“You do?” said Mutt. “Really?!”
Stick Dog nodded. “Let’s just wait for Karen to get here and then we’ll go look.”
“Did you hear that, you guys?” Mutt asked Poo-Poo and Stripes. There was genuine excitement in his voice. “Stick Dog thinks we should go find a new place to get water. It was my idea! Did you hear me suggest that?”
Poo-Poo nodded his head, and Stripes closed her eyes.
“Another great idea by yours truly,” Mutt whispered to himself as he shifted around a little in the shade. “Old Mutt comes through again.”
Stick Dog took pleasure in seeing Mutt act this way. And he took even greater pleasure when a random summer breeze whooshed through the woods for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and waited for Karen.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Karen soon came through the woods and entered the small clearing at Stick Dog’s pipe. She joined him beneath the maple tree.
“Can you believe how hot it is?” Karen said as she plopped down.
“Don’t remind us,” sighed Stripes.
“Where have you been?” Poo-Poo called from beneath the oak tree.
“Nowhere,” Karen answered. She panted and added, “It’s so hot!”
“I said, ‘Don’t remind us,’” Stripes complained. She seemed really agitated. “And you can’t be ‘nowhere.’ That’s impossible.”
Poo-Poo nodded in agreement.
Mutt ignored the entire conversation. He had now chewed through the heel of the old grey sock and was working on the toe area.
“Look,” Stripes said to Karen. “You don’t have to tell us where you’ve been. It’s your business. But you have to agree that you can’t go ‘nowhere.’”
“Yeah,” Poo-Poo said. “You have to admit that.”
Karen’s chin rested on the ground. She didn’t respond, but she did shift her eyes to look at Stick Dog next to her. It was almost as if her eyes were saying, “I really want to prove these two wrong, but I don’t know how. Can you help me?”
Stick Dog got the message. And he thought it was just too hot for this back-and-forth conversation. On a nicer, cooler day, it would be fine – maybe even amusing. But not today. Not in this heat.
“Listen, Stripes and Poo-Poo. Do me a quick favour, will you?” Stick Dog asked. He stood and stretched his legs. He knew they would leave soon. “On the count of three, will you two go and climb into my pipe? It’s not a race or anything. I just want you to get into my pipe for a second. OK?”
It was an odd request, but neither Poo-Poo nor Stripes saw any harm in doing so. They nodded to indicate they would do it.
“One, two …,” Stick Dog said, and then paused. He waited. Poo-Poo and Stripes were ready to move from the oak tree’s shade to Stick Dog’s pipe, but they held still, waiting for the signal. Then Stick Dog said, “Forget it. I don’t want you guys to go to my pipe after all.”
“You don’t?” asked Stripes.
Stick Dog shook his head.
“Why not?” Poo-Poo asked.
“Just changed my mind,” said Stick Dog. He winked at Karen and turned to Stripes and Poo-Poo. “Can I ask you both a question?”
They nodded.
“Where did you guys go?”
Stripes looked at Poo-Poo. Poo-Poo looked at Stripes. They both looked at Stick Dog, shrugged their shoulders, and answered together, “Nowhere.”
“Yes!!” Karen exclaimed, and began hopping up and down. “I knew Stick Dog could prove it! I knew he could! You two just went ‘nowhere’!”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Stripes began to complain.
“That’s not right. That’s like word magic or something,” Poo-Poo said, and shook his head. “That’s what it is: word magic.”
Stripes turned to Mutt, hoping that he could help them. She called over, “Mutt, what do you think about all this?”
Mutt lifted his head. The other dogs were too far away to see it, but grey and white threads hung from the corner of his mouth. He seemed to take the question very seriously. He tilted his head a bit to the left as if pondering something that concerned him quite deeply.
“Well, what do you think?” Stripes called again.
“I think,” Mutt said, “that was the best darn sock I’ve ever eaten.”
Stick Dog smiled and said to them all, “Come on. Let’s go find some nice, cold water.”
Karen followed Stick Dog with light, happy, and energetic steps.
Poo-Poo and Stripes followed as well – glad to end the conversation.
And Mutt came along too. He was eager to find something to help wash down the final threads of that old grey sock.
Halfway through the forest, Poo-Poo skidded to a halt. He snapped his head left and right, up and down. He sniffed continuously as he jerked his head all around. The other dogs had all slowed and stopped to watch this display.
“What is it, Poo-Poo?” asked Mutt. “Do you smell something?”
“Oh, I smell something, all right,” Poo-Poo declared. He inched closer to a large oak tree. “I just can’t put my paw on it. But it smells familiar.”
“Is it hamburgers?” asked Karen with real hope in her voice.
“Or frankfurters?” asked Stripes.
“Maybe pizza?” Mutt asked.
Poo-Poo answered all three questions by shaking his head. “Up in the tree,” he whispered as he stepped quietly toward the