 
## A Dog of My Own

by Richard Clark

Copyright © 2017 Richard Clark

Published by Richard Clark

License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

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AFTER CHAPTER 1!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

About the Author

Connect with Richard Clark
Chapter 1

Secret Agent Gordy Sparks peered around a dark corner. He looked out at a team of technicians, hard at work in their underground missile command center. But these weren't NASA scientists, and this wasn't a government institution.

These men were under the command of the evil Dr. Velkoff, and his dream of world domination was only minutes away from coming true.

Gordy knew he was the only one who could stop Velkoff. But this wasn't going to be easy.

After all, Gordy was just 12 years old.

Dr. Velkoff rubbed his boney hands together with sinister glee. "The time has come, gentlemen, to start the countdown."

One of Velkoff's men turned a key on his console, and a flashing button emerged. Dr. Velkoff pushed the button, relishing the moment he had so long waited for. A computer voice echoed throughout the cavernous room: "Two minutes until missile launch. One minute and 59 seconds. One minute and 58 seconds..."

Gordy crept out into the open. Taking a deep breath, he jumped over a railing and kicked Dr. Velkoff to the floor! OOF! Then, before any of Velkoff's men could react, Gordy picked up a desk chair and smashed the main instrument console.

The computer countdown stopped.

Velkoff wiped some blood off his lip and looked up at Gordy with disdain. "Get him!"

Four of Velkoff's henchmen jumped up and attacked Gordy – but Gordy wasn't your average 12-year-old spy. With a roundhouse kick, he knocked the first guy down, then he came around with an uppercut punch to the next. Two down, two to go. He felled the third guy with an arm twist and a flip... but the fourth man clocked Gordy over the head, and hard.

Gordy went down, and the men grabbed him.

Dr. Velkoff got up from the floor, smiling. "Gordy Sparks," he hissed.

" _You'll never get away with this, Velkoff!" snapped Gordy._

Velkoff hit another button, and the countdown started up again: "One minute and 47 seconds..."

The evil doctor chortled, "No one can stop me now, Agent Spar-"

"JONAS!"

11-year-old Jonas Ridley turned to see his mother, Mary, standing at their front door. Through the glass, he could see her arms full of groceries.

"Can you get the door for me?" she pleaded, about to drop her heavy load. Jonas paused the movie and jumped up to open the door for his mother. "Are you watching _Canine Commando_ again?" Mary asked as she rushed in and plunked the grocery bags down on the kitchen counter.

"It's my favorite movie!" said Jonas as he rushed back to the couch and started it up again, rewinding a bit to catch the part that he missed.

" _No one can stop me now, Agent Sparks!"_

But Gordy just smiled a little half-smile. "You sure about that?"

Velkoff's arrogance showed a small crack. What was Gordy getting at?

Unseen by Velkoff, high above a small dog crept along a thin steel beam. He looked just like any average Rat Terrier – short-haired, big ears, compact body. But this little dog was different. He was Rascal the Canine Commando! Rascal moved in on Velkoff, quietly jumping from beam to beam and swinging from cables with his teeth.

Down below, Dr. Velkoff thought he heard something. He looked up. What was that?

Up above, Rascal froze, hiding behind a strut.

The computer voice continued to count down: "...One minute and one second. One minute. 59 seconds..."

Velkoff turned his attention back to Gordy. "Only one minute until launch."

Gordy smiled again. "That's seven minutes in dog years."

Suddenly, Dr. Velkoff started to suspect what was going on. "Huh?"

SNARL! Rascal jumped down from above, biting the man holding Gordy and knocking him to the ground. Gordy was free! Then Rascal leapt up and knocked Velkoff back. Velkoff slammed against a rack of monitors.

Gordy called out, "Rascal, the failsafe button!"

" _Get them!!!" cried Velkoff._

"Get them!!!" cried Jonas too, in his best Dr. Velkoff voice.

Jonas watched as Rascal fought off one henchman after another, tripping one, knocking over another, biting yet another.

"Way to go, Rascal!" Jonas cheered.

On screen, Gordy broke free of the men and struggled with Velkoff. And having finished off the henchmen, Rascal jumped up onto the control panel.

"Ten seconds, nine seconds..." Jonas spoke along with the computer as it continued to count down to launch. Then he spoke Velkoff's lines: "There are four failsafe buttons which must be pushed all at once! Only two men can do that!" Jonas laughed evilly like Dr. Velkoff.

On screen, Rascal looked at four blinking buttons arranged in a two-foot square formation. "Or one dog," said Gordy and Jonas together, each cracking a smile. Gordy turned to Rascal. "Rascal, JUMP!" cried both boys.

Rascal jumped up and landed with his legs spread to push all the buttons at once, one with each paw!

The computer and Jonas said, "One sec-" – It cut itself off. Then the computer and Jonas announced, "Launch aborted. Have a nice day."

The music swelled in the movie as federal agents burst into the room and grabbed all the henchmen. Then Gordy turned to Velkoff and punched him right in the face! Jonas punched into the air, but his punch grazed a lamp which _crashed_ to the floor!

"Oops!" Jonas stared at the ruined lamp.

Mary looked over from the kitchen. "Jonas!"

"Sorry, Mom!"

On screen, Velkoff fell to the floor, unconscious. Then Rascal ran and jumped into Gordy's arms. ARF!

Jonas grabbed a pillow and held it the way Gordy held the dog. "Rascal, you rascal!" said both boys.

As the movie's music played over the end credits, Mary came over to look at the broken lamp. Clearly weary from her long day, she blew some hair out of her eyes.

Jonas knew he was in trouble. "I'll pay for it, Mom."

"With what? Your dog-walking money?" Mary shook her head.

"How much did it cost?"

Mary took a deep breath. "Don't worry about it," she sighed. "Sometimes there's an upside to not being able to afford anything nice." Mary Ridley was like a lot of mid-thirties parents. In her early twenties, she'd finished college with honors and dove into the working world with loads of enthusiasm. But what followed were years of struggle for both her and Jonas's dad, especially after Jonas arrived, and those years were written on her pretty face.

Jonas suddenly remembered something and glanced at his watch. "Oh! I'm late!" He grabbed his coat and darted out the door.

Mary watched him go, then turned back to the TV. On screen, the credits ended with "Coming Next Summer: _Canine Commando II."_ Mary smirked. "And I know just who'll be first in line."
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Chapter 2

On this blustery winter day, eight barking dogs dragged Jonas along the sidewalk, four pulling him this way, four pulling him that way. "Whoa! Heel! Heel!" They were quite a handful for Jonas, a medium-height wiry kid with a tousled head of wispy hair, but he always found it fun. Sure, there were the not-so-fun parts, like just now when he had to stop and scoop up some poop with a small bag over his hand. But he expertly reversed the bag, tied it and tossed it into a big, heavy bag weighted down with more poop.

THUMP! At the dog park, Jonas tossed the big bag of poop into a metal garbage can and let the dogs' leashes go. They all took off and ran giddily around the large fenced area.

Jonas picked up an old tennis ball and chucked it as far as he could. A big dog ran after it. "Go get it, Speckles!" Jonas called out. He found another ball and threw it as well. "Barney! Heads up!" An older dog ran after the second ball just as Speckles ran up with the first. Jonas crouched down and gave the dog a big hug. "Good boy! Good boy..."

Jonas threw the ball again and wandered around with all the dogs, having a blast. This was where he truly felt at home. Ever since he was a toddler, he loved to play with dogs. Being an only child, he would always be on the lookout for a dog to befriend. And no matter what dog he found, they always seemed happy to see him.

Sure, Jonas understood that his parents didn't want to deal with the cost and trouble of taking care of a dog, but he still regretted not being able to have one of his own.

Later, as the sun started to set, Jonas dropped off his last dog at the front door of a nice home. The dog's owner, a lady wearing a business suit, took the leash. "Thanks, Jonas. See you tomorrow," she said with a warm smile.

Jonas pet the panting dog. "See you tomorrow, Max."

Max barked happily as his owner closed the door.

Now Jonas was alone again, and lonely too. He pondered the sudden silence as he slowly walked home.

Mary was busily making dinner as Jonas stepped back into the house. She looked up. "Wash your hands before –"

"– touching anything, I know, I know," Jonas said, finishing her sentence.

"And check your shoes," Mary continued. "I refuse to believe you missed every bomb those animals dropped."

Jonas kicked off his shoes and headed into the kitchen to wash his hands. He had something on his mind and was hesitant to bring it up. "Mom..."

"Yeah? Honey, can you hand me the cutting board?"

Jonas handed her a wooden cutting board, and she started chopping vegetables. "Mom... I know I've asked you this before..."

"If this is the dog thing..." Mary said, sighing.

"We can get it from the pound. It'll be free! You don't have to get me anything else for Christmas."

"Dog food isn't free. Vet bills aren't free. Just getting an animal fixed costs over 200 dollars."

As Mary went on, Jonas's dad, Dean, came in through the front door, just home from work. Tall and strong, Dean nevertheless had a noticeable stoop, his shoulders slumping forward from his long day and generally tough work life.

"Then there's the smell, the fleas..." Mary continued.

"I'll get a new flea collar, I promise," joked Dean as he tossed down his satchel and car keys, but Mary wasn't in the mood to laugh.

Jonas rushed up to Dean as his dad took off his coat. "Dad, you know I'll keep him clean! And if there are any vet bills, I'll pay them!"

"Look, you know how your mother feels about –"

"How _I_ feel?" Mary shot Dean a look.

"How _we_ feel about this," Dean corrected himself. "You've got your dog-walking job, Jonas. Don't you get enough dog time there?"

"It's not the same as having your own," Jonas said, sulking as he sat down at the kitchen table.

Jonas's parents felt bad every time they had to tell Jonas he couldn't have a dog. But their jobs just didn't pay enough for them to be hit with unexpected costs like a middle-of-the-night visit to the vet. Dean was a freelance graphic designer, and Mary worked in the photo processing department at the local Walmart. And as much as they tried to get a little bit ahead with their careers, they could never seem to do much more than just scrape by.

A glum Jonas sat at the kitchen table, fiddling with the day's mail. There he noticed some opened letters including a personalized Christmas card from Mary's cousin, Chantel. The card had a photo of her family and their dog on the front. "Your cousin has a dog," Jonas said defiantly to Mary.

Mary took a deep breath. "My cousin Chantel has a lot of things we don't have... and she tells me all about them every year in those stupid Christmas letters."

Dean walked over and glanced at a printed letter next to the card. "Where'd they jet off to last summer?"

Mary sat down next to Jonas. "I'm sorry, Jonas. A dog is just another complication we don't have time for and can't afford."

Jonas decided to give up. Sad, he pulled one of the old tennis balls from the dog park out of his pocket. He looked at it for a moment then tossed it over by his shoes at the door.
Chapter 3

RRRING! As the morning school bell went off, Jonas sat down in the back row of his busy English classroom. The other students happily chatted together, but Jonas's mind was elsewhere.

"...So they had to put him down. Trisha was devastated," said a girl to her friend, both sitting across from Jonas. This caught Jonas's attention, and he tried to listen in.

"Her dog was 17?" asked the friend.

"This kid on my street, his Lab died when he was 13," the first girl said. "That's... something in dog years."

His heart sinking, Jonas joined the conversation uninvited. "91."

"Huh?" The first girl turned to Jonas, a little annoyed.

Jonas suddenly regretted interrupting their conversation. A little embarrassed, he said, "It's 91. In dog years."

The girl shrugged off Jonas. "Whatever." She turned back to her friend. "Anyway, they say losing your dog is like losing a child."

Jonas thought about this and withdrew even more to himself.

Later at the dog park, Jonas was deep in thought as he watched his canine charges run about and do their business. One dog, a cute Pomeranian, ran up and dropped a tennis ball at Jonas's feet. Jonas picked it up and threw it, but the dogs didn't cheer him up today as they had yesterday.
Chapter 4

Jonas returned home to find his mother on her computer checking her email. "Hi, honey," she said, not looking up from her computer.

A subdued Jonas took off his coat and shoes and shuffled to the kitchen sink. "I'll wash my hands." His dreams of owning a dog shot down again, he wasn't sure what to feel anymore.

But Mary didn't notice. She was too involved in an email she just started reading. "Oh... oh no. No. No."

Then Dean came downstairs holding a newspaper. "'No' what?"

Mary tried to change her tune and put on a fake smile. "Uh... it's Chantel. She's coming out with her family for Christmas."

"That's cool," said Dean. "How long has it been since you've seen her?"

Mary thinks and shakes her head in disbelief. "Oh gosh, maybe 15 years."

Jonas perked up. "Are they bringing their dog?!"

"I don't know, honey," replied Mary, distracted.

"So what's with the 'No no'?" Dean asked.

Mary tried to come up with an explanation, but she wasn't very convincing: "It's just... you know, the hassle, all those guests for Christmas dinner."

Dean furrowed his brow. "It is a little weird, her inviting herself over." He leaned over Mary's shoulder and read part of the email himself: "'...want to see your lovely family and fabulous home.' Fabulous home? She's in for a big surprise," Dean chuckled.

Mary laughed nervously. "Yeah... heh. Let's read this later." She moved to close the email, but Dean looked closer at the screen and stopped her.

"Hold on," Dean said, reading some more. "'...see Jonas and his cute little dog?' We don't have a dog."

"She's just... confused..."

"I have a dog??" Jonas wondered.

"Where'd she get the idea Jonas had a dog?" asked Dean.

Finally, all the questions caused Mary's front to break. "Because I told her, okay?!" Jonas and Dean stared at Mary, bewildered. Deflated, she confessed. "Just like I told her about our fabulous home... and your incredible job," she said, nodding to Dean.

"Huh?" Dean said, truly lost now. "When did you tell her all this?"

"In our yearly Christmas letter."

Jonas squinted, thinking. "We don't have a yearly Christmas letter."

Dean nodded. "Yeah. We hate those things."

Mary paused, trying to gather her strength. "Well... now you can hate this one." She pulled out a Christmas letter on fancy stationery from deep in her computer desk drawer, and she handed it to Dean.

Confused, Dean started to read it. "'Dean got a promotion'? I wish. 'We redecorated the whole house'? What??" Then his face went white as he realized something. "Wait – how long have you been writing these letters?"

"For about... ten years," Mary replied, squeaking out the words with difficulty.

"You've been sending Chantel phony Christmas letters for ten years?" Dean said, stunned.

Now Jonas took the letter and read it. "'Jonas is at the top of his class at Phillips Academy'??"

Dean's jaw dropped. "We can't afford to _drive by_ that place, let alone send Jonas there."

Mary stood up, getting defensive. "Look, Chantel has always been trying to best me, even when we were kids. I just couldn't stand her bragging letters every Christmas. I had to fight back."

Jonas then noticed something else in the computer desk drawer. He pulled out a fancy Christmas card, and on the front was a photo of him and his parents standing in front of a big, gorgeous house. And standing next to Jonas was a dog! "Mom..."

Dean looked at the photo too. "Oh no. You didn't."

A beaten down Mary sat down on the couch. "I sit there at the photo lab every day, photoshopping everybody's perfect vacations and beautiful homes. I just wanted to see what we'd look like with nice stuff. Then I figured, why not make that our Christmas portrait?"

Jonas looked closer at the photo. "That dog looks just like Rascal from _Canine Commando_!"

"It probably is," Mary said with a shrug. "I pulled the photo from the internet."

A concerned Dean sat down next to Mary. "Mary... aren't you happy with our life?"

Mary turned to Dean. "Of course I am. I just did this for Chantel."

"Well... I guess she's going to see the truth now."

Mary buried her head in her hands. "She can't. I can't face it."

"You're going to ask her not to come? Just 'cause of this?"

Mary slowly looked up, her eyes brightening as she got an idea. "No. We can do it. We can pull it off."

"Pull what off?" Jonas asked.

Mary got up again and paced, thinking. "We'll... we'll rent a house, just like the one in the photo."

"What??" Dean didn't like where this was going.

"I read about it," Mary continued. "They've got these houses for lease, fully furnished, for executives who have to move a lot. We just need one for two weeks, Christmas vacation. Chantel will come visit, see our beautiful life, then when she leaves, we'll move back here!"

Dean rubbed his temples. "That's insane." But Jonas was starting to smile. This sounded kind of cool!

"It'll be easy!" Mary insisted. "I can't have her find out I've been lying to her all these years. I can't!"

"So you want us all to lie _in person_ to her and her family for two whole weeks?!" asked Dean, exasperated.

"Wait a minute," said Jonas. "What about the dog?"

Mary rolled her head back, realizing. "We have to get a dog."

Jonas's eyes popped open wide. "I'm getting a dog?!"

"Just for two weeks," Mary said.

Dean wondered, "You're going to _rent_ a dog?"

Mary nodded. "Why not? They do it for movies, for commercials."

Jonas jumped up and down, elated. "I'm getting a dog! I'm getting a dog!"

"Yeah, and then you'll have to give it back!" Dean said. He turned to Mary. "Don't you see? That's going to break his heart!" He turned back to Jonas. "Jonas, you don't want to do this."

"Yes I do! Yes I do!" Jonas insisted. Now it was Dean's turn to bury his head in his hands as Jonas kept jumping up and down. "I'm getting a dog! I'm finally getting a dog!" Jonas didn't care how crazy his mother's scheme was. He just cared about one thing: After years of hoping...

He was finally getting a dog!
Chapter 5

The next few days were a jumble of activity. Mary dragged Jonas and Dean all over town looking for the perfect rental house, but nothing quite matched the house in her faked Christmas photo. Dean suggested they give up, but Mary insisted on carrying out her plan.

"When're we going to get a dog?" pleaded Jonas.

"Later, Jonas, later," Mary said.

Mary also bought Jonas new clothes, got herself a new hairstyle, and made Dean get a haircut too. (He wasn't very happy about it.)

They eventually found just the right house. It was big and beautiful, with Grecian columns at the front. Mary was so excited. Dean reminded her they'd be just renting it for two weeks, but she said, "Hey, we might as well have fun doing it!"

Finally, Mary took Jonas to find a dog. They drove up to an industrial building with a big sign out front reading: "Talented Pets". Jonas wondered, "This doesn't look like a pet store."

Mary and Jonas walked inside and looked around. The place was full of all kinds of animals – dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, even a llama! Jonas was thrilled. It was like his own private petting zoo!

The owner of Talented Pets, Lyle Reese, greeted them, saying, "I've got just the dog for you!" He led them to a cage where a panting Cocker Spaniel wagged his tail.

Jonas stuck his fingers into the cage, allowing the dog to lick them. "He's perfect!" said Jonas.

But Mary shook her head. "No, he needs to look like the dog in this photo." She showed Lyle the fake Christmas card.

Lyle recognized the dog right away. "That's Rascal. Did you photoshop this?"

Mary blushed a little. "Well... maybe we could rent Rascal?"

Jonas's eyes popped open wide. "Really?!"

"No, not really," deadpanned Lyle. "You're talking about a highly trained movie dog. You couldn't afford him. Besides, he's busy with a test shoot all this week, starting tomorrow." Then he gestured to a row of dogs in cages. "Look, these animals are movie dogs too but happen to be available for a few weeks. I'll give you a cut rate 'cause it's the slow season. How about Whiskers here?"

Mary looked at Whiskers, a Scottie, and shook her head, dejected. "I don't think so." She took Jonas's hand and started to head out. "Thanks for your time."

Jonas was truly sad as they left this warehouse full of so many wonderful animals.
Chapter 6

The next day, halfway across town, a busy movie crew worked hard to shoot some test shots for _Canine Commando II_. The star of the movie was, of course, Rascal the dog himself. Rascal sat obediently on the set of Gordy Sparks's bedroom while the director, Matt Brayden, crouched next to the camera. The camera was at dog-height on the floor, shooting a close shot of Rascal, and next to Matt and the cameraman knelt Lyle Reese.

From behind the camera, Lyle gave Rascal hand signals and voice commands. "Okay, Rascal, head turn. That's right."

Rascal tilted his head sideways in a 'lovable dog' sort of way. "Good boy!" said Lyle.

"Cut!" cried Matt.

Lyle tossed Rascal a treat as the crew started to move about the set. "Perfect!"

"Not perfect," said Matt.

"What do you mean?" asked Lyle. "That's real emotion. That's love! Add a whimper in post, intercut it with Jett's big Gordy Sparks smile, there won't be a dry eye in the house!"

The two men stood up as Matt tried to explain. "Look, the dog can do stunts like Jackie Chan, but he can't emote. I want _Canine Commando II_ to have heart, not just action. The dog doesn't know how to love his kid master 'cause he's never really had one."

"So we'll bunk him at Jett's place," offered Lyle. "Let the two really bond with each other."

Matt shook his head. "Can't. Jett's in Vancouver shooting Undercover Teacher. Besides, he doesn't like dogs. We've gotta give Rascal some real life experience as a... well, as a dog! And we gotta do it before we start principal photography in ninety days."

"Real life experience?" asked Lyle, wondering. Then he started to smile. "I think I can work that out."
Chapter 7

Their car packed with luggage, Dean, Mary and Jonas pulled into the driveway of their new rental home. Jonas looked up excitedly at the stately house. "We're gonna live here?!"

"For two weeks, so don't get used to it," Dean said as they all got out of the car.

Mary shook her head. "Correction: Get used to it right away. We've got to pretend that we've lived here for ten years."

Inside, the three dumped their luggage onto the marble-tiled floor of the foyer. They looked around in awe, seeing into the living room, dining room and kitchen from here. The place was spotless and fully furnished with high-end furniture.

"Wow!" exclaimed Jonas.

Dean was less impressed. "How... homey."

They wandered into the cavernous living room, and in the corner stood a _huge_ Christmas tree, fully decorated. "Wow!" Jonas repeated.

Dean could hardly believe his eyes too. "How did...?"

Mary tried to play it down. "It came with the house. Let's see the backyard!"

They headed out the back door to the perfectly manicured backyard – big lawn, gazebo with patio furniture, even a pool. "A pool!" said Jonas, the place continuing to amaze him.

"Don't get too excited," warned Dean. "No way we're heating that thing in December."

Mary smiled at Jonas. "But there is something you _can_ get excited about."

"Huh?" Jonas said.

Mary called in the direction of a cute little doghouse just beyond the gazebo. "Rascal! Come!" And then Rascal, the Canine Commando himself, ran out of the doghouse and right up to Jonas! He sat up and barked in a trained-dog sort of way.

Jonas just about fainted. "Is that... Rascal?!"

"His trainer changed his mind," said Mary. "And we got him for next to nothing!"

"Rascal!" shouted Jonas as he crouched down and gave the dog a huge hug. "It's really you! The real Canine Commando!" Rascal seemed oddly non-responsive, however, as if waiting for his next command. But Jonas didn't notice. He was too excited. "We're going to have so much fun together!"

Dean whispered to Mary. "Doesn't look like that dog knows _how_ to have fun."

"He's just nervous in his new surroundings," Mary said.

Jonas ran deeper into the yard. "Rascal, come!" Rascal followed obediently.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Dean asked Mary.

"You kidding? They love each other!" Mary looked relieved as Jonas and Rascal played in the yard.

But Dean just shook his head, still wondering.
Chapter 8

Jonas immediately took Rascal to a nearby park. He chucked a frisbee, and the dog jumped high and snatched it in mid-air, bringing it back obediently and dropping it at Jonas's feet. Jonas threw it again and again, having so much fun that he didn't notice Rascal wasn't having much fun himself. The dog was merely responding to years of training.

Jonas noticed another dog chasing a squirrel. Knowing that Rascal would want to join in on the fun, he egged him on, "Go get him, Rascal! Go boy!" But Rascal just stood quietly by Jonas and watched the other dog. Jonas looked from one dog to the other, realizing that something was a little off about Rascal.

Later, Jonas walked alongside a creek with Rascal. Across the creek, another boy and his dog played, the dog diving into the creek, making a big mess of himself. Jonas motioned for Rascal to play in the creek too. "Go on, boy! Have some fun! Go on!" Rascal didn't respond, so Jonas tossed the frisbee over the creek, and Rascal ran for it. He got all wet catching the frisbee and bringing it back. But then, as if just now realizing this was fun, he dove back into the water and splashed about playfully.

Jonas smiled, happy that Rascal was finally starting to loosen up.

When they eventually headed home, Rascal seemed more like a normal dog now, sticking his nose into everything on the path. And when they showed up at the front door of the rental house, Rascal was a mess! Mary insisted that Jonas wash the dog before he be allowed inside, and Jonas was only too happy to oblige. He found a big tub and washed Rascal in the backyard. Rascal had a blast here too, lapping comically at the hose as it sprayed him clean.

That night, both boy and dog slept soundly, exhausted from an amazing day of play. Rascal snoozed right next to Jonas on his bed, Jonas's hand resting lovingly on the dog's back.
Chapter 9

"Wake up! It's 8:00 o'clock!"

Jonas and Rascal peeled their eyes open, awakened by the very nervous Mary as she swiped the drapes open, blasting the room with sunlight. "Up, up! They're going to be here soon, and we've got to get the place ready!" Mary noticed the dog on Jonas's bed. "And I told you to keep the dog off the bed! Remember, everything's rented, including the linens!" Mary scooted Rascal off the bed as Jonas sat up.

"But I just washed him yesterday," Jonas protested.

But Mary was too frazzled to hear him. "Now get dressed in that new outfit I bought you. Oh, and wear this." From Jonas's closet, Mary produced a crested blazer and handed it to Jonas. The crest read: 'Phillips Academy'.

"Phillips Academy? How'd you get that?"

"Goodwill. And keep dog hair off it!"

Mary rushed out in the same whirlwind she came in on.

Downstairs, Mary rushed to finish some dusting and put family photo frames on the living room fireplace mantle. Dean fiddled with his hair in a front hallway mirror. "Why'd I need a new haircut? I wasn't exactly a slob before."

A flustered Mary just kept on cleaning and setting things up. "Did you set up your home office?" she asked Dean.

"Yes, I set up my 'home office'."

"Does it look lived-in but elegant?"

"Yes, it looks lived-in but elegant."

Then something caught Mary's eye out the front window. She looked outside. "They're here!" Mary called upstairs, "Jonas!"

An uncomfortable Jonas appeared on the upstairs landing. He looked totally ridiculous in his new clothes and crested blazer. Rascal followed as Jonas shuffled downstairs.

"You look wonderful!" Mary enthused as she fussed with Jonas's hair. "But you never comb your hair."

DING-DONG! The doorbell rang. Mary took a few breaths and tried to calm down. Dean shook his head. "Mary, you're going to give yourself a stroke."

"Okay, everybody act natural," Mary ordered. "We've lived here for years. We have great jobs and lots of money. Jonas has a dog." Finally, Mary opened the door with a big, phony smile. "Chantel!"

Out on the stoop stood Chantel Doherty, her husband Roy, and her daughter Chloe, 12. Chantel was a true upper-middle-class housewife, with the casual yet perfect hairdo and outfit to match. Roy was a happy, relaxed guy, looking like Chantel dressed him. And Chloe had a real preppy look, from her simple, straight hairstyle down to her penny loafers.

"Mary!" Chantel chimed. She rushed inside, and the two women hugged. Roy and Chloe joined them, and they put down their bags. "You look incredible!" Chantel insisted.

"Me? _You_ look amazing!" Mary responded. "How long has it been?"

Chantel thought a moment. "Fifteen years, and it hardly shows!" She touched her own face. "We Benson girls are lucky that way."

Mary joined Chantel in a forced laugh. Then Mary turned to Roy as he extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Roy."

Mary shook his hand. "Roy! So nice to meet you." Mary turned to Chloe. "And you must be Chloe!"

Chloe is polite but disinterested. "Hi."

"You're prettier than your pictures!" said Mary.

"Thanks."

Finally, Mary turned to her own family. "And this is Dean, Jonas and Rosco."

"Rascal," Jonas corrected her.

"Rascal!" Mary laughed nervously as Dean and Jonas shook hands all around. And seeing all the hand-shaking, Rascal put his paw up to shake too! Everybody laughed.

"Now that's a well-trained dog!" said Chantel.

Chloe crouched down with a smile and shook Rascal's paw. "Nice to meet you, Rascal." But then she gave Rascal a curious look. "Wait... are you the Rascal from that movie?"

Almost too quick, Mary corrected her. "Nope! Just a normal dog! Pedigree, of course."

Jonas spoke up, "Uh... we named him Rascal 'cause he looks so much like the Canine Commando dog."

Chloe nodded, still suspicious, and stood back up.

Chantel walked deeper into the house. "So let's see the place!" The others followed her into the large living room. "Your place is lovely. It's so cozy!"

Mary suppressed a cringe. "Thank you. We like it."

Then Chantel noticed the massive Christmas tree. "And what a tree! It's almost as big as ours!"

Mary's fake smile was ready to crack. "We always love a big Christmas tree, don't we, Dean?"

"You betcha," Dean replied with a fake smile of his own.

The adults headed outside, and Jonas, Chloe and Rascal followed. "Um, don't you guys have a dog?" Jonas asked Chloe.

"She stays with my grandmother when we travel," Chloe said. "This place is nice. You wouldn't know you had a dog."

"Thanks. As your mom said, he's very well-trained!" Jonas said with a nervous laugh.

Out back, Rascal ran about playfully as Chantel admired the yard. "Your magnolia must be lovely in the spring," she said to Mary.

"Oh, it is," said Mary, wondering which tree was the magnolia.

"We have five in our front yard alone," Chantel added.

Mary was almost developing a tic by now with all her suppressed cringes.

Jonas and Chloe walked deeper into the yard with Rascal. "He do any tricks?" Chloe asked.

"A few," Jonas said, trying to hold back a smile.

Chloe crouched down to face Rascal. "Sit, Rascal." Rascal sat on command. "Good boy. Now roll over." Chloe moved her hand in a circle in a roll-over motion. Rascal immediately rolled over... but he kept on going, over and over. Then he stopped and shuffled along the ground like a spy sneaking under a laser alarm! Next, he jumped up onto the patio table and grabbed a wooden pepper mill in his teeth, jumped back down, shuffled along the grass again, rolled back to Chloe and presented it to her!

Chloe was speechless. Mary and the other adults watched in stunned silence too.

But Jonas was thrilled. "Wow! That was like the scene from –" He stopped himself, realizing. "– from, uh, last summer when we were playing capture the flag at the park! Rascal's so clever!" Jonas pet Rascal as the others just looked at the dog, amazed.

Mary tried to hide her nervousness, but she now realized that having the real Rascal here was going to make it even harder to keep her ruse going.
Chapter 10

That night, Mary worked hard to serve up a big roast dinner for her guests. Rascal sat at Jonas's feet, staring hungrily at the roast but too well-trained to beg.

"Mary, you didn't have to make a fancy dinner for us," said Chantel.

"Fancy? This is nothing," Mary said, still putting on her show. "Besides, we hardly ever have anybody... uh, I mean, we always have lots of people over! We love to entertain – that's what a house like this is for – but usually we just get catering, you know."

Chloe took a small piece of meat from her plate and quietly offered it to Rascal. "Here boy." But Rascal didn't take it, though he clearly wanted to. "He _is_ well-trained."

"Chloe, not at the table," said Chantel, then she turned to the others, "though I couldn't help sneaking our dog Brucey snacks when I was a kid."

Mary's eyes lit up. "I remember Brucey!" But Mary's happy memory quickly soured. "My mother never let me have a dog."

Jonas looked up at his mother, surprised. He never knew this about her.

"How old is Rascal?" asked Roy.

Jonas, Mary and Dean all found themselves at a loss. "Uh..." Dean searched for an answer.

"He's, uh..." Mary tried too.

"Three. I think," said Jonas.

"He was a stray, so we're not quite sure," added Dean.

Chantel was confused. "But I thought you said he was pedigree. Doesn't he have papers?"

"We usually just take him outside," said Jonas.

The adults laughed, and Jonas looked confused.

Mary tried to hide her embarrassment. "What Chantel means is pedigree papers, dear." She turned back to Chantel. "No, no papers. The vet said he was probably purebred. But we love him just the same." Eager to change the subject, Mary held up a wine bottle. "More wine, anyone?"

Jonas looked down at Rascal and offered him a small scrap of meat. "Come on. It's okay, boy." This time, the dog relaxed and happily gobbled it up.
Chapter 11

"Whoa! Heel! Heel!" The next day, Jonas was dragged along as usual on his dog-walking route. But this time he was joined by Chloe who held Rascal on his own leash.

"You do this every day?" Chloe asked.

"Pretty much," said Jonas. "It's a good job – if you don't mind... you know..." Jonas smiled a pained smile as he slipped a bag over his hand and picked up a 'deposit' made by one of the dogs, then tossed it into the big poop bag.

Chloe shook her head. "I'm used to only one dog... and I usually just leave it," she said, a little ashamed.

Just then, the dogs spotted a cat just ahead, and they all started barking madly. Then the cat took off, and one of the dogs got loose and started chasing it! Jonas lurched for the leash, but the dog was too fast. "Charlie! Stop!" He tried to run after Charlie, but the other dogs held him back.

Suddenly, Rascal pulled loose from Chloe and sprinted after Charlie. "Hey!" called Chloe, but now Rascal was gone too.

Rascal and Charlie dashed down the sidewalk fast, almost tripping people right and left. Suddenly, Charlie ran out into the street after the cat, straight into the path of an oncoming car! And Rascal was right behind him! But just in time, Rascal grabbed Charlie's leash with his teeth and yanked Charlie back to safety!

The car zoomed past, barely missing Charlie and Rascal.

Jonas and Chloe finally caught up with the two dogs. Jonas grabbed both leashes and held on tight. Chloe was amazed. "Did you see that?!"

Jonas pet Rascal and held him close. "Good boy!"

Chloe pointed at Rascal. "He just pulled that dog back! He's like... a wonder-dog or something!"

Jonas tried to play things down, but he was once again amazed by this little dog. "Oh, he's just good old Rascal." He ruffled Rascal's fur. "Aren't you, boy?" Then he turned to Charlie. "Charlie, you've gotta learn to stay away from those cats."

But Chloe continued to stare at Rascal, now more suspicious than ever.

Over the next few days, Chloe kept a close eye on Jonas and Rascal. One afternoon, she spied them playing in the backyard. Jonas placed a doggy treat in the crook of a tree, well above Rascal's reach. Chloe watched in amazement as Rascal nudged a patio chair up to the tree, jumped onto the chair then onto the tree to retrieve the treat. Chloe shook her head – no normal dog could do that!

That night in her guest room, Chloe pet Rascal while watching _Canine Commando_ on her iPad. She looked closely at Rascal, then back at the movie. This had to be the same dog!
Chapter 12

On Christmas morning, the two families opened presents under the huge Christmas tree. Jonas found a big present with Rascal's name on it. "Look, Rascal, this one's for you!" He read the tag, "From the Doherty family." Jonas looked up at Chantel, Roy and Chloe. "Thanks guys!" He ripped off the wrapping, revealing a cute little dog bed with 'Rascal' written across the top.

"Wow! This is great!" He turned to Rascal. "It's your own bed, boy!" Rascal climbed right onto the bed and curled up.

Everyone reacted with a big "Awww..."

"Here's hoping he'll use it for a long long time," said Chantel.

Jonas tried to hide his sadness. "Here's hoping."

Mary spotted Jonas's reaction and couldn't help feeling guilty.

Christmas dinner was an amazing feast of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Rascal really had to call upon his training to keep from jumping up onto the table and gobbling up it all!

Mary took a big bite of pie and sat back, taking a deep breath. "I can't believe Christmas is almost over. This has been so much fun."

"It has, hasn't it?" Dean said, surprised by his own sincerity.

Jonas gave Rascal a bite of turkey. He glanced at Mary while doing it, and he noticed she spotted him. "Oh, go ahead," Mary said. "We've got enough turkey to go around." She looked at the huge turkey, only half-eaten. "In fact, we've got enough to send you guys home with turkey sandwiches for a month," she said to the Dohertys.

Chantel gave Roy a sly look. "Oh, that won't be necessary."

"I was just kidding," Mary smiled.

"I wasn't," said Chantel, "because we're moving right around the corner next week!"

Mary and Dean nearly spit out their mouthfuls of food. Dean coughed into his napkin, "Excuse me?"

Mary tried to mask her horror with phony cheer. "You're moving here?!"

"You know how Roy gets transferred all the time," Chantel explained. "Before we came, he heard it might happen, but he found out for sure yesterday that he's being transferred here! Isn't that wonderful? We'll be together all the time!" Chantel grabbed Mary's hand, and they giggled like girls, hardly able to contain their glee – which in Mary's case was actually barely disguised panic.
Chapter 13

Dean paced back and forth in the rental house's fancy master bedroom. Trying to keep his voice down, he pleaded to Mary, "No, no, you have to tell her! We can't keep up this false front forever! We can't afford it!"

Mary sat at the foot of their bed, biting her nails. "But Roy said it was a temporary building project. Once it's done, they'll move again!"

"Or maybe not!" Dean shot back. "They could be here for years! So let's get this over with now. Tomorrow morning we tell them everything."

"I can't!" Mary said, almost in pain. "It'll destroy me. I'll never be able to look Chantel in the face again."

"So what? You don't like her much anyway."

"That's the point," Mary explained. "If I liked her, I could tell her, and she'd understand. But I know her. She'll rub it in. Not openly, but she'll make me feel like I did when we were kids."

The door opened, and Dean and Mary quickly put on phony smiles. But it was only Jonas and Rascal. Mary sighed as Jonas and the dog came in and closed the door behind them.

Dean appealed to his son, "Jonas, please tell your mother you think it's crazy to go on renting this house."

"This house? It's great!" Jonas said.

"Yeah, but we can't afford to live here permanently! I say we just tell the Dohertys it was all a joke. We move back into our house –"

"– and give up Rascal, right?" Jonas looked sadly down at Rascal. The dog looked up wagging his tail, clueless as to what was going on.

"Uh... yeah," said Dean. "He's not really your dog, buddy."

"But if we stay here, we can keep him – for a while longer, anyway? Right?"

"I... guess. But..." Dean trailed off, seeing the way that Jonas was looking at Rascal.

"Then let's stay!" Jonas cheered.

Dean rubbed his eyes. "Oh boy..."

Mary turned to Jonas. "But you know what this also means?" She picked up Jonas's Phillips Academy blazer from a pile of plastic-wrapped dry cleaning on the bed. "You're going to Phillips Academy."

Jonas turned white. "I AM?!"
Chapter 14

RRRING!!! The Phillips Academy morning bell went off. A crowd of uniformed students rushed into the stately old building from a long line of fancy SUV's parked along the school's tree-lined driveway.

Inside, wearing his school blazer, a shy Jonas kept his head low as he walked down the hall looking for his locker. All around him, students in identical blazers jostled and kidded each other as they got their books and headed to class. Jonas felt alone in the raucous crowd.

Then, just as Jonas was opening his locker, someone grabbed his arm. Jonas _gasped_ – but it was only Chloe. "I'm so glad I found you," she said. "I hate being the new kid in school."

"Me too," Jonas agreed. But he quickly corrected himself, faking it: "I mean, when I first started going here, I did. But now it's just good old Phillips Academy!"

"Listen, you gotta help me find the science lab. It's my first class, and I'm totally lost here."

Jonas froze, but he tried to hold it together. "Science lab? Uh... sure!" He looked around, trying not to look lost himself. "It's... this way!" He led Chloe down the hall, adding "...I hope" quietly to himself.

As they walked, Jonas looked into each classroom through its glass door. "Yeah, right down here..." They kept walking, but now the hallway was starting to clear out as more and more students entered their classrooms.

"Oh, I hope I'm not late," worried Chloe.

Jonas looked quickly into another classroom, and he smiled with relief and opened the door. "Science lab!" But it wasn't the science lab. It was an art class. Jonas froze. "Not science lab." The art teacher looked up from his desk. "The science lab is across the hall."

"Thank you," Jonas said, his voice cracking. He quickly led Chloe back out of the room, explaining to her, "I forgot. They switched classes with art over Christmas break." Jonas opened the door across the hall, and Chloe scooted into the real science lab.

Chloe said, "Thanks," and went to find a seat.

Jonas closed the door and sighed with relief... and then he noticed he was the only kid left in the hallway. "My first class!" Jonas ran frantically down the hall.

After school, students poured out of the school, heading for the long line of waiting SUV's – except for Jonas who walked past the cars, going home on foot. But then Chloe called out "Jonas!" and Jonas stopped, seeing her running to catch up with him. "Isn't your mom picking you up?"

Jonas fumbled for an explanation. "Oh, well, she usually does, but she's busy wor-... uh, shopping or something..."

They arrived at Chantel waiting in her SUV. "Hi, Jonas! Hi, honey! Guess who's here?" Chantel leaned over and opened the passenger door, and Chloe's dog, a beautiful Collie, ran out to greet her!

"Princess!" Chloe gushed as she gave the dog a big hug.

"Grandma just drove her down today," said Chantel. Then she turned to Jonas and asked, "Jonas, you need a ride?"

As Chantel gave Jonas a ride home, he and Chloe played with the dog in the back seat. "My big girl..." Chloe said as she nuzzled Princess.

"How was school, Chloe?" Chantel asked.

"Okay, I guess."

Chantel glanced at Jonas in the rear-view mirror. "Your mother had such good things to say about Phillips, about how much you love it there."

Jonas kept up the fake story as best he could. "Oh yeah... it's... great. But I know how hard it is to get used to a new school."

"Oh, Chloe's used to new schools by now, aren't you, honey?" Chantel asked her daughter.

"Sure, I guess," answered Chloe distractedly as she continued to pet Princess.

"We have to move around a lot because of Roy's job," Chantel continued.

Chantel pulled into Jonas's driveway, and Jonas jumped out with his school backpack. "Thanks, Mrs. Doherty!"

Chloe rolled down her window and called out, "See you tomorrow, Jonas!"

Jonas waved goodbye as the car drove off, then he impatiently rushed to the front door and let himself in with a key. Inside, he quickly shed his backpack and blazer, and he scooted fast out the back door to find Rascal dashing across the yard for him. The dog jumped right into Jonas's arms.

"Rascal! Good boy! Good boy! Did you miss me? How's my boy? How's my little Rascal?" The beaming Jonas picked up a tennis ball and threw it across the yard. Rascal happily fetched the ball and dropped it at Jonas's feet. Jonas threw it again, thrilled to be spending this chilly afternoon with the greatest dog in the world.
Chapter 15

Later that evening, Jonas and Rascal were sitting around watching TV when Mary and Dean finally came home from work. "Hi Mom, hi Dad," Jonas called over his shoulder.

Both exhausted, Mary and Dean plopped down on the couch next to Jonas. "I told Stan I wanted all the hours I could get," said Mary, "and he gave them to me. Phew!"

"I'm juggling two projects at once right now," said Dean. "I don't know how long I can keep this up." Dean turned to Jonas and added, "But you know, kiddo, even though we're keeping this house a while longer, some day pretty soon you're going to have to give up that dog."

Jonas looked at his mom hopefully. "Not for a while – right, Mom?"

"That's what his trainer said," Mary answered uncomfortably. "Everything's fine with Rascal being here... for now."

Jonas pet and nuzzled Rascal. But there was a tinge of sadness in the boy's eyes. He knew this wasn't going to last forever.
Chapter 16

The next day at lunchtime, Jonas scanned the school cafeteria, lunch bag in hand, looking for a place to sit. Too shy to join other kids who were clearly close friends, he decided to sit at an empty table. But as soon as he started to eat, Chloe, sitting at a table with other kids, called out, "Hey, Jonas!" Jonas looked up and spotted her. "Come over here," she said, waving him over.

Jonas took a deep breath, collected his food and walked over to join Chloe. She shared the table with four other kids: Shane, Jordice, Evan and Monica. "Hi guys," Jonas said, nodding to everybody, pretending to already know them, and he sat down next to Chloe.

"You new here too?" Shane asked. He flicked back his hair, perfectly coiffed.

"Me? No... no way. I've been here... for a few years," Jonas lied. "We're just not in the same classes, I guess."

"You're in my class," Evan said as he shoved a cupcake into his mouth.

"I am? I mean, of course, I know! I am!" Jonas fumbled.

"I thought you were new too," said Evan.

Jonas tried to keep calm. "No... I just keep to myself a lot."

"I was here _two years_ before anybody remembered me," Monica said, pushing her glasses up her nose. The other kids chuckled. "It's true," Monica said, a bit embarrassed.

"Anyway," Chloe said to Jonas, "Jordice was telling me about this talent show you guys have every year."

"Yeah, the talent show," Jonas said with fake recognition.

"It's really great," Jordice said with a cute smile. "Last year I did my modern dance routine. I choreographed it myself."

"Sounds cool," Chloe said.

"You should enter," Jordice told Chloe.

"No way."

"But you said you do ballet."

"Not _that_ well," Chloe giggled. She turned to Jonas. "What about you, Jonas? You ever do the talent show?"

"What?" Jonas said, caught off guard. "No. I don't do anything."

Shane cracked a smile. "Too busy keeping to yourself, right?"

The kids chuckled again, and Jonas turned red.

After school, Jonas looked for Chloe and spotted her by her mom's car. But she was talking and laughing with her new friends. Jonas stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally, he hung his head and turned away to walk home by himself.

That night, Jonas ate dinner with his parents at the fancy dining room table. But their meal was anything but fancy – fast food burgers and fries. Mary and Dean, again exhausted, ate their food in a silent daze. Jonas remained silent too, quietly petting Rascal at his side and tossing him a few fries.
Chapter 17

Dressed for school the next morning, Jonas pet Rascal in the backyard. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." Jonas headed out through the gate, leaving Rascal whimpering. "See you later, boy," he said, giving the dog one last look.

But Rascal wasn't happy to wait this time. He whined and barked at the closed gate, then he jumped up the gate, trying to pull the latch. Unable to reach it after a few tries, he ran back and found a chair. Grabbing a chair leg with his mouth, he dragged it towards the gate...

At Phillips Academy, Jonas sat in the back of his classroom by the windows as his teacher, Mr. Latham, talked through a math problem that he was writing on the chalk board. "...And that leaves a remainder of four."

Evan, sitting near the front, raised his hand high. "What do you do with the remainder?"

"Nothing," Mr. Latham replied.

"It just... sits there?"

Everybody in class chuckled. Mr. Latham shook his head and continued on with his lesson.

Jonas dutifully took notes... but after a moment, something distracted him outside the windows in the schoolyard. It was Rascal! The dog was running back and forth, jumping up to various windows, trying to find Jonas in one of the classrooms. "Rascal??" Jonas whispered to himself, trying to hide his surprise. Then Rascal finally spotted Jonas, and he ran up to his window. But the dog was kept back by some bushes, and he didn't bark, so nobody else noticed him.

Jonas tried to restrain a smile as Rascal sat there waiting for him. But then – "Jonas?" It was Mr. Latham.

Jonas looked up, pulled away from his distraction. "Huh? I mean, yes, Mr. Latham?"

"Evan says the remainder is five. Is he correct?"

Jonas panicked a bit and squinted to look at the math problem on the board. "Uh..."

RRRING! All the kids stood up to go. "Saved by the bell," Mr. Latham said as Jonas zipped by him.

Jonas rushed out to the lush grounds behind the school and ran up to Rascal, still sitting by the classroom window. "Rascal! What're you doing here?!" He ruffled the happy dog's fur. "You've got to stay at home!" Rascal started to sniff Jonas's backpack. "Awww, you hungry? Alright..." Jonas pulled out his bag lunch and dug inside for cookie, tossing it to Rascal, who ate it hungrily.

Jonas then looked into the nearby cafeteria. Inside, many students sat down for lunch – including Chloe who chatted happily with her new friends. Jonas thought for a moment, then decided to stay out in the schoolyard with Rascal. They sat down under a tree and started to eat, Jonas sharing his lunch with Rascal. He pulled his blazer tight around his neck, trying to shield himself against the chilly weather. But he felt happy as he tossed chunks of his sandwich to his beloved, hungry dog.

As Chloe ate her lunch inside, she spotted Jonas outside with Rascal. "No way. He brought Rascal to school?"

The other kids looked out the window and saw Jonas and Rascal. "Isn't that like not allowed?" asked Evan.

Chloe got up and headed outside, walking up to Jonas and Rascal with a wry smile. "Are you serious? I love my dog, but I leave her at home."

Jonas turned a little red. "He just followed me here. I swear."

Chloe crouched down and pet Rascal. "Hey Rascal!"

Then Shane, Jordice, Evan and Monica came out to join them. "Hey, he looks like that Canine Commando dog," commented Monica.

"Rat Terriers all look alike," said Jonas, trying to change the subject.

Jordice asked, "Does he do tricks?"

Chloe nodded vigorously. "You should _see_ this dog do tricks."

Other kids were wandering into the yard now, and a preppy-mean kid named Gary Frazer walked up tossing a tennis ball. "Hey pooch. Fetch!" Gary chucked the ball, but Rascal didn't run. Gary chuckled snidely. "Can't even fetch a ball."

"It's not that," Jonas said defensively. "He just only obeys people he knows." He turned to Rascal. "Fetch the ball, Rascal!" Rascal instantly ran for the ball, fetched it and brought it back to Jonas, leaving it at his feet. "Good boy, Rascal!"

Jonas picked up the ball, but then Gary immediately grabbed it from his hands. "My ball."

"Sure," Jonas said carefully. "I was just –"

"Stupid dog." Gary turned and walked away, annoyed.

Shane turned to Jonas. "Don't worry about him. He's an idiot."

Jonas laughed nervously, trying to play it cool. But he was clearly troubled by the confrontation. Somehow he knew his spat with Gary wasn't over.

And he was right. As Jonas and Rascal walked home later in the rain, Gary and two of his buddies rode by on their bikes through a puddle. They laughed as they splashed Jonas, soaking his blazer with muddy water.

All Jonas could do was stand there, shocked and sad, watching them go. Rascal moved to chase them, but Jonas held him back by his collar. The dog barked and snarled, eager to protect his master.
Chapter 18

Wearing his pajamas that night, a glum Jonas sat on his bed with Rascal. His mother held up his wet and stained blazer and shook her head. "Jonas, I can't clean this by tomorrow. All those other kids have got a closet-full of these things, but we can only afford one."

"It wasn't my fault," Jonas said.

"I know..." Mary lamented. "I suppose it'll dry overnight and be fine for tomorrow. We'll dry-clean it over the weekend." She hung the blazer on a hanger on the closet door knob, and she headed for the door. "Night, honey."

But once Mary left the room, the blazer fell off the hanger to the floor. Jonas groaned and started to get out of bed to hang it up again... but then Rascal jumped off the bed. He picked up the coat by the collar with his teeth, then jumped on Jonas's desk chair and hung up the coat on the knob by himself!

Jonas watched in awe, and he hugged Rascal as he returned to the bed. "Good boy!" Jonas smiled... but then his smile turned sly, and he started to get an idea...
Chapter 19

The next day at Phillips Academy, kids hung out and kicked around balls during a break. Gary Frazer chucked a football to his jock buddy who dropped it. "Loser," Gary chuckled as he took off his blazer, tossing it on a bench.

From behind a nearby corner of the building, Jonas spied on Gary. Rascal was with Jonas again. Jonas pointed to Gary's blazer on the bench. "Get the coat, Rascal. Get the coat," Jonas whispered quietly to the dog. Rascal licked his lips and, as he did before in Jonas's backyard, he shuffled along like a spy, close to the ground. Unseen by Gary or his friends, Rascal grabbed Gary's coat from the bench and ran for a large tree. Jumping up onto a picnic table, Rascal leapt up into the tree and walked as far as he could out onto a long branch. And there he hung Gary's blazer, far above the heads of the kids below.

Rascal quickly climbed back down and snuck back to the waiting Jonas. Jonas pet Rascal vigorously, and the two of them tried to remain quiet as they watched to see what Gary would do once he found his coat missing.

"Hey!" Gary caught the football and just then noticed that his blazer was missing from the bench. He looked around, clueless. "Who took...?" Then one of his friends spotted the coat in the tree and started laughing. Gary finally saw the coat hanging high too. "What the heck?!" As other kids started to laugh, Gary ran up to the tree and jumped for his coat, but it was too high to reach. Finally, he clumsily climbed the tree and reached out for his coat. But in his attempt to grab it, he instead knocked it free, and it fell down... down... into a mud puddle.

The crowd cracked up. Then Gary lost his balance – "Whooaaa!" – and fell into the puddle too! SPLAT! The crowd roared. Chloe and her friends looked over to see what was going on. They laughed and snorted as Gary, furious, grabbed his wet coat and stomped off in his soggy shoes.

Off in his hiding place, Jonas tried hard to restrain his laughter. He hugged Rascal close. "Good boy... good boy..." Rascal didn't know quite what he had done right, but if it got him a hug from Jonas, he knew it must've been good!

Then Chloe spotted Jonas and Rascal hiding behind the corner of the building. She cracked a smile, figuring out what was up. That was some smart dog – and some pretty clever kid too!

As the evening came, Jonas did his usual dog-walking routine, allowing himself to be towed along by Rascal and the eight other dogs. Suddenly, Chloe ran up with Princess on her leash. "Oh, hi!" Jonas said, then turned to the Collie. "Hi, Princess!"

Chloe pet Rascal briefly. "Hey Rascal!"

One of Jonas's dogs stopped to squat over a patch of grass. Jonas gave Chloe a comical grimace. "Welcome to my world."

Chloe chuckled. "That is one smart dog."

Jonas raised an eyebrow. "Well... they all seem to do it pretty well."

Chloe laughed again. "I meant Rascal."

"Oh. Yeah." Jonas said. "Princess must be too. They say Collies are very smart."

"Yeah, but Rascal..." Chloe continued, "I mean, all the tricks that he knows."

Now Jonas started to get a little suspicious, but he tried not to let on. "Well, I taught him a lot of stuff over the years."

Chloe continued with the leading questions. "Hey, did you see what happened to Gary today?"

"Gary? No... didn't see him," Jonas lied. Badly. Chloe smiled and looked steadily at Jonas, waiting for him to break. Jonas squirmed. Finally: "What?!"

Chloe smiled. "Like I said, one smart dog."

Without admitting anything, Jonas allowed himself a half smile. The two walked on, happy with their dogs, understanding each other in silence.
Chapter 20

After a couple weeks, Jonas was feeling a little more comfortable with himself in his new school. He was making new friends, Gary was leaving him alone, and he was still seemingly fooling Chloe that he'd been a student at Phillips Academy for years.

Early one morning, Jonas was heading to class when he spotted several students gathered around a bulletin board. A few were signing their names on a list. Jonas took a closer look: It was a notice about the school talent show that was coming up. There were different categories listed – sports demonstrations, singing, dance, comedy... and animal acts. Jonas's eyes lit up. "Animal acts!" he said, a little too loud. Ignoring the curious glances, he wrote his name on the list – and Rascal's name too.

That afternoon, with Rascal at his side, Jonas watched action clips of _Canine Commando_ on TV. He took notes as he watched Rascal crawling through heating ducts with a spy-cam on his head... jumping from one moving car to another and pulling the parking break... and having fun waterskiing on a lake! The boy laughed and took more notes, and Rascal barked happily as he watched himself on TV.

Later, Jonas and Dean dragged some scrap wood out from behind a shed in the backyard. Jonas nodded as he looked over the wood, his brain working overtime. He was going to build a stunt set for Rascal, and they were going to put on the greatest animal act Phillips Academy had ever seen!

Even at school, Jonas was consumed with preparing his act for the talent show. He spent all his time alone, working on diagrams for the stunt set. At lunch, Chloe ate with her friends and glanced over at Jonas, sitting at another table, sketching out his diagrams. What was he up to?

Finally, it was time to start building. Dean and Jonas started work early one Saturday morning. They banged away with their hammers, putting together a series of small platforms and walkways for Rascal's stunt set. Rascal scampered about happily, somehow knowing what all this was for.

But as they worked, Jonas started to look a little uneasy. He turned to Dean. "Dad?"

"Yeah?" Dean said, hammering in a nail.

"Do you... think I'm cheating? You know, by entering Rascal in the talent show?"

Dean stopped hammering and thought for a moment. "Well... I see what you mean. But... everybody that signed up for the show is trained in some way. There'll be singers, dancers. The other animal performers will be trained too. Rascal's probably just... trained a little better!"

Dean and Jonas shared a smile and a little snicker. This would be just between them...

...and maybe Chloe too! Chloe peered over the backyard gate. "What're you guys up to?" She let herself into the yard, trailing Princess on her leash.

"Hi, Chloe!" said Dean, waving.

"Hi, Mr. Ridley. Hi, Jonas."

"Hi," said Jonas back, feeling a little uncomfortable sharing his special secret.

Chloe took off Princess's leash, and the dog ran off to play with Rascal. Chloe looked at the stunt set. "This looks cool... whatever it is."

"Didn't Jonas tell you?," Dean asked. "He's entering Rascal in the talent show."

"No... he didn't tell me," Chloe said with a sly smile.

Jonas tried to play it down. "Yeah, he's going to do tricks and stuff."

"Tricks, huh?"

"Yeah, watch. He's got part of the routine already." Jonas called out, "Rascal!" Rascal ran up to Jonas, ready for action. "Get the ball!" Jonas put a ball on the highest platform. Taking the cue, Rascal shuffled along the ground like a spy, jumped onto the first platform, walked along a thin piece of wood to the next platform, triggered a lever to open a small door, and jumped to the highest platform to get the ball!

Jonas, Chloe and Dean cheered and whooped it up. "Yay Rascal!"

Rascal jumped down from the apparatus, and Jonas gave him a dog treat. "Good boy..."

"Looks cool!" said Chloe. "But... I think it needs a woman's artistic touch."

"Huh?" wondered Jonas.

"And a love interest."

"Huh??"

"I've got a few ideas," Chloe said, smiling slyly.
Chapter 21

Finally, the night of the Talent Show arrived. Backstage at the Phillips Academy auditorium, all the various acts prepared for the show: A boy and girl in tights practiced graceful ballet moves. A boy in a tuxedo worked his ventriloquist dummy. A girl belted out a Broadway song.

Hanging out in this crowd were Jonas and Rascal, standing by their stunt set. Jonas paced nervously and looked at his watch. "Where is Chloe?" He peeked out through a crack in the curtain at the audience. The auditorium was filling up fast. Jonas spotted his parents sitting down with Chantel and Roy. "Finally." He turned to look backstage, and Chloe and Princess ran up. Chloe was holding a big, long roll of paper under her arm, and she carried a plastic bag.

"Sorry I'm late," Chloe said breathlessly. "When do you go on?"

"Fourth, I think," answered Jonas.

"Quick, help me with this," said Chloe as she gave Jonas one end of the paper roll.

"What is it?" Jonas asked.

"Hurry!" Chloe said as she walked behind the stunt set. Then she unrolled the paper, and on it was a beautiful medieval backdrop for the set! She taped one corner, and she tossed the tape to Jonas to do the other corner. "Here!"

Jonas taped his corner as he looked over the scene. "This is great! So this is your 'woman's artistic touch'."

"And the love interest!" Chloe said, gesturing to Princess. As Jonas watched, confused, Chloe pulled two little medieval hats out of the plastic bag. She put one of the hats on Princess and the other on Rascal.

Jonas stared incredulously at the dogs wearing their goofy hats. "What?!"

Chloe smiled. "Now it's not just a stunt. It's a love story!"

Jonas rustled up a smile. "Okay," he said with a shrug.

Chloe remembered something. "So, did you hear?" she asked Jonas excitedly.

"About what?"

"Jett Carson is coming to Phillips Academy!"

Jonas was confused. "Secret Agent Gordy Sparks?"

"The Canine Commando's master himself! This is his school when he's not shooting movies. Isn't that cool?" Chloe pet Rascal. "He's gonna love Rascal 'cause he looks just like the real Rascal!"

Jonas tried not to panic. "Yeah... he really does. When does Jett start school?"

"Tomorrow, I think. But he might be here tonight!"

Panic! "Tonight?!" Jonas took some deep breaths, trying to remain calm. If anybody could spot Rascal as the real Rascal from the movie, it was Jet!

"I can't wait to meet him," Chloe said. "He's so cute."

A pang of jealousy shot through Jonas, surprising him a bit.

Outside in the auditorium, the lights dimmed as the show was about to start. Casually finding a seat near the front was Jett Carson, the 12-year-old child star who played Secret Agent Gordy Sparks. He looked just like his character – but his attitude was totally different. Where Gordy was enthusiastic and positive, Jett was laid-back and jaded. As he sat down with his parents, students around him quietly greeted him: "Hey, Jett. ... Welcome back, dude. ... Cool movie, man."

Principal John Marcus stepped up to a microphone onstage. He adjusted his bowtie, and in his cheerful yet stuffy way he addressed the audience: "Welcome to the Phillips Academy Annual Talent Show!" He smiled as the audience applauded politely. "The talent and exceptionalism of our students is widely known," he continued, nodding to Jett Carson in the audience. Principal Marcus clapped his hands, and the audience joined in with him. Jett tried to look cool with a slight smile and quick wave to his fans.

Backstage, Jonas peeked out from behind the curtain and spotted Jett. _Gulp!_

Principal Marcus finished his introduction onstage: "And now you're going to see some of that exceptional talent right here on this stage. So, without further ado, I present to you the students of Phillips Academy!"

The audience applauded again as the principal left the stage. He walked by all the contestants backstage with an encouraging "Good luck, kids!" and a double thumbs-up.

Jonas, still nervous about being exposed by Jett, adjusted Rascal's little hat with his shaky hands. Chloe leaned in close and whispered, "Don't worry, Jonas. He'll be fine!" Jonas nodded and forced a smile. Sure, Rascal will be fine. But will Jonas be fine after Jett sees Rascal doing his act?!

The fact that Rascal was up fourth just gave Jonas more time to worry. From backstage, he and Chloe watched the other acts, Chloe excited but Jonas distracted.

The ventriloquist and his dummy went on a little too long with some dumb jokes: "So, you've been at Phillips Academy for thirty years?"

"Yeah," said the dummy (as the boy tried hard not to move his lips).

"But there are only eight grades of school here," said the boy.

"Okay, so I got held back a little for talking in class." The audience chuckled a little. "And the first twenty years, I was a desk!" The audience laughed even louder.

Chloe giggled too, but she noticed Jonas wasn't even smiling. She nudged him. "C'mon, that was funny."

Jonas looked up and forced a smile and a little "Heh..."

The stage manager, a girl carrying a clipboard, whispered to Jonas and Chloe, "You're up next."

As she walked away, Jonas nervously adjusted Rascal's hat again. "Maybe the hat will disguise you," he whispered hopefully to the dog.

Finally, the ventriloquist act was over, and the audience applauded as the curtain fell. Chloe grabbed a hold of one end of the stunt set and whispered loudly to Jonas, "Come on!" Jonas took a deep breath and pulled the set from the other end. They dragged it to center stage, and the dogs followed.

Out in the audience, all the parents waited eagerly. Mary looked at her program. "They're up next!"

Over the PA system, Principal Marcus announced, "And now, Jonas Ridley and his dog Rascal!" The crowd applauded vigorously.

Applauding not so vigorously was Jett Carson, clearly not very interested in the show. A friend leaned in and whispered to him, "Rascal? Isn't that your Canine Commando, 'Gordy'?" Jett rolled his eyes as his friend chuckled.

Onstage, medieval music started as the curtain rose, revealing the stunt set with Chloe's painted backdrop. Sitting at the top platform was Princess wearing her pointed 'princess' hat. The backdrop was of a castle, and Princess looked to be sitting in the highest tower. It was cheesy but impressive, and the audience laughed heartily at the image.

In the wings, Chloe spoke into a mike which broadcasted to the PA system: "Oh, what am I to do? I'm trapped in the highest tower!"

Jonas whispered to Rascal and motioned for him to go onstage. "Go, boy!" Rascal walked out onto the stage wearing his silly hat, and Jonas spoke into the mike, reading from a piece of paper: "Don't worry, fair maiden! I'll save you!" He shook his head, embarrassed. Chloe restrained a giggle.

On the stage, Rascal started his routine. He scooted along the floor like a spy, then jumped up onto the first platform. From there, he walked along a long, thin piece of wood to another platform.

During Rascal's act, Jonas peeked out to see Jett's reaction in the audience. Jett looked bored; there was no sense of recognition at all. He even seemed to be nodding off! Jonas was surprised... and momentarily relieved.

Rascal continued his act on the stunt set, crawling through a tight tube, swinging from a rope, triggering a lever to open a door. All this got some real oohs and aahs from the audience as well as bursts of laughter and applause.

Finally, Rascal jumped onto Princess's platform and triggered a slide to open up, which both dogs slid down to the stage floor.

The audience was enthralled! They jumped up and gave the act a standing ovation. A beaming but nervous Jonas and Chloe walked out to the join the dogs. They bowed to the right and the left. While bowing, Jonas tried to get another look at Jett... just as Jett was waking up! He politely stood up and listlessly applauded only because everyone else was.

Jonas then looked down at Rascal. Was Rascal noticing Jett? No, he just looked out at the crowd, happily panting.

Finally, the curtain came down. Chloe hugged Jonas. "You did it!"

Jonas nervously hugged back. " _We_ did it."

They parted, and Chloe hugged the two dogs. "Actually, _they_ did it." Jonas chuckled and hugged the dogs too, finally allowing himself to relax and enjoy the moment.

And when it came time for the audience to choose their favorite talent show act, they voted by rousing applause for Jonas and Rascal!
Chapter 22

Jonas proudly carried his first place trophy as he, Chloe and their parents walked to their cars in the school's parking lot. Rascal and Princess walked happily with them, caught up in the good humor of the moment.

A number of students called out their congratulations as they walked by: "Alright Jonas! ... Yay for the wonder dog! ... Congrats, dude!" A bit embarrassed, Jonas waved to the well-wishers.

Roy laughed. "Hey, look who's big man on campus!"

Jonas smiled. "No... It was all Rascal," he said and picked up the dog for a hug.

Mary disagreed. "But you designed the act and trained him for it. Don't be so modest."

Suddenly, a student photographer appeared with his camera. "Hey first place! For the school paper!" Rascal and the trophy still in his arms, Jonas turned with a surprised look, and – FLASH! – got his picture taken with the dog.

The next day, Jonas's photo appeared on the front page of the school newspaper, the Phillips Phoenix. Under the photo, the headline read: "Ridley's Rascal Steals the Show". Everybody in school carried a copy of the paper, including Chloe and an embarrassed Jonas as they walked to their first class. "Look at you on the front page," Chloe kidded.

"I wish they hadn't done that," Jonas said, not used to all the attention.

Shane and Jordice walked by, Shane with his hand raised for a high-five. "Hey, the master dog trainer!" Jonas clumsily high-fived Shane as they passed.

"Lookin' good!" said Jordice as she held up Jonas's photo in the newspaper.

"Guess you really _are_ big man on campus now," Chloe ribbed Jonas.

Jonas shook his head. "Yeah, right." He chuckled nervously – but he was starting to enjoy the attention.

But as they headed off to class, they passed by someone who wasn't quite so happy. Jett Carson stood at his locker looking at his own copy of the school paper. But he wasn't looking at Jonas's photo, he was reading a small headline near the bottom of the page: " _Canine Commando_ Star Jett Carson Returns to Phillips". This headline had no photo above it, and Jett sneered, annoyed that someone else was stealing his thunder.

Jett was just about to toss the paper away when something caught his eye in Jonas's front page photo. He took a closer look at it... and at Jonas's dog. His jaw dropped as he finally recognized his canine co-star.

Outside on the grounds where he could be alone, Jett furiously talked with _Canine Commando'_ s director on his cell phone. "You gave him to some _stranger_?"

Matt Brayden talked with Jett from the set of a commercial where his crew was busy setting up a shot. "We didn't give him to anybody. I wanted Rascal to loosen up a bit, so we're having him live with this kid for a couple months."

"Well, 'this kid' is at my school, and he's parading Rascal around like he trained him himself!" said the angry Jett.

Matt laughed. "I guess there's no harm in it."

"Until it gets out!" snapped Jett. "Rascal is Gordy Sparks's dog, not some loser kid's."

Matt thought about this for a moment. "Hmm, there might be an image problem there." He got up to look at an on-set monitor. "Listen, just rest up for _Canine Commando II_ next month. We're getting William Shatner to play Dr. Velkoff's father – if we can get his quote down."

"The Shat. Nice," Jett nodded.

"And don't worry about Rascal. I'll take care of things on my end."

Jett hung up his phone and headed back towards the school building. "Not before I take care of things on _my_ end," he said to himself.
Chapter 23

At lunch, Chloe, Shane, Jordice, Evan and Monica were all gathered around Jonas at their favorite table in the cafeteria. As before, the attention embarrassed Jonas, but he seemed to like it anyway.

"I mean, that dog should be in the movies or something," said Monica, startling Jonas a bit.

"Uh... he's just smart. All Rat Terriers are pretty smart," Jonas said, trying to downplay things.

Jordice added, "But he could really be the Rascal in _Canine Commando_! I mean, he looks just like him, he does the same tricks..."

Evan leaned in. "You know, I heard they sometimes use like five dogs to play one dog in a movie."

"But not in Canine Commando." All the kids looked up, wondering who just said this.

It was Jett Carson. Chloe, Jordice and Monica nearly gasped, trying to hide their attraction.

"Every shot's Rascal," Jett continued. "And he does all his own stunts!" He nodded to the girls. "Sorry to disturb your lunch, ladies."

"No, it's fine! ... That's okay! ... Anytime!" The smitten girls stumbled over each other's words.

Jett feinted moving to go, but he pretended to get an idea and turned back, looking at Jonas. "Oh, and Johnny..."

"Jonas," Jonas corrected him.

"Whatever. The studio wanted me to thank you for taking care of Rascal for the last couple months. Looks like he'll be all ready to go on location next month." Jett flashed a snarky smile and walked off.

Jonas's friends turned to Jonas – but the boy was lost in thought. "Next month?" he murmured to himself, worried. Finally, he noticed the astonished faces around him.

"You dog!" said a smiling Shane, "...so to speak."

Chloe nodded to Jonas with a knowing smile. "It's really him."

Jonas fumbled to come up with an explanation. "Yeah... it really is! The movie studio wanted me to keep it secret and all... you know, for security reasons."

Just then, the ventriloquist from the talent show turned around, having overheard the conversation from a nearby table. "What? You won the talent show with a professional movie dog?!"

"Ah – saw your lips move," quipped Shane.

"That's not fair!" the boy continued to Jonas.

Then the singer from the talent show appeared and spoke up. "Yeah! The talent show is supposed to be for amateurs."

Jonas was feeling cornered. "But... Rascal's a professional, not me," he fumbled, hating his answer as soon as he said it.

Then Gary Frazer joined in. "Sure you are. You're a professional loser." Some kids laughed in the lunch crowd... but most just stared.

Jonas just wanted to crawl away and hide. Suddenly he was forced to face the weight of his decision head-on. He was wrong to do what he did, and he knew it.

Across the room at the entrance to the cafeteria, Principal Marcus looked on, concerned. He knew what Jonas did was wrong too.
Chapter 24

That afternoon at the dog park, a depressed Jonas sat on a bench as Rascal and the dog-walking dogs walk ran around and played. Jonas didn't know how he was going to get out of this mess. He even wondered why he entered Rascal in the talent show in the first place. Was he just trying to show off for all his new classmates?

Rascal ran up to Jonas, somehow sensing his sadness. Jonas threw a tennis ball for Rascal... but Rascal didn't run to get it. Instead, he climbed into Jonas's lap and curled up. Jonas was touched. He hugged Rascal close and pet him softly.

Soon Chloe showed up with Princess. She spotted the distracted and sad Jonas and felt bad for him. After letting Princess off of her leash, Chloe joined Jonas on the bench. Jonas looked up, a little surprised. "Oh, hi! Didn't see you," Jonas said with forced cheerfulness.

"I'm sorry you don't get to keep Rascal," Chloe said caringly.

Jonas decided to let his guard down. "I guess I always knew it was coming. And... I'm sorry we didn't tell you guys the truth about Rascal and the hou-" Jonas stopped himself, realizing he was revealing too much. "– Uh, the whole deal with the movie studio."

"I understand. It had to be all hush-hush," Chloe said, appearing to play along.

"Yeah..." Jonas kept the lie going even though he could somewhat tell by Chloe's tone that she suspected there was more to the story. "I had to give the trophy back."

"I'm sorry."

"They were right. It wasn't fair. I was just... so proud of Rascal. So happy to have a dog." Rascal looked up at Jonas and licked his face, getting Jonas to smile through his sadness. "At least I've got him for a few more weeks." Jonas nuzzled the dog. "Right, Rascal? Right? Yeah..."

Chloe watched Jonas and Rascal together. It tore at her heart that there was something that might pull the two apart.

All was not calm in the Ridley household that night. Powered by nervous energy, Mary darted about the kitchen, clearing dishes from the kitchen table as Dean and Jonas sat and wondered what was going to happen next. Rascal rested his head on Jonas's lap, not quite knowing what was going on but sensing something was wrong nonetheless.

"We should've changed his name," insisted Mary. "Why did we have to call him 'Rascal'? Of course he got found out!"

"Rascal's his name," Jonas said. "Dogs know their names. Besides, I think Jett would've recognized him anyway."

Mary stopped and held her head in her hands. "Okay... okay... I can never face Chantel again."

Dean got up to comfort his wife. "Mary, just tell her what Jonas said – the studio wanted to keep Rascal being here a secret."

"But I've put him on our Christmas card for the last three years!"

"Right..." Dean said, remembering.

Mary turned to Jonas and said, "Never lie, Jonas. Do as I say, not as I do. Lying is bad."

Just then, the three noticed something on the TV which was playing quietly in the corner. The anchorwoman of an entertainment news program was speaking in front of a big monitor showing shots from _Canine Commando_. "Turn that up!" Mary shouted. Dean quickly grabbed the TV remote and turned up the volume.

The anchorwoman continued her report: "...last year that the world fell in love with Rascal, the one and only Canine Commando. But where has that clever canine been since? Apparently, he's gone back to school!" The TV cut to a shot of the Phillips Phoenix newspaper with the photo of Jonas and Rascal posing with their trophy.

"I'm on TV!" Jonas cheered.

The report continued: "Rascal stole the talent show at tony Phillips Academy, nabbing first place for some movie-quality stunt work... with a young boy named Jonas Ripley. So where was fellow Phillips student and _Canine Commando_ star Jett Carson? Entertainment Central has obtained exclusive footage from the show itself." The report cut to a smart phone video of Rascal's act in the talent show, then it panned to Jett sitting in the audience sleeping! "Perhaps he was dreaming of his much more exciting double life as the one and only Secret Agent Gordy Sparks!" A cheesy special effect thought bubble appeared next to Jett's sleeping head, and a clip from _Canine Commando_ played in the bubble.

Jonas and Dean chuckled at the joke. "That's kinda funny," said Dean. But when he spotted Mary's ashen face beside him, he quickly wiped the smile off his face.
Chapter 25

Jett Carson was even angrier than Mary at the current state of affairs. He stormed onto the set of the commercial that Matt Brayden was shooting and vented his rage about the entertainment news report. "You know what this is doing to my image?! Now people think I don't like Rascal!"

"You _don't_ like Rascal," Matt pointed out.

"Who cares?" said Jett. "As long as people think I do!"

Matt put his arm around Jett and walked him off the set. "I'm sorry. Jett, baby, this is my fault. Mea culpa. But it'll blow over. I just need your help. Let Rascal stay with you till shooting starts."

"You mean for some publicity shots?"

"No, for real."

"In my new house? He'll scratch up the hardwood floors! My mom'll freak."

But Matt insisted. "Three weeks, Jett. It's nothing. Walk the dog once in a while, smile for the paparazzi, you'll come out smelling like a rose."

Jett stood with his arms folded, steaming. Finally, he spoke. "Okay. But I'm not scooping any poop!"

Just home from school, Jonas ran up his driveway and into the backyard. He dumped his backpack and ran up to Rascal, giving the dog a big hug. "That's my boy, that's my little Rascal. We're gonna have a great time together. It's just a few weeks, but we're gonna make the best of it, aren't we? Aren't we? Yeah..."

Then Mary stepped out the back door. She had a tear in her eye. Jonas noticed. "Mom? You okay?"

Mary walked hesitantly up to Jonas, clearly building up the strength to deliver some bad news. She took his hands as he stood up to talk to her. "Jonas... honey... they want him back."

"I know," Jonas said, nodding.

"No," Mary said. "I mean... they want him back now."

Jonas stumbled back a bit, confused and shocked. "Now?? But he's supposed to –"

"They changed their plans."

"No!" Jonas shouted.

"Jonas, Rascal is their dog," Mary pleaded. "We were just renting him."

But Jonas would not give in. "He's _my_ dog! You saw Jett at the show – he doesn't even like Rascal!"

"Honey, you knew this wasn't going to last forever."

"He's my dog! I love him! And he loves me!" Jonas backed away towards the gate and motioned to Rascal. "Rascal, come!"

"Jonas, where are you going?" Mary said as Rascal ran up to Jonas. But Jonas just took off out the gate, followed by Rascal. Mary rushed to catch them, but she was too slow. "Jonas! Jonas!!"

Rascal followed the running Jonas to the nearby park, then into a wooded area beyond. Huffing and puffing and on the verge of tears, Jonas sat down on a log. Rascal ran up to him, and Jonas pet the dog and nuzzled him. "You're _my_ dog..."

But after a moment, Jonas started to calm down. Rascal's presence was always able to comfort the boy. Jonas got up, and he and Rascal walked towards the creek up ahead where Rascal had played in the past.

Jonas threw a stick into the water, and Rascal happily dove in to retrieve it. SPLASH! He came out of the creek and shook off the water, getting Jonas all wet. "Rascal!" Jonas laughed. He wiped his face and threw the stick again. The two were having fun again together.

Jonas and Rascal spent the whole afternoon at the park. If this was going to be Jonas's last day with Rascal, he was going to make the best of it. Eventually, evening came, and the two tuckered-out friends lay down on the grass to rest as the sun set over the horizon.

Jonas sat up and spoke to Rascal. "You gonna be okay? Sure you are. Maybe I can come visit you..." The boy's eyes lit up. "...maybe on the movie set! That would be cool!" Jonas stood up and chucked the stick again. It flew into the woods, and Rascal ran into the trees to search for it.

In the brief silence, Jonas took a moment by himself. He was sad, but he had finally come to terms with today's unfortunate turn of events.

After a minute, Jonas looked to the trees. Where was Rascal? The boy squinted and looked deeper into the woods. "Rascal?" Getting no response, he walked into the woods, looking for the dog. "Rascal?? Rascal!" Truly worried now, Jonas frantically scanned the area. But it was no use.

Rascal was gone!

Jonas started running through the woods, looking more and more desperately for the dog. "No... no no no no... Raaascal!!"

Then, from a distance, Jonas heard, "Jonas!!" It was Mary.

Jonas stopped running. "Mom?" He saw his mom running towards him, and he ran up to join her.

"Jonas, where've you been?!" asked Mary, nearly out of breath. "I've been looking for you for hours!" She hugged him, relieved but distraught.

"I can't find Rascal!" cried Jonas. "He was with me, but then he just disappeared!"

Mary was very concerned. "Jonas, we have to get that dog back!" She called out into the woods, "Raaascal!!" Then she looked at the darkening sky beyond the trees. "The sun's going down, Jonas. We have to get out of here."

"But we've got to find Rascal!" begged Jonas.

Mary looked around. It was truly dark now. "Jonas, we'll have to come back tomorrow."

"And leave him out here all alone?!"

"Honey, we have no choice!"

Jonas hung his head, and Mary led him slowly out of the woods. He couldn't believe he'd lost his best friend. Now Rascal was lost in the dark woods wondering why Jonas wasn't coming to save him.

When Jonas and Mary got back to the house, they found Rascal's trainer, Lyle Reese, waiting by his van in the driveway. "Mrs. Ridley, I thought we said six o'clock."

Mary took a deep breath and let her head fall. "I'm sorry, Mr. Reese. Rascal's... not here."

"What do you mean?" asked Lyle, suspicious. "Is this some kind of hustle?"

Jonas stepped up. "I lost him," he said, very ashamed.

"You lost him?!" Lyle shook his head and mumbled to himself, "Geez, I was nuts for letting him stay with some kid." Angry, he turned back to Jonas and Mary. "Do you know what that dog is insured for?! He's a national hero!"

But then Jonas realized something. "Maybe he came back by himself! He's smart – he knows the way back here!" Jonas ran into the backyard, calling, "Rascal! Rascal!" And there, curled up on the top platform of the talent show stunt set, was Rascal, fast asleep.

"Thank God!" wheezed Lyle as he ran into the backyard with Mary. Mary gasped, a huge weight off her shoulders.

Jonas pet Rascal, and the dog slowly woke up. "There you are, boy. You found your way back. You found your way home."
Chapter 26

A pall hung over the house the next day as Mary, Dean and Jonas listlessly packed all their belongings into moving boxes. Jonas was especially quiet and feeling down. After all, there was no longer a loving dog at his side. The night before had been rough too, without Rascal next to him. The bed had seemed cold without Rascal, and Jonas's restless dreams just added to his feeling of loneliness.

As the family packed, the TV quietly played another episode of Entertainment Central. But Jonas grabbed the remote and turned up the sound when he spotted Rascal on the show once again. On TV, Matt Brayden and Jett Carson pet Rascal in the big backyard of Jett's huge house. Matt was telling a reporter that, "The millions of _Canine Commando_ fans don't have to worry anymore. Rascal's in good hands now and happy to be back home with his best buddy, Jett, aka Secret Agent Gordy Sparks!"

Seemingly on cue, Jett chucked a stick, and Rascal ran for it. "Fetch the stick, Rascal!"

Matt laughed. "He runs for that thing like it's got Dr. Velkoff's name on it!"

Rascal fetched the stick and brought it back to Jett who looked at it, faking surprise. "Hey, it _does_ have Dr. Velkoff's name on it!" Jett held up the stick for the TV camera to see. It was actually a promo item, a fake stick that read " _Canine Commando II: Velkoff's Revenge_ " on the side.

Jonas's heart sank as he watched his Rascal participating in this movie promotion phoniness. He turned off the TV and got back to work at the dreary task of packing.

Jonas's days of being a dog owner were definitely over now.

The next few days were like a slow-moving blur for Jonas and his family. Moving back into their old home was quite a letdown from the grand surroundings they'd spent the last couple months in. Mary just wanted to forget everything that happened, and when Chantel called her on her cell phone, Mary couldn't even find the courage to answer.

Back at his old school, Jonas returned to just sitting in the back row of his classroom, shrinking down in his seat, happy to be ignored by everybody. But he couldn't put the whole experience behind him like Mary could. Occasionally Jonas would sneak out and spy on his former classmates at Phillips Academy, hoping to see Chloe. He did see her one day, but he just watched from a distance, too uncomfortable to say hello.

At the dog park, Jonas threw balls for his dog-walking dogs, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. There was no Rascal there now.

Jonas spent time surfing the web on his mom's computer, paging through photos of Rascal on entertainment web sites. There was one shot after another of Jett playing with Rascal in his lavish home... Jett resting with Rascal on his couch... Rascal playing in his very own doggy playroom decked out with cool play structures, dog houses and toys. Jonas would always feel lousy after going through all these web pages, but he couldn't stop himself. And he couldn't help feeling that maybe Rascal _was_ living a better life now with Jett Carson. Jonas wondered if Rascal remembered him at all.

One afternoon, Jonas found a photo of Jett nuzzling Rascal with a big smile on his face. It certainly seemed that the two were the best of friends. But then Mary walked by and glanced at the computer screen. "That was photoshopped."

"Huh?" Jonas asked.

Mary bent down and pointed to a few spots on the photo. "Right there... and there. You can see the blending. They even photoshopped the kid's smile. What, he can't even scare up a real smile for his cute little dog?"

Mary headed back to the kitchen while Jonas looked closer at the screen. "And you're not happy either, are you, Rascal?" he said, feeling sad for the little dog. Jonas gave the photo one last look, then he reluctantly closed the browser window.

But after a moment, Jonas started thinking. He lifted his eyes and sat up a bit, and he slowly started to smile...
Chapter 27

Jett Carson stepped out the front door of his beautiful house and got into a waiting limousine. As the car pulled away, it drove through a set of iron gates that closed automatically behind the car.

Watching all this from across the street and behind a light post was Jonas. His brain was working overtime as he looked over the house and its lush grounds.

Later that afternoon, Chloe took Princess for a walk. The two of them enjoyed the nice weather – Spring was finally on the way. But there was a touch of loneliness in Chloe. She too missed Rascal on these afternoon walks... and she missed Jonas.

Chloe stopped to let Princess sniff a tree. But then she heard someone whisper, "Psst. Psst. Hey." Chloe looked around, seeing no one. Then the hidden person spoke: "Over here."

Finally, Chloe spotted Jonas hiding behind a bush. "Jonas?" Jonas looked both ways and stepped out into view. "Why are you hiding?" Chloe asked.

Jonas moved in close. "I've got a proposition. A secret proposition."

Later, at the dog park, Chloe sat with her mouth hanging open as Princess ran around happily. Jonas had just told her of a rather crazy plan, and she couldn't believe it. "You want to break into Jett Carson's house?!"

"No, no!" insisted Jonas, looking around furtively to make sure no one else heard them. "I want to help Rascal break _out_!"

"But... he's a dog," said Chloe, confused.

"He's a Canine Commando. He's _the_ Canine Commando! If any dog can break out of a house, he can."

"That's just in the movies," Chloe said, not thinking much of this plan.

"But you know what he can do. It might all just be his training, but he knows what he's doing," Jonas said. Then, more thoughtfully, he added, "And he doesn't want to be with Jett."

Chloe grinned a bit. "How do you know?"

"Jett doesn't even like him! Rascal's probably locked away in that doggy playroom all day."

"I saw that playroom on the internet," Chloe said. "I wouldn't mind being locked in there all day. I mean, if I was a dog."

"But it's not where he belongs," Jonas said quietly. "It's not his home."

Chloe thought about this. She knew Jonas was right.

As Jonas walked Chloe and Princess home, Chloe felt more comfortable opening up a bit to Jonas. "You know, I always suspected your Rascal was the real Rascal."

"Thanks for not telling your mom," Jonas said. He had often wondered how much Chloe really knew.

"I also thought that house might not be your real house either. It just seemed too... clean."

"It was my mom," Jonas said, shaking his head. "She just feels so bad that your family has it so good."

Chloe laughed. "Are you kidding? My mom has been envying you guys for years, whenever your Christmas letters come."

"But my mom made all that stuff up!"

"So did _my_ mom!"

Jonas turned to Chloe, shocked. "She did??"

"Not everything," Chloe explained. "She didn't photoshop any photos or anything... but all the stuff about how great everything's going? Let's just say she left a lot out. I mean... my parents almost got a divorce."

"Really?" said Jonas, quite concerned.

"With my dad travelling all the time for work, and my mom always renovating the house. I mean, I know you guys don't really live in a fancy house and all... but at least you seem really close."

Jonas thought about this. Chloe was right. In spite of all the things his family didn't have, they loved each other very much.

Chloe pet Princess thoughtfully. "You know... Rascal really deserves to be part of a family like yours. He was happy with you. I could tell. It isn't right that they took him away like that." Then she slowly looked over at Jonas... and a sneaky smile grew on her face.

Jonas realized what this meant. He beamed from ear to ear.
Chapter 28

Jett Carson's house shimmered in the light of a full moon. His limo once again drove through the automatic gates and headed off down the road.

Then, as the gates started to close, two figures dressed in black appeared and snuck onto the grounds before the gates fully closed. It was Jonas and Chloe!

"You sure nobody's here?" asked Chloe quietly.

"It's the Teen Talent Awards," Jonas whispered. "He takes his parents every year."

"But didn't they set their alarm or something?"

Jonas smiled. "Rascal's gotten past alarms a whole lot fancier than this one probably is."

Jonas led Chloe through the shadows and up to the house. They silently peered through a big front window. Inside, it was mostly dark. The two could only see the dark living room and foyer, both ornate and with very high ceilings.

"Wow," said Chloe. "This guy really is a movie star."

Jonas nodded. "He's been acting since he was a baby."

"Right," Chloe said, remembering. "They replayed his old baby powder commercial once. Cute butt."

Jonas shot Chloe a look. Chloe tried to restrain a smile. Jonas shook his head and moved on to the back of the house.

In the backyard, Jonas and Chloe found a large pool and patio, with a trellis over the patio, right up against the house. The kids looked at the various windows, all of which were dark. "Where do you think Rascal is?" asked Chloe. "Maybe they took him to the show."

Jonas realized that Chloe might be right. Worried, he looked back up at the house and spotted one room on the second floor that had a light on. "There! Maybe that's his playroom."

"How do we get up there?" asked a nervous Chloe.

Jonas looked over the trellis. He grabbed it and tried to shake it to test its strength. It was solid. "Perfect." Jonas started to climb.

Chloe watched Jonas climb the wooden structure. Sure, it didn't shake, but it still didn't look safe. "No. Not perfect," she said, worried. But Jonas made his way to the top of the trellis relatively easily. Chloe took a deep breath and reconsidered. She started up the trellis.

Jonas helped Chloe as she got to the top. The trellis was strong, but there were gaps between the beams, so it was quite possible to slip and fall. "This is higher than it looks!" worried Chloe.

But Jonas was on a mission, and he stuck to the task at hand. He held onto the house and slowly worked his way towards the window with the light on. He glanced back at the nervous Chloe. "Just don't slip, and you'll be fine."

"Thanks for the tip!" Chloe whispered sarcastically. She took another deep breath and followed Jonas, but she wasn't nearly as sure-footed as he was. Each step was an effort. Suddenly, a slat of wood cracked underfoot! "Whoa!!" Chloe cried as she lost her footing! But then Jonas grabbed her arm, saving her. She gasped as he helped her pull herself back up.

"You okay?" asked a very worried Jonas.

"This spy stuff is dangerous!" Chloe said as she clung to the house.

Jonas smiled in realization. "Yeah. It is!" As he moved on to the lighted window, Chloe stared at him, incredulous.

Jonas finally arrived at the window, and he looked inside. It was in fact Rascal's playroom... and there was Rascal! "It's Rascal!" Jonas whispered, perhaps a little too loudly.

Chloe made it to the window and looked in as well. "He looks sad." Rascal did indeed look sad. In the midst of this lavish room full of doggy toys, Rascal sat with his head on his paws, resting lonesomely in his plush dog bed.

Jonas's heart sank... but seeing Rascal like this steeled his resolve. "We're going to get him out."
Chapter 29

A confused Chloe stared at Jonas. "How? How're we going to get Rascal out?"

Jonas tried to open the window into Rascal's playroom, but it was locked. "Maybe Rascal can unlock it from the inside."

"But won't that set off the alarm?"

Jonas stopped. "Right," he said, realizing. "I know – once he sees us, we'll get him to go to the front door and deactivate the alarm."

"He knows the code??"

"He knew the code to deactivate Dr. Velkoff's computer virus attack on the Pentagon!"

"That was a movie!" Chloe said a little too loudly.

"Shh!!" Jonas looked around to make sure no one heard her.

But Rascal heard her. He looked up at the window, and outside he saw Jonas and Chloe. Rascal jumped up and ran to the window, thrilled! He whined on the other side of the glass.

Jonas looked in on Rascal, desperate to hug the excited dog. "Rascal! How are you, buddy?!" he said, trying to keep his voice down. The boy put his hand up to the window, and Rascal licked the window pane on the other side.

"Okay, that's gross," said Chloe.

Jonas pointed to the door of Rascal's playroom. "Rascal, go! Go out! Go down to the front door!" Rascal took a moment to figure out what Jonas wanted, but he eventually caught on, and he ran to his door. "Open it! Open it, boy!" said Jonas, trying not to be too loud. He motioned in a twisting motion, trying to instruct Rascal.

Inside, Rascal figured it out. He jumped up for the doorknob, but he couldn't reach it. So he pushed his doggy toy bench up to the door, and he jumped up on it and turned the knob!... which was locked.

Jonas and Chloe both gasped and slumped, like two deflated tires. "It's locked," sighed Chloe.

"No..." Jonas was momentarily disheartened... but he got thinking again. He looked further down the trellis and noticed that one window of the house was actually open a crack. "That window's open!"

Chloe wondered, "Um... how can the alarm be on if a window's open?"

Jonas looked at Chloe, wondering too. "You're right. Maybe..." Jonas started to worry. He looked back at the open window and made his way down the trellis to look inside. Once at the window, he saw that it opened to the upstairs landing of the stairway. The landing overlooked the family room downstairs, which had a high ceiling.

And sitting in the family room was Jett! "What??" Jonas said in exasperation.

Chloe crept up and joined Jonas. "He's still here!" she said, seeing Jett inside.

Inside, Jett sat on the couch, watching the _Teen Talent Awards_ on TV. He wore a bathrobe, and he held a box of tissues on his lap. Suddenly, he sneezed violently. Then he blew his nose and tossed the tissue onto a growing pile on the floor.

"He's sick," Chloe said, dismayed. "He didn't go to the awards show because he's sick! His parents went without him!"

Jonas was at a loss. What were they going to do now? But then he realized, "Wait a minute... since Jett's here... the alarm's not on!"

Chloe's eyes brightened at the news too. "Right! But... how do we get Rascal out with Jett in the house?"

Jonas thought for a moment. Then he cracked a sneaky smile and asked, "What would Secret Agent Gordy Sparks do?" Jonas looked over the inside of the house, and he got an idea. "I'm going in."

Chloe watched nervously as Jonas very quietly opened the window a little wider. With great care, he snuck inside and glanced over the railing to see if Jett had heard anything. Jett just sneezed again and kept watching the show.

Jonas tip-toed over to the door to Rascal's playroom. He quietly unlocked the door and opened it. Mistake. Rascal immediately barked happily and ran out of the room and into Jonas's arms! "Shhh!!!" whispered Jonas, quickly glancing downstairs to see if Jett had been alerted.

But down in the family room, Jett just yelled over his shoulder, not even taking his eyes off the TV. "Rascal, quiet!" He blew his nose and added another tissue to the pile.

Jonas took a deep breath of relief. Still holding Rascal, he gave him the 'Shhh!' sign and walked quietly towards the window where Chloe waited. Chloe beamed at the dog, and Rascal saw her and wagged his tail happily.

But then – FOOTSTEPS! Jett was coming upstairs! But Jonas didn't have time to jump out the window, so he had to hide! He opened the nearest door and scooted inside with Rascal, and he closed the door silently behind him.

Jett reached the top of the stairs, moaning and wheezing, and headed to his bedroom. Chloe saw Jett from her perch outside and ducked down just in time.

In a very dark room, Jonas leaned against the closed door and listened. Nothing. So he turned on a light... and discovered that he and Rascal were in a big room full of movie props. It was a den with no windows, and artfully displayed on shelves and the walls was cool spy gear from _Canine Commando_! "Cool!" Jonas enthused quietly. Star-struck, he roamed the room, drooling over the zip lines, spy suits, dog bone smoke bombs, radio-controlled frisbees, doggy-cams and other fun stuff in the room.

Chloe peeked inside again. She could see nothing going on. What was Jonas doing in that room so long? Just then, Jett left his bedroom holding his smart phone. Chloe ducked down again. Jett tweeted on the phone as he walked: "Chillin' at the house with the flu. Shout out to all my Teen Talent Awards fans. #CanineCommando #JettFans." Then Jett reached for the doorknob to the den! Seeing this, Chloe tried not to freak. If he opened that door, he'd catch Jonas! Jett put his hand on the knob...

"Jett Carson!" Chloe screamed like a crazed groupie! Jett spun around and spotted Chloe at the window. "I can't believe it's really you!" Chloe gushed. "I'm your biggest fan!"

Jett was furious. "How'd you get up there?!"

"I know you're going to win tonight, I just know it!" Chloe went on, showing some real acting chops.

"Get out of here! Are you nuts?! Get off my property or I'll call the cops!" Jett slammed the window closed in Chloe's face and locked it. This jarred Chloe so much that she slipped and fell off of the trellis! She screamed!... but fortunately she landed safely in some bushes below. OOF! Collecting herself, Chloe got up and took off for the front yard.

Inside, Jett stomped back down the stairs. "You gotta be kidding me..."

As Jett reached the bottom of the stairs, Jonas peeked out of the den, the light inside now off. He was now decked out in spy gear! He wore a black mask with a tiny camera on his forehead, a spy utility belt and spy shoes. And Rascal had his _Canine Commando_ black dog sweater on!

Jonas slipped out of the room and walked to the window, followed by Rascal. He reached to unlock the window, but then he heard some beeping from downstairs. Glancing down, he saw Jett at the front door punching in numbers on the alarm pad. "Gotta set the alarm even when I'm home? Geez..." Jett mumbled to himself.

Jonas looked at his hand about to unlock the window... and he pulled it away. "Uh oh." Now he couldn't escape without setting off the alarm.

He was trapped!
Chapter 30

Chloe hid in the bushes in Jett Carson's front yard, trying to avoid being spotted by anybody on the street or by Jett inside the house. She felt powerless. "Jonas, where are you??" she whispered to herself.

Jonas was still stuck upstairs. He racked his brain for how to get out, and he could only figure out one way: down the stairs and out the front door. So he picked up Rascal again and started down the stairs... step by step, making no noise... keeping an eagle eye on Jett who was again watching TV in the family room. But then Jonas saw his own reflection in a big mirror hanging on the opposite wall, right next to the TV! He darted back upstairs and put Rascal back down to peer over the railing. Did Jett spot him? No. Phew! But Jonas was really stuck now.

Rascal, however, had another idea. He slipped between two balusters of the railing and started to walk across a long beam that ran across the high ceiling area of the family room! When he reached the other end, he turned around as if to beckon Jonas to follow him. Jonas looked over at Rascal, seeing that the other end of the beam was near the front door below. Was this the only way out? Looking around, Jonas realized it was.

Jonas looked closely at the beam – it was about two inches wide, and falling would be a long way down. GULP! Jonas took a few deep breaths and tried to build up some courage. Finally, he stepped over the railing and settled his spy shoes on the narrow beam. Carefully, he let go of the railing, trying to maintain his balance. He was okay. So he took a step. Then another. Gaining a little confidence, he took a few more steps.

Down below, Jett sat up in his chair as he listened intently to the TV where a young actress was presenting an award: "And the award for Best Teen Action Star goes to..." She opened and read the card. "...Jett Carson!" Jett jumped to his feet, elated! "YEAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Up above, Jonas was startled by Jett's scream – and he started to lose his balance! He had to think fast. He grabbed a cable from his spy utility belt and fired it at the ceiling above. THUNK! The arrow tip sunk solidly into the wooden roof. And fortunately, the sound was muffled by the cheering on the TV and Jett's own cheering. Jonas pulled hard on the cable, using it to keep from falling. He swayed back and forth, but he eventually righted himself. Phew!

Below, Jett danced around the room. "Yes! In your face!" He grabbed his phone and tweeted: "Love to all my fans who voted for me! #MaximumAwesomeness."

Jonas prayed that Jett wouldn't look up and see him. He still clung tight to the cable, and he looked down to Jett and the floor below. Then he got an idea. Glancing forward to the waiting Rascal at the end of the beam, he motioned for Rascal to come. Rascal walked up to Jonas, and Jonas carefully picked him up.

Jonas looked down again at Jett who was singing softly to himself and doing a little dance as he headed into the kitchen. Now was Jonas's chance. He secured the cable unit to his spy belt, and he got ready to let himself down. But then – POP! – a Champagne cork flew by his head! Below, Jett came back into the room carrying a bottle of Champagne. But Jonas was startled by the cork, and he clumsily slipped off of the beam! He almost dropped Rascal as he swung and slammed against the wall!

Jett looked up in shock to see Jonas and Rascal swinging back and forth! "Whoa!" He dropped his Champagne bottle. SMASH! Jonas struggled to get the cable to let out, but he just succeeded in swinging even more. "What's going on?!" Jett demanded. "Who are you?! Are you... stealing my dog??!!"

Jonas finally got the cable to release, and he swung down fast, accidentally slamming into Jett! "OOOF!" The two boys fell to the floor, and Rascal scampered out of Jonas's grip. "HEEELP!!" screamed Jett.

Jonas jumped to his feet and ran for the front door with Rascal... but then the cable tugged him back! "URGH!" Jonas flew back, once again slamming into Jett who had just gotten up again. "OOOF!!" Jett fell again.

Jonas finally disconnected the cable and made a tear for the door. He yanked it open, and – WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP! – the ALARM went off! Jonas and Rascal took off out the door as Jett struggled to get up again and follow them. He railed from the doorway, "You bring back my dog!"

Jonas and Rascal dashed towards the front gate. Then Chloe jumped out from behind a bush to join them. "AAAAHH!!" screamed Jonas, totally taken by surprise.

Chloe gestured to Jonas. "Come on!!" She pushed a button, and the gate opened. Jonas, Chloe and Rascal darted out the gate as fast as they could. They were free!

"WOO-HOOOO!!! We made it!" cheered Jonas. But then – SCREECH! – four police cars skidded to a stop around the kids. The cops jumped out of their cars and pulled their guns on the kids. A stunned Jonas and Chloe stopped and raised their hands. Rascal huddled at Jonas's feet, wondering what was going on.

Jonas wilted. "We _almost_ made it."
Chapter 31

Jonas, Chloe and their four parents sat in the waiting room of the local police station. They were all glum and weary. Jonas held Rascal in his lap.

A distraught Mary drummed up the courage to speak first. "This is all my fault."

"Mom –" Jonas started to protest.

"No," Mary cut in. "If I hadn't insisted we rent that house and..." She trailed off, embarrassed.

Chantel turned to her. "You know you didn't have to," she said caringly.

"Mom, _I_ did this," said Jonas. "I thought it was best for Rascal. I'm sorry."

"Me too," said Chloe.

Roy raised an eyebrow. "I think it's pretty amazing myself."

"Roy..." Chantel shook her head.

"No," he continued. "If the kid's neighbor hadn't seen them climbing through the window, they would've totally pulled it off!"

The kids smiled a bit, and Mary and Dean found it a bit amusing too. But then they all quickly remembered they were in a police station, and a pall fell over the room again.

Just then, Matt Brayden, wearing a tuxedo, rushed into the station and spotted Jonas and Rascal. "There he is!" Matt rushed over to Rascal and tried to take him from Jonas. "Okay, the fun is over." He looked at Rascal, saying, "You poor poor doggy!"

But Jonas fought to keep the dog, and he and Matt got into a struggle. "No!" cried Jonas. "Let him go!" Rascal yelped as the two people tugged at him.

Dean turned to Matt. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Just then, a young policeman, Officer Kelso, rushed in and broke up the fight. "Whoa whoa! Hold on here!"

Matt finally let go and backed away, but he insisted, "That dog is stolen property!"

"If it is, we'll take care of it," Kelso said. "Now, who are you?"

"I'm Matt Brayden, director of _Canine Commando_. And that dog is studio property!"

Officer Kelso shook his head, confused. "Wait... I thought these kids broke into Jett Carson's house."

Just then, Jett showed up with his parents who were dressed in evening wear like Matt. "They _did_ break in," Mr. Carson insisted, having heard Kelso. "To steal the dog!"

"And while Jett was home alone sick!" Mrs. Carson lamented. She gestured to her husband and Matt. "We were at the Teen Talent Awards, and –"

"Look," Kelso interrupted, "I'll take all your statements in a moment."

"But what's he still doing with Rascal?" Jett asked, pointing to Jonas. Now _Jett_ tried to pull Rascal from Jonas!

"Let go!" Jonas demanded.

"He's mine!" insisted Jett.

Suddenly, a crowd of paparazzi burst into the room, snapping away with their cameras at the two boys fighting over the dog!

"Hey, who let them in here?!" asked Kelso angrily.

As the cameras flashed, Matt watched this public relations nightmare unfold before his eyes, and he did some fast thinking. "Wait!" he cried. He pulled apart the boys, Rascal still staying in Jonas's grasp.

"That kid stole my dog!" Jett said, pointing angrily at Jonas.

"He's not your dog! You don't even like him!" insisted Jonas.

"Hold on!" said Matt commandingly. "This is just a small misunderstanding."

Jonas turned to Jett. "What's his favorite food?!"

"What?" Jett asked, caught off guard.

"If Rascal is your dog, you should know his favorite food," said Jonas. "What is it?"

Jett fumbled for words. "Uh... he eats dog food. He's a dog."

"Wrong. Bacon!" Jonas said triumphantly. "What's his favorite TV show?"

"TV show?? Dogs don't watch TV!"

"Iron Chef. What's his favorite –"

"Listen," Jett interrupted, "I don't have to answer every –"

"Boys! Boys! That's enough!" said Matt.

Then one of the photographers shouted out a question: "Mr. Brayden, is it true that the star of _Canine Commando_ doesn't even like dogs?"

Matt blanched. "No, that's not true at all!" He gave Jett's shoulders a squeeze. "Jett loves dogs! And he loves Rascal! And Rascal loves him!"

"Prove it!" Jonas demanded. "Prove Rascal loves him. If given a choice, will Rascal come to Jett or me?"

"Yeah!" said the photographer. "Who does Rascal really love?"

Before anybody could do anything to stop him, Jonas put Rascal on the floor between him and Jett, then he stood back several feet. "Rascal? Come on, boy!" Jonas beckoned.

Jett glanced at the paparazzi and realized he was forced to go along with this. So he did his best acting, trying hard to appeal to the dog. "Come on, Rascal. Remember all the great times we had together? We're the best team ever!"

Rascal looked between the two boys, trying to decide.

"Come on, Rascal," pleaded Jonas. "Who's my best boy? Come on, boy."

"You and me, Rascal," said Jett. "We always do it together! Secret Agent Gordy Sparks is nobody without his Canine Commando!"

The crowd watched with great anticipation. Even Officer Kelso got caught up in it.

Rascal looked again at Jonas... then Jett... then Jonas... and finally he ran... to Jonas!

The paparazzi's cameras flashed blindingly as they surrounded Jonas and Rascal. Rascal excitedly licked Jonas's happy face as Jonas hugged him close. "That's my boy! That's my little Rascal!"

Mary and Dean watched in amazement and started to smile. Chloe, Chantel and Roy got a kick out of this too.

But Matt, Jett and his parents weren't happy at all. Matt started to sweat. What to do? Finally, he went up to Jonas and turned on the charm for the cameras. "You know, Jonas, I think a dog truly belongs to the kid who loves him the most. So that's why I'm gonna let you keep Rascal!"

Jonas was shocked! But after he let the moment sink in, he smiled wide, thrilled that he was actually now able to keep Rascal for good! "Uh... great!"

Matt continued, "And you can be with him every day on the set of _Canine Commando II_!" He turned and spoke directly to the video cameras: "Coming next Christmas to a theater near you."

Jonas was now astonished beyond belief. "Wow! Sure!"

Matt backed away from Jonas, letting the paparazzi shoot Jonas and Rascal together. Then Mr. and Mrs. Carson rushed up to Matt. "But that kid broke into our home!" Mr. Carson said.

Matt pulled Mr. Carson aside. "Trust me, you don't want to press charges. Jett already blew it with the dog. The last thing we want is Jett trying to throw in jail the boy Rascal truly loves."

As the cameras flashed away, Jonas happily hugged Rascal as his family and friends gathered around, smiling.

Finally, Jonas had a dog of his own!
Chapter 32

Snow fell on a picturesque little house on a quiet street. A snowman stood in the front yard, icicles hung from the eaves, and Christmas lights and decorations twinkled everywhere.

Rascal tromped through the snow happily. He ran up to Gordy Sparks who crouched down to give Rascal a smile. "That's my boy! That's my little Rascal!"

"CUT!" called Matt Brayden from behind the movie camera. The fake snow stopped falling as crew members in T-shirts and shorts turned off the fake snow machine. Jett Carson took off his scarf and wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was the middle of summer, and Matt and his crew were shooting _Canine Commando II_. "Great, people! Let's move in for a close-up!"

Moments later, the on-set monitor showed Rascal in a tight close-up. He barked happily. "That's my boy! That's my little Rascal!" said a boy's voice off-screen. But it wasn't Jett's voice. It was Jonas's! Jonas knelt right off-camera, playing Gordy Sparks for Rascal's close-up.

Matt and Lyle Reese watched the truly happy Rascal on the monitor. They both smiled and nodded. "That's the heart I was looking for," said Matt. "In fact, that's the poster!" He turned to the crew. "CUT! Break for lunch!"

As the crew dispersed, Jonas picked up Rascal and carried him to some director's chairs set up by Rascal's trailer. Each chair had a _Canine Commando II_ logo on it, and Jonas sat down in a chair that read 'Jonas Ridley, Assistant Dog Trainer'. That's right, Jonas was now working on his favorite movie series, and doing the greatest job ever. And all he had to do was interact with Rascal from off-camera. Rascal loved Jonas so much that all that emotion just poured out into the camera.

Chloe showed up with a dog treat, and she sat down right next to Jonas and Rascal. She gave Rascal the treat and pet him. "Good job, Rascal! This movie's gonna be a hit!" She nodded to Jonas, "Thanks to Secret Agent Jonas Ridley, assistant dog trainer to the stars."

Jonas smirked at Chloe, a little embarrassed. He turned back to Rascal. "What do you want to do when you get home? Run in the creek? Huh, Rascal?"

"The groomer's gonna kill you again," kidded Chloe.

"Hey, big stars need to have fun once in a while," Jonas said, petting Rascal. "Don't you, boy?" Rascal barked and licked Jonas's face.

"Rascal, you rascal!" Jonas said with a chuckle, and they all got up and walked around the movie set, enjoying their break on this beautiful summer day.

###
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How Captain Dweezil Saved the Querx Galaxy and Still Made It Home in Time for Lunch

HughTube  
The story of one middle school kid's desperate attempt to get a clue](http://bit.ly/2uF7fUF)

The F.L.U.B. Club

How the 'Future Fixer' Fixed My Future and Flubbed It Up Again

Pandora's Lunch Box

Don't Open!

Unhinged

* SEE EXCERPTS AT THE END OF THIS BOOK! *

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

**Richard Clark** has written ten middle grade and chapter books, one of which, _My Best Friend Is a Secret Agent,_ was published in Canada in June, 2019, by Indigo Press and Wattpad. It is a Heather's Kids Pick and quickly became a Kids' Bestseller. Previously, the book was on the Amazon and iBooks free kids ebooks bestseller lists for four years with over 100,000 downloads and over 75,000 reads on wattpad.com.

Richard has also worked extensively as a screenwriter and TV story editor, both in Toronto and Los Angeles. A graduate of UCLA and AFI, his credits include writing or story-editing over 150 produced TV scripts for shows broadcast on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, BBC, Netflix, CBC, CTV and many other domestic and foreign networks. He's also developed shows for many production companies, written four TV movies for Showtime Networks, optioned several feature screenplays in Los Angeles, and worked as a director and editor. In 2010 he was nominated for both a Gemini Award (now Canadian Screen Award) and a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award, and in 2012 another WGC award.

In addition, Richard teaches screenwriting at Humber College in Toronto, and he wrote Scratch & Sniff, an interactive book app for kids.

Richard lives near Toronto with his wife and their 12-year-old twins... and he's lived to tell the tale.
Connect with Richard Clark

I really appreciate you reading the book! If you enjoyed it, won't you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer? Thanks!

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My imdb page: <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0164401/>
BOOK EXCERPTS:

The Boy Who Cried Ghost _,_ from Chapter 2:

Nine-year-old Peter Dunlap sat slumped in the back seat of his parents' SUV, his head buried in a horror comic book. He was oblivious to the others in the car – his parents, Fritz and Brenda, his sixteen-year-old sister, Denise, and his sleeping great-grandfather – because the horror comic book he was reading was his favorite: _Chiller Comix Presents THE GATE TO OBLIVION._

Denise frowned as she texted her many BFF's. "I can't believe you're gonna make me leave all my friends," she muttered to her parents.

"Don't worry, honey, you'll make _new_ friends," said Fritz, an affable man always ready with a pleasant smile.

"I don't want new friends," Denise shot back.

"Not so loud, dear," Brenda said quietly. "You'll wake Gramps."

Gramps looked as if he couldn't be awakened by a freight train.

Brenda shook her head. She was the cheerful type like her husband, but a little fussier. "Now Denise, you don't hear your brother complaining, do you?"

"That's 'cause he never gets his nose out of those stupid comic books. He doesn't care where he is as long as he's reading about a three-headed mutant or something."

Peter looked up. Did he hear someone talking about him? He shrugged and continued reading.

All Peter knew was that his family might be moving to a new house. A quiet boy with a vivid imagination, he was the opposite of his social butterfly sister. His best friend was his stack of horror comic books with titles like _"CREEPAZOIDS FROM THE CRAWLSPACE",_ _"NIGHT OF THE LIVING GHOULS"_ and _"IT LIVES IN THE ATTIC!"_ He loved to read them over and over, and whatever house he read them in was fine with him.

Except maybe for this one.

"We're here!" Fritz said as he pulled their car into the driveway of what soon might be their new house.

Peter looked out the window... and he _shivered_ at the sight of the house. It wasn't new at all.

In fact... it was Gaspar Thornberg's house!

Peter didn't know this, of course. But it looked just as shabby and uninviting as it had the night the old man disappeared (if a little drier). But as shabby and uninviting as the house looked, something spooked Peter even more. He had the strange feeling he'd seen it somewhere before.

Then it hit him. With trembling fingers, he closed his horror comic book and looked at the cover.

And right under the title, _"THE GATE TO OBLIVION"_ , was a drawing of _this very house!_

D.O.R.X., from Chapter 3:

We fired up the Insta-porter.

With the flick of a switch, we'd be able to transport Captain Dweezil into the Floozeum instantly.

Unless the Insta-porter didn't work.

The last thing we insta-ported was a Trizbekian noodle bowl, but by the time it got to the ship, it had turned into a Bulorian tofu patty.

We crossed our fingers that Captain Dweezil would show up in one piece.

I hit the Insta-porter button, and we all waited. Then a flickering image appeared...

...and Captain Dweezil materialized right in front of us! There he stood in all his glory, looking every bit the hero I knew he was!

Okay, he looked like he was only about twelve nibzats old, but that just made him _more_ impressive. To think he did all that stuff on his Spacebook page in twelve short nibzats!

" _That's_ the guy?" King Norzat asked.

I stepped up to Captain Dweezil, trying to restrain my awe. "Are you Captain Dweezil, protector of the good?"

"Uh... kinda," he said. I figured he was just a little nervous and wondered where he was.

"Captain Dweezil, welcome to the starship Floozeum!" I said proudly.

" _This_ is Captain Dweezil, conqueror of the Floobs?" King Norzat sniffed.

Oogle beamed at Captain Dweezil. "Did you really save the Moobians from certain destruction by the Chorps?!" female Oogle asked in awe.

"I... am freaking out," Captain Dweezil said. I wasn't quite sure what that meant in his dialect, but I took it as a sign of great happiness.

"We apologize for the surprise insta-portation," I said, "but we're in serious trouble, and we need your help."

_PZLAM!_ We got hit again. Now all we could take was 0.4 more hits, and it would be bye-bye Floozeum! "Take evasive action!" I screamed to anybody whose hands were big enough to operate the controls.

" _You_ take evasive action," snapped the King. "I have yet to introduce myself." He turned to Captain Dweezil. "I am King Norzat, former – and future – ruler of Shamzat."

"I'm Oogle the Klertzian," a smiling Oogle said in his male voice. "And so am I!" female Oogle said. "And that's Flerpia from Ziznak 7 and Zug from Zug."

Captain Dweezil reacted in a way I didn't expect. "This isn't real!" he screamed. "This ship can't be real! All these aliens can't be real!" Then he poked Zug, and his finger came back covered in slime. "Okay, that's pretty real."

"We're real, all right," I said to assure him. "We're the O.R.X., the Order of Rebel Xenophiles!"

"Xeno-what?"

"Xenophiles," said female Oogle. "It means we love people, especially people we don't know!"

"And we need you, our new great Captain, to lead us on our missions of mercy," I continued. "And that starts with flying this ship to safety!"

Oogle got up and sat Captain Dweezil down in the pilot seat. "Save us like you saved your hobbled rocketship from the Slopnoid buzz bomb attack!" male Oogle said.

Zug spoke up. "Blast Borzogs like you blast Porps after you make Porpanium rods go boom!"

But Captain Dweezil didn't start to fly the ship. In fact, he actually appeared to panic. "Listen, guys," he pleaded, "I made all that stuff up! I wrote it in my Spacebook blog just 'cause my real life is so boring. I'm not really Captain Dweezil, protector of the good. I'm just Dweezil Sneezil, offspring number 147 of Horst and Pribny Sneezil, Deep Space City #232, quadrant 44.9."

I suddenly realized I might have made a horrible mistake.

King Norzat spoke first. "We're doomed."

HughTube, from Chapter 1:

I don't get it.

What don't I get? Pretty much everything.

How to talk at a party? I don't get it.

How to dress cool? I don't get it.

How to avoid getting bullied?... to know when to shut up?... to choose the right after-school sport? I don't get it.

How to ask out a girl? I _definitely_ don't get it.

Which is why I started HughTube. What's HughTube? First of all, my name is Hugh. That explains the 'Hugh' part. The 'Tube' part, of course, refers to video.

HughTube is my video blog.

And yeah, I know everybody has a video blog these days. But mine's different. I don't just shoot myself playing Minecraft or whatever, narrating my exploits mining diamonds and killing Ender Dragons.

I shoot _everything_. My whole life.

Sure, I cut it all down later for my weekly blog post, but for myself I want my whole life recorded for later analysis. Because if I ever want to learn how to _get it_ , I'm going to have to go over it on video – over and over – till I eventually get it _right_.

The F.L.U.B. Club, from Chapter 7:

Back at home that night, I skyped with Lionel while digging through my incomprehensible code. It's like I had written it in Klingon or something. It looked like code, but not in a programming language I'd ever seen before.

"So... the Mood Tooner showed us Principal Hartwell three minutes in the future?" Lionel asked. He was wearing his Iron Man pajamas. That's right, Iron Man. Pajamas.

"Yeah, but I'm not calling it the Mood Tooner anymore," I said. "Now it's gonna be the Future Fixer!"

"The Future Fixer? That's not spelled weird too, is it, like with two X's?"

"No, it spelled normally. The deal is, since you know your future, you can fix it before it happens! This is the one that's gonna put the Fee-oob Club on the map!"

"The Fee-oob Club?"

"The FLUB Club, okay?!"

"So... how could you have 'fixed' Principal Hartwell yelling at you?"

"If I know he's going to yell at me, I know to avoid him so he won't."

"But what if you see a future clip of... Madisyn Lowry or something?"

"Yeah, right. Madisyn Lowry is gonna talk to me." What was he, nuts? Madisyn Lowry was like the hottest girl in school. And she was going out with Keith Ellis. She probably didn't even know I existed, and she probably never would.

"But if it is Madisyn Lowry, you don't want to avoid her," said Lionel.

I saw what he was getting at. "Right! So in that case, I would get right up in her face as much as possible." Then I realized, "...As soon as I can get the Future Fixer working again."

I picked up my phone and fiddled with it. It was still just static. After Hartwell was on it, I couldn't get it working again. This wasn't going to be much of an app if I couldn't get it working on command.

Then Gwen walked into my room, uninvited as usual. She started chewing on a stalk of celery right next to my ear while snooping at my computer screen.

"Future Fixer? What's that?"

"Nothing. Leave."

Gwen looked closer at Lionel and smiled.

Lionel smiled back. "Hi Gwen," he said, trying to sound cool. Yeah, he had a thing for my sister. Yuck.

"Nice jammies, Lionel."

Lionel turned beet red, suddenly realizing that wearing Iron Man jammies is probably the most uncool thing you can do, at least if you're over five. He desperately tried to cover himself with some comic books from his desk (which is probably the _second_ most uncool thing you can do).

"Hey! Uh, Marty, I'll see you tomorrow!" Lionel ended the call.

Gwen laughed. "He's cute... in a dorky sort of way."

"Get out!" I pushed Gwen out of my room then sat back down. Why do older sisters even exist?

I looked at my phone again. For some reason, the static was gone now, and it was back on the Mood Tooner home screen.

"Okay, let's try again..." I took a selfie. Then the phone went to static again. I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or not. But then, get this, Madisyn Lowry's face came up on the screen!! I could hardly breathe. "Madisyn Lowry??" She was blonde, she was sexy, she was... perfect!

And now she was on my phone! And in my app!

And in the future!

The lighting was kind of dim, and I could hear music in the background. Looking right at the camera, just like Principal Hartwell before, she said all sexy, "Let's get together, Marty." And then it went to static again.

I stared at the phone feeling about fifteen emotions at once – confusion, shock, glee, hopefulness, shame, greed, love – you name it, I felt it. Then I looked up, envisioning my future.

"Madisyn Lowry wants me... and I'm gonna be an internet ultra-billionaire!"

My Best Friend Is a Secret Agent, from Chapter 5:

Finally, we turned a corner, and there it was, the Cheesemobile itself! And there was The Big Cheese with his head sticking out like a crazy tank driver, firing blasts of concentrated Limburger stink at hordes of gagging people!

We had gotten here before my dad could, so we had a chance to prove ourselves. Through the earpiece, I told C.H.I.P. to catch up with the Cheesemobile and find a way into it. "Try getting in from underneath!"

"Yo dude!" he said and sped up. At the last second he flattened himself on his back on the skateboard, then he rolled right under the moving Cheesemobile!

C.H.I.P. told me through my earpiece that he found a hatch under there. Well, what he actually said was, "Found this righteous door thingy! I'm goin' in, dude!" I was amazed at how much the C.H.I.P. had affected Chip's personality. But I also realized that his skater-dude identity wasn't what he needed to get into the Cheesemobile because he had no idea how to open the hatch!

So using my app, I made C.H.I.P. an expert at lock-picking! And suddenly C.H.I.P. picked the lock like a cat burglar!

But he also started to lose control of the skateboard because he wasn't a skater dude anymore! Whoa!!!

C.H.I.P. got the hatch open and pulled himself inside just before the skateboard flipped, getting smashed under the wheels of the Cheesemobile.

Okay, that was a close call. Too close. But at least now C.H.I.P. was in. And luckily The Big Cheese didn't notice him since his head was sticking out of the top, and he was so busy blasting everybody with Limburger stink.

Now C.H.I.P. had to shut down the gas canisters, but lock-pickers don't know how to do that. He needed a new skill again.

So I made him a chemist!

But once he got to work on the canisters, The Big Cheese finally spotted him and jumped him! The guy was like, "Hands off! That's 99.6% pure Limburger fumes – the gas of the gods!"

C.H.I.P. fought as best he could, but chemists aren't really known for being able to throw a punch. But luckily, cheese makers aren't either, so it was kind of a goofy fight.

I realized this was really the wrong time and place to be beta-testing my new C.H.I.P. micro-thingy. Like I saw in my basement, I really did need C.H.I.P. to be able to do more than one cool thing at once. That way he could be like a real secret agent, with any skill he needed to take down the bad guy.

But for now, I'd have to do my best with one skill at a time.

I made C.H.I.P. a wrestler next, and sure enough, he got The Big Cheese into a headlock! "I'm gonna put you through my shredder, Big Cheese!" It helped that The Big Cheese's name was kind of a wrestler-type name already.

But The Big Cheese had planned for everything. He was able to reach a switch that set off a timer for the gas canisters to explode!

"Now the whole world will reek of the beautiful, pungent scent of the king of cheeses!" he screamed with evil glee.

C.H.I.P. had ten seconds to stop the timer, but wrestlers don't know a whole lot about defusing bombs. So he bopped The Big Cheese on the head, knocking him out, and then I turned C.H.I.P. into an electronics guy to stop the timer!

And it was just in time too 'cause he cut the red timer wire on the gas canisters with one second to spare!

Phew!

Pandora's Lunch Box, from Chapter 3:

"I wonder what's down there..." Pandora peered down the dark trail.

Lyle just shook his head. "If you want me, I'll be at my house playing Zomboid Attack 3 with my good eye." He walked off towards the houses.

But Pandora hardly noticed he was gone. Her mind was dead set on exploring the creepy woods ahead. She worked her way into the thicket. As she walked, spiders crawled across their webs above... odd birds fluttered in the darkness... slithering lizards scurried past Pandora's feet...

After a minute, it got hard for Pandora to proceed. Branches crossed the path, and leaves obscured the trail below. "It's got to lead somewhere..." Pandora whispered to herself, her curiosity aflame.

Just then, something flew by Pandora's head, grazing her hair. "Hey!" She looked up, and the dark 'bird' attacked her again. "That's a bat!" Her eyes bugged out as many shadows now passed over her. "Make that 'bats'!"

Pandora ran fast down the trail, trying hard to swipe the brush out of her way. But she was just getting deeper and deeper into the thicket.

Then she tripped on something unseen and tumbled to the ground. WHUMP!

Pandora looked up. The bats were gone, and she found herself in a small clearing. She pushed herself up onto her knees and brushed her clothes off. Then she spotted the thing she tripped on. She reached over and brushed some dirt off of it.

It was a children's lunch box. But it wasn't something lost recently; it was made of metal, the kind popular in the '60's and '70's. Pandora rose to her feet and angrily kicked the box away. "Stupid lunch box!" But as she kicked it, some crusted dirt fell off of it, revealing that it was bound tightly with white tape – and something was written on the tape.

"Huh?" Curious, Pandora looked closer, brushing off the remaining dirt.

All over the box was written: 'DON'T OPEN!!!'

"Don't open?" asked Pandora, getting curious as always. "I wonder why not..."

Now, a normal 12-year-old girl would probably walk away at this point, maybe take the advice of the person who wrote all those warnings.

But not Pandora.

She picked the box up and tried to open it right away. But the tape held it tightly closed. So she peeled off the tape, strip by strip, getting more and more excited. Finally, she peeled the last of the tape off and prepared to whip the lunch box open... but then she stopped herself.

"Maybe I shouldn't." For a moment, it appeared that Pandora had come to her senses. She put the box down hesitantly. "But if I don't open it, someone else will!" She picked up the box again. "Why should I let _them_ get what's inside? _I_ was the one who found it first!"

Pandora slowly opened up the box. The rusty hinges strained and creaked. Then FLASH! Blinding light blasted out of the box! Pandora dropped it to the ground. The box landed hard – and then it started to tremble...

Pandora stared in amazement as the box shook, the light still beaming out of it. Then, suddenly, a _head_ popped out, like a genie from a bottle! It was the head of an arch-looking middle-aged lady, wearing a brilliant pearl necklace and ruby red lipstick.

"Phew! Finally, a little air!" she said, taking a number of deep breaths.

Pandora stared, stunned. "You're... a head... in a lunch box!"

Just then, another head popped out, squeezing in beside the lady's head. But this head was more of a cross between a blue-blood poodle and a monocled librarian. "Quit hogging the sunlight, Greeley!" he said with a bored sneer.

Pandora did a double-take. "Another head??"

"Besides," the new head continued, "I've been stuck in there with that rabble long enough."

Pandora looked confused... and a little afraid. "There's more?"

Almost on cue, three more heads popped out – but now all their upper bodies did too. One of them was a cute fat blob. And the other two looked like Siamese twins, attached at the waist, and they didn't seem very happy about it.

"OOF! That's better," said the fat one, relieved.

One of the twins gestured wildly. "I was wondering how a-long you were going to make-a me wait!" he said in an Italian accent.

"Hey, you're a-blocking the sun," chided the other brother. "You always get-a the best side!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"Boys! Put a sock in it!" snapped the lady. "We've got a new master." She and the others turned to Pandora.

Pandora stood there, surprised but intrigued. "A new master??"
