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Best Friends
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🌟 Walk the plank
I wondered how all of this got here without humans to build it. Something about it made my tail twitch. I couldn’t put my paw on what it was
🫎 The moose is loose
“They can’t catch us if we outrun them.” Mom leaned forward and fell uphill in what looked like the sprint of someone who just grew legs
🌟 Potato Beast
She looked up like someone was calling her name and her eyes darted wildly, pointing at the empty air right above her head.
🌟 Idahome on the range
“It can’t possibly be unpaved all the way to Idaho,” Mom decided, forgetting that the Witch didn’t follow her orders like the Wagon and I di
🌟 Mad George
“It must be a river,” Mom said in a sleepy voice. “This place is called Mad Gorge which means—"
🌟 Crying Wolf
I must have been behind a rock by the time Mom came by. The next time I heard her, she was bellowing my name from farther down the trail.
🌟 WOLF!
“Mom! Guess what!” I wagged. “You’ll never guess who I just chased! He was extra fluffy and—“
🌟 Liar, liar, pants on fire
“See!” Mom hooted. She clapped her hands and her surprised smile flickered in the firelight. “It wor... Oh.”
🌟 Raging rapids
"Ack! Do you feel that?” Mom gasped. “The barometric pressure! I feel like I’m choking.”
🌟 Lockout
“I don’t see why someone has to sit out in the rain all day just to do something for me that I’m perfectly capable of doing myself...”
🌟 The Covered Wagon
The kaleidoscope of trees and moss fell into a pattern that made sense. “I’ve been here before!” I wagged.
🌟 Oregon Trail pt. 2
“I thought you said we couldn’t get lost!” I gasped. Suddenly, the mailman van felt very far away.
🌟 Oregon Trail
“When I was younger, I used to look at maps of logging roads and imagine what it would be like to explore all those paths to nowhere.”
🌟 Sucker Punchbowl
He aimed his witch at the empty air between the potty and the next mountain. “Aren’t your pictures missing someone?”
🌟 Spooky Story
I looked back at the bite mark and my body went cold. A something was flapping just beyond the edge of it...
🌟 Your avocados or your life
“You don’t know where they’ve been,” he said judgily, like Mom was irresponsible for not caring enough to check what her avocados were up to
🌟 Oscar puts the “poo”in “shampoo”
“No, Mom!” I said with a subtle pull on the leash. “It’s a trap! He’s trying to dognap you!”
🌟 Tick talk
She didn't even bother to unlock the mailman van before she descended on me with a hunerd pinching fingers.
🌟 Zodisack
"You're not even paying attention to who might be sneaking up on you!” I checked out all the windows, then I checked them again.
Winnemuc This
“The part where you don’t know how it’s going to end is the funnest part of any story,” I agreed.
Winnemucca, Winnemucca, Winnemucca!
The real reason we were in the Outback of Nevada was because we wanted to say Winnemucca. Try it: Winnemucca, Winnemucca, Winnemucca
🌟 First Dog
"Oh brother," she said from behind me in a voice like an eye roll. My collar dug into my throat as she reeled me in a little closer.
🌟 Second Dog
"Mom! No! How could you? I'm a celebrity. It'll be all over TMZ! And my fans will never recognize me with that on."
🌟 Spaghetti Monsters
The crowd went silent as everyone held their breath. The only noise on the farm was the chicka-chicka-chick of maracas. The squiggle snarled
🌟 Itch Hiking
Questions like that are how Mom cheats at arguments. She knows that dogs can't tell the future like she can.
🌟 Mailmaiden voyage
Pots clattered as she dug through the kitchen, searching for I-knew-not-what. She grunted triumphantly and pulled out the knife.
🌟 Mailman van
Screams filled the inside of the mailman van as the ghosts of all the dogless families he'd eaten rattled the bars.
🌟 Cattle dog
"Oh my dog! It's the shoopacabra!" I barked. "Let's get him!" I leaned hard into the leash and ordered him to run.
🌟 Homeward Hound Pt. 2
I couldn't tell if it was nature or civilization calling her back, just that Mom was accepting the call.
🌟 Homeward Hound
If you try to make everything look like the plan, then you're going to miss a lot and spend the whole adventure being frustrated.
🌟 White Dirt
The car-house came to rest in a car kennel surrounded by sky. Only the crowns of a few mountains joined us in the sky, still dripping with
🌟 Falls advertising
"Why would there be a parking lot if there were nothing to see? People who drive sedans don't go up a dirt road for nothing."
🌟 Grand Canyon: It's just gorges
Death sat self-consciously behind them all, its bloodthirsty depths and time-stained teeth awkwardly out of place among the picnic tables, r
🌟 Almighty Mittens
Oscar sees many magical things in Monument Valley and meets one of his heroes
🌟 Falling
"Oh look! A cairn." Mom veered toward a little stack of rocks. I sniffed the pile. "Hello, Karen. My name is Oscar."
🌟 PhoDOGrapher
"Heights... I can't... I'm too scared to get close enough to take a good picture," she admitted. "I was kind of hoping you'd do it for me."
🌟 Sissy fuss
The monster halted and let out a screech like a carrion bird. Then it backed up for a closer look.
🌟 If wishes were fishes
"Oh well. I suppose you've learned your lesson. Please move out of the way so we can go."
🌟 Oscar hunt
"Look, Mom. My piddle puddle is smoking!" I said proudly. "And have you noticed these strange droppings?"
🌟 Speedster
The car-house picked up speed as it rolled toward the blinding whiteness. As we zoomed in, the grid lines on the ground began to show.
🌟 Back on Tracks
Even the raindrops were prickly, as if it were raining wasps. Beside the trail, the bristle bushes bloomed with food wrappers and underpants
🌟 Don't you know who I am?
"Imagine that! A truck stop! Who does she think she’s talking to?" Mom pulled the seat leash across her chest like a diva cape.
🌟 Middle of Nowhere
"Sheesh, there's absolutely nothing here," Mom narrated. "There have got to be trails around here somewhere."
🌟 Soggy Doggy
I took a flying leap inside and shook the wet from my fur into the blanket. Mom humphed onto the bed beside me and peeled off her wet socks.
🌟 Time traveler
Mystery drew me forward until the rocks spread in a wide circle. I followed the rocks' instructions and stopped in the center of the henge.
🌟 Rain, rain, go away
The trail turned shiny as a mirror and the river turned to stucco as we ran. I squinted to keep the rain out of my eyes as the world outside
🌟 Dognapped!
This looks more... residential Like the sort of place where people live when they aren't allowed within a thousand feet of a school or playg
🌟 Doggy Telepaphone
The leash may have been gone, but the bond we'd built over so many thousands of miles could never be unhitched. When Mom let me off the lea
🌟 Near-dead experience
The little cove wasn’t a bad place to be shipwrecked. The cliffs shielded the beach from view so passing ship would never see you burying yo
🌟 Curiouser and Curiouser
"Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Mom asked as we walked back to the kitchen end of the car-house. "I'm calling this whole trip off if yo
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