Tippy, Chapter 17

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

Continued from last week.

I must have gone to sleep {D We were in the front yard of the old home place again. Jim was reading from the Black Book. He was reading Mark 6:38-44 D}. 

I woke up hungry.  Or, I should say I was awakened hungry – by a group of six large feral dogs. I didn’t know they were feral at the time. I figured it out later.

“Hey, pup, what are you doing here?” The pack leader snarled.

“Sleeping. I am hungry.”

“This is our territory. You are a trespasser. What are we going to do with him, boys?”  

The other dogs growled and snarled at me; I was very frightened.  

“We’re hungry, too. Hey, I have got an idea!” the pack leader exclaimed. 

This exchange left me nervous. I wondered where the chicken was but quickly dismissed this thought. She wouldn’t have a chance with this bunch.

“Hey, pup, do you like hamburgers?”

“Yes, indeed,” I decided to play along, and it was the truth, I liked human hamburgers.

“Indeed? Where are you from? Dogs around here don’t say 'indeed.' Well, then come on.” One of the dogs grabbed me by my collar and we all started running.  

I wasn’t exactly running. I was being dragged along, and I would try to get my back legs on the ground when I could. We ran a long way; I couldn’t tell how far. We came into town. On the right side of the road was a shopping center. On the left were some restaurants. I didn’t worry about it being daylight any longer, I couldn’t get away from this bunch if I tried.

We came upon a restaurant that I think was named “Fishes.” It may have had more letters in it than that. It had a statue of a boy with a hamburger under the sign. He looked like he was running.

As a pack, we went around to the back. There was a big metal container there with its lids flopped open. On one side was a sliding door.

The pack leader came over to the dog holding me and said, “Put him down. Pup, see that door on the side? We are going to throw you through that door. Inside you will find hamburgers and other food. Your job is to throw it out to us.”

What was I going to do but go along? And maybe I could get some food, too.

They threw me in the container, and it was full of food! I ate some and threw some out.

I hadn’t been at it very long, when I heard the pack leader yell, “Run!”

I hadn’t figured out what that was about before I heard a big heavy truck engine. The truck came around the building and seemed to be near the container I was in. Next, I heard kind of a squeaky, fluid sound. Then the container I was in lifted off the ground.

It slowly turned over and dumped its contents, including me, into the truck!

To be continued.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.