The Twins meet Sergeant Stubby

Chapter 4

That evening, the soldiers were outside again, lined up as the Colonel had something important to tell them. 

"I've watched you men become soldiers. It makes me proud" The Colonel explained, then looked to Stubby and smiled. "You, too, Stubby. I hope you stay on the base to look after the next group"

This made Robert/Conroy and the twins surprised once they heard that Stubby wouldn't be going with them. 

"Now, take this weekend to write your letters and say your farewells. And pray that we will all be home safe and sound very soon" The Colonel told the men. "We ship out on Monday night"

The twins looked to each other, a bit concerned. 

"God bless us all, and God bless the United States of America" The Colonel said, before turning the troops over to the sergeant. "Take charge of your men, Sergeant"

"Dismissed!" The Sergeant informed his men, then they all left to go get ready. 

The twins could see how scared Robert and the other boys were. But more importantly, they saw how heartbroken Robert was at having to leave Stubby behind.

Conroy was in his tent with the twins and Stubby, packing. The twins would be staying behind with Stubby too for a few unexplained reasons. 

Stubby came up to Conroy, seeing him look so sad and pushed the ball up to him with his snout, thinking a game of fetch might cheer him up. 

"Not right now, Stubby" Conroy sighed, pushing the ball away. 

Stubby looked sad seeing his buddy so sad. 

"Poor Stubby" Ann frowned to the little brown dog. 

"You promise you'll be back soon, right?" Brock asked Conroy, still a bit nervous if he'd really come back from the war or not. 

Robert continued packing when Stubby jumped into his bag, wanting to go with him. 

"Stubby, come on. This is really hard for me, too" Conroy sighed, telling his dog. "You're going to be fine and I'll be back before you know it"

Stubby still looked pretty sad to his owner though.

"Look, I got a gift for you" Conroy told the little dog.

"Oooh! What is it?" Ann asked, seeming interested. 

Conroy then took out a dog collar he had got for Stubby and placed it around his neck. 

Stubby didn't know what it was and barked, trying to get it off since he wasn't used to wearing a collar since he was stray and all his whole life. 

"Hold it, Stubby" Ann said, getting a mirror out for the dog to look at himself with the collar on. 

Stubby soon got a good look at himself and actually liked the way how his new collar looked on him. 

"Oh, yeah. Solider dog Stubby coming through" Stubby started strutting his stuff like a fashion model. 

The twins and Conroy laughed at the little dog for showing off.  

"Look at you, handsome boy!" Conroy smiled to his dog. "Looking good, Stubby!"

"You're the Top Dog now, Stubby!" Brock commented. 

"Yep, that's me!" Stubby barked happily, wagging his little stubby tail. 

"Come on, now" Conroy then hooked a leash to Stubby's collar and started walking out of the tent.

All about being a pet was still kinda new to Stubby, so when Conroy started walking with the leash attached to Stubby's collar, the little dog just fell over and ended up being dragged along not knowing what this was.