Chapter four
My favorite Mutt
It was a beautiful morning, the sky was light blue, the cool air was as crisp as the autumn leaves that fell from the tree, the normal neighborhood sounds of children's laughter and childlike games were replaced with a peaceful calm that brought my whole world to a standstill
the gentle fall breeze began shifting to a steady northernly wind that promised a hope of relief from the sweltering hot summer days that once terrorized the streets, yes, this indeed was the first day of October.
Me and James were taking in all the sights and silence of the neighborhood as we strolled down the street, it was quiet and peaceful, something that was very lacking in adventure bay.
We arrived to a stunningly elegant, two story house, with a wraparound porch carved out of beautiful wood, I gawked in amazement until I saw something even more gorgeous up on the front porch
Faith was laying on the front porch swing when we walked up, her ears perked up, she lifted her head and watched us as we came up to the porch with a tilted head, then she gave us a warm smile
James walked to the front door and knocked, the front door opened...
"Hello James, here to work on your project with Katie?" A smiling lady asked
"Yes ma'am" James replied
"Ok, she's in the dining room at the table" the lady said stepping aside to let James in
"Ok, thank you. Uh Mrs Bonnie, can I bring Rocky inside?"
Mrs Bonnie stared at me with a slight frown on her face...
"Probably not, but I'll leave Faith out there to give him some company...ok?"
"Ok, that'll be fine" James finished then stepped inside the house
The front door shut, and I trotted over to the swing, there was something about it, or on it I should say that I found attractive. I reached the swing and began the conversation...
"Beautiful day...isn't it?"
"Just wonderful" she replied without looking at me
"Yeah, it was wonderful, until..." I trailed off
This caught her attention, she looked down at me with a tilted head...
"Until, what?" She asked
I made eye contact with her before I continued
"Until I saw you, now it's almost perfect"
She smiled and rolled her eyes
"What would make it perfect, Rocky?"
"A place up on that swing right next to you would make me the happiest pup alive"
She continued staring at me with a smile, at first I didn't know what to expect till finally after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence she answered...
"Sure! Hop on up here!"
That's all I needed to hear, I effortlessly leaped onto the swing, once on the swing I laid right next to the husky that had stole my thoughts...
"So, you're pretty new around here" she asked trying to make conversation
"Yeah"
"I liked how you stood up to Thunder yesterday, no ones ever done that"
"What can I say, I saw a need and filled it"
She examined me with carefull eyes
"You're not like the normal dogs around here, there's something...different about you, but I can't put my paw on it"
"What do you mean?"
"First off, you have manners, you're polite, you show courtesy to others, you try to help others and you're always willing to learn new things"
"Uh, just the way I was raised I guess" I tried to dodge the question
"Maybe..it must be hard trying to adjust to a new place"
"No, it wasn't hard at all"
She paused for a moment before asking another question
"So Rocky, where did you come from?"
My mind crashed and before I realized it, I was staring at her with a blank face
"Rocky? Are you feeling ok?"
I snapped myself out of it
"Yeah, I'm fine...what were you asking about again?"
She giggled "Where are you from?"
If there was one thing that I wanted to avoid, it was telling Faith that I used to work for Paw Patrol, so I took my time thinking about how to respond to her question, I looked at the ground then at my paws before finally coming up with an answer...
"I'm from Adventure Bay"
"Really? That's pretty far from here"
"Yup, it sure is"
Before she could ask another question about my former life, there was a flash of white light followed by a deep rumbling sound that grew into a loud bang
Faith turned her head and gazed out at the sky
"Looks like we might get some rain"
I stared at the sky, the light blue sky from earlier this morning had been replaced with dark gray clouds
"Maybe, I sure hope not"
She stared at me with a tilted head and frozen smile
"Why not?"
Great, just great, another touchy topic I wanted to avoid gets brought up. I thought about how I was going to wiggle my way out of this one until I looked into her beautiful sky blue eyes, they were innocent and caring, there's was no way I could lie to her! I breathed in a deep breath, then let out a sigh, I had to tell her
"Because...I hate...I hate being wet"
"Really? How come?"
"I don't know, I just have a aquaphobia"
But before she could say anything else, we began hearing the small, still sounds that sprinkles make when they hit the ground, then the sprinkles started growing until they were big...rain drops.
Oh boy.
Faith looked over at me with a warm smile that could've melted the coldest of hearts...
"Wanna go play?"
"Out there? In the rain!?"
She hopped off the swing and looked back at me...
"Yeah! C'mon let's go!"
"I don't know if I can do that"
She trotted to the edge of the porch "Sure you can! Just have a little faith in yourself"
I hopped off the swing and walked over to the edge of the porch, the rain was coming down harder now and I was going to argue why I didn't want to get wet, I looked over at her and before I could say anything, she tapped me on the shoulder and said...
"Tag! You're it!"
Then she jumped off the porch into the front yard, where it was raining, I stood there shocked at what had just happened, now I had a choice to make, I thought about it for a second, took a deep breath, then jumped off the porch and shouted...
"Not for long!"
I landed in a puddle of cold water, and started chasing her around the front yard in the rain
There we were, the two of us, slipping and sliding back and forth all over the yard trying to tag each other and I was actually enjoying it! until things took an unlikely turn
I had just been tagged by Faith when I looked down the street and saw a dog was trotting down the sidewalk, he appeared to be a...German Shepherd.
I whipped my head around and got Faiths attention, she looked at me then looked at the dog coming down the sidewalk, her cheerful countenance fell...
"What does he want now?" She said under her breath
I shrugged and looked his way, it was Thunder
"Ohhh look at the two love birds playing tag in the rain, so romantic, I think I'm going to be sick!"
He walked up into the yard right next to us and continued making his jerk remarks
"I guess next, you'll ask the filthy mutt to kiss you instead of tag you"
I glared at him "Filthy? Since when?" I asked
"Don't you for a moment think I don't know that you're scared of baths"
"I'm not scared...I just chose to hate baths"
"Uh huh, yeah, sure"
He looked at Faith again and asked...
"How can you even be seen with this mutt, I mean we are the upper class of the neighborhood if you know what I mean"
"At least he has manners, unlike you!" Faith yelled
Thunder examined me with his cruel, heartless green eyes before speaking...
"This thing? Have manners??? Ha, that's a laugh, I'll believe it when I see his pedigree papers wait...that's right he has none!"
By this time I was about ready to just punch him in the mouth or something, anything to make him shut up, but Faith had another idea in hand...
"Oh yeah, we'll see who's laughing when Mrs Bonnie yells at you to leave the yard"
Thunder rolled his eyes and snarled...
"Make me, she'll just yell at me and the mutt standing next to you"
Now I had been pretty quiet up to this point but I had once again had enough of this Shepherd...
"What is it with all you stupid "pure breed" German Shepherds trying to make me feel like I'm a mutt! I know I'm a mutt! There I said it, you happy now!?" I shouted
"No, it's the fact that Faith is falling for a low life rat like you!" He exclaimed in pure rage
"What do you mean?" Faith asked him with a tilted head
"Faith, you need someone who can live up to your pedigree standards like me, not some mutt off the streets"
"Oh, you mean a complete jerk like you! Well I won't have it, Rocky is one hundred times the dog you will never be"
Thunder stared at her with an unchanging expression
"I hope you know what you're doing" he finished then turned around and began trotting down the street
Faith gave me a smile, my face remained emotionless,
"C'mon Faith, let's get out of this rain" I said in a sorta demanding tone of voice
We walked up to the porch, my tail was dragging, Faith noticed and never took her eyes off me, normally that's what I would want but now I could care less. We hopped up onto the swing and laid down, Faith had a concerned look on her face...
"Rocky, what did you mean by "all you German Shepherds" was there another one who teased you?"
I thought about it and looked at her...
"Yes, unfortunately, except his name was Chase, he was a...friend of mine, if you could call him that, he would always tease me about being a mixed breed, and I didn't say anything about it"
"Oh, I'm sorry if I brought back any painful memories"
I cringed at the thought of Chase calling me a cowardly mutt
"It's ok, you didn't mean it"
We sat there for a minute or two in silence before she spoke up...
"Well, I don't care what you are, as long as you're not a jerk, you'll always be my favorite mutt"
I looked at her and couldn't help but smile...
"Really? You're not just saying that?"
"Yeah, I mean, you have stood up to Thunder twice now haven't you?"
"I guess"
"So that settles it!"
Our conversation was then interrupted by the opening of the front door and James stepping outside with his jacket on...
"C'mon Rocky, we got to get home"
I looked over at Faith with a sad expression...
"I guess I better get going, but before I go, can you tell me when I can see you again?"
"Sure, probably sometime next week" she said then kissed me again on the cheeks
I hopped off the swing and followed James home in the rain, when we got home Mrs Ann noticed that I was soaking wet, she asked me...
"What got into you Rocky? I thought you hated water?"
"Normally, unless I'm playing tag" I answered
"Well I hope you don't make a habit of it"
"Yes ma'am"
The rest of the day passed by without any major mishap, we enjoyed it inside, and that's when I realized that everything was perfect, I had a home and family that loved me, and believe it or not, even Faith, the girl of my dreams actually liked me!
Everything was perfect, but little did I know what was going to happen in the following weeks...
So what do y'all think?
