Homeward Bound III: Back to the Wilderness

Life could never be more perfect. Finally back home with Jamie, Shadow, Sassy, and Delilah. Two adventures-One over the mountains and the other in San Francisco-are enough for me. But, staying here at home gets real boring sometimes…well, I guess you could say a little more than sometimes. But at least I got Delilah. Just another day.

A white American Bulldog with brown spots ran around dragging a big stick. That's me, Chance. I glanced around to see Delilah sitting over in the shade watching me closely. I felt the same happiness inside me I felt when "Daddy" (Jamie's dad said she could stay). I tossed the stick up into the air and watched it thud down.

"This is boring," I said for probably what was the tenth or maybe twentieth time now. I padded over to Delilah and lay down next to her.

"Yeah, but at least Jamie will be back soon," She replied with a chuckle. "You did say that you wanted to play ball with him."

"And I still do!" I barked playfully leaping to my feet. "Hey Shadow!" I called to the old Golden Retriever who sat in another spot of shade not far away.

"What, Chance?" He asked, the usual edge of annoyance to his voice.

"Aren't you gonna go play ball or something with Peter?" I questioned curiously.

"He seems to be busy." Shadow answered, the annoyed tone gone from his voice.

"Oh." I muttered.

"Hey, Chance!" Came the familiar cheerful voice of Jamie. I pricked my ears and turned my head towards him as he ran into the yard, throwing his baseball glove to the ground.

"Finally," I barked. Of course Jamie and the other humans can't understand us, or Sassy, for some reason.

I trotted over to him, my tail wagging with excitement. Jamie grabbed a Frisbee and tossed it. I raced after it, picking up speed as I went. Then I leaped and managed to catch it in midair.

Suddenly, Jamie's dad, Bob Seaver, came out the back door. I had a feeling he didn't come just to watch. Uh oh, he thought, what'd I do this time?

"Hey, Jamie!" He called. "Come here for a minute."

"Okay," Jamie simply replied as he walked over, followed by me. I noticed Delilah and Shadow get up and glance curiously over our way. Then they ran over here too.

"This can't be good." Shadow muttered under his breath.

"I was thinking the same exact thing," Delilah piped up.

"Quiet, I wanna hear!" I scolded.

Bob ignored the barking dogs. "We're going on a trip." He simply stated.

"Oh no. Where this time?" Jamie retorted.

"We're going to South America!" He cheered.

"But, they don't even speak English, Dad." Snapped Jamie.

"Some of them do. Besides, Laura and I know Spanish." He said, puzzled why Jamie didn't want to go.

"Oh. Uh, but, when are we going?" Jamie seemed more curious now. "Can we take Chance, Delilah, Shadow, and Sassy too?"

"We're going tomorrow. Of course we can take them." Bob was turning back towards the house. "Come on, we gotta go pack."

"Okay!" Was all Jamie could think of to say. They walked inside, leaving the three dogs standing there…alone.

"What's going on? I thought we were gonna play?" I said sadly.

Later, when it was dark, Delilah and I went inside to our beds and Shadow went up to sleep with Peter. I heard Sassy meow something as she followed Hope to her room.

"Slow down!" Sassy protested, knowing Hope didn't understand.

I closed my eyes and let sleep overcome me.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was surprised to see Bob carrying things out of the house with the help of the rest of the family. Wait, what's going on here? This isn't right. I thought to myself.

"Come on, Chance" said Shadow when Peter urged him to follow. "You too, Delilah."

I sighed, but reluctantly followed them. We went out the front door and onto the driveway, where the car was waiting. It's engine was fired up and ready to go somewhere…but where? I exchanged glances with Delilah. Sassy was already in the car, waiting.

"Come on!" Shadow barked louder, as he jumped into the open back of the car. Heaving a sigh, I leaped up after him, followed by Delilah again.

"Okay, okay." I muttered. The car closed in my face, making me jump backwards with a muffled yelp. I heard Delilah laugh. "Not funny". And away we drove.

I opened my eyes…again. I must've fallen asleep from boredom. Not surprising really. I glanced out the back window.

"Whoa," I let the gasp escape my mouth. "Where are we?"

"Who knows," Said the typical meow of the cat. Sassy glared at him.

"Hey, what'd I do to you?" I said, slightly playful.

"Oh, nothing." Sassy replied.

"Okay then." I muttered.

"Quit bickering!" Shadow chided.

"Sorry." I growled. Then I whispered the next words to myself. "Old timer". After a few hours of driving, we finally stopped. We were at an airport. Oh no. I remembered what happened last time.

As soon as we got out of the car we went in and got put in those "kennels". Then we were put on some kind of ride , which took us to the plane. A man loaded us into it, along with some other animals. Then, we took off. Into the sky. It felt sickening. I actually threw up in my kennel. This is gonna be a long ride.

When we finally landed, we were unloaded, but by a different man. He didn't even speak English! He took us on another ride inside the building and let us out of the kennels.

"Finally!" I barked. "Wait a second, where are we anyway?"

"You think I got a clue?" Retorted Shadow.

"Of course not." I replied calmly.

We walked out (with the family) and went to a borrowed car Bob was renting. Shadow, Delilah, and I hopped into the back while Sassy got to sit with Hope again. We drove up to a building called a hotel and went inside. After talking to a strange non-English lady, we went up into a room. It was nearly bedtime already, though. In a couple of hours, everyone, even me, were asleep.

"Wake up!" Sassy shouted into his ear.

I yelped and jumped back, my eyes wide open. "Who said you were my alarm clock?" I barked jokingly. I yawned and then stretched. "Can I go out for a run yet?" I muttered sarcastically. I sniffed the air. Kibble!

I raced into the kitchen and started gobbling down the food, grateful it was there. I nearly choked on it a few times because of how fast I was eating. Once we were all done eating, it was back to the car.

"Ugh," I scowled. "This'll be fun." I hopped in for the third time in two days. We took off. We were at our destination in, thankfully, less than an hour. It was a nice, green rainforest. A river ran through it. I kept hearing the word "Amazon" from them. Brazil?! Yep, we were in Brazil. I stared around in awe. "Sweet!" I cheered. I raced out through the trees followed by Delilah, Shadow, and Sassy.

"Woo hoo!" I barked as loud as I possibly could. I forgot that we even had to go back. I forgot about the humans and the annoying car. I forgot where I was leading us. I got us lost, but none of us noticed it yet.

When I decided to turn around, I couldn't remember where we came from. "Uh guys, which way did we come from?"

"Are we lost, again?!" Sassy almost screamed it at him.

"Uh, maybe." I said, feeling the guilt heavily.

"Oh no." Delilah fought back panic.

Shadow pawed the ground in obvious anger at me. "Chance!"

"W-We're lost!" I yelped it as loud as I could, panicking.