Chapter 12

Poking and Tickling

Stick Dog led his friends to where he had observed everything before. He pointed out that strange window. He described how humans would drive up to it and pick up their sushi. Then he led them to the front corner of the restaurant and they peeked inside.

“See the sticks we found in Mutt’s fur?” Stick Dog asked. “I’m pretty sure they’re called ‘chopsticks.’ The humans use them to pick up their sushi food.”

Mutt, Karen, Stripes, and Poo-Poo all saw what Stick Dog was talking about. And they all remembered the flavors from those chopsticks.

Poo-Poo’s stomach rumbled. And right after that, Mutt’s, Karen’s, and Stripes’s stomachs rumbled too.

Mutt turned to Stick Dog, wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth, and asked, “How are we going to get that sushi?!”

“I don’t know yet,” Stick Dog admitted. “But let’s get away from this window. It’s way too dangerous here. We could get spotted. We need to find a safe place to figure it out.”

They ended up near three metal garbage cans in a dark spot where the road came into the parking lot. The cans stood in some grass at the side of the road. They settled there to come up with a sushi-snatching strategy.

They examined the garbage cans briefly, hoping there might be some food inside. They tapped each can and listened to the hollow metallic sound it made. “I don’t think there’s anything in them,” Stick Dog said. “Let’s concentrate on getting that sushi.”

“I think we can use those chopsticks to get the sushi,” Poo-Poo said. Apparently, he already had an idea. He spoke as he did a couple of circles, patting down the grass and leaves beneath him so he could lie down comfortably.

“How can we use them?” asked Karen.

Stick Dog only half listened to Poo-Poo. While he did, he thought about what he’d seen inside the restaurant and at that window.

“We use them as weapons,” Poo-Poo answered.

Mutt asked, “Weapons?”

“Weapons,” Poo-Poo confirmed, and plopped down on his belly. “We wait for some humans to open the door of the restaurant to go inside. Then we sneak in behind them. Once we’re inside, we grab as many chopsticks as possible and run around poking those humans as hard as we can. As they scream and squirm in agony, we just grab as much sushi as possible and hightail it out of there!”

“Sounds great,” Stripes said.

Karen and Mutt agreed.

But Stick Dog did not.

“I don’t think we should, umm, poke the humans with the chopsticks—and try to hurt them,” Stick Dog said.

“Why not?” asked Poo-Poo. He seemed a little offended that Stick Dog was not buying into his plan. “What’s wrong with a little poking action?”

“Well, umm,” Stick Dog said, and paused. It was like his mind was working on two problems at the same time. He needed to come up with some valid and reasonable reason to stop Poo-Poo’s plan. And he also had to come up with a plan—one that might actually work—of his own.

“Yeah,” Karen said. “Why not?”

“There are dozens of chopsticks in that sushi restaurant,” Stick Dog answered. “What if the humans all see us running around poking them with chopstick weapons? And then they pick up chopsticks themselves—and start using them as weapons against us? I don’t want to get poked with a chopstick. Do you guys?”

“It’s a fair point,” Poo-Poo said, and cringed, thinking about that prospect.

Stick Dog was happy to have knocked that nutty idea down—but he still didn’t have a legitimate plan of his own.

“Poo-Poo, maybe we don’t have to abandon your plan entirely,” Mutt suggested. “Maybe we should use those chopsticks in a different way.”

“How so?” Poo-Poo asked. He seemed encouraged that his idea wouldn’t be wasted.

“Instead of poking the humans with the chopsticks,” Mutt explained, “we tickle the humans with the chopsticks instead. While they’re all laughing and giggling, we snatch the sushi.”

“Awesome!” Poo-Poo exclaimed.

Stripes and Karen thought it was a terrific idea too.

“Stick Dog,” Mutt said, and nodded toward the restaurant. “We’re going into the sushi place now to tickle the humans with the chopsticks. Are you coming?”

“Wait,” he answered. “I don’t think we should do that.”

Karen asked, “Why not?”

“It’s just that—” Stick Dog said, and hesitated. For the first time in a while, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

But he didn’t have to.

That’s because right then two humans came out of that sushi restaurant—and headed straight at Stick Dog and his friends.