by Tom Watson
“Those hot dogs were gigantic,” Stripes said with satisfaction as she rubbed her belly.
Poo-Poo added, “And delicious.”
Mutt licked his lips as he smiled and agreed.
Karen chased her tail.
“What were you two talking about?” Poo-Poo asked.
“I was telling Stick Dog that it’s time for me to head back inside,” Lucy said. “The store is about to close, and my human will be looking for me.”
“And it’s about time we got back to my pipe,” Stick Dog said. “It’s been a long day.”
“But what about Lucy?” Karen asked as she spun slowly to a stop. “Is she coming with us?”
“No, she’s staying here with her human,” Stick Dog explained. “She has him pretty well-trained. And she likes it here.”
“What’s not to like?” Poo-Poo asked. He understood. “I mean, a store full of meat. She can come and go whenever she wants. It’s not too bad at all.”
Lucy smiled at this.
“I want to see you again,” she said, and looked directly back at Stick Dog. Then, turning to the others, she added, “I mean, I want to see all of you again.”
“We’re going to come back here to visit,” Stick Dog said, and looked directly at Lucy.
Karen noticed how Lucy and Stick Dog stared at each other for a second.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “You two are acting weird. What’s going on?”
Stick Dog and Lucy didn’t answer.
Karen squinted one eye and tilted her head. She asked, “Is this one of those romantical situations?”
Stripes said, “Gross.”
Mutt said, “Strange.”
Poo-Poo said, “Hunh?”
And Stick Dog just said, “Come on. It’s time to go.”
And they went.
CHAPTER 27
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
They got back to Stick Dog’s pipe, and their conversation continued.
“Stick Dog and Lucy sitting in a tree,” Stripes said in a sing-songy rhythm. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
This caught Poo-Poo’s attention.
“Stick Dog?” he asked suddenly. “Do you know how to climb trees?! Stripes just mentioned it. If you do, could you teach me?”
“Umm—” he tried to answer, but Poo-Poo interrupted him.
“If you taught me how to climb trees, I could take care of the menacing squirrel population around here in minutes,” Poo-Poo assured. “Why, you wouldn’t see one of those chittering, puffy-tailed villains for miles!”
“I don’t know how to climb a tree,” Stick Dog said calmly. He was in a very good mood. His friends were fed. And he thought they might go back to see Lucy in the next few days.
“Sooooo,” Karen asked, stretching the word out. “When you and Lucy were talking, was it romantical?”
“Yeah, Stick Dog,” Stripes chimed in. “Is this romantical? I mean, are you, like, Lucy’s ‘Stick Dude’ now? And is she, like, your ‘Stick Chick’?”
Stick Dog didn’t even think “romantical” was a word, so he didn’t feel at all dishonest when he said, “We were not talking about anything romantical.”
“Then what were you talking about?” Karen persisted.
“Well, one thing we talked about was that there are some days when we can’t find anything to eat,” Stick Dog explained. “And Lucy said that on those days, we could always come back to see her, and we could get something at the meat store. We won’t stop searching for food and going on adventures, of course. But if there’s ever a time when we can’t find anything, then we can go see Lucy and get something there.”
This was an absolutely shocking idea to Mutt, Stripes, Karen, and Poo-Poo. They had, after all, spent every day of the past few years hunting for things to fill their bellies.
“So, let me get this straight,” Poo-Poo said. It didn’t sound like he couldn’t understand what he just heard. It was more like he couldn’t believe what he just heard. “You mean, we never have to worry about being hungry again? We can go to sleep and know that—no matter what—we will have something to eat the next day? Because we can always go see Lucy?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Stick Dog said.
“That’s totally awesome!” Karen exclaimed, speaking for the group.
Stick Dog smiled a bit to himself. He was looking forward to seeing Lucy again. And he was looking forward to all the days ahead with his friends.
They would continue their food hunts together. They’d often be successful. But whenever they weren’t, they would always have something to eat.
Always.
And that was a good—a really good—feeling.
“You’re right,” Stick Dog said, and smiled at his friends. “It is awesome.”
THE END.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TOM WATSON lives in Chicago with his wife, daughter, and son. He also has a dog, as you could probably guess. The dog is a Labrador-Newfoundland mix. Tom says he looks like a Labrador with a bad perm. He wanted to name the dog “Put Your Shirt On” (please don’t ask why), but he was outvoted by his family. The dog’s name is Shadow. Early in his career Tom worked in politics, including a stint as the chief speechwriter for the governor of Ohio. This experience helped him develop the unique storytelling narrative style of the Stick Dog, Stick Cat, and Trouble at Table 5 books. Tom’s time in politics also made him realize a very important thing: kids are way smarter than adults. And it’s a lot more fun and rewarding to write stories for them than to write speeches for grown-ups.
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COPYRIGHT
STICK DOG MEETS HIS MATCH. Copyright © 2020 by Tom Watson. Illustrations by Ethan Long based on original sketches by Tom Watson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover design by Honee Jang
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019049250
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-268521-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-268520-9
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2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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Tom Watson, Stick Dog Meets His Match
