Chapter 8: Under the Stars
"No peeking," said Courage. He was leading Sandy out the front door. Sandy's paws were covering her eyes. Courage guided her from behind, his paws on her shoulders, as they carefully descended the front steps.
"C'mon, Courage," giggled Sandy. "What's going on?"
"Hang on. Hang on," replied Courage, a smile on his face. He led Sandy about fifty feet away from the house and stopped. "Okay, now look down."
Sandy looked down, eyes still covered. "Now," said Courage. Sandy drew her paws away from her eyes and opened them. To her puzzlement, there lay a simple log on the ground in front of them.
"A log?" asked Sandy, her smile fading.
"Wait, wait," said Courage, grinning. "I want you to slowly...very slowly..." His voice became a whisper. "...Look up."
Sandy slowly tilted her head upward. Her eyes viewed the log, the distant ground, the horizon, the-
Sandy gasped. "Oh my.....wow," she whispered with amazement.
The cloudless night sky above her was glittered with a dazzling array of stars; stars that Sandy had never seen shine so brightly! Every planet, every nebula, every heavenly body was visible. The full moon was high in the sky, it's face casting a light that left dim shadows on anything standing. It was one of the most beautiful spectacles that Sandy (or anybody) could ever see.
Sandy stared up at the sky in awe. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in your entire life?" she asked Courage.
Courage desperately wanted to answer "You", but didn't, for fear of being too forward. So he walked over to the log and sat on it. A moment later, Sandy sat next to him.
Neither of them said anything for a moment. Finally, Courage began.
"Kevin told me about his, um, special ability."
"Really?" asked Sandy, who was rather surprised that Kevin would reveal his secret to anyone.
Courage stared at the ground in front of him. "Yeah, it must be really freaky for someone to have a power like that."
"Why? You think he's a superhero or something?" said Sandy, smiling.
"No, no. It's just..." Courage looked up at Sandy. "...I can't even begin to imagine what his life must've been like. It probably felt like a nightmare at times."
"Yeah," agreed Sandy. Then she paused. "Wait, did he tell you about the nightmares?"
Courage cocked his head to the side to show confusion. "What nightmares?"
Sandy sighed. "For the past several months, Kevin has been having these strange nightmares. I've only recently discovered from him that they're all about the town of Nowhere's history." Courage's eyes widened as she said that. "They seem to revolve around the town's first great crime: the killing of co-founder Reginald Baggs by his partner Joseph Williams."
Courage couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Baggs? You mean...?"
"Yes. Eustace's grandfather. He helped found the town of Nowhere. Didn't Eustace tell you any of this?"
Courage just looked at her with a quirked eyebrow. "Why would he tell me anything, except how stupid I am?"
"I don't think you are," said Sandy. "I think you're very smart." She was going to continue but was stopped by the expression on Courage's face. "What's wrong?"
Courage looked like he was about to cry from sheer joy. His eyes became glassy and water-filled, and a wavy smile spread across his face. "N-nobody's ever said that to me before, except Muriel." He wiped his eyes with his paws and calmed down. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," was his answer.
They stopped talking for a minute, then Courage stiffened. He began to remember something. "I...I can recall a while ago, when I first came to Nowhere, about this museum..."
"Yes, Kevin and I went there earlier today and yesterday too."
"I remember seeing this coin in the middle of the room and...and these two portraits on the wall! One of them looked just like Eustace!"
"Yes," replied Sandy. "That was Reginald Baggs."
"I remember that place! Muriel drove me there once when I was little. I had such a rough life when I was little."
"How so? Could you tell me about it?" asked Sandy.
Courage sighed sadly. He never liked talking about his past. It was too painful. But Sandy seemed interested, so Courage gulped down his sorrow and turned to Sandy.
"My canine parents were the most...loving parents a dog could wish for. I was always a little clumsy when I was little. I'd get my head stuck in something or my diaper would get snagged on a tree or something. But no matter what, my parents always picked me up and comforted me. Then one day..." Courage's throat was getting tight so he coughed. "...One day, my parents and I went to the veterinarian and the vet led my parents through a door. I followed them. I discovered that the vet was actually conducting experiments to send dogs into outer space to colonize other planets. He had a rocket and everything. He threw my parents into the rocket and came after me. I ran into a garbage chute that dropped me into a nearby alley outside. Then,..." (Courage was on the verge of tears by this point) "...then, I heard a roar behind me. I turned and saw the rocket, with my parents inside it, go up into the sky. I never...saw...my parents again..." Courage abruptly broke down at that point. Sandy leaned over and hugged him. Courage began bawling on her shoulder while she tried her best to comfort him. After a minute, Courage got himself under control again.
"I was lucky enough to have Muriel discover me in that alley. I never think about what would happen if she never came."
"So what happened about that evil vet?"asked Sandy.
"Well, (sniff) not too long ago, my masters took me to that same veterinarian. It was deja vu all over again, only this time, he wanted to send either me or Eustace and Muriel. I ended up sending him into space instead."
Courage stood up and looked up into the sky, frowning. A soft growl developed in his throat. "He's probably on the same planet where his experimental subjects are. I hope my parents and all those other dogs are giving him what he deserves." Courage sat back down and massaged his head. He had never anticipated that this conversation would become so intense.
Sandy sighed. "Well, my life hasn't been too glamourous either. You see, I was born by the side of a road and was left there. Just like that. It seemed like forever until a car came up and dropped me off at the pound. I stayed there for two weeks. Then,..." Sandy started shivering as she said this. "...then came the day they were going to take me inside a room and...you know. But just before I was scheduled to go, a boy in his early teens came up to my cage and looked down at me. I looked back at him, and we...I can't explain it...we just bonded at that moment."
"Yeah, Kevin told me about that," said Courage.
"Kevin eventually gave me this." Sandy showed Courage her bracelet that rested on her wrist. "It symbolizes the age-old relationship between a boy and his dog. So, that, basically, is how I came to live with the Hendersons," said Sandy, a weak smile on her face.
After a moment, Sandy said, "Um, Courage, I know you seem a little frightened about certain things all the time."
Courage winced. He hoped Sandy would avoid this subject. She continued. "From what you've told me tonight, it seems like your past history is a partial cause for your fear."
Courage thought about this. "Well, Kevin told me something about controlling my fear, but it seems like an impossibility to me."
"C'mon," said Sandy. "Hasn't there been times when you forgot about your fear?"
"Yeah," said Courage, and he spent the next several minutes describing to Sandy some past situations when Muriel was in trouble, and Courage had to save her.
When Courage was done, Sandy thought for a minute and said, "I seems as though, ironic as this may sound, that you are the most bravest when things are the most scariest. And that's a quality that I find very admirable in a dog like you."
Courage blushed at the compliment with a sheepish smile on his face. He looked into Sandy's eyes, those calm green eyes, and felt like he could get lost in them. He quickly turned and looked into the night sky to keep from embarrassing himself.
As he tried to locate constellations, he felt something on his paw. Courage looked down and saw Sandy's paw resting on his. They both looked up and smiled shyly at each other. Then Sandy scooted over and rested her head on Courage's shoulder. Courage felt as though he would literally explode with happiness. The two dogs continued to stare into the heavens as a shooting star streaked across the night sky.
After what seemed like forever, but was actually just an hour, Courage and Sandy walked back to the house hand in hand (or paw in paw, as the case may be.) They walked to the basement door in the dark.
"My family's probably asleep inside," whispered Sandy to Courage. Courage agreed.
"Well, good night, Courage," said Sandy. Then she leaned in and hugged Courage.
"Good night, Sandy," answered Courage, hugging back.
With that, Sandy opened the door and walked inside.
Courage staggered up the stairs, down the hall, and into the attic. He felt as if all the stress he ever had was suddenly erased from him. He was actually losing his balance at times. He turned on the attic light and went to the window. He leaned his elbows on the sill and stared up into the night sky. He was thinking about his recent conversation with Sandy. He had never met such a dog like Sandy in his entire life. And he knew he never would find another dog like her anywhere. He began to sigh...
Suddenly he stopped in mid-sigh. He changed from lovestruck to shocked in an instant. Once again, in the reflection of the window, Courage saw his computer. It was turned off, but there was something attached to the screen! Courage whirled around and saw a yellow post-it note stuck to the screen. Courage took it off the monitor and read what was written on it:
"THE MOMENT THE CLOCK STRIKES 12, THE DAY WILL ARRIVE. AND ALL HECK WILL BREAK LOOSE. NOT EVEN MY NIGHTMARES COULD PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT, COURAGE."
Courage crumpled up the note. He knew who had written the note. He now knew who had written all those warnings on his computer. Without a word, he turned and race out of the attic, praying to himself that things wouldn't be getting too scary.
Next...Chapter 9: THINGS GET SCARY!
(Finally! Enough with this mushy stuff and on to the freakiness!)