Indie, Malva and the Tide

Indie and Malva have found the perfect cave to live in, complete with a shelf. They have not considered the tide. Prince Freddie has until half past seven to convince them otherwise.

Prince Freddie found them at the base of the headland, standing in the entrance to a cave. They had luggage. A water bowl and a folded blanket. A small rubber hedgehog that belonged to Malva and went everywhere she went.

“We have found it,” Indie said.

“Found what?” Freddie said.

“Our cave,” Malva said.

Freddie looked at it. It was deep, broad enough for two dachshunds to lie side by side. The floor was dry. It had the good, cold smell of a cueva. Salt and shadow and stone that had been washed through many times. The walls were striped with interesting minerals in ochre and grey. There was a natural shelf at roughly dachshund-sitting height.

“It has a shelf,” Malva said.

“I see that,” Freddie said. His tail had stilled. He also saw the waterline on the cave walls. A dark horizontal mark about four feet up. The wet sand where the floor began. The smell of recent ocean.

“When would you be living here?” he said.

“Starting tonight,” Indie said. “We have discussed it. The coast suits us. The cave is ready. There is no reason to delay.”

“Have you considered the tide?”

“We have considered the tide,” Indie said.

“The tide comes in at around half past seven this evening,” Freddie said.

“We will be settled by then.”

“Into the cave.”

“Yes.”

“Which the tide fills to approximately here,” Freddie said, and pointed his nose to the dark waterline on the cave wall.

Indie and Malva looked at the waterline. They looked at each other.

“There is a shelf,” Malva said.

“There is,” Freddie said.

“We would be on the shelf.”

“The waterline is above the shelf.”

“How far above?”

“About a foot.”

Malva looked at Indie. Indie looked at the cave. A long moment of Swedish deliberation passed.

“We will reassess at half past six,” Indie said. “In the meantime, we are going to look at the rest of the headland.”

Freddie waited on the beach. He completed his patrol, walking from the western end to the flat rocks and back, which was farther than it looked. Indie and Malva were still there at half past six. The blanket was on the cave floor. The rubber hedgehog sat on the shelf. They had arranged the water bowl. They had worked out how to fit on the shelf.

At twenty-seven minutes past seven, the tide arrived. It did not announce itself. It simply began, as it always did. Filling the lower beach first, then advancing up the sand.

“Come out,” Freddie said. Indie’s voice came back that they were on the shelf.

Ten minutes in, the water reached the cave entrance. Freddie waded in. The water was cold. It came up to his chest. His hindquarters rose at once. Corgis float stern-up in water. He swam with dignity, his small crown angled well past its usual tilt.

Inside, Indie and Malva were on the shelf. They were wet from the knees down. The sea had taken interest in the shelf. They were not submerged. They looked at the water filling their cave with scientific interest.

“This is cold,” Malva said.

“Yes,” Freddie said.

“But quite interesting,” Indie said.

They watched the water for a while. The cave changed completely when it was full. The sound was different from anything it made when dry. The walls turned reflective. The light came in green and moving. Small fish appeared from nowhere and investigated the rubber hedgehog with great interest. The hedgehog did not react.

When the tide turned and the water began to pull back, they came out. Wet, brisk, untroubled. Malva shook herself comprehensively. Indie retrieved the hedgehog from where it had been nudged by a curious fish and examined it for damage. None.

“We will need a different arrangement,” Indie said.

“The cave is still excellent,” Malva said. “We will come at low tide. As a visiting place.”

“An outpost,” Indie said.

“Exactly.”

This seemed reasonable to Freddie. His tail moved in a slow, easy arc. He walked with them along the beach. Three low dogs moving at the same pace. Along the waterline. Leaving prints in the wet sand.

Indie and Malva peeled off at the beach steps. Freddie continued to the cottage, pleasantly damp, the salt still on his coat.

His human had seen him coming and opened the door. The lamp was on inside. They looked at his dampness. No questions were asked. Freddie ate his supper. A towel appeared. He submitted to it briefly.

Freddie circled once, twice, three times. On the third he kept going. His body curled inward. His nose found his tail. Within thirty seconds he was warm.

Out at the headland, in the cave, the hedgehog sat. It waited for the next low tide. Patient in the dark.

The End

Sleep well, Prince Freddie. In the headland cave, the tide is already rising. The rubber hedgehog is in very good hands.

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