Spots Day at the Beach

"Here boy!" Daryll called to his dog. Spot perked up his ears, and then happily ran over to his favorite
human. He did all the usual things that humans can't get enough of. He sat down, rolled over and barked
on cue - as if that was a hard thing to do. After Daryll got his fill of dumb little tricks, he pat him roughly
on the head and strolled away. Spot sat down in the sand and looked around. They were at the beach
today, Spot, Daryll, his two older brothers and their Dad. One of the brothers, Matt (the stupid one) was
trying to impress a bunch of girls by throwing a frisbee back and forth to his other brother, Jesse. Spot
watched as the boy turned to smile at the girls, and then get whacked in the forehead with the frisbee.
"Humans," Spot said as he turned to walk away.

He walked briskly along the shoreline, watching the kids play with their families in the sand, when
suddenly he heard a shout. "Help me!" someone screamed. Spot looked all around, and perked his ears up
high. "Somebody help me!" the person repeated. This time Spot saw where it was coming from. A young
boy was fighting to stay above the water about 20 feet out. He thrashed around, and dipped under the
water several times, only to come back up spitting and coughing on the sea water. "Ruff!" Spot barked
shrilly. He looked over at the humans next to him in alarm, but they were going about as if they hadn't
heard a thing. He glanced behind him and saw that nobody heard the boy. It was up to Spot.

Spot ran into the water at full speed, and even though he wasn't a big dog, he was a very good
swimmer. Doggie Paddling champion three times running. He raced for the boy, who was still waving his
arms and shouting. "I'm coming!" Spot tried to shout back. The waves kept beating him back, but Spot
continued on. He looked up at the boy, and watched as his head finally disappeared under the water and
stayed there. "Ruff!" Spot yelped. He dove under the water as he approached where the boy had been
and swam hard. All he could see was greenish water at first, but then he spotted a white arm floating
nearby. Spot nudged under the boy and lifted him to the surface. He couldn't tell if the boy was breathing
or not, but he kept the head above water, and towed him to the shore.

The boy lay very still at first, and then finally he opened his eyes and squinted in the bright sunlight. "The
sun," he said amazed. Spot was a little puzzled, but he nuzzled the boy into a sitting position, and began
to lick his face. "You saved me," said the boy. "Thank you." He smiled gently at Spot, and patted his head.
"My name is Tom," he said. Spot cocked his head to the side, which is universal dog language for, "you
know I can't speak English." The boy stumbled at first, but then he pulled himself up to stand and looked
around himself in wonder. As he took his first step, sand squished between his toes, and he giggled. Spot
watched as the boy walked up the beach alone. He didn't seem to be with anyone. The boy turned just as
he reached the sand dunes, and waved at Spot. "Ruff!" Spot called back. The boy smiled again, and
disappeared over the dunes.

Spot looked down and noticed that a small pocket knife had fallen out of the boy's pants pocket. He was
about to run after the boy to take it to him when he noticed the inscription on the back. He jerked his
head back up to the place where the boy had disappeared. His footprints had already been swept away
by the wind. The inscription read: "To Tom on his 11th birthday. 1922."

These stories were written by Britt Brundige based on characters from "The Haunted Doghouse" books by Sandi Johnson. (by
permission) All material is copyrighted by Dorp Express 2003, and may not be reprinted in any form. All rights are reserved.