by Tom Watson
Hiding by a parked pickup truck, Stick Dog watched that window—and that human—trying to understand what it was all about.
It didn’t take long.
That’s because in less than a minute, a car pulled up to that window. Stick Dog was in a perfect position to watch—and hear—what happened.
The human behind the window slid it open. She smiled at the human inside the car who had rolled his window down.
“Hello, Mr. Dalton,” she said. “I thought I’d see you tonight. Thanks for calling your order in.”
“Hi, Akira,” the male human replied. “It’s Tuesday. That’s sushi night at our house.”
“Everything’s ready to go,” she replied, and nodded. She turned, reached for a bag, and handed it out the window. “Maguro, inari, and tobiko sushi. And four maki rolls—two veggie, one salmon, one tuna.”
“Perfect,” the human in the car said, taking the bag. “Chopsticks?”
“In the bag.”
“Awesome.”
“‘Chopsticks?’” Stick Dog whispered to himself. He wondered if this new word could refer to the tasty sticks that started tonight’s quest. He didn’t know why or how they were used, but he felt confident that could be their name.
After the two humans exchanged money and the car drove away, Stick Dog sought additional information. He stalked a slow, quiet arc to a front corner of the restaurant. Staying low, he peeked above the bottom edge of a window there.
Immediately, he could see why—and how—the chopsticks were used.
“To pick up food?” Stick Dog asked himself in a whisper. He’d never seen that before. He had only seen humans pick up food with their hands—or forks and spoons. He watched, fascinated, as humans held two chopsticks in one hand, pinched them together, and picked up pieces of food from their plates. Then they took that piece of food, dipped it in a little dish of brown liquid—and put it in their mouths.
“They use them to pick up food,” Stick Dog confirmed to himself. “Go figure.”
Now that he had figured out the chopsticks, Stick Dog focused more intently on the food itself.
He saw brightly colored rolls cut up into equally sized pieces. He saw small slices of something—he suspected it was fish—on tiny beds of rice. Each human had a little dish of brown dipping sauce. He even found that green color they had tasted on those chopsticks back in his pipe. There were tiny clumps of green stuff that the humans sometimes stirred into their dipping sauces.
Stick Dog ducked down and away from the window.
He had gathered so much information.
He knew what sushi was.
He knew what chopsticks were.
He knew humans were eating sushi inside the restaurant—but he also knew humans came and picked up their sushi at that strange window.
Stick Dog moved more quickly now. He stayed hidden in the darkness, but he hurried back to share all this information with Mutt, Poo-Poo, Karen, and Stripes. He was starting to think that maybe—just maybe—they might get their paws on some of that sushi tonight.
He sprinted the last several yards to where he had left his friends.
He knew they were hiding. So, he called quietly to them.
“You guys?” he said. “I’m back.”
“We’re over here,” Stripes answered.
Stick Dog turned his head toward where Stripes had called from—toward the lake.
He didn’t see them right away.
“Stick Dog?” Poo-Poo called.
“Yes?” he answered, squinting his eyes and trying to pinpoint exactly where his friends were in the darkness.
“Umm,” Poo-Poo said. “We have a bit of a situation here.”
Finally, Stick Dog saw where they were.
They did have a bit of situation.
A bad situation.
Chapter 11
Mutt Didn’t Have a Choice
Stick Dog saw where his friends were.
They were in that canoe that he had heard bumping against the dock earlier.
But the canoe was no longer tied to that dock. It was adrift—floating very slowly farther and farther out into the lake.
“Oh no,” Stick Dog whispered. He didn’t want his friends to hear him—and panic. He hurried to the dock—and ran to its end. The canoe was out of reach, but close enough for him to talk with his friends. “What happened?”
“We did what you said,” Stripes answered. “We got into this boat thing. We thought it would be a good place to hide.”
“It is a good place,” Stick Dog said. “But how did the canoe get detached from the dock? Why are you, you know, floating away?”
“Oh, that,” Poo-Poo said, and pointed toward Mutt, who was situated near the back of the canoe. “Mister-I-Have-to-Chew-on-Everything-I-Find found the rope that tied the boat to the dock. He chewed through it in, like, twenty seconds.”
Mutt heard this, looked up at Stick Dog, and shrugged, some rope hanging from his mouth. Stick Dog looked down and saw the other end of the rope tied to the dock.
“Is that true, Mutt?”
“It’s true,” Mutt mumbled before spitting that rope from his mouth and answering more politely. “I’m a dog. There was a rope. I chewed on it. What choice did I have?”
“Okay,” Stick Dog said, and smiled to himself. He always appreciated Mutt’s logic and perspective. “Let’s figure out how to get you back here.”
“No need to figure anything out, Stick Dog,” Poo-Poo declared from the front of the canoe. “We’ve already come up with a plan.”
“You have?”
“You betcha,” Karen confirmed.
“We put all our minds together and came up with a strategy,” Stripes said proudly.
“That’s a lot of brainpower,” Stick Dog said, and cleared his throat. He wasn’t certain that he wanted to hear their rescue strategy. But they didn’t seem to be drifting anymore—and he was pretty sure he knew how to get them back anyway. “What’s your plan?”
“We just wait until tomorrow,” Poo-Poo said.
Stripes said, “Until the sun comes up.”
Karen added, “And it gets really hot.”
Mutt didn’t say anything. He was chewing that rope again.
“Okay, umm,” Stick Dog said, and paused a few seconds. “How does that get you out of the canoe and back here to the dock?”
“When the sun comes out and the day gets hot,” Poo-Poo explained, “the lake will evaporate. When all the water’s gone, we’ll just step out of this boat and walk to shore. Easy stuff.”
“You want to wait until the lake evaporates?” Stick Dog asked.
“That’s right,” Stripes answered for the group.
Mutt chewed on the rope.
“Umm, I’m not sure—”
“We know it won’t happen right away,” Poo-Poo interrupted.
“We’re willing to wait,” Karen added. “We realize it may take a while. You know, ten—maybe fifteen—minutes.”
Stick Dog asked, “You think it will take ten or fifteen minutes for this lake to evaporate?”
“At the most,” Poo-Poo said. “Could be less.”
“Okay,” Stick Dog said. “What are you going to do until tomorrow? Until this big lake evaporates?”
“Two things,” answered Stripes. “We’ve got that all planned out as well.”
“Good for you,” Stick Dog said. He looked around to ensure there were no humans coming. There weren’t. He also confirmed that his friends weren’t drifting too far away as they talked. They weren’t. “What two things?”
“The first thing is sleep,” Poo-Poo replied. “Get some rest. You know, this has been a pretty busy day and night.”
“Good idea,” Stick Dog said. “And what’s the second thing?”
“We’re going to eat some sushi!” Karen exclaimed. She was excited by that prospect. “Can’t wait!”
“We’ve decided that you may be right,” Stripes said, and pointed at the sushi restaurant. “We don’t
think that place is an airport, football stadium, or skyscraper any longer.”
Karen added, “Or one of those places with all the helicopters and airplanes and runways and stuff.”
“Good to hear,” Stick Dog said. “How are you going to get the sushi?”
“That’s the easy part,” Poo-Poo said. “You just go get it.”
“And bring it to us!” Karen shouted.
“I do?”
“You do,” Stripes confirmed, and yawned. “Just wake us up when you get back with the sushi feast.”
“Umm, okay,” Stick Dog said slowly. “How do I get the sushi out to you in the boat?”
“You can just toss it,” Poo-Poo answered. “We’ll catch it.”
“Great plan,” Stick Dog said with more confidence. It seemed like something had occurred to him right then. It was as if he thought of a way to get his friends back to shore—and now he could make it happen. “Can we go over it one more time though? Just to make sure I understand?”
“Of course,” Karen said.
Mutt chewed on the rope.
“First, you guys stay in the canoe,” Stick Dog began. “Then you fall asleep. While you’re all resting, I figure out a way to get some sushi from that restaurant that isn’t an airport, skyscraper or football stadium—or, umm, the place with all the airplanes, helicopters, and runways. After I get the sushi, I come back here. I wake you up and toss you the sushi. You eat it and go back to sleep. We wait for daylight, the lake evaporates in ten or fifteen minutes—at the most. Then you step out of the canoe and walk to shore. Is that it? Did I cover everything?”
“Sounds like you did, Stick Dog,” Stripes said, and yawned even bigger and longer than before. “Good work. Let us know when you’re back with that sushi.”
“Will do,” Stick Dog said, but he didn’t leave. “There’s just one thing I want to make sure of before I go.”
“What’s that?” asked Poo-Poo.
“I need to make certain that I can throw something out to you guys,” he replied. “It would be a shame if I came back with some sushi and then I couldn’t get it to you.”
“You’re right,” Karen agreed. “That would totally stink.”
“For sure,” Stick Dog said. “So I thought I would do a test throw or two. You know, practice a bit. Just to make sure.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Stripes said.
“Mutt,” Stick Dog called. “I wonder if you could do me a favor?”
Mutt spit the rope from his mouth and said, “Sure thing. How may I assist you?”
“I need to practice my throwing,” Stick Dog said. “Could you toss me the end of that rope? I think I’ll practice with that. How long is it?”
“It’s super-long,” Mutt answered after dropping his head to look at the rope. “The other end is tied to a little metal loop in here. It’s all coiled up and stuff. Why, I could chew on this rope for three or four years before swallowing and slowly digesting the whole thing.”
“Great,” Stick Dog answered. “Can you throw the end to me?”
And that’s what Mutt did. He took the rope’s end in his mouth and made his way to the front of the canoe. When he got there, he twisted his head back and then jerked it forward, releasing the rope as he did.
It was a great throw. Stick Dog caught it on the first try.
He did not throw the rope back.
And he didn’t practice. Stick Dog took the end of that rope and began to pull on it.
Mutt was right—it was super-long. He tugged on it for more than twenty seconds and the canoe didn’t move.
“What are you doing, Stick Dog?” Karen asked. “I thought you were going to use that rope to practice throwing.”
“I was,” he answered as he continued to pull on that slack rope. The rope he had already pulled was gathered in a messy pile at his paws. “But then I thought I could just pull you in. That way we don’t have to, umm, wait for the lake to evaporate tomorrow.”
“What about the other part of the plan?” Poo-Poo asked. “When you bring us the sushi feast and all that?”
“Well, I was thinking,” Stick Dog responded. The rope became tight as he talked. The slack was gone and his friends were now coming slowly closer. “I’m not sure I can get that sushi all by myself. I think I’ll need your help.”
“That’s certainly true,” Stripes admitted. “I mean, if we had to count on you for everything, that probably wouldn’t work out so great.”
“Exactly,” Stick Dog said. The canoe was almost to the dock. “I don’t know how I’d get anything done without you guys. I mean, we’re a team.”
He pulled the canoe the rest of the way to the dock. He looped some of that rope around a metal hook on the dock as his friends climbed out.
“Okay,” Poo-Poo said as they gathered together. “What do we do now?”
Stick Dog answered, “We get the sushi.”
Chapter 12
Poking and Tickling
Stick Dog led his friends to where he had observed everything before. He pointed out that strange window. He described how humans would drive up to it and pick up their sushi. Then he led them to the front corner of the restaurant and they peeked inside.
“See the sticks we found in Mutt’s fur?” Stick Dog asked. “I’m pretty sure they’re called ‘chopsticks.’ The humans use them to pick up their sushi food.”
Mutt, Karen, Stripes, and Poo-Poo all saw what Stick Dog was talking about. And they all remembered the flavors from those chopsticks.
Poo-Poo’s stomach rumbled. And right after that, Mutt’s, Karen’s, and Stripes’s stomachs rumbled too.
Mutt turned to Stick Dog, wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth, and asked, “How are we going to get that sushi?!”
“I don’t know yet,” Stick Dog admitted. “But let’s get away from this window. It’s way too dangerous here. We could get spotted. We need to find a safe place to figure it out.”
They ended up near three metal garbage cans in a dark spot where the road came into the parking lot. The cans stood in some grass at the side of the road. They settled there to come up with a sushi-snatching strategy.
They examined the garbage cans briefly, hoping there might be some food inside. They tapped each can and listened to the hollow metallic sound it made. “I don’t think there’s anything in them,” Stick Dog said. “Let’s concentrate on getting that sushi.”
“I think we can use those chopsticks to get the sushi,” Poo-Poo said. Apparently, he already had an idea. He spoke as he did a couple of circles, patting down the grass and leaves beneath him so he could lie down comfortably.
“How can we use them?” asked Karen.
Stick Dog only half listened to Poo-Poo. While he did, he thought about what he’d seen inside the restaurant and at that window.
“We use them as weapons,” Poo-Poo answered.
Mutt asked, “Weapons?”
“Weapons,” Poo-Poo confirmed, and plopped down on his belly. “We wait for some humans to open the door of the restaurant to go inside. Then we sneak in behind them. Once we’re inside, we grab as many chopsticks as possible and run around poking those humans as hard as we can. As they scream and squirm in agony, we just grab as much sushi as possible and hightail it out of there!”
“Sounds great,” Stripes said.
Karen and Mutt agreed.
But Stick Dog did not.
“I don’t think we should, umm, poke the humans with the chopsticks—and try to hurt them,” Stick Dog said.
“Why not?” asked Poo-Poo. He seemed a little offended that Stick Dog was not buying into his plan. “What’s wrong with a little poking action?”
“Well, umm,” Stick Dog said, and paused. It was like his mind was working on two problems at the same time. He needed to come up with some valid and reasonable reason to stop Poo-Poo’s plan. And he also had to come up with a plan—one that might actually work—of his own.
“Yeah,” Karen said. “Why not?”
“There are dozens of chopsticks in that sushi restaurant,” Stick Dog answered. “What if the humans all see us running around poking them with chopstick weapons? And then they pick up chopsticks themselves—and start using them as weapons against us? I don’t want to get poked with a chopstick. Do you guys?”
“It’s a fair point,” Poo-Poo said, and cringed, thinking about that prospect.
Stick Dog was happy to have knocked that nutty idea down—but he still didn’t have a legitimate plan of his own.
“Poo-Poo, maybe we don’t have to abandon your plan entirely,” Mutt suggested. “Maybe we should use those chopsticks in a different way.”
“How so?” Poo-Poo asked. He seemed encouraged that his idea wouldn’t be wasted.
“Instead of poking the humans with the chopsticks,” Mutt explained, “we tickle the humans with the chopsticks instead. While they’re all laughing and giggling, we snatch the sushi.”
“Awesome!” Poo-Poo exclaimed.
Stripes and Karen thought it was a terrific idea too.
“Stick Dog,” Mutt said, and nodded toward the restaurant. “We’re going into the sushi place now to tickle the humans with the chopsticks. Are you coming?”
“Wait,” he answered. “I don’t think we should do that.”
Karen asked, “Why not?”
“It’s just that—” Stick Dog said, and hesitated. For the first time in a while, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
But he didn’t have to.
That’s because right then two humans came out of that sushi restaurant—and headed straight at Stick Dog and his friends.
Chapter 13
Two Puffy-Tailed Rascals
There was one big male human—and one big female.
