I Among Dogs

Chapter 24: A Bully for Bingo

 I've seen at least one or two dogs pull off the Puppy-Dog Eyes, or the "Please face" as the Heelers call it before, but to say that Bluey and Bingo were masters of such was a bit of an understatement. It had happened just a day or so after I met Mia and Captain that Bingo had wanted me to tag along with her to her own school much like how Bluey had done so with me. As you'd expect, Bandit and Chilli were adamant in me not going until Bingo made the face in question, her lips curled into a frown and her pupils larger with a noticeable shine. It only took less than a minute especially after Bingo let out a small whimper for good measure for her parents to reluctantly comply.

The next thing you know, less than a half hour later I was at the front of Bingo's school, or rather, the Kindy. A one floor building with cream coloured wooden walls and a white roof. Several other mother or father dogs were bidding farewell to their kids for the day, one of which was Harley who gleefully waved at me excitedly to which I replied with a smile and wave of my own.

"Why, if it isn't Nathan, our human ambassador!" An adult female voice got my attention as I looked ahead to see a middle aged dog with golden fur, a noticeably large tuft of it on her chest and like Coco, she too had eyelashes.

"Uh yeah, sorry Mrs. Retriever, Bingo really wanted him with her at Kindy today." Bandit explained a little sheepishly.

"Oh that's alright, Mr. Heeler, I've heard so many good things about Nate here, I reckon the other kiddies would love to have him here!" Mrs. Retriever accepted the apology, glancing at me with another smile.

With that being said, Bingo and I shared a goodbye with Bandit before we both headed inside to start the day.

***

"And then... I woke up the next morning to meet Bingo and her family, and that's how I've been living with them since then!"

I told the whole of Bingo's class, even Mrs. Retriever who were all sat on the floor as I finished the story of how I had woken up in Canistralia up to meeting the Heelers, obviously cutting out the scary details including the cave of spiders and especially the hound with the shotgun. The entire class applauded excitedly, especially Bingo and a dog next to her, her close friend which was a Maltese by the name of Lila.

Lila was rather shocked upon first seeing me as Bingo introduced me to her, but her initial shock was quickly replaced with friendly curiosity as did several of other Bingo's classmates including a young Dobermann called Jasper and a King Charles Spaniel named Bentley.

Well, not all of the class was cheering. The only one of the kids who didn't cheer was a small dog with cream coloured fur with a cap, all they did was just stare at me with a blank look.

Odd. I guess they hadn't caught wind of my presence in Canistralia.

After my little story time, the kids and I headed outside into the kindergarten's playground. Not a second passed when I was surrounded by several of the younger kids, namely Bentley and her sister Zara, Harley and that pug whom I now knew as Buddy, all of them having questions for me.

"Are there horsies where you're from?"

"Have humans always lived in a forest?"

"Are Bingo's mum and dad your mum and dad yet?"

Before I could even answer one of their questions, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck like something had just jabbed me. Rubbing where I had been hit, I looked down behind me to see a rock on the ground before glancing up to see the same kid dog with the cap, now glaring at me with another rock in their hand.

"Hey! Why did you hit Nathan, Banjo?!" Zara exclaimed angrily at the dog.

"Shuddup, Bobohead! I didn't have any peanuts to throw at that orange bobohead's pet!" Banjo yelled back with a growl.