you continue at this rate.’

This summer Angel and her mate had raised two chicks on the roof of Benny’s terraced house in Liskeard, making use of the ledge provided by the anti-seagull spikes. Angel often came down into his garden to see if there was any stale cat food going begging. Benny had stalked her once but instead of flying off, she’d simply turned her large yellow beak at him, fixed him with her eye, and flexed the long claws on her pink feet. He’d backed away, claiming he’d had no intention of pouncing on her and she said that was a good thing because she’d hate to have to stand on top of him.

Benny bristled. ‘If they can’t take it, they should toughen up.’

She stretched out her wings. ‘You’re young with so much to learn. When you grow up you’ll realise that not everything is about you.’

‘Is that another way of saying that when you’re old you’re less important?’

Angel clacked her beak. ‘You’re going to be a very lonely cat if you continue with that attitude.’ She launched herself into the air and flew back to the roof.

‘Maybe I want to be on my own!’ shouted Benny after her. ‘If the only other option is being with stupid animals, maybe I’d be better off.’

But it wasn’t going to be the case. The following month a monster came into his house. Benny fluffed up to twice his normal size and let out a low yowl. The brown furred thing stared at him with a long tongue lolling from a big wide mouth. Its black nose twitched as it strained at its lead in an attempt to get him. Benny screamed and ran under the sofa.

‘Get away from me!’

‘Wanna play?’

‘Play? You’re going to eat me!’

‘No, I’m not. I just wanted to sniff you. I like cats. We can play!’

‘Leave me alone.’

‘Oh.’ The dog lay down and watched Benny through mournful eyes.

‘Are you just going to sit there and watch me?’

The dog turned his face away and looked at Benny out of the corner of his eye. ‘Better?’

‘Er… yeah.’

‘No problem.’

Benny listened into the conversation his servants were having. He heard a couple of words he recognised such as ‘chicken’ and ‘treats’ but nothing else. They didn’t seem happy about having the dog in the house. But when the dog’s master left, he didn’t take him with him.

The dog jumped to his paws when the front door shut. He barked but his master didn’t hear. He stood on his hind legs at the window and stared until his master disappeared out of sight. The dog howled, ‘Where are you going? When are you coming back?’

‘Poor Chase,’ said Benny’s servant, trying to comfort the dog.

‘He’s just going to leave Chase here with us?’ asked the spare human.

‘There’s nowhere else for him to go.’

Chase ran around the house trying to find a way out. All the doors were shut. He found the cat flap and stuck half his head out of it.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Master’s forgotten me. I’ve got to get to him.’

‘Uh.’ Benny washed his grey paws.

‘You’ve got to help me get out.’

‘No, no I don’t.’  

‘Please.’

Chase spent the next few days trying to escape. When that was unsuccessful he curled up in the corner of the lounge and stopped eating. Benny’s servant hand fed him dog treats and freshly cooked chicken. Benny tried to get his fair share by squeezing in front of the dog, but the spare human picked him up and moved him out of the way.

‘Unhand me!’ Benny wriggled free from her grasp. 

Chase whimpered and cried continuously. Benny couldn’t bear it so he went upstairs to sleep on top of the wardrobe. A little while later he was rudely awoken by his servant changing her clothes. He waited until she wasn’t looking and dived onto the top of her head. It was the best jump-scare he’d done yet. All four sets of claws dug deep into her scalp. She screamed loudly, tripped and fell onto the bed.

‘What’s wrong with this cat?’ she shouted, as Benny scrambled out from underneath her and ran out of the room with his tail between his legs. ‘He’s gone crazy.’

‘The dog’s staying then?’ observed Angel when Benny went into the garden later to do his private business. Benny wasn’t in the mood for chatting. He dug a hole. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with me.’

‘Ooh. Touchy. So what about this dog? When can I expect scraps of dog food?’

Benny shrugged.

‘He seems ok.’

Benny squatted. ‘He’s ok so long as he doesn’t eat all my treats. Have you seen the size of him?’

‘Yeah. You must be happy.’

‘What? Why?’ Benny covered the hole with soil.

‘It’ll be hard to hurt him.’

‘What do you mean?’

The seagull clacked her beak. ‘Figure it out.’

Benny sat on the back of the sofa and watched the dog from across the lounge. He didn’t look dangerous, just sad. Slowly Benny stood up, stretched, and stalked his way over.

‘Why did he leave me?’ cried Chase as the cat drew near. 

Benny bent down and licked Chase’s cheek.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Benny gently put his paws on Chase’s face to keep him still. He groomed the dog's ears. ‘Do you ever wash these?’

‘Master normally bathes me.’

‘You don’t bathe yourself?’

‘No. Do you?’

‘It’s my main activity. Apart from sleeping and fighting.’

‘Fighting? Like wrestling?’

‘Stay still, won’t you?’

‘Do you like to wrestle? I like to wrestle.’

The cat cocked his head to one side. ‘We could wrestle, if you promise you won’t try to eat me.’

‘Ok. Will you keep your claws in?’

The cat hesitated. ‘Yes.’

‘And no hard biting?’

‘Sure.’

‘Ok, then.’ The dog’s tail wagged, hitting the floor with an almighty thud. 

Ten minutes later Benny’s servant came into the lounge to find Benny dangling limply from Chase’s mouth. Before she could intervene, the cat wriggled free, crouched and pounced onto the dog’s face. Chase threw himself backwards in mock surprise. Benny slid off. Chase jumped to his paws and barked loudly.

‘That was so much fun!’ shouted Benny.

‘Yeah!’ barked Chase.

‘Do it again?’

‘Yeah!’

Chase gave a doggy-bow. Benny jumped onto the back of the sofa and took a flying leap at Chase’s head.

‘What’s going on?’ asked the spare human, appearing at the doorway.

‘They’re play-fighting.’

‘Oh. Well that’s good. Chase looks happier.’

‘Benny is too. Hopefully it’ll stop him from attacking us all the time.’ Benny’s servant rubbed the scratches on her head.

‘It’s a good solution all round then.’

‘Sure is,’ said Angel, watching through the patio door. She threw her head back and laughed loudly.

A short while later Benny fell asleep lying on Chase’s chest. He rose and fell with the dog’s breathing.

‘Who’s up for walkies?’ asked Benny’s servant, coming into the lounge with Chase’s lead.

‘Me! Me! Me!’ barked Chase, jumping awake and depositing Benny unceremoniously onto the floor.

‘Aw, Benny, are you OK?’ His human scooped him up in an embrace. It felt nice. Instead of biting her, he felt a purr building in his throat. ‘You are a happy cat!’

He rubbed his face against hers and mewed quietly. ‘Thank you for my dog. I love him.’