Chapter 1

"This is horrible!" Danny exclaimed.

"I know!" his best friend Tucker replied. "My chocolate chip ice cream is melting!" He stared disgustedly at his hand, which was covered with melted ice cream. "My Dad always says never to by an ice cream cone on a super hot day, but no!" Tucker shook his head. "It had to be too warm out, and I just had to have one!"

Danny sighed. "I'm not talking about your ice cream, Tuck! I'm talking about the assignment we got today from Mrs. Robinson."

Danny and Tucker were walking down the street to Tommy's house. The school bus for Amity Park didn't drive down the street into Tommy's town, so the bus would stop a couple blocks from the house, and Danny and his friends would walk there.

"Oh! You mean, the animal report due in two weeks." Tucker grinned. "It's not going to be that hard."

"Easy for you to say." Danny glanced at him. "What animal did you choose?"

"Simple." Tucker replied, happily. "Cats. My Dad used to own some before he married my Mom, and she's allergic to them. I'm sure he can tell me everything I need to know."

"Lucky."

"Why's that?" Tucker asked, stopping at a nearby dumpster to toss his soggy ice cream cone. "What animal did you get?"

"Dog."

"Well, that's not so bad. It's an easy animal to write about."

Danny shook his head. "Not really. You've got a reliable source, while I don't. None of my parents ever had pets that were too big. They don't even know what it's like to have a dog."

Tucker glanced at his best friend, puzzled. "Then why didn't you just choose hamsters?"

"It was already taken." Danny glanced up from the rock he was kicking just a second ago, and kept walking. "What animal did Sam pick?"

"I think she chose tigers."

"She chose a harder one?" Danny was confused. "Why?"

Tucker shrugged. "I think she thought Calvin knows a lot about tigers, so she went over to his house so she could get info and a book on it or something."

"I see." Danny thought about what Tucker had just said, then asked, "How far is Calvin's house from here?"

"Not too terribly far. Why?"

"I don't know." Danny kicked another rock. "I just thought Calvin could give me some info on dogs. That is, if he knows anything about them."

"Or," Tucker suggested, "you could always go to the library and check out a book on dogs."

Danny burst out laughing. He kept on laughing straight for about two minutes, and then when he couldn't laugh anymore, he wiped a tear from his left eye. "Me reading a book!" He chuckled a bit. "Boy, that was a good one, Tuck!"

By then, Danny and Tucker were walking into Tommy's front yard.

Tucker shrugged, as Danny rang the doorbell. "I figured that wouldn't work for you," he explained, "but it was worth a shot."

The two friends stood there for a few minutes, until someone opened the door. It was Didi Pickles, Tommy's mom. She smiled at the two young boys as they stepped into the doorway.

"Hi, Mrs. Pickles!" Danny exclaimed, carefully placing his blue backpack against the coat hanger. Then he smiled at Didi's rounding stomach and added, "Hello, little guy! Or girl!" He glanced up at Mrs. Pickles again. "Do you even know which gender it is yet?"

Didi laughed, and shook her head. "Not a clue." she replied. "Although, my doctor's appointment is in about an hour, so I should be finding out today!"

"That's great!" Tucker exclaimed.

Didi nodded. "I haven't even told Stu or Tommy yet, not that Tommy would understand what I'm saying anyway."

'You'd be surprised.' Danny thought.

"But," Didi continued, patting her belly, "the thing is, I don't want them to know yet. I want it to be a surprise, so mum's the word!"

"More like, Mom's the word!" Tucker joked.

Didi laughed once more, then said, "Tommy's upstairs with Stu, watching him paint the guest bedroom, where the baby's going to sleep when he or she is born." She paused for a moment, then asked, "If you can, could you try and get Tommy to come downstairs? He's been up there for awhile, and I don't want him to smell too many paint fumes."

"No problem, Mrs. Pickles!" Danny exclaimed. "We'll take care of it!"

"Thank you!" She stepped outside the door. "Chuckie should be here in a little while. And if Stu asks anything, tell him I'm out shopping."

"Okay, Mrs. P!" Tucker replied.

"Thanks again, boys! I'll see you later!" And with that, she locked the door behind them.

"Well, I guess we're baby sitting for the day!" Danny chuckled at the thought of it. "Come on, Tuck! Let's get Tommy out of that stinky, paint-smelling room!"

The two boys, climbed up the stairs and headed to the guest bedroom. Sure enough, Tommy was sitting in the doorway, with his head tilted to one side in a curious, but puzzled manner. Behind him, in the hallway, the guest bed, dresser, and other types of furniture were scattered about.

"Hey, Tommy!" Danny waved to his playmate.

Tommy glanced behind him. He wasn't smiling. "Oh. Hi'ya, Danny. Hi'ya, Tucker."

"Is something wrong, Tommy?" Tucker asked.

Tommy shook his head. "No. Nothing's wrong. It's just that," he placed his palm flat against the ground, and pushed himself up, "my Mommy and Daddy have been acting really strange lately."

"Really?" Danny's right eyebrow, went up. "How so?"

"Well," Tommy explained, "firstest of all, my Mommy's been eating lots of nummy foods I don't know wheres my Daddy gets. Then she eats like, one or two bites of it, and is doned!" He shook his head. "My Mommy never lets me get out of my highchair, until I eat mostest of my foods!

"Then, my Mommy was watching Reptar with me, and she started crying when Reptar met the princess and left with her! My Mommy never cries! Eggspecially during Reptar!

"And then," Tommy continued, "my Daddy started moving all of these furnitures out heres from where the growed ups who have comed to visit us sleeps, and starts painting half the wall blue, and the other half pink! I don't gets it!"

Danny laughed, and hoisted Tommy up onto his back. "Maybe you just need to come downstairs for awhile." As Danny carried him down into the living room, he grunted. "Man, Tommy! You're getting heavy!"

Tucker laughed. "I guess he's ready to be a big brother then!"

Danny nodded. "I think you're right! Pretty soon, he'll have someone to play with when we're at school!"

Tommy laughed as he slid down Danny's back. "How much longer is thats?"

"Five months."

"Stills?"

"Yep. You're just gonna have to wait."

Tommy shook his head. Then he paused, then asked, "Hey, Danny, where do babies come from?"

Danny froze. "Er-,"

Tucker laughed, watching his best friend's reaction.

As Tommy was waiting as patiently as he could for an answer, a big tan dog with purple spots and nose came running into the room. "Spike!" he exclaimed. He ran up to his pet dog, and hugged him lovingly.

"Oh, Spike!" Danny cried, hugging him as well. "You are a wonderful dog!" After all, Danny was definitely not ready to give the speech of storks and mothers' tummies.

Tucker smiled. "Hey, Danny!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Now you have a good role model for your animal report. You can watch Spike and observe what he does!"

"That's perfect!" Danny cried. He turned to face his playmate. "Keep Spike here, Tommy! Don't let him go anywhere!"

Tommy nodded determinedly. "You gots it, Danny!"

Danny ran back down toward the front door to grab his backpack, then came back to where Tommy, Tucker, and Spike were still standing.

"Hey, Danny," Tommy questioned, "what's a report?"

Danny quickly grabbed his supplies from his backpack. "A report, is kind of like a research project. For example, I'm doing a report on dogs. Now, in order to do that," he continued, "I'm gonna watch Spike and see what he does, and then write about it."

Tommy grinned widely. "Sounds like fun!"

Tucker placed his right hand softly on Tommy's left shoulder. "Trust me, Tommy," he explained, "when you get older, you'll realize it's not as fun as you think."

Danny grabbed a piece of notebook paper and a pencil out of his binder. He placed the piece of paper on the coffee table, sat down on his knees, and placed both of his palms flat on his face. Suddenly, his face went blank. He had no clue what to do. "So," he started, "how should I start this report?"

Tucker shrugged. "Beats me."

Danny's frown deepened. "Tommy?"

Tommy shook his head. "Sorry, Danny."

Danny groaned, and slammed his pencil down on the coffee table. "This is just great! I can't think of anything to write about! I'm never going to be able to finish my report!"

A few minutes passed, before a light bulb suddenly popped into Tommy's head. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Tucker asked, puzzled. After all, knowing Tommy, you never know just what he might be up to.

"Well," Tommy stated happily, "I was thinking, maybe if Danny asks me some questions about dogs, I'll tell him what Spike does for it, and then he can writes some stuffs down on that piece of paper he's gots!"

Danny smiled at his playmate. "It's worth a shot." He quickly picked up his pencil again, and slid his sheet of questions required for the report closer toward him. "Okay." he said, examining his paper more closely. "What is the name of your animal?" Danny chuckled. "Well, that one's easy." He quickly titled his paper, 'Dogs'.

"Now," Danny continued, glancing up at Tommy, "what do dogs eat?"

Tommy glanced at Spike grinning. "Well, Spike eats lots of stuffs. He likes crackers, and cheese, and bread, and-,"

"I think Danny means, what's the main food that Spike eats, Tommy." Tucker explained.

"Oh." Tommy scratched the back of his head. "Well, my Mommy and Daddy feeds him this hard doggy food that comes out of a huge bag. And, sometimes he'll gets special wet doggy food every once in awhile. Plus, he gets a treat once a day, if he's being good."

"Hang on." Danny said, jotting down some notes. "Okay, got it! Second question," he mumbled, glancing down at the list of questions again, "are dogs nocturnal?"

"What does that mean?" Tommy asked, puzzled.

"It means, does he sleep at night."

Tommy nodded. "Yes. Mostest of the time he sleeps at night. But, unless he's really tired, he'll take a nap during the day."

Danny grinned as he watched his piece of notebook paper fill up a few more rows. "Now-," he paused as he looked at the next question, "Well, that question is an easy one too!" He read aloud, as he wrote down, "No, dogs are not wild animals."

Tommy, who was hugging Spike a moment ago, glanced up at Tucker. "Hey, Tucker, what's the difference between wild aminals and regerlar aminals?"

Tucker was about to answer Tommy's question when someone interrupted him. "Hi'ya, guys!"

Tucker turned and smiled as his playmate, and Tommy's best friend, Chuckie Finster who had just walked into the room. "Hey there, Chuck! What's up?"

Chuckie shook his head. "Nothing really." He paused when he saw Danny taking careful notes. "What's Danny doing?"

"He's writing a report." Tucker replied.

"Oh." Chuckie paused again. "What's a report?"

"It's a research project. He has to watch Spike and write down what he does."

"Sounds like fun!"

"Trust me," Danny said chuckling, "it isn't all that it's cracked up to be."

"Is anybody gonna answer my question?" Tommy was starting to get a bit frustrated.

"I'm sorry." Tucker said, sympathetically. "What was your question again?"

"I was just asking what the difference is between wild aminals and regerlar aminals."

"Well," Tucker explained, "regular animals live inside a house while wild animals live way outside the backyard."

"How outside?"

"I don't know. Probably about a billion miles from here."

"Wow! That is way outside!"

Chuckie grinned as he walked over toward Spike. "Well, it's nice to know that Spike doesn't have to live way out there."

"What do you mean, Chuckie?" Tommy asked, puzzled.

"I mean, it's a good thing that Spike doesn't have to worry about instead of eating doggy food that he can eat grass, or candy, or whatever he feels like eating. He doesn't have to worry about playing new games or sleep wherever he wants, or-,"

"Chuckie!" Tommy exclaimed. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Chuckie asked, a nervous edge to his voice.

"I mean," his best friend continued, "why shouldn't Spike be able to run where he wants, sleep where he wants, eat what he wants, and many other things that other aminals do?"

"I don't know, Tommy. Why are you asking?"

Tommy smiled widely at his best friend. "'Cause, we're gonna train Spike. We're gonna teach him how to hunt for food, play new games, and sleep in different spots than the ones he's used to. Chuckie," he continued excitedly, "we're gonna set Spike free!"

"What!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Oh, no!" Danny cried.

Spike whined fearfully, and ran outside to his doghouse.

"Come back, Spike!" Tommy yelled excitedly, dashing outside. "C'mon, Chuckie!"

"Wait a minute!" Chuckie cried, waving his arms in defense. "Wait a minute! I didn't mean-," He sighed, knowing Tommy was too determined to listen to him. He quickly turned around to face Danny and Tucker. "How come I'm always the one to gets him into trouble?"

Tucker shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe there are gears working in that brain of yours that Tommy's seems to get carried away with."

Chuckie shook his head. "Me and my big mouth." He mumbled, slowly walking out into the backyard.