"Don't Drive Alone"

The Road Trip

By Corri

Copyright © 2000 by C. Gryting.
All Rights Reserved.

"Dee Dee, Tasha, Misha," called Bo, with an urgent and hushed tone. "Get up! Come on! We need to go now! We don’t have much time. We have to be there before the big clock bangs once."

Tasha, a Doberman with elegant flowing ears and an unruly tail, leaped into action first. "Bo, is it ready?"

Border Collie Bo nodded enthusiastically, "Remember the plan!"

 Dee Dee, the Desert Dog, moved to the speaker phone by the couch and put her right paw on the button. A dial tone filled the air. With one experienced claw, she hit speed dial 9 for Cricket’s house. When the lady of the house finally answered in sleepy tones, Dee Dee gave her message clearly. "Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff!" she said.

The voice at the other end of the phone exploded into laughter. A man’s voice in the background called out, "Who is it, Joyce? It's after midnight!" 

"I think it’s for Cricket," the first voice said, still chuckling. "Here Cricket! Listen to this!" Clanking noises implied the phone had been lowered down to Cricket’s ear.

Dee Dee quickly repeated her message, "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff-Ruff!"

Cricket responded with a sharp "Yap! Ruff-Ruff!" and the phone cut off with the sounds of two people laughing loudly in the background.

"Is she ready?" Bo asked.

"Yes," said Dee Dee. "We have 10 minutes."

The dobie, the desert dog, the border collie and the Shih Tzu silently headed out the doggy door and into the garage. The dusty gray 4-wheel-drive Ford sat just as Dad had left it when he had backed the truck into the garage. The tail gate laid flat, the back cab window gaped open, and the forgotten keys dangled from the ignition.

As always, Dee Dee leaped into the truck first and made her way directly to the driver’s seat. Bo was next, but in his haste, he slipped a bit and had to struggle to pull himself onto the tail gate. Tasha waited to lift Misha up into the truck bed, and then made her way to the button that she knew would magically open the garage door. There, she waited for the signal.

With Dee Dee at the steering wheel, Misha crawled down onto the floor to work the brake and gas pedal. Bo positioned himself at the keys and watched out the window. Grasping the keys in his teeth, Bo nodded to Tasha. Under pressure of the border collie’s strong teeth, the key turned in the ignition, until they heard the truck engine start. With a practiced paw, Misha gave the truck just a little gas.

Using her nose, Tasha hit the button to open the garage door and then leaped into the back of the truck, taking up her position as rear guard.

Crawling under the steering wheel, Bo pulled off the emergency brake with his teeth, while Misha sat on the foot brake. After using his teeth again on the headlight switch, Bo looked up at their driver. "Ready, Dee?" Bo asked.

"Yup!" She answered, still poised at the wheel.

"Are you ready back there, Tasha?" Bo called back into the darkened truck bed.

"Yup," Tasha answered, smiling proudly from her station. "Let’s go a little slower on the take off this time," she said. "The last time, you nearly threw me out."

"Don’t be so picky, " growled Misha from his post under the dash. "This isn’t easy, you know!"

Bo moved under the gear shift lever, and pushed with his nose and paw. At first, the lever didn’t move. But finally, Bo nudged the truck into gear. Slowly, Misha moved away from the brake as Dee Dee hovered over the steering wheel, staring intently out the front window. "All clear," Dee Dee called. Misha slid onto the gas pedal and the truck started out the garage door, and onto the dirt road. Before their blue A-frame house disappeared behind them, Bo nosed the button on the box strapped under the dash, and the garage door magically rolled close. "Wouldn’t want anything to happen to Mum and Dad while they’re sleeping!" Bo said. The others nodded in agreement.

Dee Dee steered expertly, and within a few moments, she told Misha, "Get ready to brake on my word…4, 3, 2, 1, Now!" Misha braked a little too hard, and they all lost their balance for a moment. The truck pulled to a stop in front of twin side-by-side three-story Victorian houses that seemed to be the only places on the block. Just as the dogs recovered, three forms came barreling from the two houses. Emerging from the dark, the shapes proved to be two grown border collies, and a  border collie puppy. Natasha leaped out just in time to lift Ginger, the red and white pup, into the back, and Dallas and Cricket took their places along side.

"We’re all here!" Tasha called up to Dee Dee. Misha moved from the brake to the gas, and with a lurch and a chug, the road trip resumed.

"I just barely had time to tell Dallas and Ginger about your call," Cricket said. Mom and Dad were laughing so hard, they didn’t even try to go back to sleep at first. So I almost couldn’t sneak out!"

"Well, we’re here!" Dallas said, "and that’s what matters! Saturday night Road Trip!"

"Yup!" barked the four-month-old Ginger, wagging her tail happily, glad to be on her second road trip.

The group drove toward town and up the main street.

"Okay, Misha," Dee Dee soon called out, "Slow down to one paw on the gas now." They had a pretty good system worked out for this business. "Now on my mark, stop, 4, 3, 2, 1, STOP! That was close, I almost had to back up."

"You have to tell me sooner," said Misha. "I can’t see much down here.

"You can’t see much anyway, dear," said Dee Dee. "Not with all that hair in your face!"

"What do we do now?" Ginger asked, not recognizing their location.

"We wait for them to talk from that box, and then we tell them we are here," said Dee Dee.

A voice came from the box, "Welcome to Der Wienerschniztel. May I take your order please?"

"Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff," said Dee Dee.

"Wait a minute," the voice said, "Can you repeat that? I’m sorry I didn’t catch it. May I take your order please?"

"Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff," said Bo.

"Try it again," said the voice pleading. "May I take your order please?

"RUFF RUFF," said Tasha. And "ruff" said Misha and Ginger.

"Please pull up to the window," said the exasperated voice. "I think there’s a problem with this thing."

At the window, a young boy looked out the window expecting to see a driver.

"Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff", chorused all the dogs.

As the boy realized who was driving, he did a double take and sunk back inside the window. Obviously confused by proper protocol, he called his manager over. She laughed. "Get them their usual, Joe," she called back to the cook. "There are seven tonight." She shook her head at the boy, and resumed her work.

Quickly, the cooks loaded up seven bags, each with two hamburger patties and two hot dogs, hold the mustard, no napkins. The counter gal rang "no charge" on the register, but Dallas jumped to the front, waving a rumpled twenty-dollar bill and trying to bark out "keep the change". The counter gal gave him a puzzled look and passed back the twenty. "Every one knows Der Wiernerschnitzel gives the best doggy treats," she said. "It’s on us!

Dee Dee took the bill in her teeth, and dumped the greenback upon the dash. The twenty had been a present from Cassie, another border collie friend. (Her Mom thought Cassie had eaten the money, but the clever dog tucked bill into a letter that was waiting to be mailed to her Mom’s good friend, Heidi. Dallas intercepted the cash, and had kept it hidden under Ginger’s bed, just waiting for their big road trip.) Soon the counter gal passed out seven bags, one by one. Dee Dee took them in her teeth, and lifted them back to Cricket who every one trusted to keep the food safe from early nibbling and sniffing. (Well, almost everyone. Dallas kept a watchful eye on Cricket as he had heard that her nickname "Hover" came from her habits with food bowls belonging to others. He still suspected that some patties disappeared on their last trip, and he gladly would overlook her early nibbling, if only she would share with him.) 

Pulling away from DW, the road trip gang drove to the park to eat their meal. Dropping all the bags on the picnic table, they waited until Natasha had lifted Ginger and Misha from the truck. Dee Dee divided up the food, and soon everyone was eating contentedly. Much too quickly, time had come to go home. The gang trouped back to the truck. Tasha carried the trash bags into the can by the sidewalk, and then again lifted Ginger and Misha into the truck bed. 

As the gang pulled out of the park and onto the main road, they drove past officers Meyers and Murphy in a parked squad car. "Did you see what I think I saw?" young Murphy asked the veteran officer Meyers.

"Yup," said Meyers.

"Aren’t you going to call it in?"

"Nope."

"Well, why not?" said Murphy.

"Same reason I never call it in," said Meyers. "Same reason none of us ever do. Same reason you won’t call it in either."

Murphy gave him a shocked look and a long, puzzled stare.

Meyers returned the stare. "When the moon is full, Murphy, who is going to believe we saw seven dogs driving a gray Ford truck just after midnight?"

"Oh," said Murphy, scratching his head and watching the tail lights disappear down the bumpy country road.

When gray truck pulled up to the twin Victorian houses, Cricket, Dallas and Ginger made their way to the back. Tasha gently lifted little Ginger to the ground. "Let’s do it again soon!" Dallas called quietly, as the three stealthily made their way back into their respective yards.

Misha edged his small Shih Tzu weight from the brake onto the gas, as Dee Dee steered back onto the road. Soon the blue A Frame at the edge of town slid back into view. Misha held one paw only on the gas as Bo pushed garage door button. Dee Dee pulled into the garage, "3-2-1 NOW!" she called, and Misha jumped on the brake. The truck came to a lurching stop, and Bo switched off the key, and pushed off the light switch. With a nudge, the truck slipped back into "Park". Tasha lifted Misha down from the truck bed, and the others followed. Feeling quite proud of themselves, the four made their way from the garage, out through the dog door, back into the kitchen and quietly upstairs to bed. They settled in to nap, pleased that Mom and Dad were still sleeping safely.

Dee Dee awoke next morning to Dad’s worried voice, "Hey, Barb! Are you driving in your sleep again to Der Wienerschnitzel at night? I was sure backed it in, and now it’s forward…and there’s a crumpled twenty dollar bill on the dash board with a fresh DW french fry box on the floor."

"Not me," said Barb. "Must be the dogs again."

"Oh, Yeah, sure."

"I told you not to leave the keys where they could get them!"

The End
(Until the Gang goes on the Road Next Time!)

Copyright © 2000 by C. Gryting. All Rights Reserved.