There was a man who lived in a yellow house on a hill. His name was Joe, and he had a pet dog named Blue. But Blue, who was now 14 years old, was very sick.
"Blue, what's wrong?" Joe asked his pet with utmost concern.
Blue simply shook her head feebly.
"I think I should call the vet," said Joe. He pulled out his iPhone and called the vet.
"Joe, I've got some bad news," the vet said gravely, "Blue has developed stomach cancer. I'm afraid she only has three days to live."
Upon hearing this revelation, Joe's heart sank. The two had been through so much together, doing many things, not the least of which was Blue's favorite game, which was called
"Blue's Clues." It involved looking for Blue's pawprints on various objects and thinking about how they connect together.
"Okay, Doc…" said Joe sadly, "thanks for letting me know." He hung up, called his brother, and told him the news.
The next day, there was a knock at the door. Joe went up and opened it.
In the doorway stood a man who had just graduated from college. But he looked slightly different. His head was bald, and he had a goatee. But there was no mistaking that green-striped polo. It was Joe's brother, Steve.
The brothers gave each other a hug, then Steve walked up to Blue.
"So, Blue," he asked her, "how do you want to spend your final days on this earth?"
Blue crawled over slowly to the screen, feebly raised her paw, and put it on the screen, leaving a blue pawprint. This could only mean one thing.
"Blue, are you sure about this?" Joe asked, "You're not the same dog you used to be."
Blue simply nodded weakly.
"Alright, then," said Steve. "But we can't do it alone." Steve and Joe then turned to the audience.
"My God, you guys have grown," said Joe.
"We missed you, Steve!" they replied.
"So, guys, what do you say?" Steve asked. "One last game of Blue's Clues? For old time's sake?"
"YEAH!" the audience, now in their late teens, replied.
"Alrighty, then!" said Joe. "So, to play Blue's Clues, we gotta find…"
"A pawprint!" said a male voice.
"Right!" said Steve, "And that's our first…"
"Clue!" said a female voice.
"And we put it in our…" Joe continued.
"...notebook?" said another male voice uncertainly.
"Yep…" said Steve, "I can't believe we still have the Handy-Dandy Notebook. I would've thought Joe replaced it with a Handy-Dandy iPhone by now."
"The phone's only for calls," said Joe.
"Right," said Steve.
"'Cause they're whose clues? Blue's Clues!" Joe and Steve sang, as the familiar tune played.
"We gotta find another pawprint," Joe continued.
"That's the second clue," said Steve.
"We put it in our notebook…" finished Joe, "EVERYBODY!"
"'Cause they're whose clues? Blue's Clues!" everyone sang.
"We gotta find the last pawprint."
"That's the last clue."
"We put it in our notebook, 'cause they're whose clues? Blue's Clues! You all remember what to do!"
"Then we sit down in our thinking chair and think… think… thiiiiink…"
"'Cause when we use our minds, take a step at a time, we can do… anything… that we wanna do."
As the song concluded, Steve sighed and said, "I've still got it."
"Alright," said Joe, "So, where to first?"
"So, you guys are playing one last game, huh?" said Sidetable Drawer, a talking drawer who keeps the Handy-Dandy Notebook safe.
"Yep," said Joe, "it's Blue's last request."
"So, Blue's about to kick the bucket, huh?" Sidetable continued, "Well, we'll miss her."
"Agreed," Steve replied.
"You'll need these," she said as she gave them their Handy-Dandy Notebooks. "One for each of you."
"Thanks, Sidetable!" said Steve and Joe.
And so Joe and Steve went to the kitchen.
"Hey Steve, hey Joe," said Mr. Salt.
"Hey, Mr. Salt!" said Steve. "What happened to Mrs. Pepper?"
"They had a divorce," Joe explained, "Mrs. Pepper now has custody of Paprika."
"I see," said Steve, "Sorry it didn't work out, Salt."
"It's alright, Steve."
Little did they know that their first clue was literally right behind them.
"A clue!" said the first male voice.
"What? Huh?" Joe said, confused.
"Joe, we're playing Blue's Clues, remember?"
"Oh yeah! So, where is it?"
"Well, look around, Joe," said Steve.
So they turned around, only to find a pawprint on a sticky note on the fridge.
"Aha! There it is!" said Joe.
"You know what that means! Time for the…"
"HANDY-DANDY NOTEBOOK!" said the audience.
Steve flipped through his notebook looking for an empty page, as did Joe. When they found one, they both drew a sticky note.
"So, what would Blue want with a sticky note?" Joe asked.
"I don't know," said Steve, "But something tells me we'll find out."
Suddenly, various voices rang out, exclaiming "MAIL TIME!"
"Holy crap, it's that time already?" asked Steve.
"You know what that means!" replied Joe.
They went to the living room.
"Here's the mail," sang Steve, "it never fails."
"It makes me wanna wag my tail," continued Joe.
"When it comes I wanna wail…" they finished, before the tune transitioned to a dubstep bass drop.
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIL!" they concluded, as the wubs began.
"Wait, Joe, what's with the dubstep?" Steve asked.
"It's what kids listen to these days," replied Joe.
"Ah."
Mailbox, a talking mailbox, entered the window.
"Hey, Joe! Hey, Steve! Long time, no see!" he said in his Bronx accent.
"Hi, Mailbox!" said Joe.
"So, Mailbox, did you hear the bad news?" asked Steve somberly.
"Yeah…" said Mailbox sadly, "Blue's gonna buy the farm soon… which is why this letter is very special."
"Okay," said Joe, as they pulled out the letter.
"Wonder who it's from?" said Steve.
They opened it, and Hail to the Chief began to play.
"Look," said Joe, "it's a letter from the President."
"Hello, Joe. Hello, Steve," said the President, "I have heard about your dog Blue's affliction, and I offer my condolences to the both of you. In honor of both of your efforts to educate young children and promote critical-thinking skills, I award both of you the Medal of Honor, enclosed within this letter. I wish the both of you best of luck in your future endeavors, and apologize once again for your loss. Thank you, God bless you, God bless the United States of America, and God bless the game of Blue's Clues."
"Thank you, Mr. President," said Joe.
"Thank you, Mr. President," said Steve, closing the letter and opening the included package to find the Medal of Honor.
"News like that travels far and fast, guys," said Mailbox.
"Right… Thanks, Mailbox!" said Joe as Mailbox left.
"Hang on, where's Blue?" asked Joe.
Steve looked at the picture on the wall, which was of a library. It changed every so often, and allowed instantaneous transport to other areas, or even other dimensions.
"You don't think…" said Steve.
"She definitely skiddoed," Joe replied.
"Alright," said Steve.
"Blue skiddo," sang the two of them, "We can too!"
They were sucked into the picture frame.
"Why are we in a library?" asked Joe.
"Funny thing about skiddoing," said Steve, "My physics teacher didn't believe me when I told him about it."
"Why am I not surprised," said Joe.
They walked through the library.
"A clue!" said the female voice.
"Where?" said Joe.
"On the bookshelf!" said the other male voice.
"Oh, right!" said Steve.
They went to the nearest bookshelf, and sure enough, one of the books had a pawprint on it. They pulled out their Handy-Dandy Notebooks and drew a book in each of them. Once they were done, they skiddoed on out of there.
"So, a sticky note, and a book," said Joe, "What could Blue want with those?"
"Well, let's look for that third clue, shall we?" said Steve.
So they went to Joe's bedroom.
Inside, they met Joe's new alarm clock, Buzz, a talking digital alarm clock.
"Hey, Joe!" said Buzz, "Who's this hipster-lookin' guy?"
"That's my brother," explained Joe.
"Sorry about that, Joe," Buzz replied, "I didn't know. The name's Buzz. What's yours?"
"Steve," he replied, "What happened to Tickety?"
"She moved out," said Joe, "She said she wanted to see the world."
"I can respect that," said Steve.
"Sorry about Blue, by the way," said Buzz sadly.
"It's alright," said Joe.
"Guys," said the second male voice in the audience, "The last clue's in the closet!"
Sure enough, when Joe and Steve looked inside, there was a pawprint on a shirt that looked a lot like Steve's.
They pulled out their notebooks and drew the shirt.
"So, we found all three clues," said Joe.
Steve said, "You guys know what that means!"
"THINKING CHAIR!" said the audience.
By the time they got to the thinking chair, however, it was too late. Blue was on the floor.
Steve held Blue in his arms and said, "I'll miss you, Blue," as tears ran down his face. He knew what was about to happen.
Blue gave Steve a lick, and then she breathed her last.
Joe and Steve began to cry, as they knew their beloved pet had died, a victim of stomach cancer.
"Well, we can bury her later," said Joe, "Now we sit down in the chair."
They sat down.
"So, what could Blue have wanted with a sticky note, a book, and a striped polo shirt?" asked Steve.
"Oh! Charlie Brown has a striped shirt! Maybe she wanted to watch a Peanuts special!" Joe exclaimed.
"That still doesn't explain the sticky note and the book," said Steve.
"Hmmm…" Joe pondered aloud, "Note… book… NOTEBOOK! But what connection is there between a notebook and a striped… polo... " Joe's voice faltered as he realized what Blue wanted. He turned to Steve.
"My God,' Steve said, "All along, Blue just wanted to see me again… After all the years I have been away…"
Steve flashed back to when he left Joe in charge of the house.
"I always thought that Blue was the star of the show…" Steve mused, "never realizing that I was the real attraction… until it was too late…"
"That's right, Steve," said the first male voice in the audience, "You're the main reason we watched the show, not just for Blue. Your silliness and quirkiness gave the show a personality, something that, as good as Joe is, he could never duplicate."
"So when you left for college," said the female voice, "we were sad. It felt like something was missing, something important. Joe, as worthy a replacement as you were, you could never truly replace Steve."
"Blue will live on forever in our hearts," said the other male voice, "but dogs don't live as long as people do. You can replace a dog with another dog, but you can't replace a human with another human."
"Well," said Joe, "You were always Dad's favorite, big brother. I could never replace you."
"Thanks, Joe," said Steve, and he gave Joe a long, loving, tender hug, as tears streamed down both of their faces. After the embrace, they turned to the camera. The usual farewell song was now a sad piano ballad.
"Now… it's time for so long…" sang Joe sadly.
"But we'll sing just… one last song…" continued Steve somberly.
"Thanks for playing your part…"
"You guys sure are smart…"
"With me, Steve, and you… and our dog Blue…"
"We could have done… anything… that we wanted to do…"
"But we couldn't do it… without you, Blue…" finished the brothers poignantly, as the ballad ended in a somber piano solo.
The two brothers hugged again, as the camera panned out from the interior of the house, out to the outside, before panning up to the sky, where a faded image of Blue could be seen waving good-bye.
THE END