The Secret Life of Pets Problems in New York

To Pick a Lock

"Please tell me you busted them out by now!" Chloe yowled over her shoulder as she and Mel tried to barricade the camper's door. Somewhere behind her, Pops called back, "We're working on it." Groaning, Mel shouted, "Work faster! I don't know how much long Chloe and I can keep these guys out!" As if for extra emphasis, the front door rattled loudly as a Newfoundland, a bulldog, and three St. Bernards tried to break in.

Applying all of her weight to the door, Chloe hissed in frustration, "What's the holdup?! I thought you people got the locks already!" Sweetpea started to chirp a response but it only made Chloe even more angry as she yelled, "I can't understand a single word you're saying!" Meanwhile, Mel glanced over at his little friend and replied, "What about a pizza?" Shaking his head, Pops pointed out, "No, he said something about Christmas." Chirping sadly to himself, Sweetpea slapped himself in the face.

"I think our locks are just to complicated for Norman and Lisa to handle," Gidget called out from where she and Sky were still chained to the wall of the camper. The two guinea pigs, meanwhile, were trying to figure out how the combination locks worked. And Pops didn't even have a clue how they worked either. "Does anyone know how to unlock those?!" Mel asked, hoping for an answer. However, silence met his words. "It'll take a miracle and a true genius to unlock those wretched things..." Chloe growled through clenched teeth when she suddenly noticed there was no pressure being placed on the front door. Bewildered, Chloe and Mel stepped away slowly.

All of the sudden, a nearby window shattered as a dark figure burst in. Scared beyond her wits, Chloe grabbed a baseball bat in proximity to her and was about to slam it down on the intruder's head when everyone inside shouted at the tabby cat to stop. "Tiberius?!" Gidget exclaimed, astonished to see the hawk. Norman, meanwhile, cried out happily as he hugged his best friend. "I knew you weren't dead!" Mel shouted, sounding victorious as he bounced up and down. Glancing at the baseball bat in her paws, Chloe tossed it in disgust. "Wait, we saw you getting killed. How are you alive?" Sky asked, pointing out the obvious. Sweetpea and Pops slowly nodded their heads in agreement with the Siberian husky.

"Look, it's going to be a story for another time! Right now, Leonard and Pepe are fighting off the thugs who were at this door. Hopefully, it's long enough for me to open those combination locks," Tiberius explained in one breath. Passing the guinea pigs, the hawk got to work. Jaw dropping, Chloe and Pops exclaimed at the same time, "You know how those unlock?!" Without looking up from what he was doing, Tiberius answered with a question, "Was I named after the second emperor of Rome?" Silence greeted his words as the others glanced at each other in confusion. Sighing, Norman piped up, "He can unlock those, easy as pie!"