Dogs Don't Always Stop For Treats

 Dogs Don’t Always Stop For Treats or

How Beau Anderson Lost His Favorite Shirt

    “I have an idea.” 

Beau turned away from his desk, where he had been trying for the past hour to work out his math homework, to see Josh leaning against the door jamb, grinning like the cat who’d caught the canary.

“No,” Beau replied drily as he turned back around. 

“It’ll be fun!” Josh said in a sing-song voice as he came fully into the room and dropped down onto Beau’s bed face first. 

“Nope.” Beau didn’t even look up. “We’re still in trouble for the last idea you had.” 

“What?!” Josh said in mock hurt. He put his hand on his chest and clutched at his heart. “You’re blaming me for that?”

Beau looked over at his best friend and glared. “You got me stuck on a roof!” 

“No,” Josh rolled over and grabbed Beau’s baseball from his nightstand and tossed it into the air, catching it easily. “You got yourself stuck on the roof. Is it my fault you can’t handle heights anymore?”

Beau shook his head. “No. Whatever you’re planning, you’ll have to do it without me. What are you even doing here anyway? I thought your dad said you were grounded for another week?”

“I am,” Josh said, sitting up now. “Technically. But my dad’s not here. He had to go to Nashville for some department meeting. So he thought it would be a good idea if I came to hang out with you for the day.”

“Yeah, ’cause he doesn’t trust you alone.” 

Beau started to stack the papers he was working on and put them on top of his math book, closing it on them so they wouldn’t get lost amid the rest of the mess. He pushed the desk chair away so that he rolled backward across the floor.

“I’m offended, Beauregard!” Josh said, grinning. “Anyway, stop trying to distract me. We have things to plan.”

Beau sighed. “Fine. What are we doing?” 

If possible, Josh’s grin grew wider, and he jumped up from the bed, tossing the baseball behind him, and began to pace back and forth in front of Beau as he told him all about their next great adventure. 

---

Sitting out in Beau’s truck, he looked out at the dark house that they were parked in front of. “There is no way that this is going to end well,” he remarked.

“You worry too much, Beau,” Josh said quietly. “Old Man Jenkins is gone for the weekend. Nobody is gonna know that it was us.” 

“What about his dogs?” Beau asked. 

Mr. Jenkins was quite possibly the meanest old man in town. One of his favorite things to do was to yell at the kids who walked past his house on their way to school every morning, demanding that they stay away from his fence. The only thing that Mr. Jenkins cared about was Samson and Delilah, his two German Shepherd dogs. Beau thought maybe they were attack dogs, but he couldn’t be sure. He definitely thought they would make good ones, trained or not.

“I don’t see them out anywhere,” Josh replied. “But I brought treats just in case.”

“Treats?!” Beau exclaimed, “You think those dogs are gonna choose treats over our hides if they catch us in there?” 

Josh rolled his eyes. “You worry too much, Beau! If Jenkins is gone, don’t you think he would have taken the dogs to the kennel or something? They’re probably not even here.” He unfastened his seatbelt and reached behind him to grab the bag they had brought. “Now, let’s go before someone calls my dad because they see your truck sitting out here.” Josh opened the bag and pulled out several rolls of toilet paper, handing a couple to Beau, who took them with a sigh. 

They got out of the truck and quietly closed the doors behind them before walking up towards the chain-link fence. Josh tossed the bag up and over the fence before taking a few steps back in order to get a running start. 

Within a few seconds, Josh had scaled the fence and was on the other side. He hung there for a moment before dropping easily to the ground. 

Beau groaned. It wasn’t as if this was the first fence he’d had to climb over, it was just the idea that if they got caught— and he was absolutely sure that they would— James Anderson was going to kill him. 

There were several things that Beau’s dad wouldn’t tolerate; lying, disrespect, and direct disobedience were at the very top of his list. Beau mentally ticked off tonight's transgressions on his fingers. 

First, lying about where he and Josh were going. Old Man Jenkins’s yard was definitely not the library. Second, he was pretty sure that teepeeing his house would be considered disrespectful. Third, there was just the little matter of already being grounded in the first place! It had taken a lot just to convince him to let them go to the library, to begin with. He’d only agreed because they had gotten Beau’s mom on their side, and even then, it had been a stretch. 

“C’mon, Beau!” Josh hissed. “Are you gonna just stand there all night, or are you gonna help me?”

Beau backed up a few steps just as Josh had and easily climbed up and over the fence, wasting no time in dropping down on the other side. 

Josh immediately handed him back his rolls of toilet paper and took off towards the back, leaving Beau to start in on this side. 

Within a few minutes, toilet paper was soaring through the air and landing on different parts of the house and on the trees around it. 

Josh came running back around to the front with a grin. “Why, Beau, you almost look like you’re having fun out here!” 

“Shut up, Josh. Here, hold these.” He tossed Josh an empty roll before easily sending the one in his hand soaring over the porch.

“Nice!” Josh complimented his friend loudly as he stuffed the empty rolls down into the bag he was carrying. 

Suddenly, the boys heard a low growl behind them. 

“Josh?” Beau asked, freezing in his tracks. “I thought you said they weren’t here.”

“I said I thought they weren’t here.” 

Beau gulped as the growling grew louder. “You were wrong.”

Josh and Beau turned slightly around, and Josh slowly pulled the treats out of his jacket pocket. “Hey, guys,” he said with false cheerfulness. “You want some treats?”

Samson, or maybe Delilah, began to bark loudly. 

“I don’t think they want the treats, Josh!” 

“Well, do you have a better idea?!” Josh and Beau began to walk slowly backward.

“Yeah,” Beau said. “Run!” 

The two teenagers turned quickly and made a run for the fence. Josh tossed the backpack over, and it landed with a thud on the other side before he jumped onto the fence. 

The dogs were right on their heels, and Beau, who had been close to Josh, tripped over a tree branch that he couldn’t see in the dark. He stumbled and nearly fell but just barely managed to stay upright. But the few seconds had caused him to fall behind, and by the time he made it to the fence and flung himself at it, the dogs were growling and snapping at his legs. 

One of them, he thought for sure it must have been Samson this time, jumped up and grabbed hold of his leg. Beau yelled in both surprise and pain. 

He would later say that it was a very manly yell, but Josh would disagree completely. 

“Get off, you crazy dog!” Josh yelled, reaching up to shake the fence in hopes of knocking the dog down. 

“Quit shaking the fence, you idiot!” Beau yelled at his friend, “Are you trying to make me fall?!” He kicked out with his leg, but the dog had too good of a grip, and he only managed to cause himself to be pulled further down. That’s when the other dog jumped up and snapped at him, sinking his teeth into Beau’s t-shirt. He heard the fabric rip as the dog fell back to the ground.

Finally, with one more almighty kick, Beau knocked the dog off of his leg and scrambled up and over the other side, falling hard onto the ground below. His breath was knocked out of his lungs, and he desperately wanted to lay there, just staring up at the stars that shone brightly in the inky black sky. But Josh was already pulling him to his feet.

“C’mon, Beau, we gotta go!” 

Beau saw the porch light come on at the house next door, and he groaned. He let Josh put his arm around him and stumbled along as they made their way to the truck. Beau climbed into the passenger seat, and Josh ran around to the other side and jumped in. 

Neither of them said a word until they were back on the old dirt road that led to Beau’s family farm. Then, Josh let out a whoop as he grinned wildly.

“That was crazy!” he exclaimed as he practically bounced in his seat. 

Beau narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m glad you had fun.” 

Josh pulled the truck over on the side of the road and turned on the cab’s interior light. “How bad is your leg?” he asked.

Beau turned in his seat and pulled his leg up. His jeans had ripped as well, so they had no problem seeing the gash just above his ankle. “I don’t think it’s too bad,” he replied after inspecting it. 

“Are you just saying that so we don’t have to tell your mom?” 

“Nah.” Beau shook his head before leaning back against the seat.

“So you’re feelin’ okay then?” 

Beau snorted. “Oh, yeah, I’m just peachy,” he said sarcastically. 

Josh rolled his eyes and turned off the light before pulling back out onto the road. 

“That was my favorite shirt, by the way.” 

Josh laughed again. “I’ll buy you a new one. Someone might get suspicious if they see it all ripped up.”

“Gee, thanks. I really appreciate that, Josh.”

“My pleasure!” 

Beau spent the rest of the ride staring blankly out of the window. He supposed, all things considered, that it hadn’t been the worst night he’d ever had. And at least it got him out of math for a while. 

End