The Wounds We Heal

Chapter thirty-three: Growing Up

Chase had long since given in to the soft tender touch which Ryder had laid across his back, and by now even that was no longer a factor. Leaving both to rest quite deeply, where they had ended up during their midday meal.

"Ok.. so now they're both sleeping." Rocky mentioned, turning to the pups outside the Lookout with him, after peering in at their leader and second-in-command. "What now?"

"Want to read a book or something?" Ned suggested, bored out of his mind.

"Sure, why not." Rubble shrugged, as they all exchanged glances with growing anticipation.

The pups entered the Lookout quietly and Ned went over to look at the books they had.

"What books do you guys want to read?" Ned asked.

"I don't know.. depends on what's on the shelf." Rocky said coming up next to the husky, then looked up to study the books in front of him.

"Do you have a favorite?" The mixed breed wondered.

"Hmmm," the husky pup hummed as he looked through the books.

"I found one called 'Fun Times With Everyday Items'. That looks like a good read," Ned commented.

Marshall began nosing through one stack of books, while Rubble pawed through some others. But as the Dalmatian searched, he soon found that what little pressure he added to the stack, only made it wobble more.

"Oh no! Marshall, be careful!" Rocky shouted.

"It's going down!" Zuma called as they all turned toward the slow motion lean of the tower right in front of them.

"Woah!" Rubble cried, leaping out of the way just in time as the stack of books toppled and scattered to the floor. And when this happened one large book from the top hit the ground and slid toward them.

"Congratulations Marshall, you destroyed 'The Leaning Tower of Reading'. What is this big book, a dictionary?" Ned replied, before looking at the big book in front of them.

"Woah.." he said, noting the picture of a dog on the front cover.

All the other pups came over to gather around him.. peering over his shoulder at the book that lay before them.

"Dog breeds.. 100 breeds from around the world." Marshall read, meeting glances with Skye in a bit of confusion.

"Should we open it?" Rubble asked, sounding a bit nervous.

"It's just a book." Rocky told him.

"Yeah.. but what if it's a pop-up book." The bulldog shuttered. "Remember the last time Ryder read us a story.."

He looked to his left and yelped, diving behind his friends while Zuma chuckled, holding the makeshift jaws he'd formed with his forepaws.

Ned looked at the pups in confusion

"Ummm. What's so bad about a pop-up book? Zuma, what the heck?" Ned replied, not understanding what Zuma and Rubble were talking about.

Zuma just smiled over at Rubble, who cowered back more behind Marshall and Skye; who both rolled their eyes humorously.

"Ryder read the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the big bad wolf popped out of the book and scared Rubble. He didn't sleep very well that night.. he kept ALL OF US up waiting and hoping that the big bad wolf wouldn't come to get us."

"Now Zuma loves that story!" Skye snickered, seeing the glimmer in the chocolate lab's eyes.

"The best nursery rhyme ever!" The water pup gushed, then howled like a wolf, making Rubble shutter.