Chapter 16

Busted

Mutt, Stripes, Poo-Poo, and Karen followed Stick Dog as he raced away from that hiding spot at the edge of the woods. They got to the metal garbage cans in fourteen seconds.

“I’ll get these straps off,” Stick Dog whispered when they got there. It was dark where the road emptied into the parking lot. He was pretty confident they could not be seen from the restaurant. “Then we’ll pull the bags out.”

“Okay, Stick Dog,” Mutt answered for the group.

“Remember, we have to be quiet,” Stick Dog added. “We don’t want anyone coming out here before the blockade is built.”

He found out quickly that the metal hook at the end of the strap was too smooth to grasp with his paws. But by biting on it he could get a grip. He pulled on the hook—down and then out—and got it off the handle. He could feel the strap go slack as the tension released. He pushed the loose strap through the handle on top of the lid. He decided to push it over after working on the second strap on the other can. It would be quiet longer that way.

Now that Stick Dog knew how to do it, he thought the second one would be easy—and fast.

And it needed to be fast.

That’s because he took two seconds to jerk his head and look toward that car and strange window. It was open and the female human inside was talking and smiling with the human—another female—in the car.

And she was handing her two bags of sushi.

“She still has to pay and drive over here,” Stick Dog whispered to himself, and turned his attention to the second garbage can with a rubber strap.

He bit down on the hook, began to pull it—and stopped.

He didn’t stop because he hurt his teeth. Or because the rubber strap pinched him. Or because a human was coming. He stopped because he heard a sound.

Wham! Crash! Boota-boota-boota.

Stick Dog yanked his head to find the source. It only took two seconds for him to figure it out.

Here’s what he saw.

The empty garbage can was on its side and rocking a little back and forth. It had just rolled to a stop. The can’s lid was clanking and wobbling on the road too. Karen, Stripes, and Mutt all stared right back at Stick Dog.

And Poo-Poo’s eyes were squeezed shut as he rubbed his head.

“Poo-Poo?!” Stick Dog scream-whispered. “Did you bash into that garbage can headfirst?”

“Hunh?” he answered, still rubbing his head.

“The can? Did you just bash into it with your head?”

“Of course I did,” he answered. “I’m Poo-Poo.”

“It was SO loud!” Stick Dog said, doing his best to not let his frustration show.

“It was?” asked Poo-Poo.

“Didn’t you hear it?” asked Stick Dog.

“Not really,” Poo-Poo answered. He had stopped rubbing his head and opened his eyes. “You know, whenever I bash my head into something, there’s kind of a dull buzzing in my brain. I don’t hear anything at all for several seconds. Maybe that’s why I didn’t hear it.”

“Maybe so,” Stick Dog replied, not knowing what else to say.

Stick Dog turned quickly toward the restaurant again. Something was happening at that window that he didn’t expect. The big female human leaned out the window, squinted her eyes—and stared right at Stick Dog.

She looked angry.

“I know you’re out there!” she yelled.

Stick Dog held stone-still.

They were busted.

He had no idea what she could do next. She could come running out here with other humans. She could call a dogcatcher.

“We’re going to have to run for it,” Stick Dog whispered to his friends. Mutt, Karen, Poo-Poo, and Stripes were all frozen in place too. “We’re not going to get the sushi. We need to try another time.”

His friends didn’t complain. They knew Stick Dog was right.

“Okay,” Stick Dog said, remaining still and whispering. He thought about the best—and safest—route back to his pipe under Highway 16. He knew humans were probably coming, but he also knew they had a minute or so before any human could get there from the restaurant across the parking lot. “We’ll go straight into the woods right now. Then we’ll make a long arc around the sushi restaurant. It’s dark, so we’ll have to go slow, but we’ll be far away from any humans. Follow me.”

Stick Dog took his first step toward the woods—and stopped.

That big female human yelled in their direction again.

She yelled something Stick Dog didn’t expect—not at all.