Chapter Four

Wherein Trixie the Wonder Dog finds out who is whistling and our friends meet The Scritcher

“Scared?  Really?  You think I’m scared, Jack?” Grace asked.  “Indeed, I merely suggested that you go check it out because –“.

Grace’s voice trailed off at the sound of another whistle, followed closely by what sounded like a cross between a skittering noise and scratching.  While Trixie was pondering what could be making the noise and whether it was actually skittering or scratching, Jack staged whispered, “Trix!  What’s that scritching noise?”

At this Lily began to wax eloquent on the word scritch.  She said, “Hmmm, scritch.  Is this a word?  It doesn’t really seem like a word, but I am rather entertained by the fact that Jack either just invented a new word, or else it is actually a word that up until this point in my life was unbeknownst to me.  I shall challenge myself to find the history and origin of this most scritchiness of scritchy words.”

While she was pondering the question of the word scritch, Hannah interjected Lily’s wordsmith revelry by saying that she definitely liked the word or not-word scritch and she would most assuredly be using it in her next novel even if she had to write an entire chapter that really didn’t fit in with her story, just so she could use it.

All of this was happening while the scritching and whistling continued.  Trixie’s ears were standing at attention as she tried to ascertain where the sound was coming from.  She whispered, “Ok kids.  That noise is coming from outside the library from the southwest corner on the east side of the build –“

All four kids groaned.  Again.  “Could  you just please tell us where it is without giving the latitude and longitudinal coordinates of it for once.  We don’t care about all that southwest, north of northeast stuff!”

“Fine.  It’s coming from the back of the building near the sidewalk, by the Live Oak tree.  Is that better?  Someday you will thank me for making you learn latitude and longitude you know.  Someday when you are in your car and you have to go somewhere that requires you to look at an actual map you will say, ‘my dog taught me all about this stuff.  I can find a coordinate on a map faster than some people can find the keys to their car.”

“Oh brother.  Nice try, Trixie. Mom taught us all of that.” Grace responded.

“Well, maybe she did or maybe she didn’t, but I didn’t see her helping to find out how to get home from the North Pole that time we went up there to check out the penguins and the Narwhals.  Remember?”

“Ok, Trixie.  You win.  Mom would likely not have gone on that excursion anyway since she is cold all of the time.  Can you imagine her traipsing around the North Pole?”

Grace’s siblings burst out laughing at the thought of their Mother walking around the North Pole.  At home in the winter, she generally dressed with no less than three shirts on and at least that many pairs of socks.  Usually she had sweatpants on under her jeans and that was layered over her long John’s.  And that was her usual attire for indoors.  If she had needed to go outdoors, her arms would have stuck straight out like the stick arms of that snowman they built last winter, before they had a snowball fight.

“Hello!  Can we focus? This is why nothing ever gets done around here!  You guys are so far off topic, I’ll probably have to edit this section right out of the book, unless it’s funny enough to leave in.  So, what are we going to do about that scritching noise?” Lily wanted to know.

As if on cue, the scritching noise began again and sounded even close if that was possible.

Trixie said, “Ok.  Here’s what we’re going to do.  I will take the lead because I am Trixie the Wonder Dog and I am invincible.  The rest of you follow me.  Ok?”

Jack gave her a puzzled look and said, “Is that your fearless plan?  You lead, we follow?  What if we are walking into an ambush?”

Hannah agreed, “Yeah, what if it’s an ambush?  What are we going to do then? What if we are captured and waterboarded?  What then?”

Grace rolled her eyes.  “Waterboarding?  No matter what is out there, who or what and for what reason would they want to waterboard us?  Do we know Top Secret secrets?  No, we do not.  Do we know even one famous person that we might have some dirt on?  No, we d-..”

“Hey, yes we do!  We know Honeycomb the Scotish lass, author of her own biography.  Someone might want to know what we know about her.” Hannah interrupted Trixie.  “And I might add that we know, and actually own the world’s only Wonder Dog, full of wonderous powers and possessing a somewhat sarcastic, if not scattered wit about her.”

“For pity’s sake.” Grace said.  “We are in no danger of being tortured for any information we may possess, unless the source of the scritching somehow finds out that we can all read the coordinates on a map and for some reason, their GPS doesn’t work anymore.”

“Ok.  I agree.  We are safe!”  Jack pronounced. “Trixie! Lead the way!”

With that Trixie took up the lead position with the kids following behind and set off to find out what the whistling and scratching was all about.  They tip-toed through the library which Grace and Lily found to be overkill and Jack and Hannah thought was funny.  She stayed flush with the wall and cautiously peered around corners nose first, lest any scritching creature was bounding about the confines of the New Release section of the library.  She was proud of herself for not getting distracted by the new books even though she thought the pages and print smelled divine.  Later, she admitted that perhaps she did not need to linger quite as long as she did, while making their way to the Employees Only door of the library.

The scritching was increasing in volume and the stealthy creep across the library heightened everyone awareness and stretched their nerves taut.

Ah- choooooooey!

Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin and adrenaline surged through their bodies.  Everyone except Trixie whose Wonder Dog senses had honed in on the fact that Hannah was getting ready to sneeze.

“Come ON Han!”  Jack fussed.  “Was that necessary?”

“Well, what did you want me to do?  How can I hold in a sneeze?”  She inquired of her brother.

“You can’t, I guess.  But man!”

Grace laughed and said, “What’s the matter Jack?  Did she get some on you or did she just scare you?”

Jack just looked at her and said, “You just wait, Grace.”

“For what?  What are you going to do?  You aren’t scared are you?”

“Stop IT and be quiet!” Trixie said.  “We are getting ready to go outside.  We gotta be careful and sneak.  No more talking!  No more sneezing!  Got it?”

All four kids nodded their heads in agreement.  Trixie said, “This is how we proceed.  Me first, then you four.” The kids rolled their eyes, but Trixie ignored them. “I have to lock the door behind us so Honeycomb doesn’t get in trouble.  As soon as we get outside, you guys make a beeline for the bushes near the sidewalk while I do that and then we will sneak up on The Scritcher.”

Just then, the group heard a low whistle, followed by the sound of toenails clicking against the sidewalk and then a man’s voice. “Dakota!  Where were you girl?  I’ve been looking all over for you.  Come on, let’s go home.”

Trixie started laughing as Dakota barked her response to her owner.  The kids just looked at her.

“I don’t like it when you do that.” Lily said. “It’s like you have a special code that we aren’t allowed to know.”

Trixie cleared her throat and said, “Well Lily, it is a secret language in some ways but that’s just because you humans can’t really hear what dogs have to say.  Dakota was telling her person that he was the one who threw her ball way over under the tree which required her to investigate all of the other dogs smells over there.  Then, when she found her ball it was all dirty and gross because it’s sandy under the Live Oak so she took it over to that creek to wash it off.”

“She only barked four times, Trixie.” Hannah pointed out.  “How could she possibly say that much in only four barks?”

Trixie was getting exasperated.  “Because I speak Dog, that’s how I know what she said.  Dogs speak in a much more concise way than humans do you know.  You all take 50,000 words to say what could have been said in much fewer.  At any rate, at least we have solved the mystery of The Whistler.”

All four kids sighed.  They loved Trixie.  She was so much fun.  She took them on outrageous adventures.  She got side tracked by sights and smells while they were out and about and often led them far astray of what their goal was even if it turned out better than they had hoped.  But, sometimes when she acted as if she were the superior creation, they got bored.  They indulged what seemed to be her delusion.  However, there were times when they were on adventures that the kids doubted whether Trixie really was just a dog.  Certainly, she could communicate and that was not really something that could be explained.  Also, she was able to take them places and that was not really something that could be explained either.  Lastly, they had seen her skills and the only thing that could be said was that she truly was a Wonder Dog.

“Right-o, Trixi-o, let’s go!” Jack fairly yelled and then laughed because, he rhymed his statement and it was amusing to him even if his sisters were not as impressed with his prose as he was.

“Pipe down so The Scritcher doesn’t hear us.” 

“Sorry.” Jack said even though he didn’t sound very contrite or sorry and Trixie was sure he was going to forget to pipe down again in the very near future.

“Ok, I’m going to count to three and then I’ll open the door.  As soon as the door is open, you four make a beeline to the bushes. Be aware of your surroundings and no talking.” Trixie said.

Lily wanted to know how Trixie would know that it was safe to open the door.  Trixie reminded her about her supersonic hearing that was even more magnified than the average dog.  She told her that she could hear snowflakes landing on the ground and she could hear earthworms crawling around inside the earth so certainly she could tell whether or not someone was on the other side of the library door.  Lily thought these claims were probably not based upon the truth of any kind or by any stretch of the imagination, but she went along with Trixie’s claim’s, if for no other reason than she wanted to find out who or what The Scritcher was.

“Ok, you guys.  Ready? One.  Two. Th –“

“Wait!” Jack interrupted Trixie’s countdown.

“What!?” Trixie said slightly annoyed that he had stopped their exit from the library.

“Will you say three and then we go?  Or do we go at the same time as when you say three?”

“Jack!”  Hannah said.  “That would really be two and a half, not three.”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“Yes it would.”

“Not really.  Trix isn’t going to actually say two and a half so how can it be two and a half and not three?”

“You interrupted us for that?” Grace asked.  “I think you have been watching too many movies and I’m telling Mom and Dad when we get home.”

“Have not tattletale.”

“Have too.  And I’m not a tattletale.  At least not yet.  But there was a movie that came out a long time ago, like when Mom and Dad were young, and this exact conversation was in that movie.”

“Are you sure it was the exact conversation or a similar conversation?” Lily asked not really expecting an answer.  “There’s a difference you know.”

“It was a similar conversation, Lily if we must be technical.  I mean, I don’t really know we should ask Grace since she is the one who watched the movie.”  Jack challenged her with The Look.

“Have not.” Grace smirked at him.

“Well, I guess you have been watching too many movies too, if you know that much about the conversation, Grace.” Hannah challenged her with The Look.

“Have not.” Grace answered.

“Have too.” Jack countered.

“Oh for the love of The Scritcher!  Can we just count to three and get on with it?  The noise is making me crazy.” Trixie said.

“What noise?  I don’t hear any noise anymore.” Lily said.  “And I’m never really sure if you are hearing it either Trixie or if you just say so to make us nervous about what might be lurking outside.”

Scriiiiittttchhhhhhhhh.

“Yikes!  What was that?” Lily said.

Hannah looked at her with a look that said, “Do you believe me now?  Trixie said, “I thought you weren’t sure if Trix really heard The Scritcher or not?”

Lily mumbled something about younger sisters and Wonder Dogs know it alls while everyone regrouped and got ready to sneak out the door at the count of three.

Trixie said, “Let’s try this again you guys.  On the count of three.  One!  Two!  Three!”

As soon as Trixie had the word three out of her mouth, the kids opened the door and did an army crawl across the threshold, through the grass, over the sidewalk and met under the bushes.  Everyone except for Jack and Hannah.  Where were they?  Lily and Grace peered into the darkness trying find their siblings.  How could they be missing?  There wasn’t any place to go between the door and the bushes.  Where were they and what was taking Trixie so long to meet them?

While Trixie thought the kids were making their way to the safety of the bushes, she took advantage of the momentary dose of freedom, ran back to the New Releases section of the library and grabbed the new biography of Beautiful Joe off the shelf.  She scanned her library card and tucked the book into the pouch around her neck.  Then she quickly made her way across the library and out the door where she made sure it was locked.  When she turned around, she could see two kids outlined under the bushes, but she could not find Jack or Hannah.  She was also aware that the scritching noise had stopped.  All was quiet except for the excited whisper of the sisters safely ensconced under the bushes.

“Where are they.” Grace whispered.  Trixie did not like the frightened tone she detected in Grace’s voice.

“I don’t know.  I can’t see them!” Lily whispered.

“Leave it to Jack to run off on another adventure without telling us!  How are we going to find them?  It’s pitch dark out here?”

By that time, Trixie had made her way over to the two frightened kids.  “What’s going on?  Where are Jack and Hannah?” she asked them.

“We don’t know. They were behind us when we went through the door and then they disappeared.” Grace said, assuming the role of informant.

“Well, they have to be around here somewhere, they didn’t just vanish into thin air.” The family dog said.

“No kidding.” Grace said, dryly. “If I get in trouble for losing them, I’m coming after you Trix.”

“No need to threaten me.  I will find them or else my name is not Trixie the Wonder Dog!”

“Your bravado is exceptionally out of place right now, Trixie.”

“What bravado?  I AM the Wonder Dog.”

“Can we just focus here and try and find our brother and sister, please?” Hannah asked.

“Certainly.  I can hear them right now.” Trixie stated very matter of factly.

“What?! I don’t hear a thing.  Even that scritching noise is gone.” Grace’s eyes widened as she sank further into a frightful thought process:  What if The Scritcher had Jack and Hannah?

“Trix?” Grace ventured.  “What if The Scritcher snatched them?”

“Oh that’s nothing to worry about Grace.  I told you I can hear them and I know right where they are.”

“Really?  Then where are they? Because we can’t hear a thing.” Lily stated.

“They are under the sidewalk.” Trixie replied.

“What do you mean “under the sidewalk?” Grace asked, her voice beginning to tremble with fear of the unknown.  “People don’t go under sidewalks.  It just doesn’t happen!”

“Well, this time it did happen and they are under the sidewalk.”  Trixie repeated.

“I don’t believe this.  How does one get under a sidewalk.”  Hannah questioned, not really knowing what to believe.  The whole idea of falling under the sidewalk made no sense to her.

“Generally, what happens is someone is walking along and suddenly there is a hole in the sidewalk and the pedestrian falls in it and discovers themselves to be under the sidewalk.”  The Wonder Dog explained.

“Can they get out?  Are they hurt?  Is The Scritcher down there too?”

The volley of questions started to give Trixie a headache.  She had to concentrate so she could figure out how to get the kids out from under the sidewalk.

“They are fine!  I told you that already.  I mean, they are fine as long as The Scritcher isn’t down there with them.  That might be troublesome if that is the case.  At any rate, there is plenty of room under the sidewalk to move around, escape, or –“

“I don’t believe you!  You just said they were fine, but only as long as The Scritcher wasn’t down there too!  And you can’t hear the scritching noise anymore so you don’t know if it’s down there or not.” Grace said.

“True.  However, I can hear your brother and sister laughing right now so I highly doubt The Scritcher is down there.  Let’s calm down so we can find the point of entry and rescue them.” 

“The Point of Entry?  Did you not just say that they fell in a hole?  Did you rip that off from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when the rabbit falls down the hole?”

“Uh. No.  I did not steal that scenario.  I did not even read Alice in Wonderland.  It made my head hurt.  Talking animals, people made out of playing cards, it was really too much of a stretch for my imagination.” Trixie said.

“Says the talking Wonder Dog.” Lily replied somewhat sarcastically, I might add.

Chapter Three

Where Trixie the Wonder Dog and the Children Finally Get to the Library

“Ok, we’re here. Remember to whisper, kids.” Trixie reminded them.

“Uh, Trix?  You know there isn’t anyone here besides us, right?  Why do we have to be quiet?.” Jack asked.

“Jack, Jack, Jack.  Come on, buddy.  It’s respectful to whisper in the library.  Talking disrupts the other patrons and we don’t –“

“Eggggg-zactly, Trix.  Talking disrupts the other patrons and we are the only ones here so why can’t we just talk in a normal voice?”  asked Jack in a normal voice.

Trixie fixed him with a withering look.  She genuinely loved Jack, but sometimes his logic made her crazy!  “Fine.  You win.  You want to talk aloud, then be my guest.”

“YAY!  Hey Han, we don’t have to whisper tonight!  That’s great news!”

Now it was Hannah’s turn to shoot Jack The Look.  He liked to refer to her has “Han” because he was in much too great of a hurry to say her actual name.  However, she harbored an incredible disdain for the moniker he had used for her since they were little kids.

“Really, Jack.  Stop calling me Han.  You know I don’t like it.”

“Sure thing, Han---nah.  HA!  You thought I was going to call you Han again didn’t you?!”

“Jack, be quiet!”  All three of Jack’s sisters shot him The Look this time and he fell silent under the weight of their convincing stares.

“Fine.”  And then he laughed because he wasn’t really mad, he knew they weren’t either and he also knew that he would slip up again and call Hannah, Han and this whole conversation would rewind and repeat. 

Again. 

“Ad nauseum.” Trixie thought.  “I wish I had a book for every time I have listened to this conversation between these kids.  I would never have to come to the library again.  I would have enough reading material for life.  That would be great!” Trixie thought to herself. 

Obviously, tonight wasn’t the first time they had engaged in this particular conversation.

Trixie had been watching them natter on about talking out loud and what to call each other long enough and her patience had grown thin.  She intentionally started walking towards the non-fiction section, her nails clicking softly on the black tile floor.  Her hope was that the kids would follow her to the neatly shelved books so that they could look for some of the ones she had mentioned to the kids earlier that evening.  After looking at the titles for a few minutes she found, “When Pigs Fly” by Percival Pietrain, “Harry the Horse Builds a Hovercraft” by Piper Peruvian Paso, and “Honeycomb: Adventures of a Scottish Lass” by Honeycomb! 

“Hey kids!  It’s here!  Honeycomb’s book is available!” Trixie cried with excitement.

“I thought we were going to whisper.” Grace muttered to Lily who agreed that so far they had not been following the Library Rules their Mother always made them obey when they visited the library.  Trixie was really a rather lax chaperone and even though she had attempted to lay down the rules at the beginning of the trip, the kids knew she wouldn’t really enforce them.  The talking bothered Grace because she did not tolerate Rule Breaking very well, though Trixie seemed oblivious to her discomfort in playing loose with the Library Rules.

“I was just wondering,” Lily ventured. “If Honeycomb is Mrs. Faber’s poodle and poodles are from Germany and France, then why is her autobiography about a Scotish lass?  The title seems to imply that she is Scotish.”

“Brother.” Trixie mumbled. “Everybody is a critic  Even kids.  Kids are critics, the obedience training teachers are critics.  Everybody.  Sit!  Stay!  Heel!  Down!  Bad DOG! Bad, BAD DOG!  Is it my fault I was bored while my people went into the restaurant and left me outside to find something to entertain myself with?  No.  It was not my fault.  They should have known better.  I was just a puppy.  I make one mistake and hear about it the rest of my life.  I mean really.  It started out as a small chew on the dashboard.  If they hadn’t taken so long to eat, then I wouldn’t have been unoccupied long enough to tear out the underneath part of the dashboard.  And what are they fussing about anyway?  I didn’t even chew the electrical parts.  I could have.  They are made with colored wire you know and I still wonder whether or not the colored wires taste differently.  One mistake I tell you.  One.  I might just go get in the car and see once and for all what those wires taste like.  Then at least I would deserve all this criticism.  I was a puppy!  A puppy I tell you and –“

“Are you mumbling, Trixie?” Hannah asked. “Is something wrong?”

Trixie shook her head, causing her ears to flap against her head a little and temporarily dislodging the One Mistake When I Was a Puppy thoughts that were looping in her head.  She dipped her nose a little, stopped her interior monologue and blinked at each one of them.  “What?”

“I thought you were talking.  I just asked what you were saying.”

“Oh that?  Nothing.  I was just thinking.  Guess it must have been out loud.  Either way, look!  I found the book Honeycomb wrote!”  She did her best to try and divert the kid’s attention to the book she had found and redirect their attention so they would forget about the soliloquy she had been going on about.

“Yeah, remember Lily wanted to know why she wrote it as if she were a Scotish lass and not from Germany or France.”

Trixie thought, “Oh brother.  Wasn’t I just talking about that?  You make one mistake and the next thing you know you get labelled ‘Does not travel well in cars’  Oh really?  That was the humans fault I tell you –“

“Trix?”  Jack had been mostly quiet since they had arrived at the library and his voice cut through Trixie’s thoughts and brought her back to the present. “You look like you want to chew the books up or something.”

“Chew?  Of course, you would say “chew”.  I made one mistake when I was a puppy and you guys can’t let it go!”

All four kids stared at her as if she had lost her mind.  Hannah gave Jack a look that said, “Maybe we should just go home.”  Jack looked at Lily with a look that said, “What’s up with the d-o-g?”.  Lily and Grace exchanged a look that solidified what Grace had known all along.  Just as she had predicted, Grace was going to be tasked with making the decision to either continue this excursion or end it all now.  Grace hated being the oldest sometimes.

“What are you talking about Trixie?  Do we need to call the Dog Whisperer again?” Grace asked.

“OH MY WORD!  One mistake!  One!  One little bite that got a little out of hand.  That’s all it –“

“Trixie!  Focus!  We just wondered why Honeycomb wrote the book as if she were from Scotland.  What does that have to do with you?”

Trixie lay down on the floor and stretched out.  She was so very tired after rehashing her One Mistake as a Puppy.  She should write a book about it.  It would probably be cathartic for her and maybe free her from the bad memories that had dogged her all of these years since The Incident.  Trixie sighed.  She felt rather foolish now that she was reminded what they had asked in the first place.  What in the world had brought on that ridiculous rant?  She sighed again.  It helped her calm down and made her sleepy.  By that time Hannah was sitting beside her on the floor and petting her.  Then she scratched Trixie behind her ears.  She loved that!  She could just lay here all day and fall a- s----l—e. Trixie’s eye shut.

“Hey!  You can’t fall asleep now, Trixie!” Jack yelled.  Well, maybe he didn’t really yell, but it sure seemed as if he yelled.  It quite was echo-y in the cavernous library. 

Trixie opened her eyes and heaved a deep sigh.  Then, she stood up and shook herself.  “Where were we again?”

“Honeycomb’s book!”  They all answered at the same time.

“Oh, yes.  That.  Yes, well, I don’t know.  I suppose she enjoyed many adventures in Scotland when she vacationed there a few years ago and wished to record her escapades for all eternity. What’s wrong with that?”  It seemed almost as if Trixie was challenging them to deny Honeycomb had not written her book about a vacation, so the kids remained silent, not really wanting to draw this out any further than it had already gone.

“Posterity?  Really?  What if the library burned like what happened in Egypt?  You know, the Library of Alexandria and the great fire disaster?  What then?  Her memoirs would be lost.  Posterity does not exist when there is a constant threat of a book consuming fire!” Lily said to no one in particular.

Now, Lily was very knowledgeable about things to do with the history of the alphabet, writing, grammar and other related fields of study.  She corrected other people’s grammar and she proof-read all of her sibling’s essays.  She had read all about the destruction of the library in ancient Egypt and once actually mourned the loss of so many books.  It was a terrible day for her.  She dressed in black, walked or rather, dragged herself around the house singing mournful songs and generally behaved as if her best friend had moved to another state.  The other kids kept a wary on upon her as they had no idea what was going on.  Eventually, she sat at her desk and actually composed an epic poem entitled “Ode to the Lost Books of Egypt” for her Creative Writing class the day after she read this devastating news.  It was filled with angst and it still made her sad to think about it.

Lily started quoting:

The books were shelved

According to genre

Way down in Egypt-land

Until the day it all fell apart

The day that ripped out my heart

Jack started jumping up and down the book aisles, muttering something about how in the world a tragedy that happened a zillion years before someone was born could possibly affect them all these years later was beyond his understanding.  No one heard that except Trixie though and she decided it wasn’t worth discussing with him.  The jumping caused Grace to glance in his direction whereupon she rolled her eyes.  Also, for good measure, she put her hands over her ears so she didn’t have to listen to her sister quote that ridiculous poem again.  She liked books too, but she thought it was ludicrous that Lily had written an ode about a burned out library.  Next thing she knew, she would probably be writing an ode to her toes or her bedroom slippers.  For all Grace knew, she probably already had written them.  Hannah had grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from the librarian’s desk and started drawing a picture.  Trixie looked around in surprise.  What happened?  She was going to bring the children to the library so she could prove to them that the books written by the animals really existed and somehow their trip had deteriorated into a field trip free for all.  She decided to take charge.

“Lily stop that recitation right now!  We are all sad about the library in Alexandria, but there’s no need to sink into a depression about it.  There are thousands of books here to read instead.”

Lily stopped.  She liked her ode and she liked to recite it.  She had received an “A” on her poem and other people certainly were able to understand the emotion behind it, so she wasn’t exactly happy that Trixie had demanded that she stop.

“Grace! We are staying right here until we see if we can find Fluffy von Farier’s book “Leave Me Alone”.  We leave when I say we leave and not a minute before. Got it?”

Grace stared at Trixie.  Her look clearly communicated and reminded Trixie that she was the family pet and perhaps she wasn’t really the one in charge.  Trixie fixed Grace with a look of her own and reminded her that she was the one with the super powers and no one was going anywhere until Trixie took them.  Grace conceded the point.  Trixie was always amazed at the power of The Look and its ability to accomplish things that may not be possible with a spoken word.  Trixie was happy that she had successfully retained her title and position of Alpha Dog.

“Hannah what are you drawing?”  Trixie inquired.

“You.”

“Me?  Really?” Trixie was rather excited and intrigued since she had never had her portrait done before. In her delight at knowing Hannah was drawing her, she turned in a quick circle, gave a sharp bark of happiness and sat down in front of her, tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth.

“Yeah, you looked really peaceful laid out on the floor so I thought I would draw you.”

“Oh that’s so sweet of you!  Can I see it?”

“Well, it isn’t done yet and –“

“Come on!  If I can’t recite my poem, then you don’t need to continue coloring!” Lily said.

“I’m not coloring!  I’m drawing a portrait.  There’s a difference.” Hannah stated quite matter of factly.

“Oh there is not any difference between the two. They both require paper and a medium and –“

“You guys!  Stop it!” Grace said.

Everyone turned to look at Grace.  “Do you guys want to finish this trip or not?  If so, stop it!”  she repeated.  After a minute, it seemed as if everyone was in agreement, that is, except Jack, who was still jumping all over the place.

“Jack!  Stop that jumping!”

“Right-o, Trix-o” and with that he stopped jumping and walked over to where the girls were.

“What are we doing?”  he asked.

“I want to go see that library before it burned!” Lily said.

Jack actually moaned out loud.  “Why do we have to go to another library?  I want to go whitewater rafting!”

“Oh really?  Because a little while ago you wanted to go to Niagara Falls.” Hannah reminded him.  “And I know it’s just because you are trying to get a broken bone to brag about like me.  Only you know that isn’t going to happen because now Trix knows we have to line the barrel with more cotton and –“ her voice trailed off at the sound of a whistle.

Trixie’s ears picked up and she crouched down low looking in the direction of the whistle.  “What’s that?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” Grace whispered back.  “Want Jack to go check?”

Jack smirked at her.  “Why don’t you go check, Grace. You aren’t scared are you?”  He taunted.

Grace glared at him.  Sometimes her brother could be SO annoying!

Chapter 2

In which Trixie the Wonder Dog and the children go to the library on their adventure

“Ok, kiddos where do you want to go tonight?”  Trixie asked.  To the adult humans it sounded as if she was barking and since the kids were in bed, they fussed at her to shush before she woke them up.  Of course, this brought laughter from the kids who were not even close to sleeping, unbeknownst to their parents.

“I want to go sailing on a pirate ship.” Jack said.

“No!  That’s boring!  Let’s go to Niagara Falls.” Hannah shouted.

“Hey! Absolutely not.” Grace said, “We did that two months ago and why would you want to go back there Hannah?  You broke your clavicle and had to have surgery, remember?  You aren’t even recovered yet and if Mom and Dad find out we snuck out to Niagara Falls and worse, if anyone else gets a broken bone, it’s going to be all my fault.  Just wait and see!  No.  We are not going to Niagara Falls.”

“Just exactly how are they going to find out where we go unless YOU tell them, Grace?” Jack inquired of his sister.  Secretly, he thought it would be a great deal of fun to go back to Niagara Falls and reenact their trip over them in a barrel.  He felt bad about his little sister’s broken collar bone and truthfully, he was a little bit jealous it was her who sustained the broken bone and not himself. In fact, he may have been hoping that he might be the one to get a broken bone if they went back.  It wasn’t as if he was a masochist or anything like that, it was just come ON!  He was the boy so why did his sister get the notoriety of having the bone break instead of him?  It just wasn’t fair.  Girls get all the fun.

“Niagara Falls?” asked Trixie. “I’m not sure we have time to go there tonight.  I think we need a shorter adventure today.  Not to mention something a little safer.  Grace is right.  We don’t need any more broken bones for awhile or else your parents are going to start asking questions.”

They all started chanting “No quick trips!”, “No quick trips!” while bouncing up and down on their knees.  At least all of the kids seemed to be in agreement that they did not want a short trip even if they couldn’t agree on where they should go.

Trixie said, “All right, you guys.  Pipe down before your parents come up here.  Let me tell you a story and we’ll see if we can figure out where to go from there.”

Hannah, Jack, Lily and Grace reluctantly agreed to settle in for a story even if they were really itching to go on an adrenaline laced adventure with the family Wonder Dog.  Trixie grabbed her glasses, perched them about halfway down her nose, looked over the top of them and began her story.  “It was a dark and stormy night.”

“Awwww!  Come on, Trix!  That’s such a boring way to start out a story!  It’s such a cliché” Grace chastised.  “No one starts a real story like that.”

Trixie just blinked and sighed.  She seemed a little surprised that someone would dare to call what she was doing a cliché’.  After all, how could a talking dog, in fact, an adventure seeking dog, let alone one with superhero powers strong enough to tote four kids around the globe at will, be a cliché?  Had this been done before?  Indeed, it had not!  Trixie was unaware of any other canines capable of what she was able to do.  She supposed it might be possible that others of her kind may exist, but if they did, she had not met any of them yet.

Indignantly, Trixie looked over the rim of her glasses and fixed her gaze upon each child.  She didn’t really have to say anything as her look said it all.  They stopped their protests and began settling in because they knew that look on her face meant that she would not utter one more word, let alone sneak out of the house with them if they continued to call her a cliché.

After a moment or two, it became apparent the kids were going to settle down and listen to the story Trixie was about to tell them.  She always went through this routine when she started talking.  First, she had to turn around in a circle on the nearest bed until she found a comfortable spot upon which to either sit or lay down.  After she found the exact spot she had to scratch at it for a few seconds.  The kids had yet to figure out what the scratching meant and she never answered their questions when they asked her about it.  After the scratching, she had to turn around a few more times and then she quiet ceremoniously, in fact, with the majesty and flourish of a queen, situated herself in the comfortable space she had chosen.  After that, all four kids would pile on the bed, lounging around Trixie while she placed her glasses on her nose because she thought they made her look quite scholarly. Sometimes, she uttered an extremely satisfied sigh before she began her latest adventure with the kids.  On this night, she skipped the scratching and the sigh.  She was ready to begin as soon as she turned enough circles on the bed.

“Ok, you guys.  What’s black, white and read all over?” She waited a minute.  “Anyone know?  Anyone?”  Trixie fixed each child with a pointed look and waited a beat before shouting, “A newspaper!”

“Oh brother, Trix.  That’s the dumbest joke I’ve ever heard.  In fact, I’m not even laughing at it.  See?  This is me not laughing at dumb jokes.  Why are you asking us this?” Hannah said.

“Because that’s where the story starts tonight.” Trixie replied.

“Aw, man!  At the newspaper?  I don’t want to go see a newspaper!  I can see a hundred of them stacked on the coffee table at Grandma’s house any day.  Why do we have to go see a newspaper?” Jack said.  “I want to go whitewater rafting, rock climbing or hiking!  I don’t want to see a newspaper!  That’s boring.”

“Come on you guys.  Give me a minute here will you please?  We are not going to see a newspaper, but we are going to see a place where you can read many different newspapers, magazines, books, and even encyclopedias if  you want too.”

“Trixie, do you see our cousin here?  He’s the one who reads the dictionary and the encyclopedia, not us!  Why would we want to go where you can read that stuff?” Lily inquired of the family pet.

“Will you guys please be patient?  Of course I see that your cousin is not here.  If he were here we would not be having this conversation correct?”  All of the kids nodded their heads in agreement.  They all knew it was of utmost importance to keep the secret that they had a most extraordinary pet who was capable of gallivanting around the universe at will. 

“Ok” they muttered.  “What’s the story going to be then?”

Trixie settled in again and began, “Once upon a time.”

Grace, Lily, Jack and Hannah all groaned at once.  Lily muttered, “For Pete’s sake, Trixie, you listen to our lessons all day long at homeschool.  You have better language and communication skills than most people and yet you insist on starting your adventures with these ridiculous trite beginnings.  So much for creativity.”

In the interest of getting to the adventure, Trixie chose to pretend that she did not hear Lily’s comment even though everyone knows dogs have much better hearing than their human companions and she would have to have been nearly deaf in order not to hear Lily’s complaints.  But honestly, Trixie didn’t really care because she knew the kids enjoyed her stories since they always led to some outrageous adventure or another.  Besides, she knew it was true that she possessed an exceptional vocabulary and superior language skills when compared to the general public.

“Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night.”  Grace rolled her eyes and shook her head, while Lily gave a short snort.  Jack and Hannah settled themselves on pillows anticipating the adventure to come.  “It was the kind of night when no one wants to go outside because the rain pours down in sheets and the wind bends tree limbs to the ground.  Branches snapped.  Electricity flickered and people ran to make sure they knew where the candles, matches and flashlights were.  A tumbleweed blew across the…”

“Trix, get on with it will ya?  We get the picture.” Jack interrupted.

Now, Trixie was a polite dog.  She would never think of interrupting someone when they were talking, let alone telling a story so she fixed a pointed glare at Jack and said, “Young man, I am setting the scene.  You should know about this since you learned it just the other day in your creative writing course.”

“Writing, smiting, I don’t even like to write.  Scene setting?  I don’t remember any of that!”

Trixie looked at Jack straight through her glasses this time and said, “Interestingly enough, that is exactly what your Mother said after you turned in your latest assignment.”

“Hey! Not fair!  There’s no need to bring that up is there?  Leave me alone, will ya?  My pencil was running out of lead and that’s why I didn’t set a scene.”

At that, Jack’s sisters burst out with the laughter they had been suppressing during this latest interruption in the adventure.  Truthfully, they were getting tired and might even fall asleep before there ever was an adventure at the rate things were going tonight.

“Anyway, scene for what?” said Jack.  “We get it.  It’s raining hard and there’s a storm. And maybe flashlights or candles or something; I forget exactly what you said.  But who cares?  We don’t have tumbleweeds in this part of the country!”

“That is true Jack. But, it’s still part of the scene!”

“Ok. But I’m getting tired.”

“Well, we could have already been gone if you four would stop interrupting me!  A dog can only be expected to tolerate so much interruption you know.  I’m fighting an urge to go dig up a buried bone.”

The girls all looked at each other and Grace decided she would take up the cause for her sisters.  “Listen Trixie, we are not the ones interrupting every two minutes.  Jack is the one.  Why are you blaming us for his behavior?”

The four kids looked at each other, trying to suppress their smiles because they knew if they started smiling, it would end up in a fit of laughter.  Each one dropped their gazes at their siblings and fought hard to keep themselves in check.  Where in the world was Trixie going to take them tonight? Or was she really going to take them anywhere?  At the moment, it did not seem like an adventure was on the horizon at all!

Trixie heaved an exasperated sigh and said, “Ok.  Who wants to go to the library?”

Everyone’s eyes got huge and Lily said, “But Trix, the library is closed now. How would we get in?”

Trixie just laughed and said, “Do you forget that I am Trixie the Wonder Dog?!  Do you doubt my ability to gain access to the library after hours?  Besides that, I’m friends with the librarian’s poodle and she gave me a key years ago in case I ever needed reading material late at night.”

If possible, four sets of eyes grew even larger at the news of the librarian’s poodle. 

Hannah cleared her throat and asked the burning questions, “Uh, Trix?  Can Mrs. Faber’s dog talk too?  Can she read?  That would be weird since I read her a story at the library last summer! What if she could read what I was reading?  Does she take her kids on adventures like you do? Can she…”

“Hold it!” Trixie said.  “One question at a time!  Sheesh, you guys!  Ok.  Yes, she can talk.  Yes, she can read.  I don’t know because I don’t know what you read to her so it might have been too hard for her to read. And no, because they are all grown and gone now but maybe she takes the grandkids.  I’m not really sure since I haven’t seen Honeycomb in quite some time now.”

The four kids fell silent as they thought about the implications of another dog possibly having the same type of Wonder Dog characteristics as Trixie.

“Hey!  You said you didn’t know any other dogs with the same type of superpowers as you have, Trixie.”  Jack declared in a slightly cynical and accusatory tone I might add.

“I don’t. Honeycomb can’t talk like I can.  She writes though.  In fact, last November she participated in NaNoWriMoFoDo and she wrote this amazing dog adventure story entitled Honeycomb: The Adventures of a Scottish Lass.  It had 54,273 words in it and she wrote it all in one month!  It’s available everywhere books are sold now.  I think that’s real talent for a dog who has to get her toenails painted every two weeks, not to mention that ridiculous haircut she endures! Boy am I glad I don’t have to get my nails and hair done.  What a pain in the neck that wou…”

“What in the world is that?” Hannah excitedly shouted.  “There’s no such thing as NaNoWriMoFoDo.  I would know about it if there was!”

“Well, yes there is such a thing.  It’s call National Novel Writers Month For Dogs.” Trixie insisted as if everyone should already know about this event.  “It happens every November and it’s really quite popular among my fellow canines.  You probably don’t know about it since everyone is always so caught up in NaNoWriMo instead; yourself included, Hannah.”

“I don’t believe that for one minute.” Grace flatly stated while giving Trixie a rather pointed look.  Trixie wondered if she was aware of the irony of declaring that she did not believe a dog with painted toenails would be capable of writing a novel in a month, to a dog who was capable of talking, telling stories, and traipsing around the world with her humans in tow. 

Trixie stared at her a moment longer than necessary in order to drive home the point that this entire conversation was unbelievable, except for the part where Trixie was unable to lie, which therefore made the entire conversation believable.

“You guys!  Where were we?  It’s getting late and I have to get my beauty rest.” Trixie declared.  “I thought we were going to the library, but I guess no one wants to go now?”

“Yes, we do Trixie! We want to go right now and see if we can find that book Mrs. Faber’s dog wrote. Does the library here in Weston have it?”  The kids were all talking over each other and it was starting to get loud enough that their parents might hear them so Trixie tried to get them to bring the noise level down to an acceptable range.

Trixie told them that Honeycomb’s book was a bestseller and it was very difficult to find in the library due to its popularity.  They all looked disappointed, until she assured them that there were many other fine books available, also written by various canines (Everyone is My Friend by Dane Grate III), felines (Don’t Bother Me by Fluffy von Furer), equines (Harry the Horse Builds a Hovercraft) and even swine (When Pigs Fly: The Story of Max the Skydiving Pig) in some cases.  The kids also thought that was preposterous.  You see, they had been to the library on many, many occasions and they had never once heard about the titles that were written by anything or anyone from the animal kingdom.  Trixie had to reassure them by telling them that of course most people would not believe any book worth reading could be written by an animal, therefore, the books were always published under the name of a ghost writer.

“Ok, you guys.  Get ready to go then.  Does everyone have their shoes on?  No one needs to use the bathroom before we go?  Coats?”

“Coats? Come on, Trixie!  It’s 82 outside!”  Jack said.  “It’s hot!  We don’t need coats.”

“You’re right.  It’s just that I have my coat on at all times so it’s just habit to inquire as to whether or not you have yours.”  Trixie replied.  “Where’s my leash?”

“Right here.” Grace said.  “Let’s get it hooked so we can go!”  She was eager to get to the library to see these books for herself.  Grace was convinced that there was no such thing as books written by animals, but she was willing to give Trixie the Wonder Dog the benefit of the doubt until she could find out for herself at the library.

“All right everyone.  Grab onto my leash and let’s go.  We have to be careful and quiet so we don’t disturb anyone.”  With that, Trixie said, “Trixie the Wonder Dog, to the library!” The bedroom walls faded away and the four kids, plus Trixie found themselves outside the Chester Public Library.

“Hey Lily, grab the key to the library out of my bag.”  Trixie had a small bag that attached to her collar.  Whenever they went on an adventure, they took the bag with them.  Wherever they went, if they ever needed a key or a screwdriver or sometimes a blowtorch, it always seemed to be available in the bag.  Trixie told the kids that she was very astute at anticipating when they might need some assistance on their adventures and so she knew how and what to pack for any given trip.  No one questioned that some of the things she packed weighed much more than she did and yet she was still always able to fly wherever they were going.

It must be stated here that on these adventures, Trixie and the kids never broke into or damaged a property they were visiting.  That would be wrong and Trixie did not want her kids to grow up to be thugs.  She wanted them to be trustworthy people of character.  The truth was, Trixie had many friends in the animal kingdom and they all helped each other out.  That meant if Trixie needed help getting into or out of someplace, she could count on a friend to give her the key or let her in themselves.  They never vandalized or broke anything, except for Hannah’s collar bone that time at Niagara Falls and they never got in trouble.  Trixie truly was a trustworthy friend of the family.