Chapter fifty-three: Holiday Hullabaloo!
Chase shifted away from the sound, as the elevator returned the pups with their cargo to the ground level. They were almost stunned to see the rage of the storm blow by from the windows directly in front of him.
"Woah!" the pups marveled.
"Almost forgot how gnarly it looks out there." Zuma remarked.
"Well, at least we're in here and not out there.." Skye reasoned.
"True that, so are we gonna do this or not?" Chester asked.
"Yes. Let's get decorating! We got lots to do," Snowflake agreed before moving a box so they could start decorating.
"Let's stuff the Lookout with the colors of Fall!" Ned replied. Snowflake looked at him confused.
"Why did you say that like a catchphrase? You're not an official member of the team," Snowflake noted.
"That doesn't mean I can't get excited to have fun!" Ned countered back.
"Oo, man.." Chester recoiled, as though receiving a painful blow. "Talk about a cat fight."
"Cats? Chase is allergic!" Rubble replied naively.
The two huskies looked at them confused.
"Ummm. There's no cats here," Ned clarified in confusion.
"Besides, we're dogs. We don't fight like cats!" Snowflake remarked.
"Just an expression, guys." Chester specified. "But yeah, let's dive in to quote you Zuma, and take to the decorating, to paraphrase for you, Skye. You're welcome."
Snowflake rolled her eyes.
"Borrowing our catchphrases are you? But yes, let's get started," Snowflake joked before opening a box and looking through the Thanksgiving decorations.
"Turkey, plastic leaves, plastic pumpkins, and what else?" Ned said, as he too looked at the decorations in the box getting some out.
"Well I always did think of myself as a character." Chester deadpanned, taking on a wide stance with three of his paws while lifting his left foreleg to his chin like some drama star posing for a camera.
"You would get along with our brother Brian. Now let's.. Ugh!.. Ugh! No use. Ryder, how can we hang up these leaves? The storm won't let us get Marshall's ladder safely," Snowflake responded as she jumped up against the wall, before turning to Ryder. The husky had plastic leaves in her mouth and paws.
"Oo Oo Oo!" Rocky cooed excitedly.. "I got a solution for that! I'll be right back!"
Then taking off for the elevator, he was gone in a flash..
xxxx
But when he came back the big, old structure that came up in the elevator left them all perplexed.
"Umm,.. what?" Rubble queried, cocking his head like some others among him.
"It's my newest build." Rocky answered, poking out from around the upright structure. Then started to come out from behind it as he continued.
"I made it so I can reach some of the higher shelves.. and so I can reach the taller compartments I wanna build for my stash section of the basement. Ryder says he'll help me with that eventually, just haven't gotten around to it yet."
"So you can get up to high places. But what exactly is this invention?" Snowflake remarked, still confused.
"It's an adjustable ladder." Rocky said. "The shield has a telescope structure that can adjust to any height I need. And the ladder just extends with it,.. As it lengthens and shortens. Watch. Ruff!" With his bark the shield extended up. And two more barks made it extend even further. And once he climbed up he peered down on them, waved happily, then slid back down it like a firefighter would on their own ladders.
"See? Cool right?" The mixed breed gushed happily.
"I see, that makes more sense," Snowflake said out loud, as her brother Ned just nodded.
"Ok so,.. are we ready to do this?" Chester decided finally.
"Let's get started!" Snowflake responded.
"Ok so we got.. Leaves.." Chester began pulling a garland from one of the open boxes. "Annd a bunch of turkey stickers,.. more leaves,.. and some weird cone thing.. uh..don't know what that does.. Oh! Hey a Pumpkin! Now we're getting somewhere.. And.. More leaves!.. Sheesh, that's a lot of leaves.. Fall is in this box pups and puppies. Let's do this!" Then peeling away from the box, he accidentally dropped the pumpkin. And then he watched it like a deer in headlights, as it slowly rolled over and tapped Ryder's toe.
"Hey, great idea!" Rubble called. "Heads up!" Then nosing it up, he rocket kicked it over to Chess and he jumped up to catch it with his chest, wrapping it tightly upon impact with the ground.
"Shh! Don't wake the bear.." Chester hissed, turning to Chase who barely made a sound, then shifted his position.
"Pumpkin soccer? Oh heck yes!" Ned commented happily.
"After we decorate! Let's get these leaves and stuff set up. Odd since we have lots of leaves and no trees. Hehehe," Snowflake said, recognizing the irony of the situation.
"Anything else we need before we begin?" Marshall asked.
"Not that I can think of," Snowflake said, while Ned shook his head.
"Alright, we got,.. leaves.. turkey stickers.. corn husk scarecrows.." Rocky read off as he sifted through the first box.
"Hey I've been looking for those!" Zuma laughed.
"Why?" Marshall asked, as Rocky started to pull out the wispy little toys and set them down next to his chocolate friend.
"Cause they were fun to hide all over the Lookout! Remember when we'd play 'Hunt the Scarecrow'?!"
"Corn husks?" Chester sniffled. "*snort*.. *gasp*.. Oh man.. *wheeze*cough* oh no.. AH-choo!"
"You good there, dude?" Zuma asked, grinning his confusion.
"Oof.. yeah.. Allergies.." Chester snuffed, rubbing his nose. "But it's just this.. Nothing crazy like Chase with an allergy list half a page long."
Snowflake and Ned's eyes widened with confused looks on their faces.
"What else is Chase allergic to? Cats, feathers, dust, flowers. What else?" Snowflake commented in a confused voice.
"And why are you allergic to corn husks? Don't you use fake ones for decorating?" Ned asked, not understanding why Chester would be allergic to some decoration.
"People who are allergic to eggs don't know why they're allergic.. And those decorations have to come from somewhere.." Chester reasoned. "And as far as I know that's all his allergies.. Unless I'm missing a couple.. I don't know, he's just got a lot more allergies than I do. 'Runs in the family I guess.. Ironic.. I know."
"Okay," Ned replied.
"Maybe you can decorate with something else so you don't sneeze. Like a plastic pumpkin?" Snowflake suggested.
"Sure." Chester nodded. "So.. what else do we got to work with?"
"This.." Rocky said, then pressing the side of another box like a button, Rubble pulled a bungee cord off the top edge of the box so that it fell open. And with that came the inflating noise that grew a turkey from the box as the folds fell flat.
The husky pup looked in surprise at the big inflatable turkey that was in front of them.
"How did?.. Is this turkey secretly alive? I thought we would need to fill it with air!" Snowflake said, semi confused as to how the turkey inflated.
"So, do we play with it or cook it?" Ned asked not sure if the Turkey that popped out if the box was edible. Snowflake face-pawed herself in the forehead.
"The turkey inflates and deflates itself automatically." Rocky explained.. "And I wouldn't recommend eating or cooking it.. You might not be using it again after that."
"Whenever the Holidays come around, Ryder likes to get us all together to take a picture with the turkey, to see how much we've all changed since the year before." Skye explained.
"And to compare with the ones of the past, for memory's sake." She added as Ryder pulled out his pup pad and showed them a picture of them all sitting around the turkey.
"I guess you could say it's our Thanksgiving tradition." Marshall supposed.
"Awww. That's cool," Snowflake replied kindly.
"That makes sense. Huh, you all look a little smaller. Is this last year's picture?" Ned added, as he looked at Ryder's pup pad.
"Nope,.. I think this was a couple years ago?" Ryder recalled, turning the screen so he could also see it. "We don't usually grow much in one year.. Or at least not enough to notice the difference."
At this time, Chase rolled onto his back to groan a bit of a whimper, but never even opened his eyes to show if he was awake or not.
"Hang on,.. I got this.." Marshall decided, leaving the leaf garlands he was draping over the box he had, and headed off for his EMT gear waiting nearby.
"I had the feeling we'd be needing this.." He added, slipping it on. "Ruff! Syringe!" Retracting out on his thermometer holster, he walked the full syringe over to Chase and the arm craned down to administer.
At first, Chase seemed to choke himself, but anchoring a paw on the arm seemed to help him drink down the medicated liquid. And even though he coughed at the end, he still rolled back over, nestled down on his other side and breathed a heavy sigh, before resuming his mindless slumber.
"Ok, that should tie him over for a while,.." The Dalmatian figured. "By the time that wears off, he'll hopefully have caught up on some much needed rest.. For himself and his injury."
"Medicine for his injury, or to help him sleep? Or both?" Snowflake asked after Marshall gave Chase the medicine from the syringe.
"Pain.. actually, but.. yeah.. sure.. that too." Marshall shrugged, as he wandered back over to them again.
"Okay. Well, we can decorate while Chase sleeps. So, do we have everything?" Snowflake commented kindly.
"I think so.. hey wait, here's woah!" Marshall fell forward into the box. The pups then wandered over to peer in, and were momentarily startled when he popped back up as some small rounded objects scattered out of it.
"Heh heh.. Acorns.." Marshall chuckled lightly. "The ones we'd play Plinko with."
"Yeah, or like the ones you find under a pine tree after a windstorm," Ned commented.
"That's where we found them, silly." Skye smiled. "And then we'd sometimes color them and drop them down the Plinko board."
"Nice. We usually use a coin when the grandkids play Plinko," Snowflake replied curiously.
"I know some people use these big wooden rings to play.." Chester mentioned. "Then the board can double as a ring toss board."
"That is, if the plastic shield comes off easily." He added after a moment's thought.
"Hm.. the more you know." Zuma supposed, shrugging loosely.
"Hey, so are we gonna start putting this stuff up?" Rubble asked. "Or are we gonna just talk about it." Then a sudden crash drew all their attention to the stormy day outside.
"Woah! What a gale force wind!" The chocolate lab among them commented, coming to look out the window.
"I think that's all the rumbles we're gonna hear, though." Ryder said, coming over to join him. "There's a small patch of thunder and lightning coming over us.. the rest of it is just strong winds and cold, wet conditions. But it's all gonna turn wintery pretty soon."
"Like snow?" Rocky asked.
"Maybe.. But we'll just have to see." Ryder shrugged. "But for now, I think we got some work to do to keep us busy."
"Yeah we do!" Zuma swagged. "Let's decorate!"
"Yes! Otherwise it won't get done," Snowflake said before running around to walls and tables, starting to decorate.
With that the pups exchanged glances amongst themselves before scattering to decorate.
"Ok Rocky, let's try out this gizmo of yours." Chester decided, racing up to the tall tower of metal.
"Green means go!" Rocky called, bounding over to it and clambering up to the existing top. "Pass me a leaf garland."
"On the way!" Rubble called, then looping one of the garlands around his neck and shoulders he hurried over with it. But when it tripped him up, he skidded forward into the tower, bumping it up a couple levels.
"Woah!" Rocky yelped, grabbing for a grip to keep his balance.
"Heh heh.. Now that's what I call 'bringing it up a level!'" Marshall smirked lightly, making everyone else laugh.
And even though Chase stirred, he just rolled over and continued to sleep.
"Oh man! GahahaHA! That's good!" Chester guffawed, wiping a potentially imaginary tear from his eyes.
"You okay, Rubble?" Snowflake checked as she looked over at him.
"Careful guys!" Ned reminded them.
"Hahaha! Don't worry.." The bulldog laughed sitting up again, both from laughing and from where he'd landed. "I'm good!"
"Good. So, Rocky's contraption? Does it work?" Snowflake asked as she went to grab some acorns with her mouth.
"You bet it does! Ryder helped me build it!" Rocky grinned.
"Here you go, Rocky." Marshall said, climbing up the ladder enough to lift the garland up to him.
"Thanks! I got it from here! Ruff! Claw!" And when he took the garland from Marshall, the Dalmatian decided to immediately climb down.
"Just be ready to move me around ok?" the mixed breed called. "Ryder and I haven't figured out how to make this thing move itself yet."
"Got you covered, Rocky!" Marshall called, as he and Zuma took places on the right side of the tower.
"Perfect thanks!" the mixed breed smiled. "Ok,.. let's hang this right.. here! Ruff! Tape gun!"
"And while you guys do that.." Chester decided.. "We can start sticking these leaf and turkey stickers on the windows and getting the rest of the acorns corralled somewhere.."
"Stickers?! Yes!" Ned said with a tail wag. He went to grab the stickers and put them on the windows.
"I got the Turkey stickers and acorns! Ummmm. We can't eat these acorns, right?" Snowflake said wondering if the decorative acorns were edible or not.
"Maybe.." Marshall shrugged, keeping his eyes fixed on Rocky, then lowered them to the husky. "But I wouldn't recommend it."
"Let's see if there's any more decorations in the boxes to put up.." Skye suggested, then bounding up to the nearest box she leaped right in and disappeared.
Snowflake placed acorns all over carefully. Upon putting some on a table, she curiously sniffed one.
"Hmmmm, no. Doesn't smell good," Snowflake said, before going over to the box Skye jumped in.
"Gobble gobble gobble!" Ned said as he put a set of Turkey stickers on his legs, chest, body, cheeks, and nose before standing on his back legs and doing the chicken dance.
"Ugh! Ned we need to decorate. Stop being a goofy chic- turkey and put those stickers on the window!" Snowflake commented before turning back to the box.
"You okay, Skye?" the husky asked, looking into the box.
The Cockapoo strained for a moment with something stuck on her head, but was able to finally get it off.
"Whooph! Fine.." She breathed.. "I found the Cornucopia.."
The husky looked at the cockapoo confused.
"So, you're decoration is a hat? Never heard of that tradition," Snowflake remarked, slightly amused.
"Nope,.. a cornucopia is a big horn shaped decoration that you fill with food for display on the Thanksgiving table." Skye explained.
"It's a tradition in some cultures.." Chester confirmed.. "And something many people do just for decoration."
"Okay, need some help?" Snowflake asked curiously. It seemed like a simple task but the cornucopia was a decent size.
Ned was still hanging up stickers by the window.
"Sure. Thanks Snowflake!" Skye smiled, and they both worked together to drag the big wooden item out of the box.
"I think we have some food from Mr. Porter we can use for the display," the cockapoo recalled. "Maybe we can bring it as our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner next week."
"That sounds good!" Snowflake agreed, wagging her tail.
Ned finished putting the stickers on the windows. Looking around for something else to do, he noticed something weird and wandered off to investigate, leaving the others behind.
"There! All done!" Skye said looking at all the fresh fruits and veggies piled inside the cornucopia. "Now I think we're almost done!"
"Hey guys can you grab us some more pumpkins?" Rocky called from across the room, still standing atop his contraption.
"You bet!" Skye called. "Come on!" Then as Skye and Snowflake headed off to grab more decorations, Rubble strolled up to the food-filled horn and sniffed deeply.
"Yum!" he sighed in his pleasure of the locally grown produce.
"Here's more pumpkins!" Skye muffed through the plastic in her mouth, and when it was finally taken from her..
"Watch this.." Rocky beamed. Then taking out a double sided suction cup another robot arm sprayed something into it and he stuck in on the pumpkin. Then holding the pumpkin with his claw, he sprayed the other cup and stuck it on the glass.
"There, perfect! Now we just need a few more like this!" the mixed breed decided.
"Nice job, Rocky." Snowflake said, impressed.
Skye soon heard smacking noises and some pleased humming, but looking towards it she couldn't believe what she saw.
"Rubble!" She cried, making everyone drop their smiles and look in their direction.
The bulldog lay against the cornucopia, leaning next to it with a burp and a full belly. The pups all arrived quickly to inspect the evidence, staring at it intently.
"How did you do that?!" Chester gasped.
"That is the way of the wild Rubble," Marshall sighed, humorously rolling his eyes with quite a bit more dryness to his tone than usual. But no one seemed to notice as they all snickered together.
"I couldn't help it!" Rubble defended himself, when finally sitting up again. "Farmer Yumi grows the best food EVER!" And this only made them laugh some more.
"Well.. at least we have some plastic food left to use instead." Ryder reasoned, kneeling down on one knee to reach into the box next to him and pulled up a fake apple and shook it gingerly in his free hand.
"Great idea, Ryder." Skye grinned, almost like she were on the verge of another giggle. Then all pups came forward to help reset the Cornucopia.
Soon they had stacked the Cornucopia high with all sorts of fake fruits and veggies and even some grape vines which they wound around the large decoration as well.
"There.. I think we got everything." Ryder figured. "Right pups?"
"Yeah!" the pups all reeled together, with various sounds and giggles to follow.
"Hey.. where did Chase go?" Zuma asked, calling to attention the empty space where their police pup had once been.
Snowflake looked around and noticed something.
"Hey, Ned is gone too. Oh no, I hope nothing bad happened to them!" Snowflake commented, concerned for her brother and friend.
"They can't have gone far.." Marshall figured. "Let's go look for them." And strolling around the Lookout elevator, their search was not in vain, when they suddenly found something that they had to stop suddenly to stare at..
Hey guys, here we are again! Fun has been and fun is to come! See you next week! Oh and we've got the next story on track so YAY! Thx!