“Ambyr! Heads up!”
Ambyr, who was lazily resting to the side, snapped her head up, but she was too late. The red, rubber ball flew through the air, and rapped her upside the head. It fell too the floor and bounced a couple of times; SQUEAK! Sqeak...squeak.
“Quick thinking, genius!”
Ambyr growled as Haywire happily trotted past her, and picked up the ball in his mouth. He threw her a playful wink as he ran off, and dropped it at Mr. Drago’s feet.
However, something was wrong with Mr. Drago this morning. He tried to plaster a smile on his face whenever Haywire came bounding up with the ball, but as soon as he threw it, and Haywire left, his face turned worrisome and troubled. Occasionally, he slipped a hand in one of the pockets of his parka. Ambyr knew this to be the pocket Mr. Drago kept the key to the mailroom. Whenever he withdrew his hand out, it always turned out empty.
Humans,” thought Ambyr with a shrug. So irresponsible.
Mr. Drago’s face returned back to normal as Haywire returned back again with the ball. “You ready, boy?” Mr. Drago said, picking it up. “Hey, Ambyr! Girl, you want some of this too?”
Ambyr yawned and lowered her head on her paws.
Mr. Drago shrugged. “Alright, Haywire! Go long, boy! Go long!” Haywire ecstatically yipped and barked as he ran a good distance from where he was standing. With a grunt and a heave, he chucked the ball as hard as he could.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Haywire stood dumbfounded, waving his head around at the sky, as the ball came sailing over his head. She chuckled.
It wasn’t until the red ball released its SQUEAK that Haywire finally turned in the right direction. Catching sight at the red circle rolling across the white snow, he yipped again and ran after it.
That’s when they came.
Two tall men dressed in blue uniforms came walking up the road the Mr. Drago, twirling tonfa batons (The long stick that cops use to beat and disarm people with) in their hands. While Haywire was still busy retrieving the ball, they came up from behind Mr. Drago and tapped on his shoulder. He whirled around, and his eyes widened in shock. But they quickly became friendly again as he began engaging in a conversation with them.
Ambyr perked her ears and lifted her head, but she couldn’t hear what any of them were saying. All that she could pick up was “Drago...musher...mail...stolen...taking you in.”
Haywire had retrieved the ball, and he came bounding up back to Mr. Drago He dropped it to the ground, but Mr. Drago didn’t even notice him. Suddenly, one of the tall men in blue walked behind Mr. Drago, and pulled his arms behind his back.
“Hey! What is this?” He struggled to get free, but the man held firm to his arms. “I demand you release me this instant!”
The other man in blue talked calmly to him, and Mr. Drago struggled more, and shouted in his face. “BUT I DIDN’T DO IT!”
By now, people had stopped along the sides of the street, wondering what the heck was going on. Their faint voices spoke in hushed whispers. “Is that him? Did they get him? But that’s Mr. Drago! Impossible! Sssshh.”
Ambyr jumped to her feet, alarmed, and Haywire merely stood there, ball at his feet, his head cocked to the side in confusion.
Then the man that spoke calmly to Mr. Drago gestured to the other man holding him, and they began taking him away, towards the police station. Mr. Drago was still struggling and shouting at them as they disappeared down the road.
The small crowd looked down, and shook their heads sadly, continuing on with their business. Ambyr squeezed through the lot of them, and ran up to Haywire, who was still sitting in the middle with the road, red ball at feet, and staring blankly to where the three men disappeared off to.
“Wha, what’s happening?’ Ambyr asked frantically. “What’s going on?”
“I think Mr. Drago’s being arrested.”
Ambyr rolled her eyes. “Yeah, quick thinking, genius. I mean, what did he do?”
“Apparently, there was a break-in at the post office last night. They’re taking him in for...what’s that word they used?” Haywire made a face as he pronounced the next word. “In-ter-ior-a-tion.”
Ambyr sighed. “You mean ‘interrogation’?”
“Yeah, that’s it! Erm...what’s that mean, anyhow?”
“I think it’s where they take you to the police station, and throw you a surprise party with tons of ice cream and candy.”
Haywire’s face lit up. “Really? I wanna get interiorated!”
Ambyr shook her head, and slapped him lightly with her paw. “Moron,” she said. “It’s where they forcibly ask you questions to see if you’re guilty or not!”
“Oh.” Then he added, “What does ‘forcibly’ mean?”
“It’s how I get stuck with the town idiot to help me solve the mystery as to who did break into the post office. Because I’m willing to bet my life it wasn’t Mr. Drago.
Haywire thought for a moment. “...What’s a...life?”
Ambyr didn’t see any more point in smacking him again.
After a couple minutes of walking, the two dogs stood before the post office. Had it not been for the apathetic man standing out in front of it, no one could ever tell something was wrong. Judging from his looks, he didn’t appear to be an officer as he kept guard, but occasionally, he turned his head through the doorway, swerving it around, as if looking for something inside. He then withdrew, and released a throat-sound as Ambyr and Haywire approached the open door.
“He growls like a dog,” Haywire muttered.
Just then, the guard stuck out his foot to block them from coming in. “You two can’t be here. Go on, scram. You’ll contaminate the evidence.”
“What does ‘contaminate’ –”
“Don’t even think about asking,” Ambyr growled. Suddenly, she caught sight of something white and brown whizzing by around the post office. “Hey,” she exclaimed. “There’s another dog in there! How come he isn’t contaminating the evidence?”
“Go on now,” the guard only said at them. He lightly swung his foot to the side, pushing them away. Ambyr let out a low growl at him, and then started to skulk away.
“Hey wait,” Haywire called after her. “Giving up so soon?”
“We can’t get in,” Ambyr replied. “If you can turn us invisible, you call me back.” And with that, she turned back to leave. After only a few seconds of rearing around, the loud chuckles of the guard could be heard.
At first, Ambyr felt like biting that guard on the leg. But as she was about to do just that, her mouth fell open. Haywire was standing on hi hind legs, leaning against the guard, and playfully licking him in the face. Between each lick, he uttered a word at her. “Get...in...before...he sees! This guy....tastes...nasty!”
Ambyr didn’t need to be told twice. She quickly hurried back, and crouched low to the ground, keeping so that she wouldn’t be spotted. Quietly, she snuck past the laughing guard, and into the post office.
The room was crowded with busy people hustling on their way; all of them too busy to notice Ambyr. The sight of so many of them talking among each other and looking at a half-open back door dazzled her. She tried looking around fir the dog she saw earlier, but it was a mere matter of seconds before he found her.
“This is no place for unimportant mutts like you or that silly Haywire friend of yours and Blitz’s.”
Ambyr spun around, and gasped in shock and alarm. “GILL!!!”
He laughed. “I see my musher at the doorway was blind enough to let you two in.”
She lowered her head in a growl. “YOUR musher? Don’t you work at the filthy old dock?”
Gill replied with a chuckle. “I think your brain sprung a leak since the last time I saw you, Ambyr. I’m talking about for the Iditarod race! What, did you think you and your little team of pups are the only ones competing this year?”
“You wouldn’t stand a chance against us in a race.”
“Whatever. We’ll just have to see about that.” Ambyr looked almost ready to pounce on him, but she had to restrain herself. Gill only laughed. “Gimmie a break. Even I know someone as dumb as you wouldn’t be dumb enough to start a fight in a place like this.”
“What are you doing here,” Ambyr muttered through gritted teeth.
“I’m here strictly on business, helping the investigators sniff out clues. You, on the other hand, have no right being here.”
“I work here, you nitwit!”
Gill then had the nerve to growl back at her. “In case you haven’t noticed yet – or maybe this hasn’t sunk down deep enough to register in that pea-sized brain of yours – you can’t deliver the mail when it’s been stolen the night before.”
“My musher’s been arrested.” Ambyr said defiantly. “I want to know why.”
Gill smiled and shrugged. “That’s classified.” He turned to go, but Ambyr quickly jumped in his way.
“Who exactly died and made you in charge?”
Gill thumped his tail on the ground impatiently. “I was a witness. That makes me special, and you – squat.”
“Is that so? And did you actually see Mr. Drago break into the post office and steal the mail?”
Gill glared back into her eyes. “No.” Before she could say a word, he continued. “But he’s one of the few mushers that has a key to this place.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“You twit! Not until I found his copy of the key laying on the floor this morning!”
Ambyr remembered Mr. Drago’s worried countenance as his hands dipped into his pocket for a key that wasn’t there. She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I know my musher, and he’d never do something like that. Why would he? If he wanted to steal the mail, he could’ve done it countless times before.”
Gill scowled. “Yeah, well, thanks for that tidbit. I’ll be sure to stow it away safely somewhere, now you should go. You’re being a nuisance right now.”
Ambyr stubbornly sat down in front of him. “Looks like you’re stuck with me and Haywire. Because let me get one thing straight here – I don’t like you. I never did. Even from the time I first laid eyes on you.”
Gill smirked. “That makes two of us.”
Ambyr continued without regard. “Get used to it, because I don’t trust you one bit. For all I know, you could’ve broken in here and planted the evidence yourself (Ambyr knew that was highly unlikely, but she still needed something to say against him.). So we’ll be sticking around a while and keeping a close eye on you.”
With an impatient sigh, Gill pushed passed her. “Fine, whatever. Just not too close, I hope.” He smirked again, and Ambyr shuddered.
It was then, Haywire cam bounding up to them. “Whew, what a rush! I think I practically licked that guy’s nose off before he finally let me in, and I think – HOLY TALITO, WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING HERE?!” He looked from Gill’s glowering eyes to Ambyr’s.
“Un-oh,” Haywire said. “I smell trouble.” He sniffed the air. “And tuna.”
Gill narrowed his eyes, aware that the two know he works down at the docks. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Eh?” Haywire sniffed again. “I smell...fish.” Haywire poked his nose up in the air, and inhaled. He followed the scent closer to Gill, but to both of their surprise, Haywire passed him, and continued on the empty mail racks.
Gill sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”
To this, Ambyr smirked, “Maybe that’s just you.”
The two followed Haywire over to the bare slots in the wall where the mail normally poked out from.
“What are you looking for,” Gill said. “There’s nothing here.”
Haywire, who was noticeably taller than Gill, only continued to stare up at the shelves. He cocked his head at something almost too high up for Gill to notice. “Looks like not all the mail was stolen.” Once again, Haywire got up on his hind legs, and grabbed the envelope in his mouth. His eyes began to water as he brought it down, then spat it onto the floor. “Ugh! Nasty!” He stuck his tongue out to rub it against something to wipe off the taste, then looked over at Ambyr.
“You do, and you die,” she said.
Haywire withdrew his tongue. “So much for contaminating the evidence.”
Gill flipped open the top. Inside was a slip of folded paper with unrecognizable handwriting on it:
Sunrise comes, sunset goes,
A pattern eternal that knows;
Wherein do the rays of light roam?
Merry will be the date,
In dawning, the sun comes up late;
Lest it somehow finds its way home.
Listen, as sunrise holds the key to light.
“This is great,” Gill retorted. “Even I wouldn’t want to steal this garbage.”
“Ah, what a sweet love poem,” Haywire commented. “Too bad the last line doesn’t rhyme with anything. Hey, Ambyr, what rhymes with ‘light’?”
“This doesn’t look at all like a love poem,” Ambyr muttered.
“Light – fright, flight, might, fight, night...”
“Give it a rest,” Gill snapped.
“Oh, I like that word! Let’s see...Listen, as sunrise holds the key to light / When Ambyr’s sweet voice comes sailing through the night...”
Ambyr and Gill both looked at Haywire.
“What? It’s a talent,” he said, grinning.
“No,” Gill replied. “It’s a curse.”
“Is there an address on the backside of the envelope?”
Gill rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Like the burglar would rob a post office, then be stupid enough to leave behind a crumby poem with his address on it. Great thinking, Ambyr!” Nonetheless, he turned it over. “No, there’s nothing. It’s blank.”
“But what does the poem mean?” Haywire asked.
“The first logical question you’ve asked all day,” Ambyr said with a smile. “I, honestly, don’t know. But I heard poems are what humans sometimes use to reveal hidden meanings and messages.”
“Ooooh! You mean like a secret code?”
Ambyr frowned. “Not really. But my guess is that something in the poem stands for something else.”
“This is pointless,” Gill sighed.
Ambyr ignored him, and pointed down at the scrawled words. “Like for example, ‘rays of light’ could be the mail, since the poem seems to be asking where it is.”
“And sunrise holds the key to light...what does sunrise stand for?”
“I’m not sure. But sunrise usually means the beginning of something...like a new day.”
“This isn’t making any sense,” Gill retorted. “If you think you’re so smart, what does ‘Merry be the date / In dawning, the sun comes up late / Lest it somehow finds its way home’ mean?”
“I never said I knew for sure,” Ambyr shot back. “It’s just a theory.” Before Gill could do something to it, Ambyr swiped up the letter, and tucked it beneath her collar.
“Hey, what’re you doing,” Gill demanded. “We have to show that to the humans!”
“No, we can’t,” Ambyr said darkly.
“And why not?”
Ambyr gave a yip of frustration. “Suddenly, Haywire doesn’t seem so dumb anymore (“Gee, thanks,” Haywire muttered.)! Think about it, you moron! This letter was left here on purpose. The burglar isn’t just going to accidentally insert this letter in plain sight where everybody can find it, but obviously, he did. What do you make of that?”
Gill narrowed his eyes at her, but said nothing.
“It means,” Ambyr continued, “that the robber left clues to where he hid the mail for someone to discover.”
“Right. And why would he do that?”
Ambyr turned from Gill and the hustle of humans busy on their way, as if oblivious to the dogs. “Clearly, there’s someone in this room that has their hand in this.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a detective dog,” Haywire clapped. “But my mom always said I had a lack in reasoning.”
“No, surprise.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Ambyr said. “Let’s go to the hospital. Maybe Blitz can help us solve this thing.”
“Blitz is in the hospital?” Gill asked, surprised. “What for?”
Ambyr shot Gill her meanest glare. “He fell through an ice hole. Not that you care.”
Gill angrily lowered his gaze.
Blitz was bored out of his skull, and he sighed lazily as he shifted uncomfortably in his bed. Sometimes, his legs twitched uncontrollably, and he still had yet to gain control of their movement, but at least he still had feeling in them. This morning, however, he had a killer itch on his leg he’d been dying all day to scratch. A few nurses occasionally checked up on him, but hastily jotted something down on their clipboards, then quickly strode away. Not to mention, if a sudden heart attack didn’t kill him first, the food here would.
This was how Blitz had been passing the time by for the past couple of days. Spending his time trying to keep himself occupied by reminding himself how much he hated his situation only made him edgier by the minute. He had to take a couple minutes to calm himself down every now and then. Luckily, the three dogs came in at a good time, or he would’ve done flips at the sight of Gill walking to his bedside.
“Don’t tell me,” he said. “You’ve come to apologize.”
Gill made a disgusted face at him. “You conceited mutt! Of course not. This was all your girlfriend’s idea.
Haywire’s eyes widened.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Blitz growled. He then turned to Ambyr. “What exactly is he doing here?”
“We decided to let him tag along,” Ambyr scoffed. But then, she turned sincerely to him. “Listen, Blitz. Mr. Drago’s been accused of stealing the mail, but so far, we haven’t gotten any closer to finding out what really happened. All we found was this letter. Do you know what it means?”
She pulled it out from under her collar, and Blitz scanned over it. “’A pattern eternal that knows’?”
“The sun rises every morning, and sets every evening. I’m guessing that’s the pattern it’s talking about.”
“The pattern knows,” Blitz said thoughtfully. He then continued reading. “’Listen, as sunrise holds the key to light.’ And I suppose ‘light’ is...”
Ambyr nodded. “The mail. And I’m guessing ‘sunrise’ means the beginning of something.”
“The beginning,” Blitz said, as if in a daze. He then substituted the words, and translated the last line: “Listen, as the beginning holds the key to the mail.”
“Key to the mail,” Haywire chimed. “Mr. Drago didn’t have it with him this morning, and we all know he carries it around like it’s his baby. Which means...”
“Someone must’ve stolen it, and framed Mr. Drago,” Gill finished.
Ambyr gave an approving grunt. “I wonder why someone wants to frame our musher. He never did anything to anyone.”
But then, Blitz shook his head. “It’s not a poem,” he said. “It’s a riddle.”
“A riddle?”
“Yeah. If anything, the letter’s going to tell us where the mail is hidden; not how they planned to steal it.”
“What’s your point,” Gill asked, getting impatient yet again.
Blitz coughed, and his legs twitched, almost kicking Haywire in the face. “Sorry,” he said. “I can’t help it.”
Haywire moved away from Blitz’s leg.
Ambyr repeated the translated verse again. “Listen, as the beginning holds the key to the mail...”
All four dogs sat in awkward silence for a couple minutes, staring blankly in the air. Each of them were trying to figure out what the riddle was referring to the beginning of.
Just then, something snapped in all four of the dogs’ minds at the exact same time. A brilliant light hovered over their heads in a sudden jolt of shock and realization.
“LEMMIE SEE THAT LETTER!!!” They all shouted at once. All of them made a swipe for the letter, but Gill caught it first. They each crammed their heads to see as Gill pointed with his paw to beginning letter of each verse.
(Take this time to scroll back, and see if you can’t figure out the location as to where the mail is hidden for yourself. :D )
“S...A...W...”
“Oh, my heavens,” Ambyr whispered.
“M...I....L...L.”
They all looked at one another. “THE SAW MILL!!!!!!!!”
Gill, Ambyr, and Haywire bolted for the old, abandoned saw mill down the road, Ambyr just felt like kicking herself for not looking in a place like this sooner. As if sensing her thoughts, Gill gave a rasp laugh.
“It never occurred to you idiots to search a place like this first?”
“Hey, can it, fuzzy. You could’ve done a little more investigating yourself,” Haywire replied sternly. Ambyr winced. She knew Haywire could withstand being called any name except an idiot. “We were the ones that found the letter, remember?”
“Oh, goodie for you,” Gill said. “So you two aren’t completely worthless.”
Haywire felt like jumping Gill, but stopped as they ground their paws in the ground, and halted in front of the old saw mill.
It hadn’t changed much since Haywire and Ambyr had last been in it – which was both a good and a bad thing. “Do you think it’s still haunted?” Haywire whispered to Ambyr.
“Oh, please. You were the only one haunting it, remember?”
“...Oh, yeah.”
“Come on,” Gill growled at the mill. “Let’s get whoever’s inside.” He started running for the door, but Ambyr pulled his tail back in her mouth.
“First off, you don’t know who’s inside. They could be armed. Second, you rush in there, and you could foil our chances of catching the burglars if they get away.”
“So what do you suggest we do,” Gill snapped.
“We go in quietly,” Haywire said. “Try to make as less noise as possible.”
Gill scowled. “Speak for yourself, you Motormouth.” He started to quietly edge closer towards the door.
“Birdbrain,” Haywire muttered under his breath. He looked over at Ambyr, who had her tongue sticking out of her mouth. The taste of Gill’s tail still clung in her mouth, and she looked around desperately for something to wipe it off on. That’s when she caught sight of Haywire.
“You do, and you die,” He said with a smile.
Ambyr rolled her eyes at him, then withdrew his tongue.
Gill pushed the door open (which was boarded up after Ambyr, Haywire, and Blitz crashed through it the last time). It creaked and moaned as it slid back, sending a small cloud of sawdust to come raining down. Gill coughed. “Well, are you two scardeycats coming or what?”
“Why does that have such a familiar ring to it,” Haywire sighed. Nonetheless, the two stepped through the doorway, and lightly closed it behind them.
“Well...where is it,” Gill said..
“Try looking. You might find something,” came Ambyr’s sarcastic voice.
“Oh, be quiet, before someone hears you.”
“Someone,” Haywire said, his eyes frantically darting around. “Or something?”
The two other dogs shook their heads.
It took roughly half an hour for the dogs to search the upstairs (Since Haywire insisted they all stick together). Once it was fully scanned, the downstairs wouldn’t be too much of a problem. It was only ten minutes before they all stopped dead in their tracks, and looked at what was laid out in front of them.
“Check it out,” Gill said. “There it is.”
In plain sight, stowed away in a dusty corner, were three bags bundled at the top and thrown carelessly to the side. Ambyr looked around suspiciously. “This is much too easy. Where are the burglars? I wanted to feel bones crunching today.”
“Sssh,” Gill hissed. He went over and prodded at the three bags. Haywire did so too. He got down and sniffed at one of them.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “This is the mail alright...but...why does it smell like...tuna?”
Gill glowered at him.
“Give it a rest. You can’t smell it because you’ve gotten used to it. But there’s clearly the smell of tuna on these bags.”
Ambyr and Haywire both stared at Gill questioningly.
“Don’t you dare,” Gill shot evilly at them. “I don’t give a bull moose’s booger for your mail. What would I want with it anyway? I have nothing against your musher!”
“Musher,” Haywire said with Blitz’s thoughtful voice. He repeated the word a few more times to himself. “Musher...musher...musher...” Suddenly, he slammed his paws angrily on the floor with such force, it even made Gill and Ambyr jump back in alarm. “THAT’S IT!! My goodness, why couldn’t any of us see it sooner?” He turned to Ambyr. “Do you still have the letter?”
Ambyr nodded and produced it, laying it out on the floor in front of Haywire.
“’Merry be the date / In dawning the sun comes up late / Lest it somehow finds its way home’.”
“What?” Gill asked urgently. “What is it?”
Haywire looked up. “This whole...scheme...it has nothing whatsoever to do with the mail at all!!”
“What’re you talking about?” Ambyr said.
Haywire shook his head and smiled. “What’s that? I know and figured out something Ambyr didn’t? Wow...” He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Hang on a second...lemmie savor this moment....Aaaah.”
“Alright, what is it?” Ambyr snapped at him.
Haywire opened his eyes, still grinning. “I know who stole the mail.”
“Oh, happy day,” Gill retorted. “So who is it? And how do we find them?”
“Patience, mutt, patience,” Haywire said, as if he were talking to a newborn pup. “Right now, the burglar isn’t here. But he will be returning in a while. I know he will.” He looked over at the other two. “We need to hide before someone sees us. I have a plan. Come on!”
And before any of the other two could object, Haywire had stuffed them into cramped hiding places throughout the room, making sure they all had a clear view of the mailbags.
“He’ll be coming back,” Haywire called from his hiding place. “And we’ll be ready for him!”
Ready, indeed. Three whole hours had passed, and no one had yet entered the room. Ambyr sneezed at a pile of dust that had collected on her nose, and Gill suddenly snarled furiously at Haywire.
“What is this,” he demanded. “Three hours. THREE WHOLE HOURS, and no one’s so much as breathed on this stupid old saw mill. I say we take the bags over to the police, and let it be their problem.”
“And what about Mr. Drago?”
“Pssh. I don’t care about your musher. All I care about is getting these bags off my chest, so I won’t have you fruit flies hovering around me!”
“Haywire,” Ambyr said. “Are you certain you know what you’re doing?”
“Positive.”
“And this is coming from the dumbest excuse for a dog I know,” Gill shouted. “You still haven’t even told us who it is, you know.” He stood up at Haywire. “So now’s the moment of truth, Haywire. Tell us who it is!”
“Are you insane? Get back down before someone comes in and sees you!”
“NO ONE’S COMING!” Gill exploded. “No one has for the past three hours, and no one ever will. Don’t try to get away with it. Now say it!!”
At this point, Haywire was willing to do just about anything to shut Gill up. “Alright, alright,” he said. “Just keep it down.”
“DON’T TELL ME TO KEEP IT DOWN!!”
“Chill out,” Ambyr snapped.
“DON’T TELL ME TO CHILL OUT!!”
“Someone’s coming.”
“DON’T TELL ME SOMEONE’S COMING!!”
Suddenly, Ambyr darted from her hiding place. She angrily clamped Gill’s muzzle shut, and pushed him back in his own hiding place.
“I said someone’s coming, you lunatic,” she hissed at him. “Get in here, shut the heck up, and don’t you dare come out until I say you can!”
“I don’t take orders from –”
Ambyr snarled at him, and Gill reduced his outburst to a glare.
Footsteps could be heard as they echoed down the corridor. Ambyr literally teleported back to her spot, and Haywire whined for everyone to stay absolutely still and quiet as they became louder and louder.
Suddenly, a large pair of boots stepped into the room. They clunked dully on the old wooden floor as they made their way to the pile of the three bags of mail. It stopped in front of them, and the dogs took advantage of the moment to see who it was.
Ambyr and Gill both gasped in surprise. The man in the boots was the very man that had stood guard at the post office earlier that day!
Haywire eyed Gill. His mouth was agape, and his expression was horrified. Even without words, his countenance spoke for itself. Ambyr was mouthing the exact same words: “But...but....that’s...GILL’S musher!!”
Gill’s musher stood staring at the pile of mail. Then, they heard the most unexpected noise: a chuckle.
“That worthless son of a –”
“Shhhh!!!” Haywire gestured for Gill to be quiet.
The boots spun around, startled. He then started pacing the room, looking around for them. It was torture, and Haywire could feel his skin grow hot and moist beneath his fur. It was then, he wished he were someplace else in the world – because he had developed a terrible itch on his nose. It grew into an irresistible temptation to scratch,, but he knew he couldn’t afford to do that. He waited it out in hopes it might go away, but then he soon wished that he had scratched – because the itch developed into a sneeze.
“Uhh....Uhhh...”
From the corner of his eye, Haywire could see Ambyr slap her paw on her forehead.
“CHOOOO!!!!”
Dust and dirt flew in all directions, and Haywire hit the top of his head beneath the table he was hiding under.
Gill’s musher turned to him, and his mouth fell open. “What the –”
Realizing that their cover had literally been blown away, Ambyr leapt from her hiding place, and sunk her teeth down on Gill’s musher’s leg. He yowled and cried out in pain, spinning his leg around in attempts to swing Ambyr off. Haywire then jumped up and landed on his chest, hurling Gill’s musher back into an antique desk, which shattered to pieces on impact.
“Gill!! A little help would be nice!!”
Gill only stood there, his mouth still open in horror. Then, with what sounded like a half-whimper, half-growl, he turned high-tail and ran out of the mill.
“Gill!! You cowardly chicken!! Get back here now!” But it was too late. He had already disappeared.
Suddenly, Gill’s musher swung his hand on the side of Haywire’s face. He whined, and rolled off of him, and he began to stagger up to his feet.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Ambyr yelled. She revved up her shoulders, and rammed the musher’s knees so hard, he cursed loudly, and fell back again onto an antique bookshelf (which, also shattered to pieces upon impact).
Haywire shook his head to the side, and barked loudly at the cursing man trying to get Ambyr unhooked from his leg. He grabbed hold of a loose block of wood lying around, then began to attack Ambyr. Luckily, she let go just in time, and Gill’s musher ended up hitting his own shin instead.
“I’m having so much fun with this guy,” Ambyr said, laughing.
The musher cursed, and lifted up the block of wood to strike Ambyr with again. Ambyr, who was caught off guard when talking to Haywire, stared up at him in horror.
“AMBYR!!”
And that was when Haywire made the most unexpected decision. He once again ran up to Gill’s musher – from behind – and leapt on to his back, biting down on a tender piece of his skin...the only problem was...Haywire underestimated his jump, and instead of landing straight on his back to send him face-down onto the floor, he instead got a very proportional chunk of Gill’s musher’s arse stuck between his teeth.
Gill’s musher released a howl, and dropped the block of wood, trying to slap at a Haywire that wouldn’t let go from behind. Finally, Ambyr tiptoed over to him, and placed a chunk of wood behind his feet. The man tripped over it, and spun in a full circle before landing, hard, on the pile of mail.
He lay there, and groaned, not moving.
“Aah!!! Ugh!! Pa-tooey!! Pa-tooey!!! Ack!! My tongue!! Oh, my tongue, it’s stained for life!! Ack!! Pa-tooey!!”
Haywire squirmed out from under the man, thankful that the bags of mail had cushioned his fall. Haywire had his tongue stuck out, and was desperate enough to get the taste off to start licking at the sawdust-covered floor.
“Are you okay?”
“OKAY?! Okay is when you get backhanded on the side of the head! But biting down on someone’s BUTT?! That’s...that’s....INEXPEDIENT!!!
Ambyr made a face. “What does...’inexpedient’ mean?”
At that moment, the door to the saw mill was forced open, and a stream of officers poured in, shouting and bustling throughout the building. Within seconds, they found Haywire and Ambyr growling at Gill’s musher, who groaned again as he lay on the three bags of mail.
And leading them, was Gill.
An officer came up and pulled the musher up to his feel, forcing his hands behind his back. “You’re under arrest,” he said gruffly.
“But, no!” he wailed. “Those dogs!! Those rabid dogs attacked me! I ran in here for cover! You gotta believe me!”
“Sure we do,” the officer replied, and led him out the door.
Another one of the officers came up and patted Haywire, Ambyr, and Gill on the head. “You three did excellent!! Good work, boys!! Nice job, girl!! Couldn’t have done it without any of you!” He flashed all of them a tooth smile, and gestured for the other officers to take the bags of mail away. One by one, as quick as they had arrived, they all began to leave until only the three dogs were left.
“Well,” Ambyr said strolling up to Gill. “I gotta admit...you’re not a complete imbasel...”
A barely noticeable twinkle appeared in Gill’s eyes.
“...but you’re still a coward.”
The twinkle disappeared. “Oh yeah? Well, I still think the both of you are jerks. This still doesn’t make up for what you did a couple days ago!”
“Look, I was trying to be nice...and honest...at the same time, okay?”
“You want my honest opinion,” Gill huffed. “I hate all of you. Even you.” He snapped his head at Haywire.
“Me?” Haywire said with an innocent smile. “Now what on earth did I do?”
“You still haven’t told me how you knew it was my musher that stole the mail!”
“Oh, that was easy,” Haywire replied with a shrug. He lifted a paw, and pulled out the crumpled, tattered letter from under his collar. “’Merry be the date / In dawning the sun comes up late / Lest it somehow finds it way home’. Obviously, someone wanted Mr. Drago out of the picture, and hoped he’d never come back – which explains the first two lines. But the third gave it away. Now, who – in all of Nome – would want to get rid of Mr. Drago, musher of the mail team?”
“Sure. Other mushers. But why?”
Ambyr suddenly perked her ears. “The Iditarod race! The mail team’s already entered, but Gill’s musher got jealous and wanted us all disqualified by framing Mr. Drago!”
Haywire nodded, clearly pleased with himself.
Gill huffed again. “Well, this has been an education,” he said. “Catch you losers at the race then.” He turned to go.
“Wait,” Ambyr called. “You have no musher now! How are you going to enter the race?”
“I’ll find someone,” he simply replied. And with that, he quit the saw mill, disappearing completely from view.
Ambyr and Haywire looked at one another, each having the same thought in their heads. After a few seconds of awkward silence, they both burst out laughing.