Flash (4 page)

On the way home, Charles and Lizzie talked their dad into stopping at the toy store. “A tunnel will be great for Flash,” said Charles.

“It will help him burn off energy,” Lizzie promised.

“Okay, okay,” Dad said.

“And can we pick up a movie to watch later, too?” Lizzie asked.

“Yeah! We want to watch
Babe
!” Stephanie said. “Did you know there are border collies in that movie?”

“Talking pigs, too,” Dad said with a grin. “I seem to remember that.”

By the time they arrived home with a bright yellow tunnel in the back of the van and a copy of
Babe
in Lizzie’s backpack, Flash was definitely ready for a good run. Buddy was excited, too. He had been cooped up all morning.

“Playtime!” Charles said. He called Sammy to tell him to bring his dogs over, too. Goldie was a young golden retriever that the Petersons had fostered, and Rufus was an older golden. They both lived next door with Sammy, and they loved to play with other dogs.

With Buddy and Flash still inside, Lizzie and Stephanie set up the tunnel while Charles and Becky made sure the gate to the fence was closed so Flash couldn’t get out of the yard. By the time Sammy arrived with Rufus and Goldie, they were all set.

“Let ‘em out!” said Charles, opening the back door. Flash and Buddy tumbled down the back stairs and dashed over to greet Rufus and Goldie. Then all four dogs ran around the yard, barking joyfully.

Rufus, the oldest dog, galumphed along slowly,
wagging his feathery tail. Goldie never strayed far from her friend’s side, but she had to trot to keep up with the bigger dog. Flash was as quick as lightning. He made three circles around the yard before Rufus and Goldie had even finished one. And Buddy did his best to keep up with all the bigger dogs, without getting run over by any of them. Charles couldn’t stop laughing. He could have watched the dogs play together all day.

“What’s that?” Sammy asked, pointing to the tunnel.

Charles explained about agility. “It’s the coolest!” he said. “Wait till you see Flash zoom through that thing.”

“Well, we have to teach him how before he can do it like those dogs at the stable. But let’s let him burn off a little more energy first,” Lizzie said. She rummaged in her pockets for some tiny biscuits. When the dogs finally slowed down a bit, she gave them each a treat. Then she called them over to the tunnel.

“Now we’ll just get them used to it, before we ask them to run through. Look at this!” she said, kneeling down by the tunnel’s opening. “What’s this?” She put a treat just inside the tunnel. All four dogs dove for it at the same time, knocking Lizzie over.

Stephanie and the others cracked up.

“Hmm,” said Lizzie. “Maybe we should try one dog at a time.”

“Flash gets to go first!” insisted Stephanie.

Sammy put Rufus and Goldie on their leashes and let Becky hold Goldie’s. Charles picked up Buddy, cradling the soft little puppy in his arms. “You have to wait your turn,” he said into Buddy’s ear.

Charles watched as Lizzie tried again, putting another treat just inside the tunnel for Flash.
Zip!
Flash stuck his head into the tunnel and the treat was gone. Flash didn’t seem scared of the tunnel at all.

“Steph, come hold him at one end!” said Lizzie.
“I’ll go to the other end and call him. We’ll see if he’ll run all the way through the tunnel to come to me.”

Stephanie knelt down by the opening of the tunnel, her hand on Flash’s collar. Lizzie went to the other end. “Here, Flash!” she called.

Flash heard his name. He looked around to see who was calling. It was Lizzie! She always had the best treats! When Stephanie let go of his collar, Flash raced as fast as he could toward Lizzie. But — why was she laughing so hard? What about his treat?

“Flash! You were supposed to go
through
the tunnel, not around it!” Lizzie said. She gave him the treat, anyway.

“I’ll show him!” said Sammy, handing Rufus’s leash to Charles. “Follow me, Flash!” Flash ran around to see what Sammy was doing. Before
anyone could stop him, Sammy crawled through the tunnel on his hands and knees.

Flash could see that the boy needed herding. If that meant he had to go through the tunnel after him, so what? It looked like fun.

Flash scrambled through the tunnel right after Sammy.

“Yes! Good dog!” Lizzie cried. She gave Flash three treats. She didn’t give Sammy any, even though he pretended to beg like a dog.

Buddy struggled to get down. He loved being held by Charles, but right now he just
had
to go find out more about that thing Flash was running through.

“Whoa! Okay, little guy,” Charles said, putting Buddy down on the ground. “Here comes Buddy!” he called.

Becky let Rufus and Goldie go, too. All the dogs charged for the tunnel. Now that they knew what they were supposed to do, they couldn’t wait to run through it over and over again, especially since Lizzie was at the other end, handing out treats. Soon the dogs were zooming through the tunnel, one right after the other and sometimes two or three at a time. Flash almost always brought up the rear, barking happily at the heels of the other three dogs.

“He’s herding them, see?” Lizzie pointed out. “Flash is a real border collie.” She sounded proud.

What a scene! Soon everybody joined Lizzie at the end of the tunnel to watch the dogs come through. Charles laughed as he watched Buddy’s funny face poke out of the tunnel. The puppy looked so happy.

Goldie’s head popped out next.

Then Rufus trotted out of the tunnel, shaking his big old head.

“Hey, where’s Flash?” Stephanie asked.

Everybody looked around. Where
was
that quick little black-and-white dog?

He wasn’t in the tunnel. He wasn’t behind the lilac bush. He wasn’t on the porch.

Flash was not in the yard.

“He must have gotten out again!” Charles said. But how? Dad had fixed the hole in the fence. Then Charles noticed that the gate near the side of the house was hanging open. “Look! That gate was definitely shut,” he said. “Flash must have figured out how to push it open.”

“Oh, no!” said Becky.

“We’d better find him, quick!” said Stephanie.

“You and Sammy and Becky go toward Elm Street,” Lizzie said to Charles. “We’ll go toward Maple.”

Charles didn’t even pause to glare at Lizzie for being bossy. She was right. They had to find Flash right away. He could get hurt out on the street. He ran for the gate. “Flash!” Charles yelled.

Becky was the fastest runner. She dashed through the gate, and disappeared around the corner of the house. The others followed after her. As Charles rounded the corner, he saw Becky and a woman leaning over Flash, who was lying on the sidewalk.

Charles groaned. All of a sudden, he felt dizzy and faint. Flash was hurt! It was partly his fault for not watching him more closely. But it was hard to keep track of a dog like Flash. He was so quick and so smart. He could escape from anywhere.

“He’s okay, he’s okay,” Becky called. “He was just saying hello.” Sure enough, there weren’t any cars close by. They were lucky this time. When Charles got close enough, he could see that Flash was lying on his back, grinning up at Becky and the woman.

“Sweet dog,” said the woman, giving Flash’s belly one more pat as she stood up again. “I was just walking by. He ran right up to me and rolled over for a tummy rub.”

Charles let out a big sigh of relief. “Well, I guess he’s not quite as shy as he used to be!” He tried to smile.

“Flash really needs a home where he’ll be safe,” Mom said, later that night, when they were all sitting down to a dinner of lasagna and salad. “If we can’t find one very soon, I think we’ll have to take him over to Caring Paws.”

That was the animal shelter where Lizzie volunteered. It was not a bad place, but Charles hated to think of Flash locked up all day in one of the big cages there.

“We’ll find something,” Becky promised. She looked over at Charles. He knew what she was thinking. They
had
to solve the mystery of where Flash belonged. The sooner, the better!

After dinner, the four cousins settled into the living room to watch their movie. A tired-out Flash lay with his head on Stephanie’s knee, and Buddy
cuddled in Charles’s lap. Lizzie put
Babe
on, and before long everyone was swept up into the story of the little pig who was brought up by a loving border collie.

“Look, Flash, that dog looks just like you!” said Stephanie. She gave him a kiss on the head, and Flash thumped his tail.

When the movie was over, the cousins went into the kitchen for ice cream. “I wish Flash could live on a farm,” Charles said as he got the chocolate sauce out of the fridge. “He would
love
to herd sheep, like that dog in the movie.”

“Those silly sheep remind me of the Barclays’ sheep, the ones that are always getting out. They sure could use some herding.” Steph was scooping vanilla fudge into her bowl.

“The Barclays? Where do they live?” Lizzie asked.

“Right up the road,” Becky said as she reached for the chocolate sauce. “You know, the house that
looks just like ours? People are always getting lost and knocking on our door by mistake, when they really want to be at the Barclays.”

Charles stared at Becky. “Wait, what did you just say?” He put down his spoon.

Becky laughed. “That the Barclays’ house looks like ours?” she asked. “So?” Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Oh!” she said. She put a hand over her mouth. “That’s it!” she cried. “Murray and his wife must have meant to leave Flash at the Barclays’ farm instead of ours!”

The mystery was solved. And the next day, instead of a trip to the mall, the Petersons and their cousins headed back to the country, taking Flash to the home he was meant for. Instead of turning right where the road forked to Uncle Stephen’s place, Dad drove up the left-hand fork to the farm at the other end of the road. This one had an old farmhouse and an old barn just like
Stephanie and Becky’s, but there was a cow in the pasture and geese in the yard, and Dad had to swerve almost all the way off the road when a flock of sheep came trotting up to meet the van.

When they pulled up at the farm, Charles opened the van door and Flash jumped out as if he knew he was home. He dashed toward the sheep and started chasing them back to their pen.

“Go get ’em!” yelled Mr. Barclay, laughing out loud as he watched the sleek dog run.

Mr. Barclay turned out to be a tall, smiling man who looked a lot like the farmer in
Babe.
He and his wife were thrilled to meet Flash! He said that Murray and Dot had called them on Friday to make sure Flash was happy living there. Ever since, they’d been frantically trying to figure out where the dog had gone.

“I can’t believe it,” Mr. Barclay was saying for the fourth time, as he looked down at Flash. “I’ve been calling around everywhere, looking for a lost
dog. I never
imagined
that Dot and Murray might have left him off at your place instead of mine. When we called your place, no one answered.”

Dad was shaking his head. Charles hoped he wasn’t going to start lecturing again about how the cousins should not have kept secrets from their parents. Uncle Stephen and Aunt Abigail had been out of town for the weekend, so they weren’t there to talk to the Barclays. But everything had worked out fine in the end, hadn’t it?

Becky gave Charles a high five. “We solved the mystery!” she said.

“We’re sure glad you did! Flash is a beauty,” said Mrs. Barclay. “We’ve always had border collies, but our last one died six months ago. We really need a dog to help with our sheep. That’s why we told Murray that we’d be happy to adopt Flash when he moved. Little did we know that Murray and Dot would have to leave so suddenly.”

Stephanie knelt down to hug Flash. Charles thought she looked really sad.

“Of course, you’re welcome to come visit with him anytime,” said Mr. Barclay. He must have noticed Stephanie’s face, too. “I’ll be training him to herd the sheep, but he’ll want to play, too.”

Stephanie smiled, looking happier already. “I — I’d like to try to teach him how to do agility,” she said. “Have you ever heard of that?”

“Heard of it!” said Mrs. Barclay. “I
love
it. Our last dog was a champion. Want to help me train Flash? I still have lots of the equipment put away in our barn.”

“Really?” Stephanie asked. Her face lit up. Charles had a feeling that she was going to be a lot happier living in the country from now on. So what if there weren’t any stores? If she had a dog to play with — even if it wasn’t hers — Stephanie wouldn’t miss the mall. And maybe someday soon she and Becky would get a dog of
their own, once Uncle Stephen saw how responsible they both could be.

Not only was the mystery solved, but Flash had a wonderful home where he could run and play safely. Plus, he had a job! Just what he needed. Stephanie and Becky could see him every day, and Charles and Lizzie would see him whenever they visited their cousins. The Petersons had helped another puppy find the perfect place.

There are so many fun things you can do with your puppy, no matter what kind of dog you own! Border collies like Flash love to do agility or play flyball. Dogs with great noses, like bloodhounds or German shepherds, love to do tracking. Golden retrievers enjoy obedience training. Dogs that love to run are good at lure coursing, where they chase after a pretend rabbit. Some dogs even love to dance with their owners! Dancing with dogs is known as freestyle.

You can find out more about all of these activities at the library or on the internet. Or, you can just take your puppy for a good long walk.
Every
dog loves that!

Dear Reader,

My dog, Django, has a friend named Bodi who is a border collie. She looks just like Flash: black and white and sleek. Bodi is very smart and very fast! I thought Django was a fast runner until I saw Bodi chase a ball.

Bodi likes to be busy all the time, so it is a good thing that her owner can take her to work every day. She makes sure that everybody who comes to the office gets a big greeting!

Yours from the Puppy Place,
Ellen Miles