Flight, bite, and sonar sight…part 3 "Dare, Done, and Dad"

When you have even the smallest doubt about doing something, isn't that usually a sign that maybe you should give it some serious thought before saying "Let’s GO"? Well!?! Some would think so. I mean, it's not like the "Dare Marbles Game" results were written in stone or anything. The boys usually start out with simple statements and progressively they get more and more daring. And "statements", what is "that"? They sound more like dares, but then they're not dares. You can back down from a dare. You might get called a chicken, or get Monkey Bumped on the arm, but you could still back down. However, the rules, as the boys have laid them out for "Marbles", require that you complete the instruction of the Statement or pay the consequences. You could technically back down from the statement too, but then what would be the point of even playing the game. Maybe they should have called it "Sanity has no place in Marbles”. Maybe the other name sounds funny, cause I'm a dog?!?

"Look, I'm Grandpa on the Munsters, without his dentures. I von dew suk yaw bluuuud." Stephen said folding his lips over his teeth, in a half achieved attempt of his impersonation. Then he grabbed Jarred’s arm and pretended to gum his wrist for some blood. Jarred snapped his arm back and said. "Stop that, ya giant booger brain." Then he put his right foot in the air. "You know there's no blood in that arm. It's all in my big toe. Gum that for a while." They both laughed. Stephen smacked his shoe and they both started to mumble silly names at each other. Dingle Dork – The BOB smoocher - Stinkybutt's teacher pet - and a few others. The name calling never got too serious. It just wouldn't be cool to insult your best friend that way. Hey, by the way, are you sitting there waiting for me to get back to the bats? Yeah?!?............thought so.

Sandy went out with a few of the girls of "the BOB" to work on their float for the parade. Her bedroom was now open for bad boy business. Now, if the boys don't get caught making the delivery of the winged mammals, they just might get away with it. Ya see, Sandy had been complaining about the mosquitoes in her room at night, and Mr. Crow said he would fix the screen. But that was a week ago. And since then the weather had been a bit cooler for the few days past her breakfast drama display of giant mosquito bites and attack scene, so there weren't currently any skeeters to complain about. So for Mr. Crow, it was sort of an out of site out of mind type thing. Therefore, there was still a hole in the screen, and it was a perfect doorway for uh, lets say, Moe and Curly to get in if they were so inclined to enter without knocking. For shame! Bats that don't knock. What's this world coming to? Hehe.

The boys shimmied the rope from the tree house to Jarred’s room with bats in tote. If they could get in, deliver the package, and get out without being heard they might just have it made. Yet, the inevitable usually happens. Just as the cage passed the window sill, Moe and Curly got a bit anxious and started flapping around inside the cage. This then startled the boys, causing them to drop the cage, there-by making metal hitting hard wood floors just above a mother with sonic hearing of her own, and........

Mrs. Crow hollered up the stairs. "Jarred!?! Is that you and Stephen? I've told you before; I don't like you boys climbing across that rope up there. You might fall and break your head open." Now there was a pretty thought. Brains leaking out of the skull. (The boys once divided half a pound of raw hamburger to slap on top of their heads and then laid out in the back yard waiting for someone to think they were dead, but the only ones to see them were 5 or 6 flies, and me.) The boys had to think fast. "Yeah mom, it's us." Jarred answered back. "You forgot to take out the trash young man. I'd like you to take care of that now. And since you're up there you can bring down the trash from upstairs too." "Okay mom." 'Darn! Plans foiled.' Jarred thought with a scowl look on his face.

"This is perfect!" Stephen said. Jarred’s face expression quickly changed to a confused 'HUH?' "While you collect the trash, I'll deliver the package. Just drop a trash can or two, slam a door, and kinda stomp around a bit. That should be enough noise to cover up me letting the bats out." Stephen whispered, then added. "And, hopefully not getting bit." Jarred stomped in his brothers room and his mom said "stop it". Jarred dropped the can in his parents room and his mom said to "stop it". Jarred was about to close a bedroom door kind of hard, when........ "And don't go slamming any of those doors up there. Or else your fathers going to make you open and close every door in the house 20 times silently." Then she mumbled to herself, "I swear, you boys just think that the whole world is one big romper room for you to jump around in." 'It must be all moms who finish conversations with or without you.' Stephen thought to himself. "Jarred." He whispered. "Grab Sandy's trash can last."

Stephen tip toed his way into Sandy's room with the covered cage. It was dark, and that was probably best. Jarred was headed in from one of the other rooms. Stephen opened the cage door from underneath the cover, as Jarred dumped Sandy's can into the bag he was carrying. They both then backed up into the half opened doorway. Stephen handed Jarred the corner of the pillow case, and put both of his hands on the cage for support. Jarred had his other hand on the door knob ready to move. He yanked the cover off scaring Moe and Curly into a frenzy, they flew out of the cage and around the room. Stephen gently hopped back and out into the hallway, stepped quickly into Jarred’s room and tossed the now collapsed cage out the window. Jarred was now only peeking through the crack in the door way, looking around for the bats when one of them made a pass by him making him jump and slam the door closed. "Sorry, mom!" he yelled toward the stair case, and then waited. They boys giggled a second or two and then started down the stairs. Just then, startling the boys a bit, Mr. Crow passed by at the mid-landing headed up. "Slow down boys. And listen you. Slam another door young man, and you'll be on door duty for a week. Oiling, cleaning, scraping, painting, polishing brass, you name it." He said with a deep fatherly voice and a raised eyebrow and half smile looking Stephen. I think it was just for the Mrs. sake. Mr. Crow had a bad habit of closing them hard too. "Honey, I can't very well punish the boy for the same thing you yell at me for, now can I?" He once said.

It was just past 1am when the screaming was heard throughout the house. Sandy was at first a bit frantic, but then more mad then anything. It wasn't that bugs and bats and other creepy crawlers scared her, they were just gross and she didn't like em' invading her space. "DAD!" Sandy yelled. "There's a bat in my room. DAD!!! DAD!!! Daaaaaaaaaaaad!!!!" "I'm coming princess!" He said from inside his bedroom, as he put on his robe. When he opened the door, he was greeted by a seriously strange series of face expressions. His little girl was always trying to act grown up. But there was always the need for Dad sometime or another. Mr. Crow’s mind thought Sandy looked scared and sad and angry and lost and a bit more all at once. Yet this was not the time to think about his little girl changing into a woman. There was a flying rodent to deal with. Wide awake, the boys listened through Jarred’s bedroom door. They weren't sleeping in the tree house tonight. They had to be close to the action for this one. "Get me a pillow case from the hall closet sweety." Jarred and Stephen rubbed their eyes a bit to get them to look a bit sleepy, and then opened the door. "Wha what’s going on dad?" Jarred asked. "There's a bat in Sandy's room." Mr. Crow replied. "It’s that giant hole in the screen you said you’d fix daddy." Sandy added. The boys looked at each other as if to say ' A bat? Just “A” bat?' They quickly turned their attention back to the room where Mr. Crow had already made 3 failed attempts to catch Moe or Curly. It was on the 7th try that Moe got nabbed. They could tell it was him by the wound on his left ear. Then upon further inspection of the hole in the screen, Curly was found. The boys knew he was trying to escape, while 'trying to get in' was what Sandy and Mr. Crow thought.

The boys didn't hear all the screaming they thought and sort of hoped they would. And they got to release Moe and Curly outside. "Be free, my friend." Stephen said after he kissed the pillow case in a spot that he knew Curly wasn't anywhere near. Jarred opened the sun flower printed pillow case his dad handed him and simply said. "Later Moe." The boys came back inside, Sandy closed her window, everyone went to bed, and the screen got fixed the next day.

Yep, those lucky dogs got away with this one. Wait, who said that? I take offence to that statement 'Lucky Dogs'. Still, I never followed the boys back up to the cave again. When it looked like they were getting close, I would always pretend to bark at something and then make chase. I'd just catch the boys later at either the Crow or Myers houses.

The End…of this story…for now.

No animals, cast members, or writers were hurt in the production of this story.
The Cast
Jarred - played himself
Stephen - played himself (most of the time)
Henry - was a bit on the dazed and confused side but still played himself.
Moe - was played by Nelix the Bat
Larry - was played by Ginger the Bat (she's a good actress to play a dude bat)
Curly - was played by Moe the Bat. Why Moe didn't play himself is still on the debating table.

This has been a Henry the Dog production.

Flight, bite, and sonar sight…part 2 “Cage and Carry.”

Moe scratched Jarred through the collapsible cage, Larry escaped, and Curly, well Curly looked kinda comatose. Yeah, the boys named the bats. I really don't know why. I mean they named me. That I understand. I'm a dog after all. Dogs are supposed to have names. That's just the law of the jungle, you know. But bats?!? Why would you want to name such a leathery, furry, smooshed nosed flying thing-a-ma-jig. There just funny looking. They don't have a tail to wag, they can't swim, and they're just eeeeeeewwwww. So now we were down to 2 bats. I say "we" with a very loose panting tongue. Cause if........ (scratch that).........When they get caught. They almost always do. When they get caught, I'm gonna go so far as to deny even knowing that they were permanent dwellers on this planet. It's worked most of the time. I've only ever been punished with them once. And that was when they convinced me to make chase of a stray cat one afternoon, and the cat climbed up the side of Mrs. Crow. Then I, at a full on sprint, could not stop in time and knocked her down. I got pegged with the bristles of a broom, and the rake just missed me. Mrs. Crow had been taking in the sheets she had on the clothes line. So amidst the chaos the cat and the Egyptian cotton fitted sheet landed in the kiddie pool that had grass clippings swimming in it. Next, on to the slowly submerging sheets, the frantic cat’s claws seemed to catch a corner and it was dragged ten feet across the yard and into the fire pits ashes. Boy was she mad. She later checked me for injuries caused by the broom or rake. Yeah, she still loved me. It must be my puppy face that warmed her heart back from the thoughts of bleaching and scrubbing those sheets back to white.

The next morning, on the slow bike ride home, the boys stopped to show, just about every boy they could think of, their prize temporary pets. Most were amazed and thrilled at the adventure that was described. The screeching noises and beams of light flashing all around. And nets blindly flying left and right while dodging the incoming. Some were grossed out by the leathery skin, a few wanted to touch them and did, and one kid’s little brother ran screaming when Curly finally moved. Think his name was Dex. You know Dexter, Poindexter!?! Poor kid must have had nightmares for weeks. The boys laughed. I barked. The boys went 3 blocks out of their way to avoid Butch this time. He would have made them let Moe and Curly go free. But wasn't that the plan anyway? Let them go free?!? Well, in a manner of speaking.

We rounded the corner of Gruber Street, named after Clemmens Gruber, the founder of our fair town. They just passed the Post office, when the fire chief popped on his siren and radio. "Hey boys, pull over for a minute." The fire last night! Awe man! Everyone including me was ready to bolt for somewhere to hide, but then the chief said. "Got a question about the parade next month." We all just pulled over. Well, they pulled over, and I visited a small oak tree. The chief wanted to know if we would like to ride on the fire truck and toss candy to the other kids during the parade. The boys let out a silent sigh, and joyfully said "YES SIR! We'd love to." So the chief gave them some basic direction on how to toss the candy not throw it, and to wave a lot. I was doubly excited, cause the Fire house Dalmatian would be there too. She was cute, but I didn't know her name yet. A-oooooga. Ruff ruff. Howllllllllll. Okay, enough about my soon to be girl friend, back to the story.

The boys put Curly and Moe in the club house and covered the cage with an old pillow case, then went on about their daily routine. Chores, lunch, played a game or two of checkers, bloody knuckles, and several rounds of supervised slingshot target practice. The slingshots were usually under lock and key. They had to have permission to use them. Rules of the house of Crow. To much potential for danger or disaster. If you know what I mean? Of course you do. At least you should by now.

Night time came, and that meant it was time to put Moe and Curly to work................

You can feel it coming, can’t you? But hey, don't hate the dog. He's just the writer. It's the publisher that makes the following statement.

To be continued.......................