S.P.O.T.S. (Super Powerful Organization of Terriers and Songbird)

  “And I dreamed that my breath could make humans fall over,” said Buck.

  The Terriers were about to make a joke about Buck’s bad breath when he stopped them by letting out a deep, horrible mouthful of mist.

  The mist floated towards the soccer goalposts. The Terriers watched in awe as Buck’s breath mist melted the posts before it dissipated into the wind.

  “Something strange is going on here,” said Duffy who, as mentioned earlier, had the very human talent of stating the obvious.

  The dogs turned to face Molly who was the best of the bunch when it came to figuring things out. But Molly wasn’t trying to solve the mystery of the Terriers’ new powers. Instead, she was thinking about her own dream.

  “I could run into walls and knock them down,” she said. “Do you think I might be that powerful?”

  “You could find out by running into the gardener’s shed,” suggested Buck.

  Molly looked at the large brick shed and shook her head. If she really didn’t have super strength, slamming into the shed’s walls would definitely hurt.

  She then noticed something half-hidden by giant weeds. Molly walked over to investigate, and the other Terriers followed. As they got close, they saw that it was a plaster statue of a cat.

  “I’ve seen this, this, THIS thing before!” yipped Jackie. “It’s a fake cat that’s meant to look like that live cat that is now a dead cat!”

  What Jackie meant was that the statue was a memorial that had been put up by someone to honor her cat who had passed away. It’s kind of mean, but it made the dogs laugh.

  “You know what they say,” said Molly. “The only good cat...”

  “Is a dead cat!” the others barked in unison.

  As the Terriers giggled at their joke, Molly gritted her teeth and tensed her muscles.

  “Goodbye Kitty,” she growled as she ran towards the statue.

  WHAM! Molly slammed into the statue and shattered its base. The plaster cat flew up and spun crazily as it cleared a fence and sailed towards a nearby backyard swimming pool. The Terriers watched as the statue splashed into the pool. It bobbed briefly on the surface before sinking out of sight.

  Molly flexed her muscles and winced at the pain in her neck.

  “Guys, it looks like we’ve got super powers,” she said. “Powers that came to us in our dreams.”

  Buck, Georgie and Duffy nodded slowly.

  Jackie jumped excitedly.

  “Super powers?! No way?! What, what, WHAT about me?” he asked.

  “You dreamed about biting things,” said Molly. “So go bite something.”

  Jackie’s head swiveled around as he looked for something fun to bite. He saw a huge old tree, let out a “YAP! YAP! YAP!” and ran over to it. But before he could start biting, nature called him. Jackie answered the call by lifting his leg and watering the base of the tree. He then bared his teeth and prepared to bite.

  “No you dummy!” barked Georgie. “Not there!”

  Jackie looked from Georgie to the wet spot on the tree.

  He nodded and walked to the other side of the tree. The DRY side.

  Jackie opened wide and chomped down on the tree’s thick trunk. As he gnawed away, a blizzard of sawdust and wood chips flew around.

  “Hey! HEY! Cut it out!” chirped a tweety voice that belonged to a very angry Cardinal who was hiding near the top of the tree. Jackie didn’t hear the bird, as his ears were filled to overflowing with the sound of his teeth tearing through the wood.

  He did feel it though when the Cardinal landed on his back and started pecking at his head.

  “OUCH!” shrieked Jackie. “What’s your, your, YOUR problem bird?!”

  “Three things,” chirped the Cardinal angrily. “One: this tree isn’t a chew toy. It’s my home.”

  “Oh” said Jackie. “Sorry, sorry, SORRY!!! I was just testing my teeth.”

  The Cardinal glanced at the base of the tree. It looked like a dozen hungry beavers had been having a wood buffet. He let out a low whistle.

  “Your teeth seem to work just fine.”

  “What’s the second thing?” asked Buck as he and the other Terriers arrived at the tree.

  “My name isn’t ‘bird.’ It’s ‘Sasquatch!’”

  Molly stuck her big head right next to the Cardinal.

  “My hearing isn’t all that good,” she said. “Was that ‘Sasquatch’? Like ‘Bigfoot’?”

  The Cardinal known as “Sasquatch” hung his head. “Yeah, I really don’t know what my parents were thinking.”

  Sasquatch was used to having birds and other creatures make fun of his name. It didn’t mean that he enjoyed it though. So after listening to the Terriers giggle for about thirty seconds he fluttered towards their faces and chirped angrily at them.

  “And the THIRD thing I have to say is that I don’t know why you dogs are hanging out here when there’s a gang of psycho-super-cats on the loose.”

  The Terriers stopped laughing.

  “Did you say ‘psycho-cats’?” asked Molly.

  “No!” chirped Sasquatch. “I said ‘psycho-SUPER-cats’. Five of them. They spent the morning climbing trees and attacking nests.”

  He pointed his red wing at a dozen nests that littered the ground. He then told the Terriers that the cats had really long claws that they used to climb the tallest trees in the park. Luckily, the local birds managed to escape...

  “This time. But these cats look like they mean business. Especially the bald one.”

  “The only bald cat around here is that goon Patches,” said Buck. “Looks like we know the cats that did this.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense.” said Georgie. “Since when did those cats have super claws?”

  “And since when did WE have super powers?” asked Duffy.

  “Oh! I know! I know! I FTHUI!!!” yapped Jackie as he spit a sliver out of his mouth. “We’ve had our powers since we woke up.”

  “Or maybe we had the powers before we went to sleep.” Once again Molly had things figured out first.

  Buck gave the Bull Terrier a questioning look. “What are you thinking Molly?”

  “I have a theory” she began.

  “What, what, what’s a ‘theory’?” asked Jackie.

  Molly shook her head. “Just follow me.”

  She ran as fast as she could towards the site of the previous day’s jerky feast. Which really wasn’t all that fast. Getting old is a funny thing. Molly thought she was going so fast that the others would be struggling to keep up. In reality, they were jogging at a gentle pace and easily kept up with her.

  Except for Duffy who really was pretty stumpy. And Sasquatch who was flying at half-speed a few feet above the dogs.

  “Hey bird!” Georgie snapped up at the Cardinal. “Why are you following us?”

  “Three more things,” answered Sasquatch. “One: technically, I’m not ‘following’ you. I’m a little bit ahead of you. Two: with those cats on the loose, I feel safer hanging out with you guys. Three: since none of you ‘super dogs’ can fly, none of you can stop me from tagging along.”

  Sasquatch was about to add “so there,” but he decided to hold his beak.

  Molly slowed down even more as they arrived at the scene of the jerky feast. All of the boxes were empty. Sasquatch fluttered around, breathing in the aromas of the beef, bacon, chicken and turkey jerky. He let out a low whistle and muttered “Looks like there was a heck of a picnic here.”

  “It's ... just like... I thought...” panted Molly as she walked over to the empty boxes. “The cats must have ... eaten the ... cod jerky.”

  “Dumb cats!” laughed Duffy. “Even I wouldn’t eat that.”

  “It all makes sense,” Molly said, her breath now being almost fully caught. “We ate that jerky yesterday, and today we have super powers.”

  Buck was the next to figure it out. “So those cats ate the fish, and now they’re climbing tall trees.”

  Georgie, Duffy and Jackie were confused. T
hey looked from Buck to the jerky boxes and over to Molly. Slowly, they processed the facts. Then all at once they realized that the jerky had given them super powers. They didn’t know that the meat was radioactive. That’s not something that dogs worry about. They’re more concerned with how food smells and tastes, and not whether it’s going to alter their DNA and make them the strongest and most incredible dogs in the entire world.

  “Awesome! That means we’re the strongest and most incredible dogs in the world!” gloated Georgie.

  Duffy’s stomach growled angrily. “Do you think there’s any of that jerky left?”

  Sasquatch landed on one of the empty boxes. “There wouldn’t have been a few pieces of worm jerky, would there?”

  Molly shook her head.

  “That’s a drag,” chirped Sasquatch. “Now what are you super dogs going to do about the psycho cats?”

  The Terriers thought about it, but before they could come up with a plan, they heard a sound that propelled them into their first adventure as super heroes.

  And that sound was...

  EVER SEEN A FLYING DOG?

  “WAAAAHHHH!!!”

  Five Terriers and one bird turned towards the playground.

  Duffy squinted and was able to see through hedges, a fence and a few other obstacles. His vision zoomed in and he saw Molly’s small human Emma sitting and screaming at the top of her lungs.

  “Bad news Molly!” he said. “It’s Emma.”

  “She must need me!” shouted Molly as she took off at full speed.

  Just then, another even louder voice rang out.

  “WAAAAHHHH!!

  Before Duffy could focus on the source of this screech, Jackie became agitated and started to bounce.

  “I know that scream! It’s my Jordana!” Jackie yelped. “Hold on! Hold on! HOLD ON!!!”

  And with that, he took off at an even fuller speed than Molly.

  Buck, Georgie and Duffy chased after Molly and Jackie. Sasquatch flew along too, and this time, the Terriers were too busy to try to shoo him away.

  In the playground, Emma and Jordana were sitting by themselves and screaming as if every terrible thing you could imagine was happening to them.

  Their screaming and crying didn’t mean that they were in any danger. In this particular case, it meant that Emma wasn’t allowed to chew on her Mother’s sunglasses. Emma’s cries made Jordana fussy. When that happened, she liked to stick her fingers in her Mother’s hair. Which is usually okay, but Nancy had just had her hair styled, and wasn’t in the mood to throw away a nice hundred dollar hairdo to keep Jordana happy.

  Her Mother’s stern “No!” set Jordana off, and Nancy and Susan decided to give both girls a “time out.” And the best spot for that was inside the dome-shaped set of monkey bars in the playground.

  Which is where Emma and Jordana were sitting and screaming when the Terriers sprang into action.

  As they approached the playground, Georgie decided to use her super power to help the girls. She unleashed a bark that was so piercingly loud, it made the other Terriers yelp in pain. The bark got louder as it reached the playground. The Mothers and Mrs. G. covered their ears just as the bark made their cell phones and a couple of juice boxes explode.

  Unsure of what was going on, the Mothers decided to gather up their children and go home. But they never got the chance...

  Usually, Buck prided himself on his ability to stay calm. Not this time. Fearing that Emma and Jordana were in danger, he took a deep breath, huffed, puffed and unleashed a cloud of mist. The cloud was then carried by a gust of wind towards the playground.

  As soon as the mist reached the panicky Mothers and Mrs. G., it caused them to pass out.

  It must be said that watching grownups collapse doesn’t help to calm down screaming toddlers. It was at this point that Emma and Jordana REALLY began to wail.

  “WAAAAHHHH!!

  When Jackie reached the playground, he saw the Mothers and Mrs. G. passed out cold on the benches and on the ground. Nearby, Emma and Jordana were shrieking hysterically inside the monkey bars. It was up to Jackie to first free the children and then defeat whatever villain had locked them up.

  “Jordana! Jordana!! JORDANA!!! I’ll save you!” he yelped as he attacked the metal bars.

  Just then, Buck, Duffy, Georgie and Sasquatch arrived. Being fairly perceptive, Buck quickly realized that there wasn’t any danger in the park: it was his breath that knocked everyone out. Duffy agreed, adding that he knew enough about children to recognize a tantrum when he saw it.

  Molly wasn’t as calm. For as she arrived, all she saw was her beloved Emma sitting under the monkey bars crying as hard as she could. Summoning up her newly discovered super strength, Molly lowered her head and ran at full speed towards the monkey bars. Just then, having gnawed through one bar, Jackie’s teeth chomped into a second.

  “No! Wait!” yelled Buck, but Molly was too riled up to listen.

  Molly hit the bars with the force of a rocket-powered bulldozer and the climbing apparatus was flung off of the girls. Unfortunately, Jackie was still gnawing away and he was shot up into the air along with the monkey bars.

  “Maybe you guys CAN fly.” Sasquatch chirped in amazement.

  Emma and Jordana watched the monkey bars and Jackie as they soared across the playground. Neither of them had ever seen a flying dog, and the sight was so funny that they quickly forgot their tantrums and began to laugh.

  Buck, Georgie and Duffy couldn’t bear to see Jackie crash to the ground. As they turned away, they saw that the humans were waking up.

  The Mothers and Mrs. G. were understandably confused as they saw Buck, Georgie and Duffy. They were even more confused by the set of monkey bars that was lying upside down on the other side of the field. Before they could get worried about the girls, they saw Molly walking towards them with smiling Emma riding on her back. Just behind them, Jordana toddled along with a very dizzy and slightly stunned Jackie.

  “What just happened?” asked Nancy.

  It was a question that none of the other humans could answer. The Terriers knew, but even if they were going to tell the humans, and even if the humans could understand what they were saying... well, they just never would have believed it.

  As Emma climbed down, Molly turned to face the other Terriers.

  “We need to have a talk about using our powers properly.” She said this approximately two seconds before her tired legs gave out and she fell to the ground.

  WHO PUT THAT POODLE THERE?

  The next day, Molly was too stiff and sore to go to the park. A full day of resting in the backyard sun would definitely help her joints and muscles recover. Just as she was getting comfortable however, a loud “CHEEP!” woke her up.

  Molly opened her eyes and saw Sasquatch waving his wings frantically.

  “The guys are waiting for you!”

  “Tell them we’ll have our talk tomorrow.”

  Sasquatch hopped onto Molly’s side. “No! They need you now. They say you have to see what the cats have done.”

  Molly knew that she had to get up. The neighborhood’s safety was more important than her sore legs. With a deep sigh and a mighty groan, Molly stood and slowly headed out.

  Even before she met up with her friends, Molly could smell that something was wrong. She sniffed and caught a whiff of the other Terriers, and the lingering aroma of Peter’s cat posse. But there was something else in the air: the smell of fear. And of Miniature Poodle.

  It was an awful stench, and Molly wondered why the park smelled like scared Poodle. The mystery lasted until she rounded the corner and saw... a scared Poodle.

  Poodles are just about the most neurotic animals around. And the smaller the Poodle, the larger its storehouse of nervousness. So when a really small Poodle is stuck to a wall ten feet off the ground, its level of anxiety is right off the charts.

  The Poodle on the wall was named “Baby,” and he was probably the most annoying dog in the neighborho
od. Baby was a twitchy, bony bundle of nerves who yapped at Molly every time she walked by. If Molly ever barked back at Baby, he would screech like a cat and act like he’d been threatened.

  None of the other Terriers liked Baby and would normally cross the road to avoid him. However, the canine code of honor required them to help a dog in need. And at the moment, Baby had a near record-setting amount of need.

  As Molly arrived, Buck, Georgie, Duffy and Jackie were trying to get Baby to relax. Since this was a dog who freaked out when he heard the toilet flush, being stuck on a wall high above the ground put him WAY past the point where he could be calmed down

  “How did this happen?” asked Molly.

  “Poodle said it was the cats,” answered Buck.

  The Terriers exchanged a look of disgust. In their minds, no self-respecting dog would let a cat, or even a bunch of cats, get the better of it.

  Baby saw the look and spoke up to defend himself.

  “It’s not my fault,” he began. “The cats have super strength or something! They cornered me and rubbed against me. Next thing I know, Peter and Patches were carrying me up this wall.”

  With that, Baby began to sob like a... well, like a baby.

  The Terriers exchanged another glance. This time, it was a look of concern that passed between them. Now they knew that the cats had at least a couple of super powers. They had extra-long claws that allowed them to climb walls and tall trees, and apparently their fur could now produce huge amounts of static electricity. At least enough to keep a miniature Poodle stuck to a wall for, say... hmmm... about...

  “Hey! Hey! Hey! Baby! How long have you been up there?” asked Jackie.

  “At least three pees,” answered Baby.

  “So,” figured Molly, “he’s been there since first thing this morning.”

  Which made sense, because cats always get up to mischief like ripping open garbage bags and terrorizing birds in the wee small hours when humans are asleep and unable to see them acting badly.

  “The cats told me to tell you that this is a warning,” whimpered Baby. “They said that if you Terriers get in their way, no one will be safe.”

  Suddenly, it began to rain around the Terriers.

  “He’s now been here for four pees,” said Georgie.

  Not wanting to stick around for a fifth pee, the Terriers tried to figure out how to get Baby down. As none of them had taken a science or engineering class, they could only guess at the best way to do it.