Stick Dog Slurps Spaghetti (3 page)

“Those are awfully skinny ropes,” Stick Dog said. You could tell he didn't quite believe what he was looking at were ropes at all. “And there are only a few of them.”

“Skinny ropes. Fat ropes. Who cares?” Karen said. “And we only need
one
to play tug-of-war.”

Stripes said, “They're covered in red stuff.”

“Red stuff. Blue stuff. Who cares?” Karen yelped. “Let's play!”

And then, without hesitation, Karen leaned down to get one of the long, skinny objects. She was the shortest, after all, and didn't have that far to reach. She wrapped her lips around the end of one of the skinny ropes that stuck out a bit—and pulled. It seemed to be tangled up with three or four other thin, flimsy strands.

Karen pulled a little harder, and the rope seemed to loosen. Then, instead of pulling at
it, Karen sucked at it. The skinny rope splattered small splotches of red stuff and then broke free.

And disappeared.

Completely.

“Where'd it go?!” Poo-Poo asked.

They all looked at Karen.

She did a fantastic and glorious thing.

Do you know what she did?

She chewed.

And then she chewed some more.

She swallowed.

And then she smiled.

“Mutt!” she screamed. “You're right! Ropes taste GREAT!!”

That was all Stripes, Mutt, and Poo-Poo needed to hear. They all reached down, clenched a strand between their lips, and slurped.

Stick Dog waited until everyone had a turn,
then he took the final skinny, limp rope for himself.

“Whoa!” was the first thing anyone said.

It was Mutt.

“This rope tastes WAY different—and WAY better—than the rope I ate yesterday. I can't even describe how much more flavorful these ropes are.”

“I can,” said Poo-Poo. He then went into a trance-like stillness.

The others knew exactly what would happen next. Poo-Poo would relay his own specific thoughts and descriptions about this newfound food. They stopped chewing momentarily to listen.

“It's a stringy, starchy, scrumptious treat,” Poo-Poo began. His nose was elevated slightly as he pondered and spoke. “There's a substantive, almost bread-like strength to the strings. And there's a heartiness and freshness to the red splotches. I'm reminded of that glorious evening when we discovered what pizza was. Do you remember that tomato goodness that was spread beneath the layer of cheese? This red flavor is much like that red flavor. I taste salt and pepper, sure. But there's a deeper level of spice and flavor here. I get hints of oregano, garlic, and onion on the back of my palate. It's a filling, tasty, stringy delight.”

Poo-Poo then lowered his head and looked at the others one at a time.

Stick Dog spoke for them all. “Well said, Poo-Poo. Well said.”

With that, they licked their lips and whiskers, attempting to capture any final specks that might have splattered from their slurping.

Do you like slurping?

I do.

Do you know what a “Slurp-Off” is?

You don't?

I'll tell you.

It's a contest. Well, more like a game really.

Here's how it works.

Get some spaghetti noodles.

Cook them. You know, boil them in water. Mom boils mine for me. Maybe one of your parents can boil a bunch for you. Mom won't let me boil my noodles myself—even though I'm totally old enough. Whenever I want to cook something on the stove, Mom says, “Remember the flaming dish towel incident?”

Anyway, a Slurp-Off works like this: You get a bunch of cooked noodles that are the same length. You put some tomato sauce on them. Then you get a friend and challenge them to a Slurp-Off.

Whoever slurps the most noodles the fastest is the winner.

Now, if Stick Dog and his pals were having a Slurp-Off, they would have tied. That's because each dog got just one noodle each.
They did still get pretty messy though.

Stripes licked some of the red stuff from her whiskers and lips. A wicked and mischievous grin came to her face. She asked the others, “What's black and white and red all over?”

Mutt answered, “A zebra with a sunburn.”

“A penguin with the chicken pox,” guessed Poo-Poo.

Karen said, “A banana dipped in chocolate!”