Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I am not making any money from this. Mistakes are mine.
Even the Pup is an Unmentionable by Debra8652
Chapter 32
Remy's POV
After 3,462 days, January is finally over! On to February with its 29 days this year - I leap, therefore I am. Hmm, I wonder if Mom's Man knows that my dad sends my mom daisies for Valentine's Day? (spoiler for Plum Lovin').
Starting at 11:00a.m. on Friday and ending at 5:00 on Sunday afternoon is the annual Home and Garden Show at the Trenton Conference Center. This will be the first year that Rangeman Securities has a display booth there. It's been discussed in previous years but it was decided that the big Rangeman guys would scare visitors and Mom's Man sure wasn't going to stand around and do the "meet and greet" thing for two and a half days that he'd need to do. Now that Mom and Lester are kicking butt in the sales department with their sparkling personalities, Mom's Man said yes to having a booth there. In addition to Mom and Lester, there will be three other Rangemen staffing the booth - Manny to answer questions about installations, Caesar to walk people through what security devices look like and how much they cost, and Flash to show people how to operate the interactive security program he designed so visitors could build their own system to see what it would look like and how much they wanted to spend. And, yes, Mom's Man had the Rangeman legal people copyright that program. I ESP'd my mom to let her know that I wanted to attend the Home and Garden Show so here I am in my Rangeman Securities black vest and carrying a tote bag of my supplies.
Wow, so many displays here - roofing, hot tubs, saunas, solar panels, insulation, irrigation systems, various types of siding, home remodeling, electronic dog fencing, and a demonstration from the dog obedience training place that Chief Juniak wanted me to attend. Pffft. We are set up next to a display for a company that specializes in landscape architecture. I wonder if it's safe to get a drink from their water feature? I'll give it a sniff.
Hooray - it's noon and a hot dog vendor is pushing his cart down our aisle - five hot dogs and five waters for my peeps and a plain hot dog - no bun, no condiments, for me. I got served first and, in my exuberance, I may or may not have caught Lester off balance and knocked him into the water feature next to us. To be truthful, it's actually called a waterfall. Oopsie. I'd like to say it wasn't my fault, but it totally was. And there goes Flash to grab Lester's go bag from the SUV so he can get some dry clothes while I snarf down my hot dog. And, since Hector hacked into the security cameras so Mom's Man can see everything that happens here, Mom's message alert will chime in 3..2..1.. Double oops - yep, Mom's Man saw that.
The announcement just came over the PA system - it's 12:15 and time for a demonstration from the dog training place. Lester is in the restroom changing clothes and the other four are busy talking to visitors and handing out brochures and business cards. There's a big crowd at our display so let me just stealthily sneak off to watch the other dogs.
Gosh, they are just pups - Black Labs, Yellow Labs, German Shepherds, and Dobermans - but they have long legs and are taller than me. They are being trained to do lots of important things to see where they excel - search and rescue, detect drugs and bombs, search for cadavers, and help people with medical issues like diabetes, seizures, and vision and hearing challenges. They could end up working for police departments, at airports, or for ATF, DEA, or Homeland Security. Oh, wow - they can even sniff out bed bugs - ick, what if a bed bug went up your nose? This company is also training dogs to help veterans with PTSD - very cool.
Hey, there's Mom's friend, Lt. Eddie Gazarra and his wife/Mom's cousin, Shirley-the-Whiner, watching the pups. Eddie is in civvies - that means he's not in his TPD uniform. I know about civvies because most of the guys at Rangeman are ex-military, active duty, or ex-cops. I hope Shirley doesn't start whining. It's bound to make the pups howl. Me, too.
It looks as if some of the pups haven't performed in front of a big crowd before - I will ESP them to focus. The owners - a husband and wife team and their two grown children - ask for a bunch of kids in the audience to step into their big arena. The wife distracts the eight pups and one of the kids gives up the coat he is wearing to see if the trainee pups can track down his scent. The pups all turn around and sniff the coat and they're off! OK, it's pretty clear that some of these pups should aspire to just be dogs. No shame in that. A couple of the Labs are chasing each other around the ring until the woman points at them. Focus, guys - it's the red-haired boy in the green sweatshirt - he's your target! One of the German Shepherds locates him. Good job.
They try it again with a ribbon from a little girl's hair. Come on, guys - the blonde girl in the pink sweater. One of the Black Labs sniffs her out and licks her face. They excuse the kids and have several adults get into the arena and repeat the exercise. One of the Dobies and a Yellow Lab do a good job. Maybe little kids distract the pups since they are about the same size.
Oh, my stars and garters - they are setting up a mini-agility course! Run through the tunnel. Jump over the bar. Weave in and out of the stakes. Run up the teeter-totter and ride it down. Do it again. I've got my right front leg up and through the bars and I'm into the arena in no time - all paws on deck! I sense two things at the same time - my mom is panicking a little when she can't find me, and Dad Diesel is here - probably in response to Mom's panic, which registers as a disturbance in his forcefield. I got skills these pups don't have - I herd all of them into a corner of the arena and line up to be the first to run the course. Gotta do it twice. The family members who own the business just look at each other in surprise. I wonder if Mom's Man is watching back at Rangeman - hehehe. The wife/mom of the family says "Go" and clicks her stopwatch. I feel the need, the need for speed. I am smokin' it. I can hear my dad cheering me on in the crowd. First circuit - tunnel, bar, stakes, teeter-totter - done. Do it again. Tunnel, bar, stakes, teeter-totter - finished! And the crowd goes wild. I see my mom and all my Rangeguys around the arena. They are amazed! And proud! Both Eddie and Shirley got it on video - this will be all over the TPD and the Burg in a nanosecond. Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.
I'm a hard act to follow especially since the other pups won't come out of the corner until I bark at them and get them to line up. They all take a turn and run the course - some of them will only do it once, some get distracted by the crowd, and some do things out of order. One pup did two circuits but took three times as long as I did. I crawl through the bars and out of the arena and jump into Dad Diesel's arms. And Mom's phone will chime with a message in 3..2..1..!
`A/N Gayle, I took your idea in a slightly different direction as it seemed to fit well into the chaos that is the Plum world. Reviews are appreciated.