Invasion of the Dognappers (11 page)

The Crew met at Aggy’s house the next morning.

“We found Pickles, ma’am,” Logan said into Aggy’s cell phone.

“My Pickles?” Trudy answered.

“We’ll bring her over soon,” Logan said.

“Oh, bless you, my boy! Bless you!”

“All in a day’s work for the Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit, ma’am.”

He hung up, consulted another of his
LOST DOG
flyers, then dialed Lily, Ollie’s owner. After he talked to her, he called another dog owner, then another, and on and on until he came to one with a picture of a lean, white, short-haired dog with a curled tail named Cowboy that read
IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL MATTHIAS SARRIS.

“That must be Darius’s dog!” Thatcher said. “His dad’s name is Mr. Sarris, remember?”

Logan had not known the man’s name when he found the flyer. He didn’t learn it till just before the alien abducted him.

“We don’t need to call then,” Logan said. “We can just bring Cowboy over.”

“You can apologize to Mr. Sarris for calling him an alien and a dog thief,” Aggy added.

Logan flinched. “Yeah, I guess I could.”

The last flyer was not about a lost dog. Logan called the number printed on it.

“Hello?” a voice said on the phone.

“Is this Helene?” Logan asked.

“Yes, it is. Who’s calling?”

“My name is Logan Lonergan, ma’am, and I found your wheelchair.”

“You did? Where?”

“In a cave, by Ketchoklam Park.”

“In a cave?”

“Yes, ma’am. May I have your address, please, so I can return it?”

Logan scribbled down the address.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said. “We’ll be there soon. Good-bye.”

He hung up and said to the Crew, “Let’s return these stolen goods to their rightful owners.”

“Can I ride in the wheelchair?” Thatcher asked. “I’d really like a turn in it. I haven’t had a turn yet. Please? Please please?”

“I told you before, Thatcher,” Logan said. “No.”

Everyone had brought as many leashes and collars as they could find at home and had attached them to the ten remaining rescued dogs. (Aggy left Festus at home as Logan had done with Bubba.) Each operative took three dogs except Logan, who took one, Ollie.

“I need the other hand to operate the joystick,” he said, and demonstrated by pushing it forward.

Ollie yelped as the chair zoomed forward.

“Come on, you guys!” Logan called. “Keep up.”

Thatcher, Kian, and Aggy, and the nine dogs they were tethered to, did their best.

“Did you guys tell your parents about the aliens?” Aggy asked as the trio of dogs she held tugged her in three different directions.

“I didn’t,” Kian said. “They would never believe me.”

“I never believe you, dude,” Thatcher said. “You’re never serious.”

“I’m always serious,” Kian said, with a serious expression.

“See?” Thatcher said.

“I was busting to tell my parents,” Aggy said. “But it just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It sounded too crazy.”

“I told my mom, and she sent out a mass e-mail to all her friends about it,” Logan said.

“I bet they all think she’s joking,” Aggy said. “Or nuts.”

“Who cares?” Thatcher said. “It’s true, isn’t it? Logan really did get abducted by aliens, and he really did rescue the dogs. Right?”

“Right,” Logan said.

“I sure wish I could have seen the aliens,” Thatcher said, tossing back his hair. “I wish they had abducted me and beamed me up to the spaceship.”

“I’ll bean you,” Kian said. “Here, let me bean you,” and he rapped Thatcher’s skull with his knuckles.

“Ow! That hurt!” Thatcher said. “I said ‘beam,’ not ‘bean.’”

He reached out to bean Kian’s skull in return, but Kian ducked and, in trying to run away, got tangled up in his dogs’ leashes.

“Aha!” Thatcher said, and leaped on top of him.

“Apes,” Aggy said.

When they neared Patrice’s house, Kian asked, “Isn’t that where your babysitter lives, Logan?”

“She’s not my babysitter,” Logan answered sternly.

“Ollie’s owner, Lily, lives across the street, right?” Aggy asked.

“In that house,” Logan said, pointing.

He parked the wheelchair in front and led Ollie up the walk. The others stayed at the curb with their dogs.

“Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit, ma’am,” Logan said when Lily opened the door. “We’re returning your dog, as promised.”

“Ollie!” the woman squealed, scooping up her puffball of a pet. “Oh, Ollie! I missed you so! Yes! Yes, I did!”

“I’m going to need the collar and leash back, ma’am,” Logan said.

“Oh, of course,” Lily said, and unbuckled it. “Now wait here a moment and I’ll get my purse. You have a reward coming….”

“Not necessary, ma’am,” Logan said. “We didn’t do it for money. Rescuing dogs is our duty. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have more dogs to return to their owners.”

Lily looked out at the pack of other dogs as if she hadn’t noticed them before, and a confused look came over her face.

“Good-bye, ma’am,” Logan said, and walked away, the leash and empty collar in his hand.

Darius opened the door.

“Is your father at home?” Logan asked.

“Cowboy!” Darius said, looking past Logan at his dog. He was tugging at his leash, his curled tail wagging furiously. Thatcher let go of the leash and Cowboy bounded into Darius’s arms.

“Is your father at home?” Logan asked again, louder.

“Give him a minute, Logan,” Aggy whispered. “He’s excited to see his dog.”

Logan peered inside the house. “Hello? Mr. Sarris?”

“He isn’t home,” Darius said, continuing to lavish attention on his dog. “He works on Saturdays.”

“Wow,” Thatcher said. “You’re here by your
self
? At your age? At
our
age?”

“Why is that a big deal?” Kian said. “We leave Chloe alone all the time, and she’s only three.”

“Who’s Chloe?” Darius asked.

“His mom’s yappy little dog,” Thatcher said, nudging Kian with his shoulder.

Kian shoved him back. Hard.

“Ow!” Thatcher said.

“Anyway, Logan, thanks for bringing back Cowboy,” Darius said. “Where did you find him?”

“On an alien spaceship,” Thatcher said, throwing Kian an elbow. “Logan was abducted. The aliens had stolen a whole bunch of dogs.”

“Really?” Darius asked, looking doubtful.

“Really,” said Kian, elbowing Thatcher.

“We’ve returned all the dogs we rescued except this one,” Thatcher said to Darius, and pointed at the puppy, Nilla. “Want to come with us and help us find its owner?”

“Yeah, sure,” Darius said. “I just need to call my dad and tell him.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.

“Wow,” Thatcher said again.

“‘
Wow!’
” Kian mocked, then walked away.

“What’s up with you?” Thatcher asked, following him. “I just think the guy is cool. You’re still my best friend!”

“Dad?” Darius said into the phone. “Guess what? They found Cowboy! Those kids. Logan and his friends…. Yeah, him.”

“Can I talk to Mr. Sarris, please?” Logan asked.

“He wants to talk to you, Dad,” Darius said. He listened to the answer, then looked at Logan and said, “He doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Give it,” Logan said, holding out his hand.

Darius handed the phone to him.

“Hello, Mr. Sarris, sir,” Logan said into it. “I wanted to apologize. I was wrong. You weren’t the alien. I found the real one and got your dog back. No need to thank me. Here’s your son.” And he handed the phone back to Darius.

“Why don’t we check the telephone poles around Sandwiches?” Aggy asked. “Maybe the lady with the puppy hung up a flyer by now.”

“We need to stop at Helene’s first and return the wheelchair,” Logan said.

“Can I ride it over there?” Thatcher asked.

“I haven’t had a turn yet, and we’re bringing it back …”

Logan sighed, then relented.

Helene also tried to give Logan a reward, but again he refused.

“All in the line of duty, ma’am,” he said, and walked away.

“Yeah, money?” Kian said. “Who needs it?”

“Are we still going to be the Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit after we return this puppy?” Thatcher asked. “Will our work be done? Do we have to move on?”

Logan shot him a weary look. “Thatcher, are you naive enough to believe that those were the only aliens on Earth? If they were, the chances of our finding them would be astronomical. No, there are others on our planet, and no doubt some of them will want to steal our dogs. The Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit will remain active until every one of them is thwarted and sent on their way.”

Thatcher smiled a wide, beaming smile. “The I-Crew rules!” he shouted, and pumped his fists in the air.

When they reached Sandwiches, they found the weekly farmers market in full swing.

“Oh, right,” Aggy said. “It’s Saturday.”

“My parents are probably here,” Thatcher said. “They always go to the market.”

“Mine, too,” said Kian.

“My dad works Saturdays,” Darius said.

“You said that already,” Kian said.

The street had been closed off to traffic and was filled with booths selling vegetables, jewelry, fresh salmon, honey, and other goods. People carrying baskets were milling about, talking and shopping, and, on the library’s lawn, young children were chasing one another around, yelling and squealing. Logan knew many of them, having lived his whole life in Nelsonport. Many people said hello, to him and to his friends.

They ran into Thatcher’s parents, and Kian’s, but successfully slipped away from them and their boring adult conversations.

They also bumped into their teacher, Nathan, standing in front of one farmer’s stand. He pointed at the lettuces and peppers and said, dramatically, “Produce!”

“Very funny, Nathan,” Aggy said, rolling her eyes.

There were plenty of people with dogs as well, including a few of the dogs the Crew had rescued. Lily was there with Ollie, for example.

“Now I wish I’d brought Festus with me,” Aggy said.

“I totally wish I had Bear,” Thatcher said.

“I’m glad I don’t have Chloe,” Kian said.

“If I had Bubba, she’d probably just lie down on the ground and fart,” Logan said.

“At least we live on a planet that has dogs,” Aggy said.

“True,” Logan said.

“I have Cowboy,” Darius said. “Anybody want to play Fetch with us?”

“I do, Darius!” Kian said. “I do!”

“‘
I do!’
” mocked Thatcher, then he pulled Kian aside and asked, “Do you like him better than me?”

Suddenly, a young woman let out a screech and started running toward them, her arms out in front of her, an enormous smile on her face.

“Nilla!” she called. “Oh, Nilla! My baby!”

She hugged her dog as Darius had, and Lily, and Trudy, and Aggy: tightly, happily, tearily.

“How did you find him?” she asked, looking up.

“We’re the Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit, ma’am,” Logan said. “It’s what we do.”

Patrick Jennings
is the author of many popular novels for middle-schoolers, including
Guinea Dog, Lucky Cap, We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes,
and
Faith and the Electric Dogs.
He won the 2011 Washington State Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Award for
Guinea Dog,
which is also nominated for the following state lists: Colorado 2011–2012 Children’s Book Award, New Hampshire 2011–2012 Great Stone Face Book Award, and the Kansas 2012–2013 William Allen White Children’s Book Award. He lives in a small seaport town in Washington State.

You can visit him online at
www.patrickjennings.com
.