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EVEREST RUSHED TO the door, glancing at a clock on the wall. He whizzed by his father, barely nodding to him. “Bye, Dad. See you after obedience training.”
But Balto merely reached out and grabbed his son’s pure-red tail. “Hey, now. Not so fast.” He held on tight as Everest squirmed to free himself. “I have a bone to pick with you.”
“Too late,” Everest groaned. “I already buried it.”
Balto jerked Everest back so that he sat down. Then he took the two steps necessary to stand in front of him. “What is this?” He held up a letter.
Everest raised an eyebrow. “What is that?”
Balto handed it to him. “Kodi delivered it this morning.” He cleared his throat. “It’s from your…uh…” He started whispering. “Girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?”
Balto threw a paw over his son’s mouth. “Not so loud!” He plucked the letter back and opened it up.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Everest assured.
“Then I guess the flowers and hearts on the stationary is just something they handed out in obedience class?”
Everest managed to glance at the letter. He let out a sigh. “Oh, it’s just Norma.” He snatched the letter from Balto’s gray paws. “She’s been on me all semester.”
Balto chuckled. “Ah, my little boy’s growing up. Right now, it’s obedience school, but tomorrow, who knows? Maybe sled dog training.”
Everest studied his face. “Have you been looking at my baby pictures again, Dad?” he asked.
Balto once again cleared his throat. “Uh…just be careful, okay, kid-o?” He glanced at the clock, and his eyebrows rose. “Oh, look at that! You’ll be late for class.” He gave Everest a quick kiss.
Everest proceeded to quickly wipe it off. “Dad,” he murmured, embarrassed.
“Now, make good choices. Have a good day.” Balto pushed his son out of the boat, watching him quickly run into town. He smiled. “Ah, my little boy’s growing up,” he repeated in a whisper.
On the other side of town, Jenna was having a very similar conversation with Scarlet.
“Honestly, Mom, he’s just a friend!”
“Why don’t I believe that?” Jenna looked her daughter in the eye. “If he’s ‘just a friend’, as you put it, then why did he send you the flowers and candy this morning?”
Scarlet was still staring at the pile of carnations and Hershey’s that was taller than she was. “I don’t know…Zippy might have a crush on me, but we aren’t together. He’s part of my obedience class; that’s all!” Jenna continued to stare at her. “Really!”
Jenna sighed. “Okay. We’ll leave it for now. For now, you’d better start hurrying to your class or you’ll be late.”
Scarlet sighed in relief. “Thank you.” She turned and walked out the door, letting it close rather loudly behind her.
Jenna sighed. “Oh, that girl…What is this world coming to? Can’t she talk to me about anything?”
“Guess not,” Crimson said as she and Vixie walked past. “See you later, Mom.” They followed their sister, though the door closed much more softly behind them.
Jenna smiled. Eh, I shouldn’t be complaining, should I? After all…they are just like I was when I was their age.
During a brief break, Scarlet walked up to Everest. “Hey, you look tired,” she murmured, genuinely concerned.
Everest slowly nodded. “Yeah…and not just because of this training.” He took a glance at Norma, a border collie who was also in his class. He quickly turned back when he saw her staring at him. “It’s Norma. She has a crush on me.”
Scarlet froze. “No kidding…” She risked a glance at Zippy, and mimicked her brother’s gesture by hurriedly turning back. “Zippy is nuts about me, too.”
“You don’t say.” Everest suddenly got an idea. “Hey! Let’s tell them to get lost and throw mud on them!”
Scarlet shook her head. “No, let’s not. It’s not fair.”
“Who said life was fair?” Already, Everest was crouching down and making a mud ball with one paw.
Scarlet stamped a foot on it. “Let’s not,” she said, this time with more authority. She sighed. “Well, what can we do?”
Rushmore walked up. “Do about what?”
Everest, too, sighed. “Oh, we’re just in a bit of a situation.”
“What?” Rushmore studied his brother’s face. “Who did you drown in tar this time?”
“It’s not that, Rushmore,” Scarlet murmured. “We’re just victims of the Crush-but-no-crush-back Virus.”
“Really? Who do you have a crush on?”
Everest groaned. “It’s the other way around, genius.”
Rushmore slowly nodded, beginning to understand. He suddenly brightened up. “Hey, here’s a solution! Why don’t you tell them to get lost and throw mud on them?”
“That’s what I said,” Everest agreed.
“But we will not do it,” Scarlet said firmly.
Rushmore moaned. “You make it really hard to have a good time, sis.” He brightened up again. “But here’s an idea: why not just give them what they want?”
“What!”
Scarlet and Everest shouted so loud, everybody else stopped what they were doing and stared at them.
Rushmore froze. “Uh…” He turned to everybody else. “Sibling stuff. Go back to your training.”
Everybody resumed what they were doing.
Rushmore turned back to his brother and sister. “Crushes are born from the desire of something one cannot have. If you give them what they want, they won’t want you anymore.”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“Could you restate that in English?” Everest inquired.
Rushmore sighed. “Just trust me. Go to them and say you like them. After that, they won’t want you two anymore.” He looked back to the other dogs, and noticed Zippy and Norma staring at them. “Excuse me, but I think I see two dogs in distress.” He went over to them, leaving his siblings to ponder on what he had just said.
When he got to them, he put on a cheery smile. “Hey, guys. What’s up?”
“We’re in love,” Norma replied, drool hanging from her face as she stared across the room.
“And they’re not,” Zippy added, even more drool hanging from his tongue.
Rushmore followed their eyes. “Oh…” He suddenly regretted what he had told his siblings. But he smiled as he got an idea. “Might I offer a bit of advice?”
Suddenly, Zippy and Norma whirled to him. “We’ll take any we can get!” Zippy exclaimed.
Rushmore started walking around them. “Ignore them.” When they stared at him as if he was insane, he continued, “If you crowd them in too much, they’ll never come near you. If you ignore them, they’ll want you so much that they will come to you.”
Norma blinked. “Are you sure about this?”
Rushmore chuckled. “Do I look like I’m stupid? Trust me.” He walked away, and as soon as he was out of hearing range, he dropped his smile. I hope I don’t regret this…
Later that day, Scarlet and Everest walked up to Zippy and Norma. “Uh, hi, guys,” Everest said uneasily.
No answer.
“We’re here to say hello,” Scarlet added.
But again, no answer.
“Are you ignoring us?” Scarlet asked.
“Yep,” the other two replied unanimously.
“We’ve come to the conclusion,” Norma explained, “that if we ignore you two, you will come to your senses and like us.”
“Really?” Rushmore sighed. “Well, I think it’s working.”
“Cause we came to tell you something,” Scarlet added.
“What?”
“Well—”
“We have to say that we love you—”
“Beyond what words can express and—”
“It was so good for us to know you—”
“So we guess that’s it—”
“And this is good-bye.”
Norma and Zippy broke into smiles. “Good-bye?” Norma jumped up and down with joy. “I’ve waited all my life for this!”
“As have I!” Zippy agreed enthusiastically. “It’s like poetry to my earlobes.”
“How?” Scarlet asked, by now really confused.
“It didn’t rhyme,” Rushmore groaned.
“It didn’t have to.”
“Oh, Scarlet.”
“Oh, Rushmore.”
“I’ll never leave you!”
“Never, I say!”
Then they turned around and started walking away. “See you tomorrow!” they yelled behind their shoulders.
Everest turned to Scarlet. “I told you: we should have thrown mud on them.”
Scarlet punched him softly. “Aw, shut up.”
Everest and Scarlet slunk into their father’s boat. They barely acknowledged his presence and proceeded to their rooms.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Balto walked up to them, stopping them in their tracks. “How was your day?”
“Horrible.” They said it at the same time.
Balto’s smile vanished. “Oh.” He sat down. “What happened?”
“It’s what you were talking to me about earlier,” Everest said.
“Except now, they think we like them,” Scarlet murmured.
Balto raised an eyebrow. “You, too?” He sighed. “What is this world coming to?” He looked his children in the eye. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”
Everest snorted. “What’s right? That’s what I want to know.”
“Zippy and Norma have crushes on us.”
“And thanks to our holier-than-thou brother, they think we like them, too.”
Balto slowly smiled again. “Ah.” He patted Everest’s shoulder, and then Scarlet’s. “What you really should have done is tell them to get lost and throw mud on them.”
Everest whirled to his sister. “See? Even Dad agrees with me!”
“But it’s not the right thing to do!” Scarlet snapped back.
Balto got between them quickly. “Stop it!” He sighed. “Why can’t anybody take my jokes?” he muttered. He breathed in deeply. “Believe it or not, kids, there was a time when I was in the same position. I was in love with a pretty dog, but I wasn’t sure if she loved me in return.”
“How’d she get rid of you?” Scarlet asked.
Balto chuckled. “She didn’t; she’s your mother.” He sighed. “It’s all so long ago…But I know that there is one thing you can do.”
Scarlet and Everest looked at him. “What?”
“Tell them the truth.”
Scarlet lowered her red head. “But that might hurt their feelings.”
“You’ll have to risk that.” Balto grinned. “Believe me, though: telling the truth will feel better than telling a lie.”
“I guess you’re right.” Everest turned and started walking back into town. “Come on, Scarlet. Let’s get this over with.”
“Right behind you.” Scarlet took a second to nuzzle her father. “Thanks, Dad.”
Balto’s smile only broadened. “You’re welcome, kid-o.”
Scarlet turned and followed her brother into town.
Balto stared after them for a few seconds. He sighed, slowly letting his smile vanish. “I wonder if I should have told them before they left…”
Scarlet and Everest found Zippy and Norma in the park. They approached hesitantly, wondering what they would say.
“Uh…hi,” they finally choked out.
“Hello,” Zippy and Norma replied.
“There’s something we need to say.”
“Zippy—”
“Norma—”
“We don’t like you.”
“So this really is good-bye.”
Norma sighed. Zippy exhaled. “It had to come,” he said.
“We knew it would,” Norma agreed.
“So it’s okay.”
“No hard feelings.”
“I like somebody else, anyway,” Zippy suddenly said.
“I do, as well,” Norma concurred.
Scarlet and Everest raised their eyebrows. “You do?”
“Your siblings, actually,” Zippy said. “I like Crimson and Vixie.”
“And I’m in an undying love with Rushmore,” Norma blurted.
Scarlet and Everest turned to each other. “Rushmore?” Everest asked.
“Crimson and Vixie?” Scarlet wondered.
They broke into fits of laughter.
“Oh, that’s one for the books!”
“This would make a terrific short story!”
“I can’t believe it!”
“It’s so impossible, it’s possible!”
“Hilarious!”
“Funny beyond belief!”
As Scarlet and Everest started walking away, Norma turned to Zippy. “What was that about?”
Zippy shrugged. “I have no idea.” He smiled. “Well, we’d better break the news to them.”
Norma smiled. “Yeah…but be ready in case they tell us to get lost and throw mud on us.”
Zippy nodded. “Will do.”
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