Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim. But I have owned several dogs.

Chapter Six

Even with all the free time he now found himself with these days, Dib soon found that he didn't want to do much, not even hunt for ghosts or vampires... and least of all for Sasquatches. Everywhere he looked, he kept expecting Sas to come bounding out of the bushes running up to him, barking excitedly after having spotted a squirrel or a bird. Even going for a walk around the block, which he had enjoyed so much recently, was suddenly anything but fun any more.

These days, Dib often looked up into the sky. He had to do something to keep those obsessive thoughts out of his head. He'd see no dogs up there. He might see an alien spaceship though.

Dib kept telling himself that with no dog to give him extra work, no dog with whom to roam the woods and vacant lots, he could once again climb the ladder to the roof to better watch on the skies. Once again pulling the ladder up out of Gaz's reach Dib sat down in the spot on the roof which was free of snow and which offered the widest view of the sky. He prepared to set up his telescope and satellite dish. The roof would offer refuge from the constant expectation that Sas would come along, breaking Dib's concentration by licking his foot or ear until the boy dissolved into giggles.

He knew Sas was gone, knew it only too well, and yet as Dib peered out through his telescope he found he could somehow still feel that warm tongue noisily pushing into his ear...

Dib lifted a hand to wipe his eyes. Would he never again be able to look through a telescope without wondering what had happened to Sas? Forbidden by all to show, or even to feel, anger at Gaz, Dib hated himself for running away and leaving the dog.

With a heavy sigh, Dib took out his telescope and set it up, but found his hands of their own accord aiming it toward the other side of town and re-focusing it. If it could bring heavenly objects a little closer, why not earthly objects a lot closer? But even at the lowest magnification the images remained too blurry to tell him anything. Or was that tears?

Dib turned aside from the telescope and wrapped his arms around his knees, finally dropping all attempts to restrict the thought to the back of his mind. Once again he debated riding the bus that went to the other side of town.

If he could just once see Sas, even in somebody else's yard, he would know for sure that the dog had found another home and was well cared for and safe. But he could take the bus to the other side of town every day without ever seeing Sas, which would leave him as much in the dark as ever. Even if Sas had been adopted, as the pet shop girl had assured him he would be, who was to say his new owners wouldn't lose interest the way Gaz had? If Dib saw him in a dirty dog pen or tied to a neglected doghouse, that would be unbearable. Sas would still be mistreated, and what would be worse, Dib would now be unable to help him.

On the other hand, Dib couldn't seem to keep his mind on anything else these days. Once more he looked toward the other side of town, and remembered that his was the time he usually walked Sasquatch. Dib looked around and took a deep breath, and resolved to catch the bus to the other side of town the next day.

- - - - -

Staring anxiously out the window from the first empty seat he could find on the bus, Dib found himself hating each person who stood up to get off at the next stop, or who got up to move to another seat. He had even less patience than usual with having his view blocked; only a second of distraction would cause him to miss Sas, that is, if he was outdoors and on this route at all. Every time he saw a dog, any color or any size, Dib jumped. So small was Sas that any one of the snowbanks could hide him at a crucial moment.

In one way it would be easier if Dib got off the bus to search, but if Sas saw him the dog would probably want to come home with him and that wasn't a scene Dib would care to go through.

With increasingly impatience as the bus rounded the furthest point of its route, Dib craned his neck and looked around more anxiously. The bus was heading home again... and he still hadn't seen Sasquatch!

Dib stood up in the center aisle of the bus, looked wildly around, and selected a seat on the other side of the bus, causing the bus driver to raise an eyebrow.

Then Dib caught sight of something, something that froze the breath in his throat. He was almost afraid to look and yet he had to.

It was a puppy... a puppy of the same color as Sas. This one was a little larger but that was to be expected.

He was on a leash... being taken for a walk. His leash was the same color as the one Dib had bought for him and used only once. Two children were walking along on the end of the leash. In a near trance, Dib stood up and made his way toward the back of the bus as it passed the trio on the sidewalk, to squirm between two big frowning teenagers on the back seat of the bus, to keep Sas in view for as long as he could.

The puppy was being walked, by two children. He was now a little older, a little bigger, and by this time he was the long-legged kind of clumsy instead of the short-legged clumsy. He trotted happily along as a boy held the leash with his sister holding the very end of the leash. Dib stared out the window at them, and sighed deeply. That never would have happened in the house to which he was returning.

The kids slowed to switch places so the girl would get her turn being closer to the puppy. Immediately the puppy turned around, grabbed the leash with his mouth and began to tug on it impatiently, just as Sas had always done whenever Dib slowed to make sure he hadn't seen a UFO or a ghost instead of a cloud formation or a grocery bag drifting before the wind. Then the animal made a gesture that definitely identified him. The puppy began pawing at them, just as Sas had always done whenever he wanted something. It was Sas; it had to be! Somehow, he had made them understand when it was time for his walk! And they had bothered to find out what he wanted! Dib smiled for the first time in weeks, and a tear rolled unheeded down his face. Instead of a tear of sorrow, this was a tear of relief. Sas was in good hands.

Knowing that all was well on the planet earth, Dib rode the bus back home, climbed the ladder to the roof, and once again turned his telescope to the skies.

The End