Danny arrived home from school exhausted. The Box Ghost had tried to terrorize the Casper High students with juice boxes at lunch and before Danny could go ghost the Lunch Lady showed up and tried to strangle the Box Ghost for crossing into lunch related haunting. That was her shtick and he had no right to impose.
Danny had sucked them both into the Fenton Thermos and then attempted to choke down what was left of his lunch before the bell rang, which would have been easier if he had some juice to wash it down.
His day only got worse when Mr. Lancer decided to have three pop quizzes in a row. Danny was sure he failed two of them and didn't exactly get high marks on the last one either. His only comfort was that the day was over and he could return home to the unconditional love of his canine companion.
"Cujo! I'm back, where are you boy!"
Danny waited with open arms for the little green pup to come running out of a wall or across the ceiling, but instead, he was only met with silence.
Danny sighed and dropped his arms. "So much for man's best friend."
From the kitchen, he heard his mother's voice.
"Danny, sweetie? Is that you?"
At least someone cared.
"Yeah, mom, I home."
Danny entered the kitchen and leaned in to give Maddie a quick peck on the cheek.
"Have you seen Cujo? He usually comes running when I get back."
Maddie's lips tighten for a moment. She still wasn't happy about the dog, but she also hadn't found a good reason to get rid of him.
"He's in the lab with your father."
Danny felt his stomach lurch.
"The lab!" He croaked, panic rising in his voice. "Why's he in the lab."
"Calm down sweetie," Maddie tried to sound reassuring. "Your dad wanted to train him to attack ghosts on sight, or something," she said sourly.
Danny sighed in relief. "Oh, oh good. Ok, I'll go down to the lab then."
"Tell you dad dinner is at six."
"Ok, bye mom."
Danny made his way down the stairs. He could hear his father's voice from around the corner.
"Alright boy, you see this. What do we do with this?"
As Danny reached the bottom of the stairs he heard small growls and barks. He found his father on his knees shaking a green ghost doll at Cujo.
"Good boy. And when we see this…?"
Jack switched the ghost doll with a Maddie doll and waved it at the pup.
Cujo immediately stopped growling and wagged his tail happily.
"Good boy."
"Hey, Dad," Danny said, surprised that his dad was getting along so well with any ghost.
"Hey, Danny, check this out."
Jack waved the ghost doll at Cujo who immediately started growling and then switched it to the Maddie doll, at which Cujo happily wagged his tail and barked.
"See, he already learned that humans are good and ghosts are bad. I'm awesome at training ghost dogs."
Danny grinned, "That's great. By the way, Mom says dinner is at six."
"Thanks, Danny. I'll be right up anyway."
Jack waved the ghost doll at Cujo again and the pup excitedly barked and snarled at it.
"Good dog, now attack!"
Jack threw the toy into the air, but instead of Cujo jumping to snatch it the pup grew to fill half the room and his now enormous maw clamped hard on the doll before shaking it furiously.
Both Danny and Jack were frozen. Danny hadn't told either of his parents that Cujo had a much larger form and now that he saw the shock on his father's face he was certain they would make him get rid of the dog.
"Danny..." Jack began seriously.
"Y-yeah, dad?"
Jack's face split into a wide, excited grin as he pumped both fists into the air. "This dog's going to be great at ghost hunting!"