Hector continued to sob for several minutes. Up in a tall oak tree next to the garden fence, Hugo and Nick were eating some acorns.

"Okay. These taste okay when they are still on the tree, but other than that, acorns are not that great," Nick commented to Hugo.

"I agree," Hugo agreed, swallowing his last acorn.

"I wonder what the walnuts taste like today," Nick wondered.

"Not sure. Let's go to that tree behind the house and find out," Hugo suggested.

"Good idea," Nick agreed.

The two parrots climbed up to the top of the oak tree to take off.

Nick looked down at the porch steps. "Hey! Hugo, look!", he said to Hugo.

Hugo looked where Nick was looking.

"What's that tiny white dot?", Nick asked Hugo.

"I think that's Hector," Hugo answered. "What is he doing here?"

"I thought all the dogs were at the training games," Nick responded.

"Me too," Hugo agreed. "Maybe he just wasn't interested."

"Typical him," Nick remarked.

Hugo looked a little closer. "Gee, I think something's bugging him."

"Let's go talk to him," Nick suggested.

Hugo nodded, and they both slowly flew off the tree, and landed softly in front of Hector on the sidewalk.

Hector barely took notice, as he was covering his face with his paws in his weeping.

"You okay, pup?", Nick asked nervously.

"Go away. Just leave me alone," Hector whimpered.

"What's the matter, pal?", Hugo asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine," Hector whimpered again.

"C'mon, Hector. Something is bothering you," Hugo urged.

"It's not us, is it?", Nick asked.

In a slightly angered response, Hugo gave Nick a shove.

"No," Hector answered in a sad, but also confused voice.

"Then what's going on?", Nick urged.

Hector did not reply.

"How come you're not at the training games?", Nick asked.

Hector still continued his weeping, not wanting to reply.

"Hector, talk to us," Hugo urged.

After several moments of silence, Hector finally replied after catching his breath. "Everyone was making fun of me," he replied.

"Everyone?", Hugo asked.

"Buster and his friends," Hector responded.

"What did they say to you?", Nick asked.

"It doesn't matter," Hector responded. "It's never going to stop."

Hugo and Nick exchanged worried glances at each other.

"Dogs treat me different," Hector remarked.

"Well, you clearly prefer having the company of humans than with your own kind," Hugo stated.

"You're not like other dogs, Hector," Nick added. "You're...different."

"A defective runt?", Hector responded in sad and reluctant agreement. "Yes, I know."

"No, no, no," both parrots disagreed together.

"You're SPECIAL," Hugo stated.

"There's nothing wrong with being different," Nick added. "You are a unique, incredibly intelligent individual."

"Other pups may not see that," Hugo added.

"I've tried to fit in today, but I just can't," Hector stated.

"Well, you don't really want to spend the rest of your day here sobbing, do you?", Nick asked.

Hector gave the birds a lonely look.

After a few moments, Hugo finally spoke again. "You know what, Hector? Speaking of training, I do remember how a long time ago, the humans used to spend a, weird time, where some human pups came to play with the dogs. The human pups were learning how to read in the process. They were reading to the dogs while the dogs listened."

Hector's ears perked, and his expression turned into wonder. "Really?", he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I remember that!", Nick remembered. "The humans were also using these videos on a TV to tutor the human pups."

"Videos?", Hector asked. "What's a video?"

"A video is something you can watch on a TV," Hugo answered. "In fact, the humans might still have some of them stuffed somewhere."

Hector felt sudden excitement rushing through him. The sadness he was feeling was going away. "Do you two think you can find them?", he asked hopefully.

Hugo and Nick looked at each other with curious faces. They both tilted their head in wonder.

"I bet I know where they could be," Hugo remarked.

"You do?", Hector asked excitedly. "Where?"

"Follow me," Hugo instructed.

The two birds and Hector went into the house through the flap, and Hugo led the way to a staircase.

"The videos are probably stored in the basement," Hugo stated.

"Basement?", Hector asked.

"Yeah. That's what the underground room is called. You've been down here before, right?", Nick responded.

"I've played with something that makes cool sounds, like the piano," Hector remembered.

"You must be referring to the drum set," Hugo stated.

"Well, go ahead," Nick invited Hector.

Hector carefully made his way down the wooden stairs, while Hugo and Nick flew down to the bottom, and waited for him. When Hector reached the bottom, he could recognize the particularly chilly area of the house. The room was completely dark, and Hector knew for sure he hadn't been back down here, because he was blind and oblivious of the dark room when he was last playing with the "drum set".

Hector watched Hugo fly up and peck a small button on the wall next to the stairs. In an instant, the whole basement was lit up.

"What is that thing on the wall?", Hector asked.

"It's a lightswitch," Hugo answered. "When you press it, it activates a room's lights."

"Oh," Hector responded in understanding.

"And over there," Hugo added. "Is what the drum set is." Hugo pointed across the room with his beak.

Hector saw where the "drum set" was, next to a line of several big boxes. The walls were wooden, the floor concrete, and there was not much decoration. Dust, cobwebs, and tiny dirty pebbles covered the floor, especially in the corners and along the big boxes.

The two parrots and Hector walked across the cold floor, towards a set of shelves.

"This place is disgusting," Nick commented, after accidentally stepping into a cobweb, shaking it off his foot.

"Okay, Hector," Hugo stated. "Those videos should be in one of those boxes up there." Hugo pointed with a wing towards a few high shelves bordered with the the wall, and the top also with the ceiling. They had medium-sized boxes with language markings on them. "Now, Nick," Hugo ordered Nick, "You go search on the top shelf, while I'll start searching on the middle shelf."

Nick nodded in agreement, and both birds flew up onto the shelves, their wings blowing some dust around. Hector sneezed in response.

As Nick was quickly rummaging through the boxes, he was making a fountain of white solid peanut-shaped flakes over Hugo and Hector. Hector shook some off of him.

"Hey...Nick...", Hugo exclaimed impatiently to Nick, spitting small ones out of his mouth. "We're drowning down here!"

"Quit your squawking and keep looking!", Nick responded to Hugo, immediately going back to making such a rainfall.

"Nick, you don't need to...," Hugo exclaimed again to Nick, shaking them off his plumage, "...look that fast! You're making a mess!"

"Ah, shut up," Nick argued with Hugo. "This room was already as filthy as a dirt-place!"

Hector giggled in response to the silly argument with a smile, despite he was crying only minutes before now.

After another minute, Hugo noticed a familiar touch with his beak in one of the boxes. "Oh, I think I...", he began to state.

"Found one!", Nick finished for Hugo in singsong, also seemily finding a video.

Hugo displayed an expression of irritance, and sighed in annoyance.

"This box has some old dusty videos in it! Maybe they are the ones we're looking for!", Nick exclaimed.

"I found some too...", Hugo stated.

"Well, then, let's begin viewing them!", Nick exclaimed again.

"Let's just place a mark on these two boxes, then," Hugo suggested. "They're too heavy to take down. We can try one video at a time, but with the old TV down here. This might take a while, and we don't want the humans to see us..."

"There's one down here, too?", Hector asked.

"Yes," Hugo answered. "It should be behind those boxes over there." Hugo pointed with his beak to a big pile of boxes farther down the room.

Hugo and Nick both scratched a big mark on their boxes, and both grabbed a video out of their boxes, and flew over, holding them with their feet, to where Hugo had said the old TV was. Hector quickly followed.

When Hector reached the TV, he watched Hugo pick up the spiky end of a black cord attached to the TV in his beak, and neatly insert it into a small hole in the wall close to the floor.

"What is that for?", Hector asked.

"The TV won't turn on unless it's plugged into the wall through this cord," Hugo explained.

Hector nodded. He looked down at the "videos", and realized they looked quite similar to one of the mystery items he found during the sniffing challenge game.

"What exactly are these objects called?", Hector asked.

"DVDs, I think," Hugo answered.

"Deeveedee?", Hector replied, slowly pronouncing it.

"Yes," Hugo agreed. "And they go into this little slit inside the TV." There were two slits under the TV's screen, one larger than the other. Hugo was pointing to the smaller one.

"Wait a minute," Hector stopped to think, "Aren't these what humans place into a BOX UNDER a TV?"

"Sometimes," Hugo responded. "The TV up there has a box where you put it in instead. This TV is older."

"Oh," Hector responded.

"Let's do mine, first!", Nick demanded.

"Whatever," Hugo replied.

Hugo bent down, and carefully used the sharp end of his beak to open the little container the DVD was sitting in. He looked at the DVD, and thought for a moment as Nick pressed a button that turned the TV on, and then another that opened the small slit, releasing a platform with the DVD's shape. "Hector, why don't you place it in?", Hugo asked Hector.

"Me?", Hector replied. "Why?"

"Because us parrots have very sharp beaks and claws," Hugo explained. "It'd be better if you did it. The DVDs would get damaged easily and quickly."

"Oh, okay!", Hector agreed approvingly.

"Just place it carefully with your paw on the small slit's platform," Hugo instructed. "Be sure the colored side is facing up."

Hector nodded, and picked the DVD up with one of his paws. He gently placed the DVD into the platform where it fit perfectly, and pressed the same button Nick had pressed, and it brought the platform back into the TV.

"Good," Hugo approved.

They waited for a few moments, but nothing else appeared on the screen.

"Hugo, what's going on?", Hector asked Hugo.

"I think we missed a step," Hugo answered. "Where's the remote?", Hugo asked Nick.

Nick looked around, and spotted it sitting on a small table behind the TV. "Oh, there it is," Nick stated, flying over there to get it, and bring it over.

"Remote?", Hector asked Hugo.

"It's that odd little box that humans use to control what's on the TV," Hugo replied.

"Oh, so that's what it's called," Hector responded. "Is it supposed to be remote from the TV?", he added, with a mischievious smile.

Hugo chuckled in response. "Usually it's right next to the TV. Nice wordplay," Hugo answered, approving of Hector's clever pun.

Hector giggled, proud of the pun he just said.

"Okay," Nick stated, placing the remote down. "One of these buttons will turn the video on, but which one?", he wondered.

Hugo looked at the remote's buttons. "Maybe you have to change the TV's channel. Try that up and down one," he suggested, pointing to one of the longer buttons.

Nick clicked it with a claw, and as suggested, something popped up on the screen. On the screen it showed several dogs playing with the humans. After watching for a few moments, Nick finally spoke. "I don't think this is what we're looking for," he stated.

Hector looked closer at it. "Is that Max?"

"Could be," Nick agreed, as he pressed the button to open the platform back up. "But let's go and keep looking for the right videos."

Hector took out the DVD, and placed it back in the container. Nick grabbed it with his foot, and carried it back to the box, while Hector placed in the next one.

The next video was what looked like humans eating outside at night next to a bonfire, sitting on logs, next to napping dogs. Again, Hector noticed his father in the video. The next video Nick got had Maximus in it as well, and so did the next one.

"Why is Max in all of these videos?", Hector asked. "They are different events, I can tell."

"Max is the leader of the other dogs. He's the secondary alpha after the master," Hugo explained. "Everyone on the farm knows Max very well."

"Right," Hector agreed, sounding as if he felt he asked a stupid question.

The next video finally appeared to be what they were looking for. It was showing several human pups reading to the farm's dogs.

"This must be it!", Hector exclaimed. "Didn't you say there was teaching in these videos, too?"

"There should be," Hugo stated. "Maybe we should try one of those rainbow-colored DVDs in my box."

Hector took out the DVD, placed it back in the container, and Hugo traded it for one of the rainbow DVDs, and brought it over, Hector placing it in.

As predicted, it did indeed have the videos of teaching.

"This is it," Nick responded.

Hector watched it in fascination. On the screen, there were several examples of reading markings that a human in it was reading! Hector put his full attention on it. Each marking or few markings in the example appeared to be highlighted as the female human in there read it. As Hector has figured out through reading with the humans, the snake-shaped marking sounded like a snake. The marking that represented a criss-cross seemed to never be the first marking in the examples. An example often had the marking that looked just like an obstacle from the course. Two markings appeared to be the same shape, just one is vertical, while the other is horizontal. As more and more examples were appearing on the screen being slowly read to Hector, Hector felt he had found a better way to learn to read the markings. He was very thankful for the parrots, as he may never have known about this learning technique if it hadn't been for them.

"So, the humans have tried training you to read before?", Hector asked the parrots.

"Yeah," Nick responded, both parrots nodding.

"Just small specific quotes," Hugo added. "Nothing too big."

"Not that we are too fluent in reading, but...", Nick added.

"You know a key I learned to reading?", Hugo added.

"What?", Hector replied.

"When they were teaching us, they would give us the certain markings, then place a picture next to them, presumably what it means," Hugo explained.

"The hard part was only some of the objects were objects we knew. The first step was to know the names of basic human objects. Which we have learned," Nick added.

"So, it was more like you guys were trying to memorize certain marking patterns, not certain markings?", Hector asked.

"I guess you could say that," Nick answered.

"Well, I want to learn ALL the markings and the patterns both!", Hector declared.

"I'm just in suggestion that that could be a tough goal," Nick responded.

"Well, I just know that I was BORN to read!", Hector proudly stated. "I learn all there is to reading, and that is where my life really begins!"

Hugo and Nick looked at each other with puzzled and almost shocked expressions.

"What's wrong?", Hector asked, taking notice.

Both birds showed the expressions to him.

"What?", Hector asked again.

After a few moments of silence, Hugo finally spoke. "You are indeed a unique dog, Hector."

"You said that wasn't a bad thing," Hector remarked to them.

"It's not," both Hugo and Nick stated at the same time.

"It's just not dog-like to read, that's all," Nick added.

"What are you two really trying to say?", Hector asked, slightly concerned.

"When you said 'the bullying will never stop'...," Hugo remarked, "...well...it just worries me that if you pursue these intellectual interests all your life..."

"They will still bully me when I'm an adult?", Hector tried to finish the statement.

"We don't want you living in a life of abuse," Nick warned.

"Well," Hector argued, "I am willing to risk that if that's what I have to go through to reach that goal, and the goals after that."

"The choices you are making now, Hector, can affect your entire future," Hugo assured.

"We are proud of you," Nick added. "Just very concerned, too."

"What if I become the new leader after my father?", Hector suggested. "Maybe they won't give me trouble, then!"

After exchanged worried glances at each other, Hugo and Nick looked at Hector with uncertainty. "We don't know who will be the next leaders after Max and Daisy, Hector," stated Hugo, "The answer will come in time."

"What if I asked Dad if I could be the new leader?", Hector asked.

"I wouldn't ask Max that if I were you, Hector," Nick warned.

"Why not?", Hector asked.

"Just don't," Hugo warned also. "It is a very honorable position to have. I am sure that role has to be earned, not asked for."

"Oh," Hector responded, not sure what to make of that. He immediately changed the subject. "Well, can I just get back to these videos?", he asked the birds.

"Of course," Hugo replied. "Nick," he ordered Nick, "Let's go grab more of those rainbow DVDs."

Nick nodded, and both birds flew back over to the box, and grabbed four more of the rainbow DVDs, and brought them to Hector.

"I think Nick and I should go back upstairs. The humans should be ending that event, and be coming back any minute now," Hugo told Hector.

"Okay," Hector responded.

"If your parents ask, we'll tell them you're down here," Hugo added.

Hector nodded, and turned to continue watching his videos. The two parrots flew back upstairs, careful not to bump into anything. As Hector continued to watch, pictures were actually being shown, and he was excited that learning to read was seemingly getting even easier. He decided that this was what he was to do for the rest of the day. No reason Buster and his friends would come down here in the cold dirty room looking for him.

Hector was thinking for several moments what the birds really were trying to tell him in an indirect way. They seemed to be trying to make a connection between his odd interests and a possible future position for him on the farm. "What would it take for me to become the next leader?", Hector thought. He then remembered something Ranger and Tracker had said a while back. Ranger and Tracker told him that he would likely be betrothed to Chloe in the future, then he and Chloe would become the new leaders. But that was before he got his new hobby. Either way, Hector did wonder if there was a coming connection to him having such odd interests and becoming leader. Was something big going to happen? Something because of who he is? Something so life-changing, that it would affect his entire future? And what would Chloe have to do with it? After all that happened this day, it seemed pretty clear his future was not going to be the same as the other pups, no matter what it turned out to be. Hector shrugged off his strange confusing thoughts, and continued with his hobby. "What will my future really turn out to be?", Hector wondered.