“You’ll take David with you,” Granny declared. “He is trained in this sort of thing.”
David shook his head. “Granny, I have no real training in …”
“Just go,” Granny said, hands on hips, refusing to take no for an answer, “and take Grant with you because the more eyes the better.”
“Jack, why don’t you go out and help them since you probably know the lay of the land better than anyone,” Randy suggested.
“I would be more than happy to help,” Jack said, standing.
“Sit,” Nora waved him off. “The boys will be just fine.”
“Go on now,” Granny urged. “It looks like we might have an afternoon thunder shower brewing, and Spotty Sue will be a wet, sick mess if he gets left outside.”
“Sick as a dog,” Grant shook his head.
“Get on now,” Granny shooed him away.
“Really?” Grant scoffed. “You want me to go outside in this weather with Slash and Kindergarten Cop and look for a stray dog that probably ran away because you didn’t name him Bill or George… anything but Sue?”
“If I have to go, then so do you,” David insisted, grabbing Grant’s arm and jerking his little brother toward him.
“Put your coats on,” Nora called.
“Hurry now, it’s nearly time to eat,” Granny scolded. “I don’t want all this food getting’ cold. That would be a downright shame. It is Thanksgiving for Heaven’s sake.”
Grant glanced back at the enormous spread of Thanksgiving fare. There was fried turkey, roasted turkey, giblet gravy, ham, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, hash brown casserole, baked apple casserole, cream corn, corn on the cob, chicken casserole, squash, cranberry sauce, cabbage, deviled eggs, sweet potato casserole, buttered rolls, cornbread, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, chocolate meringue pie, pecan pie, glazed lemon pound cake, spice cake and chocolate cake all ready to serve.
“I foresaw there being problems today,” David groaned as the boys traipsed out the back door. “This, however, wasn’t one of them.”
Thirty minutes had passed since Granny Miller sent her grandsons in search of Spotty Sue. After fifteen minutes of searching and shouting for the dog, David, Wally and Grant had all given up hope and decided to return to the house.
“This is just great,” Grant grumbled as he kicked a pile of dead leaves. “It has been nearly an hour; I haven’t heard anything resembling a dog barking, and we have no clue which way leads back to the house because apparently David can’t read a compass. Could you not have shared that information before I left you in charge of directions?”
“I know how to read a compass, Grant,” David insisted. “I think this old thing must be broken.”
“Fine,” Grant rolled his eyes, “you keep preaching equipment malfunction all you want…I’m still going with user error…hand me that thing!”
David shoved Grant. “I know how to read a compass; I could have sworn this was the way back to the field!”
“Well, obviously, it ain’t, or I wouldn’t be lost and starving right now,” Grant protested.
“Oh, you’re starving now?” David laughed. “It’s been less than an hour since you were stuffing your face with turkey!”
“I ate just enough to make me hungry,” Grant said before walking ahead, kicking leaves and muttering something in German.
Suddenly, thunder boomed, and Wally dramatically dove for cover.
“That’s all we need is for it to start pouring down rain,” David grumbled.
Grant glanced back at Wally. “This is perfect,” he nodded toward his brother. “You got us lost; it looks like the bottom could fall out any minute, and now General Scheizcoff over there is hunkered down like a dog in a hail storm.”
Wally stood up and straightened his disheveled hair. “Maybe we should split up,” he suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Grant nodded. “Why don’t you go that way?” he pointed with a grin.
David rolled his eyes as he walked briskly to catch up to his brother. “We better stay together,” he told Wally. “Let’s head this way.”
“By all means, let’s blindly follow Mr. West Point because that has worked so well for us thus far!” Grant nodded as David passed him.
“Do you have a better idea?” David hollered.
“No, I’m way too busy contemplating how Granny is going to spin this whole ordeal and make it out to be all my fault,” Grant shrugged, as the darkening sky promised a looming storm.
“Right now we have bigger problems than what Granny will think,” David shook his head. “Why has Dad not come looking for us?” he sighed. “He can’t honestly think we are still looking for that dog, can he?”
Grant crossed his arms and flopped himself down on an old fallen tree. “Because they are all sitting at the table eating Granny’s deliciously moist homemade rolls, gluttonously oblivious to the fact that we failed to return from this thwarted rescue mission.”
“It won’t be long before Rachel starts missing me,” Wally declared with a nod of his head and raise of his eyebrow. “We have a little after dinner routine she thoroughly enjoys.”
Grant sprung to his feet and spread his arms wide. “Look around, Wally. I could kill you out here with my bare hands, and it is highly unlikely anyone would ever find the body.”
Wally glanced over at David, surprised. “I was just saying…”
“Wally,” David interrupted, “please spare us any mental images of you getting your groove on with our sister.”
“Honestly,” Grant grumbled, “Wally, you are depriving some village of its idiot. In this town, Billy Wayne Harper already wears the official dunce cap rather proudly, so just keep your mouth shut. We are lost in the woods; it is about to storm. I am tired; I am hungry; I am grumpy, and the last thing I want to hear is anything that remotely reminds me you knocked-up my sister.”
