“And this is—”
Jonah interrupted. “I think I can say my own name.”
“Well then say it, Jonah!” Mac smiled and Jonah snorted angrily.
“Jonah! That’s a cute name!” His mom coughed and walked over to the hot dog. She devoured it in one gulp as her fat belly rubbed against the floor. She burped. “It’s so good to see my babies again.”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Mom.” Mac scratched the back of his ear. “But we also have something we wanna ask you.”
“Sure, sugar. What is it?”
Benjamin quietly walked into the shop. He figured if Lee caught him he’d say he was admiring the old station wagon. The fat pug looked up at the boy but Benjamin acted like he wasn’t paying any attention to them.
Mac continued. “We were wondering who was born first?” Jonah leaned in.
“Well, lemme see.… You know who your daddy was, right?”
“Yes, his name was Pugsly. I remember him visiting us a couple times.”
“Oh yes, and you two certainly look like him.” She lay back on the floor, belly protruding. “Pugsly, Pugsly, Pugsly…mmm, mm, mmmm.” Benjamin couldn’t help it and burst out laughing. The old dog leaned up to see the boy’s delight but continued. “Well, you know there were three brothers and a sister.”
“Yeah, I kinda remember having a sister,” Jonah noted.
“Mmm. She was the first to go.” The two pugs gave her their full attention. “Now that brother of yours was actually the first born.”
“And where is he?” Mac asked quickly.
“Well…he died in the middle of the night when you all were just a few weeks old. You were asleep when it happened.” The fat pug was silent a moment as her eyes welled up. They didn’t know what to say. Benjamin continued looking at the old car.
Jonah broke the silence. “So then who…”
She looked at Jonah’s black right back paw and Mac’s left back paw. “Next was Mac, and right after him was your sister, and Jonah was last.”
“Oh!” Mac said with delight. “Oh, Mom, that’s wonderful!” He licked her on the nose. “I love you, Mom!”
“Ahhh, I love you, too, Mac.”
Benjamin noticed the look of defeat on Jonah’s face as he stared straight ahead, ignoring the bonding before him. The boy left the shop and went back into the lobby. He felt pity. He could tell Jonah was hurting.
“I gotta go, Mom.” Jonah turned and walked away.
“Oh, baby, it was so good to see you!”
“Yeah…uh, you too, Mom.”
“I hope you can come back again. There’s some good eatin’ here. I’ll fix you some supper!”
“Sounds great,” Jonah replied with no emotion.
Mac looked at his mom with joy. “I’ll come back and see you, Mom. I’m so happy we got to talk again!”
“Bye, sweetie. You take care now.”
Mac turned to give his mom one last look before he left. She was already snoring.
The two pugs walked up to Benjamin. One was giddy and the other depressed. “Well…that’s it, I guess.” Benjamin didn’t know what else to say. They walked out as Lee and Earl were coming back in. Lee never even noticed the two pugs by Benjamin’s feet. “G’bye. I decided those tires are too big for my bike.” Lee gave him a courteous smile and Benjamin walked out the door.
Benjamin looked at the setting sun. “We better hurry, guys. It’ll be dark soon.” The pugs hopped in the box and Benjamin crossed the highway, taking the dirt road east. It seemed like a long ride home for Jonah. But his older brother, the king, was courteous enough not to say a word. He didn’t have to, though. Jonah had heard it straight from the fat pug’s mouth.
LEE SAID GOOD-BYE to his friend, Earl, and locked the front door. He walked into the shop, grabbing the half-eaten cheeseburger that sat on the front counter, and threw it down next to the snoring pug in her usual spot. “Wake up, Princess. It’s time to go home.” The obese pug smelled the cheeseburger and quickly finished it in a couple of bites.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Making Plans
BENJAMIN ARRIVED AT HIS DRIVEWAY just as the nearly full moon was rising. A hint of sunset was barely visible behind the large hill to the west of his dad’s tool shop. “I’ll see you guys again soon.”
“Uh, Benjamin…” Mac hesitated. “Could I have the collar now?”
It seemed a little too soon to give it up. “Uh…uh, y-ye—”
Clementine came out of the fox den with Malcolm and Roscoe behind him. “So is everything squared away?”
“Yes it is!” Mac said.
“Everyone’s already asleep. I guess that journey back here really wore them out.” Clementine yawned, causing Roscoe to do the same…followed by a quiet whoop!
“So there will be no crowning of the king tonight?” Benjamin asked.
“No, Your Majesty. You’re still king for one more night.” Clementine, Roscoe, and Malcolm smiled at him with admiration. Mac grimaced while Jonah stood behind him looking displeased.
Benjamin tried not to show his relief. “Okay. I’ll be gone all day tomorrow but I’ll be back sometime after dark.”
“Perfect! We’ll have the ceremony when the full moon is shining over the pool. Good night, King Benjamin.” His friends walked away. He was going to miss hearing those words. Benjamin started to walk his bike up the driveway. Everyone went back into the fox den except Malcolm.
“King Benjamin, wait!”
“Yes?”
“So who gets to be king?” Malcolm looked worried.
Benjamin hesitated then smiled weakly. “Just wait until tomorrow, Malcolm. You’ll find out soon enough.”
The raccoon’s thoughts were elsewhere as he rubbed his hands together. “Have you thought any more about how we’re going to kill that snake?”
Benjamin’s face lit up. “Yes! And you’re gonna love it!”
Malcolm grinned. “Well, tell me what it is!”
“I can do better than that.” Benjamin pointed at the tree in front of his house. “Meet me by that oak tree in about an hour.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Malcolm ran giddily back to the fox den while Benjamin went up to the house and parked his bike by the garage.
Now how do I sneak a ‘coon into the house without getting caught?
HE COULD HEAR HIS MOM putting plates on the kitchen table. He’d made it home just in time. “Where’ve you been?” She pulled a baking sheet of taco shells out of the oven.
“I rode my bike down to Pickrell Corner.”
“Pickrell Corner?” His dad came into the kitchen.
“Yeah, I stopped in at Lee’s Tire Shop to look at tires.” His parents laughed. “I saw a pug lying on the floor in there.”
“Oh!” Carol’s voice cracked. “Tom, I wonder if that’s the one we bred Pugsly with.”
“Coulda been.” Tom picked at the shredded cheese on the counter, resulting in his wife slapping the back of his hand.
“She was a lot fatter than any pug I’ve ever seen, but she sure snored like Pugsly!”
“Who knows, Ben? Maybe Pugsly has some kids around here,” Tom said.
“Maybe,” Benjamin replied with a straight face. He finished his tacos quickly and started downstairs, then suddenly stopped. “Oh hey, would someone mind taking me to the Harvest Home Festival tomorrow night?”
“Sure, I’ll take you.” Tom crunched down on a taco shell and Benjamin turned to go.
Carol’s chair scraped the floor. “Wait, Ben.” He stopped. “Why do you want to go to the Harvest Home Festival? You never had any interest before.” She grinned.
“Uhhhhh…well, uh…”
“Is it because the Watermelon Queen will be there?” Her voice grew higher.
“Yeah, she’s hosting the opening event,” Tom bellowed through a crammed mouth.
Benjamin’s face turned dark red and he quickly turned. He was caught. “N-No, it’s because.…” His parents looked at each other and laughed.<
br />
When he saw the Trojan Pig on his desk he remembered Malcolm. In the main room of his basement he checked the large fire escape window. Perfect. He can get in through that. He ran upstairs and out the front door, ignoring his parents’ teasing as he passed. He didn’t see any sign of the raccoon. He put on the collar and walked up to the tree.
“Malcolm?” he called quietly. “Malcolm, are you here?” Plop! A raccoon fell out of the tree and landed at his feet. Benjamin jumped.
“Sorry to scare you, Your Majesty.”
“That’s okay. I think I can sneak you in the basement window. Follow me.” The window was near his mom’s bushes by the frontyard flower garden. “Alright, I’m gonna go in to unlock the window and let it down. You’ll see me in a minute, okay?”
“Right. Sounds good.”
Benjamin ran in.
“What are you doing out there?” his mom asked.
“Just talking to a raccoon. You know, the usual.”
His parents shook their heads and resumed their conversation. On his way downstairs Benjamin had an idea. He grabbed the first walkie-talkie from his room and opened the barrel to turn on the one taped inside. He put the Trojan Pig on the floor of his bedroom and left the light on.
Malcolm watched Benjamin unlatch the window and push it open. “Good. You’re way smaller than this window,” the boy whispered. “Come on. The coast is clear.”
Malcolm delicately walked across the glass panel and Benjamin moved a card table over so he could jump onto that. The raccoon reached the floor and looked around the room. “Nice place you got here, Sire.”
“Thanks. It’s a little different from the kingdom, but it works.” The raccoon laughed. “Alright. It’s here in my bedroom. You go in there and I’ll meet you in a second. I need to talk to my mom.” He pointed his finger toward the open door.
“She’s here?” Malcolm looked around, scared.
“It’s okay. She’s upstairs. Just go in my room. The light’s on.”
Malcolm cautiously walked toward the opening. Benjamin hid behind the corner of the stairs and watched the black and gray striped tail disappear into his room. The raccoon looked in awe at the large pig thing before him.
“Intruder! Intruder! Get out now!”
Benjamin hadn’t expected the poor raccoon to run out of his room as fast as he did. Malcolm hopped off the walls, knocking down a few picture frames, and dashed under the couch, his tail sticking out. The boy came out of hiding, laughing. He knelt by the sofa. “I can still see your tail.” Swish! The tail disappeared.
“Ben, what was that noise?” Carol called.
“Just me and the raccoon playing.”
“Oh, come off it! I’m tired of hearing your stupid stories!”
Benjamin laughed, then spoke softly to the raccoon to calm him. “Malcolm, I’m sorry. I was playing a joke on you. Come on out.”
It was quiet for a second then he heard Malcolm’s muffled voice. “A-Are you sure that was you, Sire?”
“Yes, yes. Look.” Malcolm’s black mask poked out. The boy held up a black square box.
“What is that?”
Benjamin held it to his mouth and pressed a button. “It’s a walkie-talkie.” The same loud voice came from the bedroom. Malcolm’s fear turned to fascination.
“Oh…wow! Now I like that!”
“Come on. I’ll show you my Trojan Pig.”
“Is that what it is? A pig?” Malcolm followed Benjamin to his bedroom.
“Yeah, of course it’s a pig. Only this is a Trojan Pig.”
“A what?”
“See, in school I learned about this ancient war between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Greeks made this large, wooden horse and acted like they retreated. Well, the Trojans took the horse into their city and used it for a trophy.”
“Uh huh.” Malcolm rubbed his little hands together as he took in the story.
“Little did they know that a band of mighty Greek warriors were hiding inside. And that night, when the entire city was asleep, they snuck out of the horse, opened the city gates, and the Greek army killed them all!”
Malcolm’s face lit up with amazement. “Whoa!”
“Yeah, so here’s my plan…” Benjamin opened the barrel and Malcolm stepped back. “I’m going to get more of those fireworks from my cousin tomorrow—”
“Oh, those were great!”
“—and I’m going to fill this thing up with them. I’ll have a really long fuse so I can light them from a safe distance.” Benjamin pointed at the walkie-talkie taped inside. “You heard my voice coming from this. I’ll lure the giant snake to it by having Clementine oink into the walkie-talkie—”
“Ahhhhh…I like!” Malcolm’s sharp teeth shone through his grin.
“—and when the snake eats the Trojan Pig, I’ll light the fuse!” He remembered what the Snapper had said. “But I’ll have to be quick about it, ya know, since she pukes up objects she can’t digest.”
“And I don’t think she’ll be digesting this anytime soon.” Malcolm patted the side.
“It’s the perfect plan.” Benjamin leaned in closely. “We know where she drinks every night, and we know she’s always hungry.” Benjamin’s eyes grew huge. “Boom!” He fluffed the air with his hands.
Malcolm jumped in excitement. “Oh, Your Majesty, this is going to be so good.”
“I know…I wonder if King Mac will be coming along.”
Malcolm stood with a blank look on his face. “So…he is the rightful heir?”
“Oops! Well, yeah…he is. And I don’t think Jonah took it very well.”
“Psh! Who could blame him? That Mac is one big jerk! Jonah should be the one who is king!”
“Malcolm, don’t worry. Things will be fine once we kill the snake. The kingdom will approve of Mac when Farangis’s mother is dead. He’ll be a hero!” Benjamin smiled.
The raccoon was quiet as he stared at the Trojan Pig. “Yeah…he’ll be a hero.”
“Okay Malcolm. I gotta get to sleep. We’ll talk later about when we can kill the snake. I know tomorrow night the kingdom will be crowning Mac the new king. You won’t want to miss that!”
“No…no, of course not.” Malcolm stood staring at the Trojan Pig in thought.
“Alright then. Ready to sneak back out?”
“Yes, Sire.” They returned to the main room and Malcolm hopped up on the table.
“Hey, when you leave, do you think you could lift that window back up and shut it?”
“Certainly, Your Majesty.” Malcolm quickly studied the room and the window. Then he crawled through the opening. “Goodnight, King Benjamin. See you tomorrow.”
“Okay, but probably not until night. My family won’t be home until after dark. G’night!”
Malcolm grunted as he lifted the window and lightly pushed it in, but not too far. Benjamin waved, turned off the light, and went to bed. Malcolm watched until he disappeared, then ran back to the kingdom.
Benjamin got a good night’s sleep, even with the air whistling through the unsecured window…the window that a certain raccoon supposedly closed.
CHAPTER THIRTY
‘Coons will be ‘Coons
THE CAVE WAS QUIET that morning. Everyone had had a good night’s sleep and was just waking up. The wild goats, the raccoons, the many new residents…all stretched and lazed in their spots, all well rested. Except one—a pug with one black foot and a few hairless patches of skin just starting to grow back in on his body. But, to him, the one black foot was enough to award him the title of rightful heir to the kingdom his brother was about to take over.
Jonah had tossed and turned through the night. One time he awoke to find Malcolm next to him, after he got back from Benjamin’s, wearing a devious smile. Jonah made a few failed attempts to extract the secret Malcolm had decided to keep from him. “In the morning… Your Majesty,” was all he would say.
The light from the first rays of the sun started to shine off the crystal blue sides of the pool. C
lementine awoke refreshed, as did Roscoe and his clan of wild goats. “You see, ladies and gentlemen? You see what I had to sleep next to every night? Whoop!”
“G’morning!” Clementine said with glee.
“G’morning?” Roscoe asked, feigning exhaustion. “Now, let me think… I don’t believe ‘G’morning’ was one of the words you shouted in your sleep. Did any of you guys hear him say ‘G’morning’? Whoop!” They shook their heads and laughed.
“Well, it’s funny you say that because I certainly heard you Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! in your sleep last night.”
Roscoe had no comeback. “Fine, we’ll call it even… Whoop!”
Most of the animals were now up and around. To the amazement of the original residents, more than half of the food was still left.
Malcolm stretched and yawned himself awake. Jonah had been staring at him for hours, anxiously waiting for him to wake up. “Good morning…now what is this news?!”
The raccoon lazily laughed, enjoying Jonah’s eagerness. “Oh, my, I needed that sleep.” He got to his feet and walked past the antsy pug.
“Hey!”
“Good morning, little brother,” Mac said smugly. “Will you be attending my coronation tonight?”
“I think I’ll be washing my fur,” Jonah said, unimpressed.
Mac looked his brother up and down. “Doesn’t look like you have much to worry about. I’m glad I didn’t go bald.” He walked off laughing at his own joke.
Malcolm overheard and fought to control his anger. We’ll get him back!
“Malcolm, please tell me what this news is.”
“I will, Jonah. I will. But first I need to have a talk with my boys. Can you please give us a moment of privacy in the tunnel?”
Jonah sighed. “Sure.”
“Come here, guys.” The four other raccoons followed Malcolm. They huddled in the darkness of the tunnel. Malcolm took a deep breath. “Now I gotta tell you boys, that snotty little Mac is really getting on my nerves.”
Zeke snorted. “Yeah, and he’s gonna be their king?!”
The others laughed in the darkness. “You won’t see me taking orders from him.” “Me neither.” “And I’ll tell you who else won’t bow down to him…Jonah!” All agreed. “That poor guy takes so much from his brother!” “Yeah. He deserves to be their king.”
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