Another Day, another bone: A Date with Lies

  “So how do I look?”
  “You look fine Uncle Zak, quit fretting over it. Kinda hard to style short fur like yours.”
  “I know, but I should still try…”
  It was five PM, and a muscular, tan Doberman was attempting to use a comb spike his head fur for his date with his girlfriend, looking discouraged that his fur kept snapping back flat against his skull. Sitting on the couch nearby was his nephew, Duncan, a young mutt who was starting to grow up visibly, his head just under Zak’s underside and half as long as him. His voice was a bit deeper, but still had that puppy squeak, which didn’t bother Zak. He knew his nephew was growing, and was proud that he was more confident about himself since his puppyhood.
  “You really should give it up; you just don’t have the fur for it.” The young mutt said, smiling gently.
  After a sigh, Zak looked in the mirror and set the comb down, starting to smile. “Can’t say I didn’t try.” He replied with a chuckle, stub tail wagging. Hopping down, Duncan walked up to his powerful uncle and patted his side. “So besides the utter failure at trying to look dashing, how do I look?”
 Glancing up and down, Duncan gave a thumbs-up, grinning. “Like a million bucks Uncle.” After lowering his paw, he looked curious. “So Uncle Zak, why are you getting ready this early anyway? You still have an hour.”
  The big mix gave a wink, and he smiled wide, exposing his canine fangs.  “Cause, my dear lil’ nephew, unlike the ladies I don’t want to be getting ready late,” he joked, “and it leaves us an hour to do stuff together.”
  Hearing that, Duncan’s tail wagged excitedly. “Really? Even though you have a date you want to hang with me?”
  “’Course I do buddy. Don’t know a moment I don’t want to.” Zak said, ruffling his nephew’s head fur, making him giggle gruffly. “Anything in particular you wanna do?”
  After thinking for a few moments, Duncan had an idea. “Why don’t we go to the park Uncle? It’s a short walk away, grass to play on instead of dirt, and there aren’t many dogs there usually.”
  Giving it some thought, Zak smiled widely. “Sounds like a plan to me Duncan.”  He started for the door, Duncan following along happily. As the two walked by, they bumped into Charlie, who was carrying a box downstairs.
  “Oh hey guys. What d’ya know, what d’ya say?” He said with a wide grin, his scruffy tail wagging a bit.
  “Hey Charlie, ‘sup?” Zak asked, smiling.
  “Not much, just getting rid of some of my old junk I don’t need.” The old mutt said, chuckling. “Itchy has been urging me for ages, and with grandpups around I’ve wanted to get to it.”
  “A bit late, look at how big your grandson is getting.” The tan Doberman said, snickering as he lightly patted Duncan’s head. Charlie rolled his eyes and playfully kicked Zak’s leg, gently so it wouldn’t hurt though making it look like a real kick. Playing along, Zak sat down on his rear, clutching his ‘injured’ leg.
  “Ow ow ow!” He playfully moaned, Duncan going along with it and looking upset. “He broke my leg! My big, cuddly leg! Looks like no more leaning against it as I sit Duncan!” He looked mock apologetically at his nephew, who kept up his sad look a few moments longer before all three busted out laughing, tails wagging.
  “And to think, when I first met you Zak I thought you were the serious type.” Charlie said, grinning. “Turns out, you’re a snugglebug.”
  “Oh be quiet, I’m tough.” Zak said, one of his cropped ears flopping forward with a mock stern look on his face. Duncan grinned and gave his uncle’s side a play-punch, causing the large mix to look down and give a heavy, playful growl. “And I eat naughty little nephews who punch their uncles!” He pinned Duncan down with one of his big paws and then began tickling him with the other, playfully taking one of his big ear tips in his mouth and gently gnawing on it, making the young pup howl with laughter.
  “Say ya love your tough guy uncle Duncan! Otherwise I’ll tickle ya to death!” Zak growled around the erect ear tip, grinning widely as he kept up his tickling. Duncan tried to squirm out, long tail wagging happily as he laughed. After awhile, Charlie put down his box of junk and interrupted, chuckling.
  “Alright big, scary, tan monster, you looked like you were going somewhere so stop trying to eat my grandson and take him there.” He said, smiling widely. Zak grinned at him, releasing his nephew, who promptly sat up.
  “Will do, Dad.” He said jokingly, receiving a slap on the back of his head, making him laugh.
  “Call me ‘dad’ again and it’s off to the pound.” The mutt said, trying to look stern but his tail betraying him. The trio smiled at each other, Charlie picking his box up and going past the two downstairs.
  When they were by themselves, Duncan hugged around his Uncle’s belly. “And Uncle Zak, you know I love you.” He said, tail wagging through the air.
  “I know Duncan.” He said, patting the young dog’s head. When Duncan released him, he playfully pushed the young dog onto his belly and took off. “Race ya to the park!”
  “Hey! That’s cheating Uncle Zak!” Duncan laughed, jumping up and darting after his big, Doberman uncle.

  When the two mutts reached the park, they sat under a shady tree and caught their breath, docked and long tail alike wagging. After they caught their breath, they began to walk around, talking about what they could do. In the end, the inseparable duo agreed on a quick game of Hide-and-Seek.
  “So Duncan, how do we decide who is it?” Zak said, glancing down at the pup. His jaw dropped slightly when he saw that Duncan had a paw on his nose, the usual, well-known not it gesture. “You little…” He tried to sound furious, but ended up grinning at his nephew’s quick wit.
  Duncan grinned widely, stating, “Face to a tree Uncle.”
  Ruffling his head fur, the big, unusual Doberman went to the nearest tree and put his arms against it, pushing his eyes into them with his snout against the trunk, now starting to lowly count to fifty. Getting his chance, the young mutt darted off, looking for a place to hide in the park. He was thinking about where his Uncle wouldn’t expect him, and looked all around the park as he ran, and he soon noticed a dark-looking shed. Grinning, he knew that was the perfect place where Zak wouldn’t find him, and ran to it.
  When he got near it and was about to head inside, he heard voices. Pausing, he tried to listen, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying, so he went around to try to listen through a window. He didn’t want to go in and interrupt them, feeling that the conversation was important, so he wanted to try and listening in. Soon the pup found a window with one of the glass panels shattered, and stood on his hind legs, forepaws against the wall and ear by the hole, the voices coming in clear now.
  “… Wh… What are you saying Blade?!”
  “I’m saying that I heard you and Zero when you blatantly admitted you killed a dog trying to get away from the war. And then you go on about taking the credit. Chandler, do you realize what you’re getting yourself into?!”
  “I do but…”
  “Too busy enjoying the glory to tell the truth to anybody?”
  Duncan took a peek in and saw a familiar face and a different canine than he had ever seen. Chandler and the new dog, apparently Blade, were standing in the shed, Blade looking angrily at the black German Shepherd. Chandler was silent, ears pinned back a bit, thinking of what to say to Blade. Suddenly, Duncan saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked over curiously. Suddenly, he saw another unfamiliar dog, an Australian Kelpie wearing a green collar, spots all over the dark brown of his fur.
  The new dog looked angry, and glanced at Duncan and growled in annoyance, which made the young mutt blink in wonder. The Kelpie, a veteran war dog named Guy, walked away from the shed, seeming to have a lot of things on his mind. When he was gone, Duncan heard Chandler speak up and turned his attention back to it.
  “Look… Blade… that’s not it at all…”
  “Oh yeah? Then what is it?!” Was the snappy response.
  “I… I didn’t want to be separated from Zero.” Duncan heard a pause, meaning Blade wasn’t speaking. “I mean… If I told the truth now, those dogs would tear me to pieces. And I don’t want to leave Zero alone and I want to be a real hero.”
  The silence after was long. Duncan expected Blade to start yelling at Chandler or something, when suddenly the Border Collie spoke softly, “I never realized Chandler… You were planning to make amends for that…?”
  “When I was ready, and I did something equal to it, like saving someone’s life.”
  “Damn me… Now I feel like such a fool, I should have known that you and Zero were talking about that…”