by David Lewman
“Scent’s getting stronger,” Rooster told him. “Cotton’s close.” He started climbing up a steep hill.
Max looked up the slope. “Oh boy.” He tried to follow Rooster, talking himself through the difficult climb. “Okay, I can do this. I got it. I got it….” Suddenly, he slipped and slid all the way back down to the bottom of the hill, yelling, “AAHHHHH!”
He tried again, carefully spotting the best places to put his paws. When he finally reached the top, he felt wiped out. Rooster walked on, but Max didn’t follow him. “Rooster, you know what?” he said. “Just go on without me. I’m holding you back.”
“Oh, you’re not giving up, Max,” Rooster declared.
“Yeah, but—”
“BAAAA!”
It was Cotton! He had to be nearby! “Follow me!” Rooster said, running off. Max ran after him. Soon they reached the edge of a huge cliff. Peering over the side, they saw a sheep with his hoof caught in the branches of a tree that was growing out of the cliff. The sheep had a goofy smile on his face.
“Cotton, what are you doing down there?” Rooster demanded.
“There are apples in this tree!” Cotton explained cheerfully, if a little dopily.
Rooster studied the rocky cliff between the top edge and the tree below. “All right,” he reassured Cotton. “Just don’t panic.”
Max had crawled up to the edge of the cliff and was peeking over. It was a long way down. “Oh man,” he moaned.
“Max is coming down to save you,” Rooster told Cotton calmingly.
“Wait,” Max said, his dog eyes popping wide. “What?”
Rooster turned to him and spoke quietly. “That tree can’t support my weight. You get down there.”
Max peered over the edge again. It looked really dangerous. “I…I can’t do that,” he admitted.
“Sure you can,” Rooster said. “Think of this as a game of fetch. Now go fetch the sheep.”
Max thought about it, but it still seemed impossible. “No,” he said. “No, no, no, no. It’s too high, and I’m too afraid.”
Rooster drew a little closer to him. “Max, here’s a trick. The first step of not being afraid is acting like you’re not afraid.”
Max looked Rooster in the eye, mulled over what the older dog had said, and nodded.
“So,” Rooster asked, “are you scared?”
“No,” Max said in a weak, unconvincing voice.
“Are you scared?” Rooster repeated.
“No!” Max said louder. “No, I’m not!”
“Now you’re talking!” Rooster said, grinning. “Go get Cotton! Hurry!”
Max looked far down the cliff at Cotton stuck in the tree. Cotton smiled up at him. “Hey,” the sheep said in a friendly greeting.
Max took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. He lowered himself over the edge, cautiously making his way from rock to rock down the cliff. “Listen, Cotton,” Max called to the sheep. “Walk toward me, okay?”
“Okay, sure,” Cotton agreed. “But my leg is stuck.” He showed Max how his leg was caught in the tree’s branches.
Max called up to Rooster, “His leg is stuck!”
“Well, unstuck it!” Rooster called down to him.
“Uh,” Max said, unsure how to do that. He carefully started edging out onto the trunk of the sideways tree. He slipped a little. The tree shifted….
“Hold on!” Rooster warned.
And the tree started to fall!
“Wheeee!” Cotton sang happily, oblivious to the danger.
“YAAAHHHH!” Max screamed as the tree fell.
CRUNCH!
The tree wedged against the opposite wall of the canyon. It stopped falling…for the moment. But Max wasn’t sure how securely it was wedged between the two rocky cliffs. “Okay, Cotton, listen,” he said. “We gotta—”
The tree started to slip again. “AAAHHH!” Max yelled.
“Hurry up!” Rooster shouted.
Slowly making his way across the tree, Max climbed toward Cotton. He stretched forward and grabbed the sheep by the tail with his mouth. Then, using all his strength, Max wrenched Cotton free of the branches and swung him over to a rocky ledge to relative safety. “Whoa!” Cotton exclaimed. Max jumped onto the ledge just in time. The tree plummeted into the canyon. WHUMP! It slammed into the ground far below.
With rocks sliding under his feet, Max pushed Cotton up the wall of the cliff. Finally Cotton made it to the top, but Max lost his grip and started to fall!
“AHHHH!” he screamed.
CLOMP! Rooster leaned way over the edge of the cliff, grabbed Max’s collar in his teeth, and yanked the little dog up to safety. Max looked around, tired and bruised. “We’re alive!” he gasped, hardly able to believe it.
“Yup!” Rooster confirmed.
“Yeah, we are— OH NO!” Cotton said, almost falling over the edge. Rooster grabbed him and pulled him away from the canyon. “Yeah, we are!” Cotton repeated cheerfully.
* * *
Back near the barn, a few of the sheep saw something coming their way. Duke followed their gaze and saw Max, Rooster, and Cotton coming out of the woods. Max was beat-up, dirty, and extremely proud. “Max!” Duke called to his brother.
“Get back in your pen, Cotton,” Rooster ordered.
“Okay!” Cotton agreed, always chipper. He headed back toward the woods.
“Other way, Cotton,” Rooster told him.
“Okay!” Cotton said, turning around and heading into the pen with his fellow sheep.
Duke trotted up to Max. “So how’d it go? What happened?”
“You know, it was pretty intense,” Max began. “Tell ’em, Rooster!”
“You know…some stuff happened…and now it’s over,” Rooster said dryly as he walked away.
“Wow! He can really tell a story,” Duke said with his usual enthusiasm.
“Right?” Max replied, not sure of what to make of the old farm dog.
* * *
In another part of the city, Sergei’s wolves entered a dog park. The area was surrounded by skyscrapers, and lights twinkled high in the inky black darkness of the night sky. “We’re getting closer,” their leader growled as he sniffed the air.
Daisy was holding court with several dogs. “So there I was,” she said in a dramatic voice, “surrounded by nasty wolves. Was I scared, you ask?”
“No one asked anything,” one dog said. “You just walked up to us and started talking.”
Daisy ignored him. “I was scared, but I saved that tiger anyway. Am I a hero? That’s not for me to say.” She noticed Pepper, a dog with crazy eyes, digging in the dirt. “Pepper! Pepper, are you listening?”
“I am,” Pepper answered, still digging.
“Stop digging for a second, Pepper, and maybe you’ll learn something,” Daisy said. Just behind her, Sergei’s wolves walked up. The other dogs saw them, but Daisy didn’t. “As I was saying,” Daisy continued, “the moral of the story is ‘Believe in yourself.’ ”
“Wo-wo-wolf!” one of the dogs stammered in fear.
“Duh, that’s what I’ve been talking about,” Daisy said, exasperated. “Wolves.” But then she noticed the dogs looking past her. She turned around, and the wolves leapt at her! “YIKES!” she yelled. Daisy ran, heading toward the swings.
When the kids on the swings saw her, they said, “Puppy!” But Daisy ran right by them. Disappointed, they said, “Aww!”
The wolves ran up, chasing Daisy. “Doggies!” the kids yelled, excited. But then the wolves snarled and growled. The kids screamed and ran away.
Deeper in the park, the wolves looked around, sniffing the air. They spotted a sheepdog walking along through the grass. When the wolves growled at her, the sheepdog stopped in her tracks, whipped around, and ran back the way she had come. She didn’t w
ant any trouble with the wolves. Daisy, who had been hiding underneath the shaggy dog, kept walking ahead, unaware that she’d lost her cover. The wolves ran up and surrounded her.
“Where is the tiger?” the lead wolf asked in a slow, menacing voice.
Daisy, with a momentary look of shock on her face as the wolves approached, yelled, “Oh! There he is!”
The wolves’ heads snapped around in the direction she indicated. Seeing nothing, they turned around only to find that Daisy had hopped aboard a passing scooter and was already far away.
* * *
Snowball was playing an action-packed video game in his living room. He wore his superhero costume with the mask down over his face. On the monitor, a superhero, whom Snowball had made to look as much like him as possible, was fighting other superheroes.
“Ha! Take that!” Snowball barked. “Now, THIS is training, okay? Keeping my reflexes sharp! Ha!” He tossed off his headset. “Oh, you were just beaten by a rabbit, and you don’t even know it!”
DING!
“Oh, my pizza rolls!” Snowball said happily. He hopped toward the kitchen but heard a noise outside. “What’s that?” he asked, turning around. He hopped over to the window, opened the blinds, and saw Pops staring in with Hu and the puppies.
“AAHHH!” Snowball screamed, startled. “Oh, it’s Pops.”
“Hello, Snowball!” Pops called out through the window.
Snowball climbed out onto the fire escape. “Hey, Pops! What’s going on?”
“Oh, you know,” Pops said. “Just returning your giant tiger. Fun fact: he TRASHED MY APARTMENT! This thing ate a flat-screen TV like it was a pita chip!”
“For shame!” Pickles scolded.
“Uh, are you sure that’s my tiger?” Snowball asked, stalling for time. “Because I don’t know if that’s—”
“Let’s go, class,” Pops said to the puppies as he turned to leave.
“Come on, old man!” Snowball pleaded. “Don’t do this!”
But Pops and the puppies walked away, leaving Snowball alone on the fire escape with Hu. “Hey,” Snowball said to the tiger, not sure what to do next. “How ya been?”
Hu smiled, happy to see his little bunny pal.
* * *
Moments later, Snowball led Hu into Max’s empty apartment. Hu immediately started cheerfully chewing on Max’s toys. “There you go, Hu!” Snowball told the tiger. The bunny hopped up onto the windowsill, went out onto the fire escape, and closed the window. “Problem solved!”
Across the alley, Gidget looked out the window of her apartment and saw Snowball. She was surrounded by the cats from the old lady’s apartment, who now considered her their queen. “Snowball?” she called.
The rabbit looked up. “Puffy Dog?”
“What are you doing in Max’s apartment?” Gidget asked.
“Nothing,” Snowball lied. “Why are you hanging out with every cat in the universe?”
Loosing Max’s favorite toy and having to go undercover seemed way too complicated to explain, so she just said, “Uh, you know, just because.”
“Okaaaayyy,” Snowball said, not buying it but having to keep cool just the same.
“Okaaaayyy,” Gidget said, not believing that Snowball was in Max’s apartment for no reason at all. They looked at each other suspiciously.
“Okaaaayyy,” Snowball repeated.
On the farm, Max trotted through the cool night air, to catch up with Rooster. “Uh, hey, Rooster,” he called to the big dog, who was heading toward his special spot on the old truck.
“Hey, kid,” Rooster answered. “Good job today.”
“Thanks,” Max said, smiling. “I gotta admit, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m not so nervous around the farm, or you, or even the turkey.” He whipped around and yelled, “YEAH, I SEE YOU, YOU WEIRDO!” The turkey, who was following him again, froze in its tracks, looking surprised by Max’s outburst.
Max continued, “I just heard that we’re leaving in the morning, and—”
“AROOOOOO!” Rooster howled as he jumped onto the top of the truck.
“Oh,” Max said.
Max watched Rooster howling in the moonlight, unsure of what to do next. “Do you want me to, uh…Do you want me to go?” he asked.
Rooster chuckled. “It’s just what we do out here. You wanna join me?”
Max was flattered and excited by the farm dog’s invitation. “Yeah, okay,” he quickly agreed. “Cool!” He hopped up onto the truck.
“You ready to try?” Rooster asked.
Rooster howled again. “AROOOOO!”
Max tried joining in, but he felt shy about it. And his little howl sounded nothing like Rooster’s. He howled meekly, “Howroh…”
“C’mon, kid,” Rooster urged him. “Deeper. Deep. From your gut.”
“Right, okay, got it,” Max said, hearing the call of the wild from deep inside him. The two of them howled together. “AROOOOOO!”
“There you go!” Rooster said, smiling.
Max really got into it, letting himself go. It felt good to howl in the night! “AROOOOOO!”
* * *
Early the next morning, as Max slept on the front porch of the farmhouse, Rooster dropped a bandanna next to him. Max woke up for a moment, saw the bandanna—just like the one Rooster wore—and said, “Wow.” A little awed, he smiled at the bandanna.
Meanwhile, Katie and Chuck packed their luggage into the car. Katie buckled Liam into his seat, and Chuck called the two dogs. “All right,” he said. “C’mon, guys.”
Duke climbed into the car next to Liam. Max jumped up, wearing the bandanna Rooster had given him. “Huh?” Max said to Duke and Liam, indicating his bandanna. “What do you think?”
“Max!” Liam squealed. “So cool!”
“Hey, where’d Max go?” Duke asked, grinning. “And who let a supercool cowboy in the car?”
As the car headed down the long driveway, Katie waved to Uncle Shep, calling, “Bye! Thanks for a wonderful visit!”
Uncle Shep waved back. “Goodbye now! So long! Hurry back!”
“Bye, Rooster!” Duke called.
“And thank you!” Max added.
Rooster watched as the car drove into the distance. The big farm dog, usually so tough and calm, actually looked a little bit emotional. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the turkey, who was staring at him. “Mind your business, turkey,” he said. “I’m having a moment.”
The turkey got in the old dog’s face, peering at him quizzically. Rooster turned. The turkey got in his face again. All the emotion left Rooster’s face with a roll of his eye. “Okay, moment’s over,” he said. He turned back around in a circle and settled down for a quick nap. Shrugging, the turkey lay down and joined him.
* * *
That night, tired after the long drive, Katie, Chuck, Liam, and the dogs got home to their apartment in New York City. Chuck carried Liam, who was sleeping, into his bedroom and laid him down on his bed. “There you go, buddy,” Chuck said. Katie turned off the lights.
In Liam’s bedroom, Duke flopped to the ground. Max lay down on a pillow. “It’s good to be home,” he said.
“So good,” Duke agreed.
They fell asleep.
Snowball tried to sneak past Max without waking him up, but he tripped. “Shush!” he whispered. “Shhh….”
“You shhhhh,” Daisy whispered back.
Max opened his eyes just in time to see four big tiger paws walk past. “Huh?” he said, wondering if he was dreaming. “Snowball!”
“Oh, hey,” Snowball said, trying to act casual. “Hey, Tiny Dog.”
“What are you doing with a tiger in my apartment?” Max demanded.
Snowball thought fast. “Well,” he said, “what are YOU doing home from your trip so soon, hmm? As long as we’re poi
nting fingers.”
“We don’t have time for this!” Daisy warned. “The circus wolves are closing in! We gotta hide Hu!”
Max’s eyes widened. “Circus wolves?”
“You do know I have a life when you’re not around,” Snowball said. “Right, T.D.?”
“Yeah, okay,” Max said. “But—”
Daisy looked out the window. “Captain Snowball!” she hissed. “They’re here!”
“Whaaaat?” Snowball hissed back.
He ran to the window. Max followed him. They peered out and saw the wolves creeping up the fire escape. In the alley below, a van was parked with its headlights on. Max watched as Snowball, Daisy, and Hu freaked out. “Wolves!” Snowball cried. “Oh no, no, no, no, no! This is IT! Oh, we’re going to die! No!”
“Keep it together, boy,” Daisy said.
“Okay, okay,” Snowball said, wiping away his sniffles. “We need a plan. Daisy! Let’s hide Hu on the roof!” The rabbit noticed Max slowly climbing out the window. “Tiny Dog, where are you going?”
“I’m not sure,” Max admitted. “But I guess I’m gonna try to find my inner Rooster.”
Snowball tried to figure out what Max was talking about, but he couldn’t come up with anything. “What?” he asked, confused.
There was no time to explain. Max bravely headed down the fire escape toward the circus wolves. As two of the wolves came toward him, Max barked at them. “ROWF! ROWF!” Two more wolves surrounded Max, snarling and ready to pounce. He backed up…right into Sergei’s legs.
Laughing, the cruel circus master kicked Max through an open window, into the basement. “Puny little coward,” he sneered.
Max struggled to reach up to the basement window.
Meanwhile, Snowball and Daisy led Hu up the fire escape to the roof. “Hurry up, Hu!” Snowball urged. Once they’d reached the rooftop, Snowball said to Daisy, “All right, let’s hide Hu in the—”
