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felt for years. The last time was when he’d brought a friend home from school and his mother had been chatting away with him. Jealousy.
    He shouldn’t kid himself. Yvonne had decided she didn’t want to be friends with him. It must have been the fiasco with Reggae the day before  . . .
    And then he’d asked her to tutor him.
Twice a week!
Josh closed his eyes with embarrassment at the memory. He was glad Yvonne wasn’t in citizenship. He didn’t have to look at her. And as it was the last class in the day, he could just go straight home afterwards. At least Reggae would be there for him.
     
    * * *
    ‘Heel,’ Josh said firmly. Reggae fell into step beside him. Josh started to jog. There was nothing better than running after being cooped up in a classroom all day. He couldn’t imagine life without the commons.
    Immediately, Josh felt guilty. If his mother hadn’tdied, he’d still be living in the city. He stumbled but managed to recover his footing. He had to forget about Yvonne and concentrate on the job at hand. He had a dog to train. Today it was long outruns.
    As they neared their valley, he could see Reggae’s ears perk up. He knelt down next to her and tickled her under her ear. ‘Today it’s outruns,’ he explained. ‘An outrun is when you go off to your right or left to get behind some sheep. You’ve been doing short ones so far. But in the Gathering, the sheep will be so far away they may be invisible behind a hill or rocky outcrop. I’ll have to trust you to get behind the sheep, keep a good distance, and then bring the sheep to me. Okay?’
    Josh knew Reggae couldn’t understand what he was saying. But
he
found it useful to tell her his goals for the day ahead – it helped him to focus on the job at hand. He suddenly realised he hadn’t done this the day before. He’d been too distracted by wanting to impress Yvonne to chat with Reggae.
    Suddenly a whole number of images came together in Josh’s head. He remembered Reggae tugging on her lead as he walked with Yvonne. Twice. She’d missed running with him to the valley. Just like he’d missed Yvonne at lunch. That’s why Reggae had kept looking from him to Yvonne before circling the sheep! She was jealous.
    He felt Reggae licking his hand, and Josh realised she was trying to get his attention. He’d been staring into space.
    ‘Sorry, pup,’ he said, tickling her under the ear.‘I was just figuring something out. We’ll do your outruns now.’
     
    * * *
    As they ran across the commons together, Josh reflected happily on the afternoon’s work. Reggae had really got the idea of outruns. And
he’d
figured out why she’d misbehaved the day before.
    Suddenly, ahead of him, he saw a crofter out with his dog on the path that intersected the one they were on. Josh dived to the ground. ‘Down, Reggae!’ he whispered urgently. Reggae stopped in her tracks and went down on her stomach.
    Josh was pretty sure they hadn’t been seen, but just in case, he stayed down for at least a minute. Then he lifted his head to check what was happening. He was relieved to see that the crofter had continued on his way. But his dog was another matter. He started running towards Josh, barking frantically. Josh ducked and after a few tense moments, heard the crofter call, ‘That’ll do, Jay. No time for chasing rabbits. We’ll miss dinner.’ The dog’s barking continued, but now at a greater distance. By listening carefully, Josh could keep track of the crofter’s progress. After a couple of minutes, he lifted his head again. He could see that in a few moments, the crofter and his dog would pass over the next rise.
    Josh left it a while after they disappeared before standing. This kind of thing was happening more frequently now, as the weather got better. He had to stay alert all the time.
    They started again on their way. A few minutes later, Reggae suddenly veered away from his side and started to run towards a gorge on their left.
    ‘We’re not