Chapter fifty-five: Arts And Confessions(Or Lack There Of)
Ryder led the pups to a table with paper, brushes, glue and paint.
"So how do we turn our paws into paper turkeys?- No, we are not eating the paw turkeys!" Snowflake asked, before turning to Ned whose mouth was open.
"Well we'll paint the pad of your paw brown for the body and press it firmly on the paper.." Ryder explained. "Since you pups don't have thumbs, we can either paint a head and neck on them or I have these turkey head cut-outs you can glue on.. Then we'll let the paws dry on the rack next to this fan. And get some sponge brushes to paint the feathers on."
"Sounds good, Ryder. So we just wash off our paws when done?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Or we could literally become Captain Brownpaws!" Ned proclaimed proudly. Snowflake rolled her eyes.
"Hahaha,.. heh-exactly Snowflake." Ryder chuckled. "That's why we have this tub of water over here.." and he waved an arm to the little white tub that lay on the far side of the draped work area.
"So?.. Who's ready?" Ryder asked.
"We are!" The pups barked, all scattering to their own station.
xxxx
Ryder finished painting the bottom of Rocky's paw and pressed it firmly on the paper. Then set it in the tub of water, making Rocky cringe.
Then Ryder drug himself up off the floor to go help Marshall hold a giggling Zuma's paw still.
"Hold still, Zuma." Ryder laughed.
"Hehehe! Sorry.. haha but that tickles!" The chocolate lab squirmed even though Ryder had a hold of him and Marshall felt a lot better in finishing the painting.
"Ok, all done. Go ahead, Zuma," He said, and Zuma obliged by pressing his own paw onto the paper, smiling up at him gleefully.
"Marshall, it'll be your turn soon.." Ryder said. "Once Snowflake and Chester have finished washing up."
"Then we'll come help you out." Chester confirmed, while swishing his paw around in the water one more time. Then drying it on the towel next to it, he looked carefully one more time before deciding he'd gotten it clean enough to walk on it again.
"Here you go, Snowflake." Ryder said, setting a towel down beside the husky.
"Thanks," Snowflake said before using the towel to dry off her paws. Once all her paws were dry, she stepped away from the tub.
"No problem." Ryder replied, then strode over to the Dalmatian patiently waiting by his own paper.
"Ok, Marshall, I'm here to help." The boy said, keeling down to him.
Marshall watched quietly as Ryder prepared the paint, then taking his right forepaw, he began to paint it brown. Then took it carefully to the paper in front of the pup and pressed each toe of the paw firmly. This yielded the intended reward when he removed the paw, for the perfect paw print to be left behind.
"Perfect!" Ryder smiled. "Ok Marshall you can go wash up. Once the pawprints dry out, we can finish by painting the feathers on."
"So what do we do until then?" Rubble asked, as Rocky and Zuma were studying the other paw prints drying on the homemade rack that Rocky had built with pipes and screens. "Any ideas?"
"Well,.. why don't we exchange stories for a little while.." Ryder suggested, wandering over to a nearby beanbag to sit down. "Did you know how long Chase was missing for, before he was rescued?" All the pups exchanged glances before each started to make their way over as well, taking up spots around the boy.
"No. But you made it sound like it was a long time when you last talked about it. Two weeks?" Snowflake replied as she lied down. Her brother laid next to her.
"Dude,.. you're good!" Chester marveled.
"Pretty much." Ryder shrugged. "But could you imagine that in that time, Chase and the PUP Pals became nearly as close as we are?"
"After going through what they went through? Yes! Not having company when being pushed around, hurt, tortured and gosh knows what? Any pup could go crazy after all of that! Or worse!" Snowflake responded before giving a shudder of discomfort.
"But, did you know that Chase managed to get all of them to help him escape from the mansion to find help for all of them?" Chester asked.
"No. I thought it was only a few friends," Ned commented, confused.
"Well it kinda was.. but.. it was still a team effort." Ryder said, continuing the story. "Chase rallied the PUP Pals into helping him set up an escape plan. Which happened to come from the strategy of a very kind woman named Madge, who was the caretaker of the pups at the CorDan mansion. She fed him the info he needed to use a seesaw to catapult himself over the wall of the mansion's courtyard, with a little help from his new friends."
"Of course, he was sadly chased down and recaptured by Rex not long after succeeding in said 'escape strategy.'" Chester sighed, thinking back dryly in disgust of the rottweiler's involvement.
"And that's how he ended up back inside the mansion, where Rex beat him up." Skye added gravely, perhaps even venting off a bit of anger herself at the thought. But was suddenly taken aback and appeased by the gentle hand that stroked her head.
"It just goes to show, some friends are forged in some amazing ways.." Ryder remarked thoughtfully. "In fact,.. according to authorities those same pups broke out of the cages set on top of them in order to try and help Chase even if their attempts were probably no good, other than when the Police arrived."
"Wow. It was good he had friends to help. Even if they all went through terrible things!" Snowflake replied as she reflected on what was described.
"I just feel bad for everyone! I can't imagine how he felt almost getting out only to get caught again!" Ned added, as he too thought about what happened to Chase and the PUP Pals.
"He didn't have much time to think on it until after Rex was reprimanded from nearly tearing him to shreds.. The first time at least." Chester's frown cast a shadow of something between guilt and all-out vengeance simply at the reminders of past events which boiled up within him.
"Easy, Chess.." Ryder cautioned. "In any case, Chase certainly had a lot to overcome from his experiences.. But we sure are glad Rayla and the PUP Pals had his back when we couldn't."
"They still do!" Marshall reasoned. "Especially with all the recovery he had to undergo once he made it back to us. Man, was he so glad when he was finally cleared for full duty again! What a day that was!"
"Thank goodness for that!" Rocky agreed. "I don't know how much more 'Mopey Chase' we could have taken."
"Me neither, dude. It totally bummed us out, man!" Zuma piled on sadly.
"Rayla's kind of become our.. 'Secret weapon' when it comes to Chase now.." Ryder continued looking from his pups to the two huskies. "Anytime something is weird or off about him, we a lot of times end up enlisting her to help us out in getting to the bottom of it."
"If that's the case, why didn't she come over to help him? Or is she and the PUP Pals as busy as us?" Snowflake pondered upon hearing the last statement from Ryder.
"At least he's better now. But we won't give up," Ned added with a smile.
"..Until he's fully better." Chester agreed.
"We can see about bringing her in.. I was hoping your little hang out plan would at least do something.." Ryder admitted, showing no positive signs that it did. "Unless you think it has?"
"It might have, but I'm not too sure. He liked it, but.. it feels like he's holding on to stuff he wants to deal with himself," Snowflake admitted sadly.
"Like what?" Marshall asked, various looks of curiosity coming the husky's way.
"He liked the activities we did; land parasailing, playing with Alex, Aaron and the other kids, playing Red Light, Green Light. Lunch was okay, but a little awkward. The Fun Zone was fun until he got stuck in the foam pit. He also made me think he would rather sleep than play which concerned me. He also liked our glow-in-the-dark scavenger hunt while hanging out with Jake and Everest. Once we got to Katie's, though, he really started acting odd," Snowflake explained as she went through the events of the day.
"Woah, back up.. Chase got stuck in the foam pit?" Chester interjected before Snowflake could continue.
"And a scavenger hunt?" Skye quoted. "How'd you pull it off in the dark?"
"And what's this about an awkward lunch?" Rubble asked.
"How odd are we talking?" Marshall wondered.
"Yes. He got stuck in the foam pit. That's why we called Ryder for help. We had lights along the path of Big View Trail to see where we were going for the scavenger hunt. Lunch was good, but Chase was acting as if he wanted to talk about anything BUT his feelings. Including our activities as if it was no big deal. Like he enjoyed what we were doing, but not showing happiness or consideration," Snowflake told them as she answered the questions. "Also, does wanting to clean up Katie's Pet Parlor before bed sound odd? That's what we did before she told us a story,"
"Um, no." Chester shook his head, glancing at Marshall.
"Not really."
"Not for Chase," came some other cascading responses.
"Chase does like to keep things neat and tidy as much as he can." Skye reasoned. "And Ryder usually has us clean things up before bed anyway."
"Yeah but.. how much did he wanna clean up?" Chester wondered, a seeking tone to his question, which demanded clarification.
"He wanted to clean everything. Tables, the doors, floor, anything. We relaxed a bit by getting baths, and listening to Katie's story. However, Chase did want to play flashlight tag and insisted on staying up. I swear he probably would have chased his tail just to stay awake! But he rolled around on the floor instead," Snowflake retorted.
"What?"
"Huh,"
"Weird.." The pups all queried in dismay.
"That doesn't sound like him." Marshall concluded.
"Not even remotely." Chester confirmed. "Even despite how weird he's been lately."
"You're telling me! So, Katie told us the story about when Ryder and her met when he moved to Adventure Bay. After she finished, we went to sleep," Snowflake continued.
"Likely with resistance from Chase." Marshall sighed dryly, based on the info presented earlier. "How'd you get him to go to sleep with him fighting it so much?"
"Katie gave Chase and I belly rubs, but she used a comb-like brush on Chase. He really liked it, and he fell asleep soon after Katie was petting us," Snowflake responded with a tail wag.
"Ha!" Chester vocalized in the form of a chuckle. "Using his weakness against him.. Smart."
Snowflake gave a confused look.
"What do you mean? We kinda discovered Chase likes to be brushed, and it relaxed him to the point that he snoozed off. How is that a weakness? All dogs like to be petted and scratched," Snowflake remarked.
"Well did he try to resist?" Chester questioned, as if somehow knowledgeable of the event.
"Of course he tried to resist. But once Katie got him to relax he stopped trying to stay awake," Snowflake replied.
"Right, but did he try to resist while she was brushing him?" Chester rephrased his question.
"Yes, but he fell asleep," Snowflake said.
"Exactly, but he couldn't resist before falling asleep quickly right?" Chester continued.
"Yes," Snowflake replied.
"You see?" Chester replied, gesturing a paw to them. "I rest my case."
"How?" Marshall wondered, arching a confused eyebrow over to the German Shepherd.
"Exactly what we said." Chester reasoned further. "Chase has never been able to resist the power of a firm, but tender touch. Any time we've ever needed to put him to sleep or get him to relax.. We just stimulate him with some kind of brushing or anything that involves repetitive, appropriate touch and he's as good as relaxed."
"Hm.. he does have a point." Rocky mentioned thoughtfully. "Chase does seem to be the most relaxed when he's getting brushed or scratched."
"That's why he loves baths so much." Chester nodded.
"I didn't think of that." Marshall realized now.
"And so I rest my case again." Chester shrugged with just a hint of sass.
"As much as a bath or massage or scratch sounds good. Aren't we missing the point of my sister bonding with Chase?" Ned stated before gesturing a paw to his sister.
"Thank you, Ned! As I was saying, he had a nightmare, and I woke up at the same time. I could tell something was bothering him." Snowflake continued.
"Nightmare?" The light humor of Ned's comment suddenly melted away with this fact's reveal.. and they all began to look more heavily concerned.
"I mean it's no surprise.. but.." Marshall paused as if fabricating a different response. "Did he say what it was about?"
"Sadly, no. I tried to talk to him about it, as well as not being pushy like Everest suggested. But when Chase wouldn't tell me what was upsetting him, I tried to get him to understand he could be honest with me. That I wanted to be friendly so he'd have a buddy to open up to. Chase refused, and it broke me. It felt like all my work, everything I've done to get Chase to open up about.. felt like it was worth nothing. That I f-f-failed to help him open up as a friend!" Snowflake explained, her voice cracked with the last sentence. Ned went and nuzzled his sister as tears quietly rolled down her face.
Every pup remained silent, each pondering what to say,.. or even what to think. Several of them opened their mouth to say something, but stopped themselves for lack of the courage to say them out loud.
"Well, that's Chase for you.." Chester sighed finally. "A trap door, that one. He's too much like me in that way.."
"A trap door?" Ned asked, confused.
"Chase did reassure me that I was doing a good job. That he understands we want to help him, but.." Snowflake said before cutting herself off.
"But?.." Chester emphasized, leaning into her with the other pups waiting for her continuation.
"But..." Snowflake said before going quiet again. She thought for a moment then sighed. She walked away before using her paws and forelegs. Snowflake pointed to Chase then to her friends. She gave a concerned look before pretending to run to Chase, but staying in one spot. She gave a hugging motion before stopping and pointing back to Chase. The female husky then gave a serious look before shaking her head. She then gave a sympathetic look before backing away a few steps, then pointing to herself, then to Chase. Snowflake stopped, waiting for a reply.
"Ok so he's definitely disturbed.. confirmation affirmed." Chester spouted off like some kind of military pup or something of the like. "Got it.. how do we fix it?"
"I don't know that there is. If he's not willing to share it, there's.. not a lot we can do." Rocky sighed in defeat. "We can't help something we don't know about."
"And even trying to, might just make things worse." Skye added.
And all the pups simply fell silent, each wandering off in thought while physically remaining in their little circle.
A little late in the night, but we made it! Not much to say other than more fun yet to come! Could you believe that the continuation to this story is already at four chapters? Which was literally started tonight after half the previous chapter was written this very night as well!
I can't! But once we get to it, I'll be sooo excited to hear your thoughts on it.. Once we finish posting the chapters for this story obviously..
Soo.. have fun and we'll see you next week! Thx!