Chapter 1
The Decision
"That's it! I'm sick of this!" yelled Max. "I've been able to deal with it before, but now I'm sick of it. I can't take it anymore!"
"I was just telling you a story," explained Total.
"That's just it. You're a talking dog, but the only problem is you don't stop talking. That must be why dogs don't normally talk. Now I'm sorry Angel, but I can't take Total's talking anymore and I think we should put him up for adoption."
"What? No! Max you can't do that!" screamed Angel. "He's a talking, fling dog his new owners wouldn't be able to handle that he'd have to hide it all the time! Not to mention he's part of the family now, he's part of the flock; he's saved your life!"
"Well then so be it. We can't put up with him anymore Angel and wait…..he didn't save my life."
"Oh right. I just threw that in to see if it would get you to keep him and who's WE? Just you 'Miss I'm the leader of the flock. Everything I say goes.' This isn't fair."
"Don't talk to me like that! I can't deal with Total! We are going to an animal shelter tomorrow morning, case closed!
"Don't I get a say?" asked Total.
"NO!" Max exclaimed.
Chapter 2
The Shelter
None of the faces of the flock looked too happy as they flew over to the animal shelter. Nudge and Angel were crying, Gazzy and Iggy were teaching Total ways he could make a bomb and blow of the animal shelter down so he can break out, Fang showed no emotion as usual, and max felt a lot of things, annoyed, upset, confused, just to name a few.
Then they arrived at the shelter.
"It looks like a jail!" Angel yelled. "Total's not going in there!"
"Oh yes he is," Max said.
They flew down to the shelter and walked in. Inside they saw a lady sitting at the front desk. She was smiling the longest smile they ever saw. It looked like her smile was permanent.
"Hello! How may I help you?" the smiling lady asked.
"Well. This is our dog Total. We would like to put him up for adoption," Max explained.
"Okay. Follow me."
Still smiling the lady led them to a check in desk.
"This is Chris our occupants' advisor. His job is to check in new occupants and he also keeps a running list of all the occupants. Chris these lovely folks have brought their dog Total to check in."
"Lovely Folks," Gazzy and Iggy snickered.
"Okay. Sign your name right here and we'll go find him a kennel," Chris explained.
"Are you going to hurt him?" Angel asked.
"No, little girl. We would never hurt an animal."
"Will we be contacted when total gets adopted?" Nudge asked
"Nope once you leave Total here you have nothing to do with him after that. Are you done signing in?"
"Yep," Max responded.
"Okay. You can say your goodbyes and leave."
"Bye Total. I'll miss you a lot," Nudge and Angel said.
"Don't forget you can blow your butt out of here Total," Gazzy and Iggy reminded him.
And the flock left.
Chapter 3
The Kennel
"Alright C'mon," Chad said as he dragged Total across the floor. "This is your kennel. Get in there! Hurry up!"
Total slowly walked into the kennel. When he got there he looked around at his new home. It was cold and wet and lonely just like when the white coats had him in a cage for experiments. He couldn't believe Max would do this to him. She would hate this too. She doesn't like being kept in a cage either. He looked around to see if there were any humans. No one.
"Yes. That is the longest I've kept quite in a long time. What did I do to deserve this? Where did I go wrong? I need to stretch my wings.
He flew into the air and hovered for a while. Then he landed.
"Ah, that felt so good. I probably won't be able to do that for a while after I'm adopted. This is terrible! Why does Max have to be so mean! Oh, well I shouldn't have to stay in here long. I mean I'm young, I'm cute. Right? I should go very soon!"
The next day a partially bald math geek came in with his two kids to look for a dog. They were looking for the perfect dog for their family.
Chapter 4
Total's New Family
They were walking up and down the hallways of all the kennels looking left and right at all the dogs. Looking for just the right one. They were telling Chad what kind of dog they wanted. The size, the breed, the color, they wanted just the right one.
"We want a small, shaggish dog with---
"Daddy look!" Andy, the man's daughter yelled. "That's the one. That's our dog!"
She was pointing at Total.
"Are you sure that's the one you want honey?" Mr. Bennet asked.
"Yes daddy. He's perfect," Andy said.
"What about you son. What do you think of this dog?"
"I think he's cool, but…"
"But what son?"
"Nothing. He's great dad," replied Toby.
"Oh. Well, Okay then we'll take that one," Mr. Bennet said pointing at Total.
"Daddy what are we going to name him?" asked Andy
"Whatever you want honey," replied Mr. Bennet.
"OK. Well, how about….Hunter."
"Hunter. Why Hunter?" Mr. Bennet asked.
"I don't know it just feels right and he kind of looks like a Hunter to me."
"Okay. Hunter it is then. Do you like the name Hunter Toby?"
"I guess."
"What's wrong son?"
"Nothing"
"Do you like this dog or not!?"
"Yeah."
"Do you like the name Hunter!?"
"Yeah."
"Ok then. Ring up the dog Chad."
"That will be $150," Chad replied.
"Alright kids, let's take Hunter to his new home."
Chapter 5
Total's New Home
"Okay Hunter welcome to your new home!" Andy greeted.
"My name is Total," Total mumbled just soft enough so they couldn't here.
"Why don't you give Hunter the grand tour Toby," Mr. Bennet prompted.
"Ok dad. Come on Hunter."
"It's not like I had a choice, your pulling me on a leash," Total mumbled.
A little while later…
"This is my room. You can sleep in here if you want to. Uh, Hunter can you keep a secret? Wait you're a dog you can't talk. Of course you can keep a secret. Well, you know how I was being a brat to my dad at the adoption center….well….that's because I'm sort of depressed. See I asked this girl that I like at school if she liked me and she said that she liked me as a friend. A FRIEND! So I'm very upset about that and I still like her."
"Ha. What a loser. Ha!" Total laughed.
"But I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't hate me because I don't hate you and I know it kind of seemed like I did at the adoption center. Now let's finish the tour. I feel a whole lot better. This is Andy's room, this is the living room, and this is the best place in the house, the kitchen. Hunter you're going to love it here."
Chapter 6
The next morning Total woke up to the smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. He was so excited he jumped up and down and ran downstairs. As he got further down the stairs the smell got even stronger and it smelled even better. He saw the food and he jumped onto the counter and just when he was about to dig in something grabbed him.