Appollinaire (The Other Side of Nowhere)

Appollinaire, (Pol), Bizet is a disgruntled, solitary seventeen-year-old boy, who thinks his parents in particular, and the whole world in general, are against him. No matter what he tries to do, it’s never good enough. The way he sees it, his only friend in the whole wide world is his dog, Tinker, a five-year-old black whippet cross breed with a white flash on its chest and a wicked sense of humor.
When he is accosted by a gang of boys, whilst he is out walking with his dog, Pol, being skinny, five feet eight in his stocking feet, and more of a pacifist than a fighter, does the first thing that comes to mind, he instinctively legs it. After dodging through a gap in a hedge, into a field of knee-high grass, and to the amazement of the pursuing boys, Pol promptly disappears…