Post by Nukaleu on Jan 6, 2008 16:26:03 GMT -5
[-Hello, this is Dr. CHEV Nukaleu Esquire, and I'm here to add my two cents to my own story of "Courage the Police Dog," a story that I wrote as a six or seven year old. Go ahead and read through the story, and I will rudely interrupt it in various parts and tell my intup inside brackets!-]
Once, there were two police dogs names Sarge and Luca [-the dogs in this story were based on beanie babies and often named after them. I always had the inspirational animals with me when I wrote this-], and two police cops, George and Sam. One night they were chasing down a robber. Sarge leaped but missed the robber. Sarge was running as fast as he possibly could, but he was slowing down. Then, Luca jumped as high and as far as he could and pinned the robber to the ground. Then they took him to the prisson.
"Poor Sarge," George said back at the prisson. "He keeps getting older and older and weaker and weaker and slower and slower.[-Well, thanks, chief-] I'm telling you, soon we're going to need a new dog. Why if it wasn't for Luca, we wouldn't have caught that robber." "Yah, but at least Patta is pregnent," said Sam. "We can train her pups, keep one, and sell the rest." "Good idea," said George. "Let's do it." [-lol ok they just realized this and Patta is due any day now?-]
The next morning at 5:00 am, Sarge was howling as loud as he could. "Owooooo, Owoooo," howled Sarge. George and Sam ran down the stairs.[-Down the stairs, huh? So George and Sam live together...hmmm-] They thought Sarge saw a murder or something. They saw Sarge standing in the doorway of the garage.[-Garage? The police station has a large garage that all these dogs live in.-] Sarge ran into the garage. George and Sam followed. And when they got in there, they saw Patta and 6 puppies laying in a basket beside her.
four of the puppies were boys. Their names were Courage, Cokey, Germain [-not very creative, but spelled creatively!-], and Shepard. Germain and Shepard didn't behave very well [-How nice that the two dogs whose names pair up are the ones who pair up. And they're evil. That gives a bad name to german shepherds everywhere-]. The two girls were named Satta and Peltsy. They loved to play together. And for some reason, Courage and Cokey were best friends. They loved to play together. [-sounds like these dogs are setting up aliances-]
One summer day, the puppies were playing outside in a feild. That day, Germain and Shepard wandered off into the city. "This will be fun," said Germain. "We just go out into the city, meet some dogs, and bring them home."[-Jebus they're petophiles!-] "But what about mom, she's going to get mad," said Shepard. [-Ok these dogs are troublemakers...since when do they worry about Patta getting mad at them?-]All of a sudden they saw two dogs in front of them. one was a doberman pincher, the other a rotwiler. [-<- rotweiler spelled phonetically ^-^-]
"What's your name?" asked the doberman pincher. "Well, my name is Germain and this is Shepard," said Germain. "I'm Pinch, this is Rot," [-again, creative!-] said the boderman pincher. "Hey, Pinch, hey Rot. You want to come home with us?" asked Germain. "We don't like Germain Shepards," Pinch said. "Their to bossy. We like to beat e'm up." A mean look came up on their faces. Then, the two dogs chased German and Shepard all the way home! Patta was mad!
As the two dogs started to run away, Courage started barking and chasing after them. "Courage what are you doing?" asked Cokey. Courage stoped. "Courage, get back here!" said Patta. "And as for you two, you know better than to go off into the city all by yourselves. [-Well obviously, Patta, these two are troublemakers, so you must not have very good disciplinary skills.-] So we all have to go home because your dad is too busy to babysit." [-and what does that have to do with anything?-] "Thanks a lot, dudes." said Cokey. [-oo Cokey is a surfer dude! He certainly has the lingo for it! I think its his calling-]
A while after they got back, George and Sam came into the garage. [-Wait...so Geroge and Sam weren't there? Why were the dogs running around in a field by themselves?-]"All right, pups lets go train for police dog business," said George. "Let's go," said Sam. After the first day of training, all the pups were pooped. But they had learned a whole lot aboutt being a police dog that day. They learned few commands, like sit, down, and come. Sarge has also told the pups a little bit about being a police dog. [-lol ok so when you go to Police Dog Camp they give you lectures!-]
After training, George and Sam heard the phone ring. George picked it up, but nobody was there. The computer told them where the house was. Then they got Sarge and Luca and drove off to Main Street. [-Wow cerative street name.-] "Mommy, where are Daddy and Luca going?" asked Courage. "There's an emergency and Daddy and Luca have to help Sam and George," said Patta. [-You'd think Courage would understand this concept by now. Jeez, he wants to be chief dog, doesn't he? LEarn the ropes, Courage!-] "I wonder what's going on," said Courage. "You ask your dad when he comes back," said Patta. "I can't wait that long. I'm going to find out now!" said Courage, and he ran out the door. "COURAGE, NOOOO!" shouted Patta. [-lmfao nice insertion of DRAMA!-]
Courage struggled to keep up with the car. [-well I wonder why! Its a speeding police car and he is a tiny puppy. He should be blowin that car away!-] He finally jumped up onto the bumper and drug himself up to the roof of the car. Sarge saw his son through the window and barked furiously. "Shut up, Sarge!" [-don't you think these cops would have something more effective to say than "shut up"? I mean, cops have all these terms for their dogs, and aren't a bunch of them in German or something?-] shouted Sam. Soon, Luca started barking, too, realizing how important this was. Then Sarge joined in. "Would you shut those dogs up?" shouted George.
Sam spun around in his seat and saw little Courage hanging in the window. He told George and George stamped onto the breaks. The cops swung their doors open as Courage bounded off of the car. He ran out into the busy street. Then he froze, so afraid. All of the cars were quickly stopping barely missing the pup. Then one was speeding right towards him, not bothering to stop. Courage just bent over with his ears laying on his head.
Remembering where he was, Courage leaped to the side, just in time and ran in a space where a brick was missing on an apartment. Then a lady popped out the door and said, "For heaven's sake! What's all the rucus?" [-lol I love that!-] Then she saw poor little Courage. "You mutt, get outa here or I'm gonna slap ya with a broom!" [-um excuse me, animal abuse! I mean come on, lady, there is a tiny puppy in your yard and just goin off like a siren! Calm the hell down!-] Courage scurried to the back. He looked around and saw George, Sam, Sarge, and Luca yelling and howling for him. When he saw that they had given up, he saw his father look back at him in a disappointed look. Sarge walked away. Then Courage looked around and saw four dalmations, a mother and three pups. [-alright so this grumpy old lady who hates to have puppies on her lawn owns a dog and some puppies!-]
"Hello, what's your name?" asked the mother. "Are you the one creating so much noise?" "Yes, I'm Courage." He told them all about himself and what happened. [-Courage don't talkt o strangers. Especially don't tell them your life story!-] "Ya, I wanna grow up to be a fire dog," said one of the pups after Courage had told them how much he had always wanted to be Chief Dog. [-this poor dalmatin thinks there's no other work for him in the world. Rescue, don't follow the ho-hum crowd!-] "I'm Rescue." "Would you like to stay with us until you find out how to get home?" asked the mother, who's name was Shela. "Yes, that would be fun!" [-First of all, Courage can't be that far from home because he just ran across the street. Second, if he wanted home, why didn't he jsut follow his father and the others?-] So Courage lived with Rescue and his family for a while. He grew older and new all of the tricks to hide from Recue's grumpy lady owners. [-There's more than one?!?!?-] He and Rescue became the best of friends. [-What happened to Cokey?-]
The lady owners always set the dogs' food bowl in front of a whole in the wall. Whenever the ladys weren't looking, Courage would sneek through and eat the food. Well, one day Courage wasn't quick enough and was caught eating the food. "Get outta here, you stupid mutt! Get out!" Courage ran for his life as the lady ran out the door and tried to smack him with the broom. [-There she is with the broom again! Is that her only method of defense? Lady, the day an assassin bursts into your house, you're gonna wish you had a rifle-] "Run, Courage, Run!" shouted Rescue, imitating the movie of Forest Gump and not realizing it or thinking it was funny. [-lol he was immitating it, but he didn't mean to!-] Courage ran and ran until somehow he found his way to the police house. [-Oh I guess he just ran across the street. What a long, arduous journey!-]
Courage ran up the steps and through the doggy door. [-The police hosue garage has a doggy door? How do they expect to keep track of these dogs?-] He saw his Mom and Dad, George and Sam, Luca and his brothers and sisters lying on the floor, sleeping. [-lol George and Sam were on the floor sleeping?-] Then he saw two dogs over in the corner, rading he trash can. One turned around and said to the other, "Pst! Rot, there he is!" Courage saw that it was Pinch and Rot. They walked over to him and Pinch whispered, "I knew you'd come back." Courage asked, "What are you doing here?" "Eating your trash. Everyone's been recycling lately and tomorrow's garbage day!" "So why are you stealing from me?" "We don't like German Shepherds, we like to beat 'em up." [-creative literary repeatativeness-] They got a mean look [-oo there;s the mean look again, too!-] and leaped to attack Courage. Courage jumped to the side and they both got stuck in the doggy door. [-ooo prat comedy!-]
Courage went over to the doggy door tha went into the garage. He looked back and saw his father's eye looking straight at him. All of a sudden Sarge said, "It's Sunday," and Courage realized that's why they were sleeping. [-Isn't it comforting to know your entire police bregade is sleeping every Sunday?-] Courage left. After a few hours of walking, Courage passed the local pet store and looked in. He saw a display of husky puppies with a cardboard arctic background. [-oh i see, creative display-] He went inside. He went up to the pen and saw all of the puppies playing and running around, the parents in the back. Then a lady walked in and picked up one of the pups. Courage followed her outside.
"Well, aren't you the cutest?" said the woman. [-how did this woman not notice Courage when she was inside? He was running loose!-] The husky ran up and licked Courage on the face. "You come to my house any time you want, ya here?" said the woman. [-yes. lady, because I know exactly where you live-] As they walked away, the husky yelled, "I'm Nanook! Come over later!" and they were gone. Courage did come over a little later. He played with the woman, Lisa, and got some pretty good treats. Later, he decided it was time to go home for good, so he did. When he went inside everyone instantly ran over and was giving him rubs, hugs, and kisses, except for Sarge. [-Sarge doesn't give his son much moral support.-] At first Courage thought everything would be OK, but later he was locked up in a pen while the rest of the family ate popcorn and watched T.V. [-Nice diet for the dogs. Are they still in the garage, watchng TV?-]
A couple of months later, when Courage was almost full grown, there was an important message on T.V. It said that a little girl named Lucy was stranded in the North Pole and could not be found. Courage saw this and was so worried. He knew that George and Sam couldn't help, so he would have to. He would take his two friends, Nanook and Rescue, to save the little girl. [-because its so obvious that they'll agree to trvel thousands of miles to go save someone they don't know.-] Next Thursday would be the flight to the North Pole. [-Why are they announcing the flight time on National News?-] Next Thursday would be the big day. Courage told all of his friends the plan. They knew the guy that made a living for working at the ticket booth at the airport, Bubba. [-The dogs knew this guy? What did they have teatime with him or something? lol how did they come to know this guy? Adn there's a ticket booth at the airprot?-]They would get free tickets from Bubba and be on their way. [-Oh sure if I sold tickets for a living I would totally give free tickets to three dogs I knew personally.-]
Next Thursday [-I like how its always next thursday-] Courage and his friends were off first thing. They headed straight for the airport and got tickets from Bubba. They hung out in the lounge for a little while. [-Couldn't Bubba get fired for letting three dogs hang around in the lounge?-] Meanwhile, there was a search party going on at the police house. Patta was going on and on about how her baby didn't want to live with her. But Sarge knew just what was going on, and told Patta, "Patta, Courage will be just fine. He's up in the North Pole, trying to save Lucy. It's not that he doesn't want to live with us, its that he is out being brave, being Courage." Patta was happy to hear these words, [-Oh Great, honey! Our son is thousands of miles away in the bitter cold on a crazy adventure! I feel much better!-] and George seemed to know what happened, too. [-Jebus George must have some telepathy powers-] Soon they were at the airport with Rescue and Nanook's parents. [-Ok I have a lot of questions her. First of all, how did these cops know that the dogs took a plane? Second, aren't they on duty? Third, why on earth did it occur to them to bring along the dogs' parents? This is not a vacation, people!-]
When the families got there, Sam went to the ticket booth. "How many?" asked Bubba. Sam looked around. Everyone was giving him an evil look. He turned around and said in an annoyed voice, "15." [-Because once again the dogs get standard human treatment on teh plane and require individual tickets-] When he heard the price he screamed at the top of his lungs. [-So it's just these three dogs hwo know Bubba, and noone else who gets special treatment.-] 10 minutes later, the planes were off. [-Wow they got on the plnes just in time!-] The dogs loved the outside view. They'd open the window [-open them? they don't open!-] and stick their heads out, even if it was STRICTLY against the rules. [-Um yeah, probably because you'll most likely get decapitated!-] The wind would blow in their faces so hard their lips blew back. [-Oh boy that's a strong wind, especially for a flying plane!-] The food was horrible and they constantly made fun of it. [-Wow even dogs make fun of airline food-]
Finally, after 2 days, they got to the North Pole. [-It took them two days to fly to the North Pole?-] Courage and his friends' plane got there first, and they walked out to find a small crowd of tourists. [-Ok maybe this is a vacation for some people. Still I could never understand why anyone would take a vacation to the North Pole-] Courage saw what looked like a large toy dog. He stopped and felt like butterflies were flying around in his head and he was going to faint. The dog walked over and they both walked away together. The same thing happened with Rescue and Nanook, Rescue with a dalmation with few spots and Nanook with a spanial. [-Nice that they met the lovs of their life all at the same time, in the same place. There must be a romantic aura about the North Pole-]
Then their parents' plane got there. They were all hugging and kissing and rubbing their sons, which separated them and the other dogs up. Then came a giant jack russel terrier. [-ok that would scare me. The picture in the book shows that Harris is twice the size of a full grown German Shepherd-] "Hello, my friends! I'm Harris, and I come frm the Western Society of Dog Adventurers. [-Great name-] I work in the Guide and Companion department, and I am here to be your guide and your companion in your adventure. [-Oh well I didn't see taht coming.-] Should anything go wrong, I'll be there quick as a zipper [-how quick is a zipper?-], thanks to modern technology! [-OMG that has got to be the best quote in the book! Harris never even uses modern technology!-]
I shall soon be seeing you again. But now why don't I let you meet this week's tourists that I am now aquainted with. This is the dalmation family, which includes Blotchy and Blue, and their pups Anne and Acid! [-Acid is quite a name for a dog...omg..Acid?-]" He walked over to a toy and a terrier. "And these, my friends, are not just tourists but they are my aunt and mother, visiting for their break." [-Breaks? Well they must ahve been pretty damn busy if they weren't even able to get to the most popular stop in teh world, the NORTH POLE!-] The dogs could see that this guy talked a lot, but they liked that he was someone who could talk and not start a conversation with someone else. All you had to do was sit back and listen. He didn't even ask for questions! [-They have an interesting taste in conversation-]
"And I could see before that you are already aquainted with these three. But maybe I can refresh your memory. [-Do you think I'm stupid? Why do you feel the need to refresh my memory?-] This is Spunky," he pointed to the spanial, "Dotty," he pointed to the dalmation, "and Regal," he pointed to the large toy, "Dotty is the older of the dalmation family, or should I say oldest of the pups. I welcome you to the North Pole, [-complete change of subject-] and thank you for coming, and by the expressions on your faces, I can see this adventure will be well suited for you three." [-how does my facial expression tell you that?-] He walked away and Courage asked, "How does he know we came here to save Lucy?" All of the pups from Rescue's family and Courage's ran up and shouted, "Bubba told him!"
"How does Bubba even know Harris?" asked Rescue. "Harris is his dog," said Patta. Suddenly it all made sense. [-Oh yes everything in this story is starting to make sense, now!-] Bubba was always talking about his dog, and after everything he said came, "Ah, that jack russel terrier. What an important job he has!" but he never mentioned anything specific about Harris. [-If he was always talking about Harris, how was he not mentioning anything specific about him?-] "Well, I'm starving," said Courage. "Yah let's get some real food before I get sick by thinking of the airline version," said Nanook. So they went to a place called Pole Food, where the food wasn't much better. [-There are restaurants in teh North Pole?-] All their was was frozen beef and snow cones. [-Hey don't complain I bet lots of North Pole explorers would give their left nut for some beef while they're freezing their arses off!-] Later, they met Harris at the Plains Hut, a public pavillion where people met and rested. [-A resting pavilio in the frigid Norht Pole? The North Pole is much different than I had ever imagined. And I like how they all decided to sit down and each before recuing a lost little girl-]
"Hello boys! Are you ready to set up the sled?" "The sled?" asked Courage. "Yes. I have it all planned out. [-Well go Harris!-] Nanook, you will pull the sled, on account of you are a husky. Rescue, you will look out for fire, on account of you are a dalmation, [-What's with all the stereotyping in this book? Huskies have to pull sleds, dalmations have to be fire dogs, dobermans and rotweilers have to be evil?-] and a lot of fires do start out here. [-Another thing I never would have expected from the North Pole-] And Courage, you will run along-side the sled and sniff for Lucy. I have a shirt you'll get the scent off of. Now that you know your jobs, are you planning to bring anyone with you?" "Yes," said Courage. "I would like to bring my father, my uncle, Sam, George, and Regal, and I think Rescue planned to bring Dotty and Nanook wanted to bring Spunky." "Splendid! The girls will pair up with each of you and you'll share your jobs. George, Sam, your uncle, and your father will just do whatever would help. [-Wow Harris had really good, specific direction until now-]
After everyone was gathered up, they all met Harris at the Plains Hut. [-I thought they were already at the Plains Hut.-] They set up the sled and piled on. They were off. As Courage sniffed, he gave tail signals to Regal to tell Nanook where to go. Then both Nanook and Spunky turned that direction. Finally, Courage picked up a strong scent. He lead Nanook and Spunky instead of giving Regal signals. [-I'm getting rather confused on this part-] Then he stopped, and so did the sled. Suddenly it came to him and George. "Dig, Courage," George whispered. Courage was flinging snow into the air. The scent got stronger and stronger as he dug deeper and deeper, and then, he touched it. There, in front of him, was little Lucy. Everyone gave a loud cheer, but not for too long. Everyone needed a rest. [-God once again their personal needs are more important to them than finding Lucy-] They found a small cave and snuggled Lucy in. [-The picture of Lucy when they find her is hilarious, because she had this expression on her face that doesn't lok particularly frightened or traumatized. She just looks little peeved, as if its just a little inconvient for her to be buried in five feet of snow.-]
Once, there were two police dogs names Sarge and Luca [-the dogs in this story were based on beanie babies and often named after them. I always had the inspirational animals with me when I wrote this-], and two police cops, George and Sam. One night they were chasing down a robber. Sarge leaped but missed the robber. Sarge was running as fast as he possibly could, but he was slowing down. Then, Luca jumped as high and as far as he could and pinned the robber to the ground. Then they took him to the prisson.
"Poor Sarge," George said back at the prisson. "He keeps getting older and older and weaker and weaker and slower and slower.[-Well, thanks, chief-] I'm telling you, soon we're going to need a new dog. Why if it wasn't for Luca, we wouldn't have caught that robber." "Yah, but at least Patta is pregnent," said Sam. "We can train her pups, keep one, and sell the rest." "Good idea," said George. "Let's do it." [-lol ok they just realized this and Patta is due any day now?-]
The next morning at 5:00 am, Sarge was howling as loud as he could. "Owooooo, Owoooo," howled Sarge. George and Sam ran down the stairs.[-Down the stairs, huh? So George and Sam live together...hmmm-] They thought Sarge saw a murder or something. They saw Sarge standing in the doorway of the garage.[-Garage? The police station has a large garage that all these dogs live in.-] Sarge ran into the garage. George and Sam followed. And when they got in there, they saw Patta and 6 puppies laying in a basket beside her.
four of the puppies were boys. Their names were Courage, Cokey, Germain [-not very creative, but spelled creatively!-], and Shepard. Germain and Shepard didn't behave very well [-How nice that the two dogs whose names pair up are the ones who pair up. And they're evil. That gives a bad name to german shepherds everywhere-]. The two girls were named Satta and Peltsy. They loved to play together. And for some reason, Courage and Cokey were best friends. They loved to play together. [-sounds like these dogs are setting up aliances-]
One summer day, the puppies were playing outside in a feild. That day, Germain and Shepard wandered off into the city. "This will be fun," said Germain. "We just go out into the city, meet some dogs, and bring them home."[-Jebus they're petophiles!-] "But what about mom, she's going to get mad," said Shepard. [-Ok these dogs are troublemakers...since when do they worry about Patta getting mad at them?-]All of a sudden they saw two dogs in front of them. one was a doberman pincher, the other a rotwiler. [-<- rotweiler spelled phonetically ^-^-]
"What's your name?" asked the doberman pincher. "Well, my name is Germain and this is Shepard," said Germain. "I'm Pinch, this is Rot," [-again, creative!-] said the boderman pincher. "Hey, Pinch, hey Rot. You want to come home with us?" asked Germain. "We don't like Germain Shepards," Pinch said. "Their to bossy. We like to beat e'm up." A mean look came up on their faces. Then, the two dogs chased German and Shepard all the way home! Patta was mad!
As the two dogs started to run away, Courage started barking and chasing after them. "Courage what are you doing?" asked Cokey. Courage stoped. "Courage, get back here!" said Patta. "And as for you two, you know better than to go off into the city all by yourselves. [-Well obviously, Patta, these two are troublemakers, so you must not have very good disciplinary skills.-] So we all have to go home because your dad is too busy to babysit." [-and what does that have to do with anything?-] "Thanks a lot, dudes." said Cokey. [-oo Cokey is a surfer dude! He certainly has the lingo for it! I think its his calling-]
A while after they got back, George and Sam came into the garage. [-Wait...so Geroge and Sam weren't there? Why were the dogs running around in a field by themselves?-]"All right, pups lets go train for police dog business," said George. "Let's go," said Sam. After the first day of training, all the pups were pooped. But they had learned a whole lot aboutt being a police dog that day. They learned few commands, like sit, down, and come. Sarge has also told the pups a little bit about being a police dog. [-lol ok so when you go to Police Dog Camp they give you lectures!-]
After training, George and Sam heard the phone ring. George picked it up, but nobody was there. The computer told them where the house was. Then they got Sarge and Luca and drove off to Main Street. [-Wow cerative street name.-] "Mommy, where are Daddy and Luca going?" asked Courage. "There's an emergency and Daddy and Luca have to help Sam and George," said Patta. [-You'd think Courage would understand this concept by now. Jeez, he wants to be chief dog, doesn't he? LEarn the ropes, Courage!-] "I wonder what's going on," said Courage. "You ask your dad when he comes back," said Patta. "I can't wait that long. I'm going to find out now!" said Courage, and he ran out the door. "COURAGE, NOOOO!" shouted Patta. [-lmfao nice insertion of DRAMA!-]
Courage struggled to keep up with the car. [-well I wonder why! Its a speeding police car and he is a tiny puppy. He should be blowin that car away!-] He finally jumped up onto the bumper and drug himself up to the roof of the car. Sarge saw his son through the window and barked furiously. "Shut up, Sarge!" [-don't you think these cops would have something more effective to say than "shut up"? I mean, cops have all these terms for their dogs, and aren't a bunch of them in German or something?-] shouted Sam. Soon, Luca started barking, too, realizing how important this was. Then Sarge joined in. "Would you shut those dogs up?" shouted George.
Sam spun around in his seat and saw little Courage hanging in the window. He told George and George stamped onto the breaks. The cops swung their doors open as Courage bounded off of the car. He ran out into the busy street. Then he froze, so afraid. All of the cars were quickly stopping barely missing the pup. Then one was speeding right towards him, not bothering to stop. Courage just bent over with his ears laying on his head.
Remembering where he was, Courage leaped to the side, just in time and ran in a space where a brick was missing on an apartment. Then a lady popped out the door and said, "For heaven's sake! What's all the rucus?" [-lol I love that!-] Then she saw poor little Courage. "You mutt, get outa here or I'm gonna slap ya with a broom!" [-um excuse me, animal abuse! I mean come on, lady, there is a tiny puppy in your yard and just goin off like a siren! Calm the hell down!-] Courage scurried to the back. He looked around and saw George, Sam, Sarge, and Luca yelling and howling for him. When he saw that they had given up, he saw his father look back at him in a disappointed look. Sarge walked away. Then Courage looked around and saw four dalmations, a mother and three pups. [-alright so this grumpy old lady who hates to have puppies on her lawn owns a dog and some puppies!-]
"Hello, what's your name?" asked the mother. "Are you the one creating so much noise?" "Yes, I'm Courage." He told them all about himself and what happened. [-Courage don't talkt o strangers. Especially don't tell them your life story!-] "Ya, I wanna grow up to be a fire dog," said one of the pups after Courage had told them how much he had always wanted to be Chief Dog. [-this poor dalmatin thinks there's no other work for him in the world. Rescue, don't follow the ho-hum crowd!-] "I'm Rescue." "Would you like to stay with us until you find out how to get home?" asked the mother, who's name was Shela. "Yes, that would be fun!" [-First of all, Courage can't be that far from home because he just ran across the street. Second, if he wanted home, why didn't he jsut follow his father and the others?-] So Courage lived with Rescue and his family for a while. He grew older and new all of the tricks to hide from Recue's grumpy lady owners. [-There's more than one?!?!?-] He and Rescue became the best of friends. [-What happened to Cokey?-]
The lady owners always set the dogs' food bowl in front of a whole in the wall. Whenever the ladys weren't looking, Courage would sneek through and eat the food. Well, one day Courage wasn't quick enough and was caught eating the food. "Get outta here, you stupid mutt! Get out!" Courage ran for his life as the lady ran out the door and tried to smack him with the broom. [-There she is with the broom again! Is that her only method of defense? Lady, the day an assassin bursts into your house, you're gonna wish you had a rifle-] "Run, Courage, Run!" shouted Rescue, imitating the movie of Forest Gump and not realizing it or thinking it was funny. [-lol he was immitating it, but he didn't mean to!-] Courage ran and ran until somehow he found his way to the police house. [-Oh I guess he just ran across the street. What a long, arduous journey!-]
Courage ran up the steps and through the doggy door. [-The police hosue garage has a doggy door? How do they expect to keep track of these dogs?-] He saw his Mom and Dad, George and Sam, Luca and his brothers and sisters lying on the floor, sleeping. [-lol George and Sam were on the floor sleeping?-] Then he saw two dogs over in the corner, rading he trash can. One turned around and said to the other, "Pst! Rot, there he is!" Courage saw that it was Pinch and Rot. They walked over to him and Pinch whispered, "I knew you'd come back." Courage asked, "What are you doing here?" "Eating your trash. Everyone's been recycling lately and tomorrow's garbage day!" "So why are you stealing from me?" "We don't like German Shepherds, we like to beat 'em up." [-creative literary repeatativeness-] They got a mean look [-oo there;s the mean look again, too!-] and leaped to attack Courage. Courage jumped to the side and they both got stuck in the doggy door. [-ooo prat comedy!-]
Courage went over to the doggy door tha went into the garage. He looked back and saw his father's eye looking straight at him. All of a sudden Sarge said, "It's Sunday," and Courage realized that's why they were sleeping. [-Isn't it comforting to know your entire police bregade is sleeping every Sunday?-] Courage left. After a few hours of walking, Courage passed the local pet store and looked in. He saw a display of husky puppies with a cardboard arctic background. [-oh i see, creative display-] He went inside. He went up to the pen and saw all of the puppies playing and running around, the parents in the back. Then a lady walked in and picked up one of the pups. Courage followed her outside.
"Well, aren't you the cutest?" said the woman. [-how did this woman not notice Courage when she was inside? He was running loose!-] The husky ran up and licked Courage on the face. "You come to my house any time you want, ya here?" said the woman. [-yes. lady, because I know exactly where you live-] As they walked away, the husky yelled, "I'm Nanook! Come over later!" and they were gone. Courage did come over a little later. He played with the woman, Lisa, and got some pretty good treats. Later, he decided it was time to go home for good, so he did. When he went inside everyone instantly ran over and was giving him rubs, hugs, and kisses, except for Sarge. [-Sarge doesn't give his son much moral support.-] At first Courage thought everything would be OK, but later he was locked up in a pen while the rest of the family ate popcorn and watched T.V. [-Nice diet for the dogs. Are they still in the garage, watchng TV?-]
A couple of months later, when Courage was almost full grown, there was an important message on T.V. It said that a little girl named Lucy was stranded in the North Pole and could not be found. Courage saw this and was so worried. He knew that George and Sam couldn't help, so he would have to. He would take his two friends, Nanook and Rescue, to save the little girl. [-because its so obvious that they'll agree to trvel thousands of miles to go save someone they don't know.-] Next Thursday would be the flight to the North Pole. [-Why are they announcing the flight time on National News?-] Next Thursday would be the big day. Courage told all of his friends the plan. They knew the guy that made a living for working at the ticket booth at the airport, Bubba. [-The dogs knew this guy? What did they have teatime with him or something? lol how did they come to know this guy? Adn there's a ticket booth at the airprot?-]They would get free tickets from Bubba and be on their way. [-Oh sure if I sold tickets for a living I would totally give free tickets to three dogs I knew personally.-]
Next Thursday [-I like how its always next thursday-] Courage and his friends were off first thing. They headed straight for the airport and got tickets from Bubba. They hung out in the lounge for a little while. [-Couldn't Bubba get fired for letting three dogs hang around in the lounge?-] Meanwhile, there was a search party going on at the police house. Patta was going on and on about how her baby didn't want to live with her. But Sarge knew just what was going on, and told Patta, "Patta, Courage will be just fine. He's up in the North Pole, trying to save Lucy. It's not that he doesn't want to live with us, its that he is out being brave, being Courage." Patta was happy to hear these words, [-Oh Great, honey! Our son is thousands of miles away in the bitter cold on a crazy adventure! I feel much better!-] and George seemed to know what happened, too. [-Jebus George must have some telepathy powers-] Soon they were at the airport with Rescue and Nanook's parents. [-Ok I have a lot of questions her. First of all, how did these cops know that the dogs took a plane? Second, aren't they on duty? Third, why on earth did it occur to them to bring along the dogs' parents? This is not a vacation, people!-]
When the families got there, Sam went to the ticket booth. "How many?" asked Bubba. Sam looked around. Everyone was giving him an evil look. He turned around and said in an annoyed voice, "15." [-Because once again the dogs get standard human treatment on teh plane and require individual tickets-] When he heard the price he screamed at the top of his lungs. [-So it's just these three dogs hwo know Bubba, and noone else who gets special treatment.-] 10 minutes later, the planes were off. [-Wow they got on the plnes just in time!-] The dogs loved the outside view. They'd open the window [-open them? they don't open!-] and stick their heads out, even if it was STRICTLY against the rules. [-Um yeah, probably because you'll most likely get decapitated!-] The wind would blow in their faces so hard their lips blew back. [-Oh boy that's a strong wind, especially for a flying plane!-] The food was horrible and they constantly made fun of it. [-Wow even dogs make fun of airline food-]
Finally, after 2 days, they got to the North Pole. [-It took them two days to fly to the North Pole?-] Courage and his friends' plane got there first, and they walked out to find a small crowd of tourists. [-Ok maybe this is a vacation for some people. Still I could never understand why anyone would take a vacation to the North Pole-] Courage saw what looked like a large toy dog. He stopped and felt like butterflies were flying around in his head and he was going to faint. The dog walked over and they both walked away together. The same thing happened with Rescue and Nanook, Rescue with a dalmation with few spots and Nanook with a spanial. [-Nice that they met the lovs of their life all at the same time, in the same place. There must be a romantic aura about the North Pole-]
Then their parents' plane got there. They were all hugging and kissing and rubbing their sons, which separated them and the other dogs up. Then came a giant jack russel terrier. [-ok that would scare me. The picture in the book shows that Harris is twice the size of a full grown German Shepherd-] "Hello, my friends! I'm Harris, and I come frm the Western Society of Dog Adventurers. [-Great name-] I work in the Guide and Companion department, and I am here to be your guide and your companion in your adventure. [-Oh well I didn't see taht coming.-] Should anything go wrong, I'll be there quick as a zipper [-how quick is a zipper?-], thanks to modern technology! [-OMG that has got to be the best quote in the book! Harris never even uses modern technology!-]
I shall soon be seeing you again. But now why don't I let you meet this week's tourists that I am now aquainted with. This is the dalmation family, which includes Blotchy and Blue, and their pups Anne and Acid! [-Acid is quite a name for a dog...omg..Acid?-]" He walked over to a toy and a terrier. "And these, my friends, are not just tourists but they are my aunt and mother, visiting for their break." [-Breaks? Well they must ahve been pretty damn busy if they weren't even able to get to the most popular stop in teh world, the NORTH POLE!-] The dogs could see that this guy talked a lot, but they liked that he was someone who could talk and not start a conversation with someone else. All you had to do was sit back and listen. He didn't even ask for questions! [-They have an interesting taste in conversation-]
"And I could see before that you are already aquainted with these three. But maybe I can refresh your memory. [-Do you think I'm stupid? Why do you feel the need to refresh my memory?-] This is Spunky," he pointed to the spanial, "Dotty," he pointed to the dalmation, "and Regal," he pointed to the large toy, "Dotty is the older of the dalmation family, or should I say oldest of the pups. I welcome you to the North Pole, [-complete change of subject-] and thank you for coming, and by the expressions on your faces, I can see this adventure will be well suited for you three." [-how does my facial expression tell you that?-] He walked away and Courage asked, "How does he know we came here to save Lucy?" All of the pups from Rescue's family and Courage's ran up and shouted, "Bubba told him!"
"How does Bubba even know Harris?" asked Rescue. "Harris is his dog," said Patta. Suddenly it all made sense. [-Oh yes everything in this story is starting to make sense, now!-] Bubba was always talking about his dog, and after everything he said came, "Ah, that jack russel terrier. What an important job he has!" but he never mentioned anything specific about Harris. [-If he was always talking about Harris, how was he not mentioning anything specific about him?-] "Well, I'm starving," said Courage. "Yah let's get some real food before I get sick by thinking of the airline version," said Nanook. So they went to a place called Pole Food, where the food wasn't much better. [-There are restaurants in teh North Pole?-] All their was was frozen beef and snow cones. [-Hey don't complain I bet lots of North Pole explorers would give their left nut for some beef while they're freezing their arses off!-] Later, they met Harris at the Plains Hut, a public pavillion where people met and rested. [-A resting pavilio in the frigid Norht Pole? The North Pole is much different than I had ever imagined. And I like how they all decided to sit down and each before recuing a lost little girl-]
"Hello boys! Are you ready to set up the sled?" "The sled?" asked Courage. "Yes. I have it all planned out. [-Well go Harris!-] Nanook, you will pull the sled, on account of you are a husky. Rescue, you will look out for fire, on account of you are a dalmation, [-What's with all the stereotyping in this book? Huskies have to pull sleds, dalmations have to be fire dogs, dobermans and rotweilers have to be evil?-] and a lot of fires do start out here. [-Another thing I never would have expected from the North Pole-] And Courage, you will run along-side the sled and sniff for Lucy. I have a shirt you'll get the scent off of. Now that you know your jobs, are you planning to bring anyone with you?" "Yes," said Courage. "I would like to bring my father, my uncle, Sam, George, and Regal, and I think Rescue planned to bring Dotty and Nanook wanted to bring Spunky." "Splendid! The girls will pair up with each of you and you'll share your jobs. George, Sam, your uncle, and your father will just do whatever would help. [-Wow Harris had really good, specific direction until now-]
After everyone was gathered up, they all met Harris at the Plains Hut. [-I thought they were already at the Plains Hut.-] They set up the sled and piled on. They were off. As Courage sniffed, he gave tail signals to Regal to tell Nanook where to go. Then both Nanook and Spunky turned that direction. Finally, Courage picked up a strong scent. He lead Nanook and Spunky instead of giving Regal signals. [-I'm getting rather confused on this part-] Then he stopped, and so did the sled. Suddenly it came to him and George. "Dig, Courage," George whispered. Courage was flinging snow into the air. The scent got stronger and stronger as he dug deeper and deeper, and then, he touched it. There, in front of him, was little Lucy. Everyone gave a loud cheer, but not for too long. Everyone needed a rest. [-God once again their personal needs are more important to them than finding Lucy-] They found a small cave and snuggled Lucy in. [-The picture of Lucy when they find her is hilarious, because she had this expression on her face that doesn't lok particularly frightened or traumatized. She just looks little peeved, as if its just a little inconvient for her to be buried in five feet of snow.-]
