During the trip back to the magnolia tree, the sheltie’s ears perked up as it heard the sound of poorly executed bird calls.
The dog’s pace quickened as it raced back to the tree. When it arrived, it woofed to alert the nearby “bird” to his presence.
Movement in the tree’s limbs revealed Tom who looked relieved until he saw the aggressive look on the sheltie’s face.
“I was bored ok,” Tom said to which the sheltie shook its head back and forth.
“You try sitting in a tree for 20 minutes with nothing to do but crouch and try not to get your butt wet.”
The dog set the clothes down and waited for his friend to get dressed.
“So... who is getting what here?”
The sheltie quickly pounced on the jeans and then grabbed the underwear.
“Well I guess that’s fair considering jeans are hard to wear commando compared to shorts but these things look way too small.”
The sheltie turned its head in the rough equivalent of a shrug and picked up the shorts and t shirt before dropping them at Tom’s feet to which Tom sighed before putting on the clothes.
The sheltie then dropped the jeans and other t shirt at the base of the magnolia tree before trotting away. “Why are you not changing back? Where are you going?”
The sheltie barked before continuing forward without looking back.
“Well I guess we can wait on the whole sleeping thing while sparky the wonder mutt and his sidekick have a forest adventure,” Tom said before following his friend through the trees.
It was around 7 pm and the streets were empty with only the streetlights guiding the sheltie back to the store.
Tom followed the sheltie all the way up to the door before realizing what was happening. “Oh no, you are not making me pay for this when I have no way to explain where the clothes went. There’s also the fact I’m wearing the clothes you stole.”
The sheltie nipped at Tom’s ankles before entering the store.
“Fine, but I don’t think you can eat kindness and this is definitely coming out of your half of the food budget. Assuming I can even remember the card numbers...” Tom muttered before following the sheltie into the store.
The sheltie walked up to the counter and looked back at Tom with an expression that implied impatience.
Tom walked up to the counter slowly weighing his options on an explanation. By the time he reached the clerk, he knew what he was going with.
“Hello there ma’am. My dog ran away from me during our walk and I think he might have come here and grabbed some clothes. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. Ever since he was a puppy, Sparky here has had a fascination with clothes. It’s almost like he thinks he’s a person.”
With a small crinkling of her eyebrow, the lady behind the counter responded, “It's no problem sir. Do you have the clothes he took with you?”
“Oh well you see the clothes were just so dirty by the time I found him. I don’t want you to have to deal with cleaning anything so I thought it might be easier to just buy them outright.”
The clerk responded, “Oh that’s no problem sir, we can wash the clothes. In fact, there’s a washer right in the other room so it’s no trouble.”
Tom blanked and responded “I insist on buying them. I think his teeth put a hole in the underwear and you never know with a dog like this. He could have even run through a sewer with them or something.”
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“If you insist, I guess that’s your decision.”
Tom breathed an internal sigh of relief before looking down at the sheltie and then looking back at the clerk with a glint in his eye.
“By any chance do you carry dog leashes? I wouldn’t want Sparky getting away and causing any more trouble.”
Tom was still smiling as they arrived back at the Magnolia tree with the sheltie in tow.
The sheltie had pulled its claw out right when they entered the forest and Tom now had an annoyed Arthur pulling off the leash around his neck.
“That was not cool," Arthur stated cooly as he started putting on the clothes he left by the tree.
“You’re the one who wanted to pay for the clothes.”
“Whatever. Let’s just go get some sleep. I saw a cheap hotel on the town map a few blocks away from here.”
Tom responded sarcastically, “What? You mean we aren’t sleeping in the bushes tonight?”
“After the flight and the store experience, I think an actual bed is in order.”
Both began to walk toward the hotel through the dry crunchy leaves of the forest.
The streets were completely deserted and the moon illuminated the city as they arrived back in town.
Halfway to the hotel, Arthur slowed and then stopped altogether as his eyes moved back and forth eventually settling straight ahead.
He turned to Tom saying, “Hey let's go to a supermarket and get some real clothes.”
Tom replied “Are you sure? These clothes are comfortable enough for me.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. It won’t take a minute”
They backtracked a block the way they had just come to reach a nearby twenty-four-hour supermarket.
Tom noticed Arthur looked ready to bolt with an almost animalistic glint in his eyes and twitching of his arms and legs.
They reached the store and instead of going to the clothing section, Arthur headed straight to the bathroom.
The store was empty with only a few weary eyed staff manning the registers likely deep into the night.
When they both entered the bathroom, Arthur turned and said, “Sorry for acting strangely, but I just felt something really strange out there. It almost felt like I was being watched, but I couldn’t see anyone.”
Arthur paused before continuing, “I know our bags are coming here, but do you think you can keep flying tonight? There’s another city a few miles east of here according to the map.”
Tom replied, “Not sure I understand what you’re talking about, but if it will make you feel better, then sure.”
Arthur grabbed a water bottle from the bathroom trashcan and jammed the door open. He then took the lid off the trashcan and stepped into the can.
“Shift in the can so the piles of clothes won’t draw attention. Try and close the lid if you can on your way in.”
Arthur shifted and flew into the air. He craned his neck at Tom in an expectant manner to which Tom lifted one leg over the lid of the garbage can, almost tripping, before managing to fit himself inside.
“The things I do for friendship,” he muttered before bending over and struggling to grasp the garbage can lid on the ground as his fingers keep hitting the rim but not latching on.
He finally reached the lid and placed it on his head before squatting down and starting to shift.
The garbage can lid slowly fell into place as Tom shrunk before Arthur’s eyes.
Arthur heard sounds of rustling in the garbage can before finally a robin flew out of the opening, causing the lid to swing back and forth.
They both flew toward the door which had previously been propped open. Arthur led the way up to the rafters and fluttered around in a mindless manner.
Tom was dumbfounded before realizing Arthur was playing the part of a trapped bird and just waiting for a shopper to enter or exit the door so they could make their escape.
Arthur saw a shadow approach from the exterior of the building and began flying toward the door to time his exit.
The door opened as a middle aged employee entered for his shift.
Arthur heard the flutter of wings behind him announcing that Tom was trailing as they both continued heading for the door and flew out right as it opened.
Tom made it through by the narrowest of margins with the door almost closing on his tail feathers.
The close call made him tweet out in relief right before nearly slamming into the back of Arthur who was hovering in place.
Tom looked around for the cause of his friend’s actions, but the only thing he could see was a man in a brown trench coat approaching the store from a few hundred feet away.
Tom was confused, not understanding why Arthur had stopped. Arthur, however, felt as though there was pressure pushing in all over his body as though he was being buried in sand.
Arthur snapped out of his stupor and quickly flew in the direction opposite the man with Tom hesitating before joining him.
Arthur flew as fast as he could with Tom following closely behind.
Arthur hoped the man had not noticed them but felt certain that he had.
He figured their only hope was to make it to the city or forest and find somewhere to hide. Somewhere that was heavily fortified with concrete walls, weapons and provisions.
As he thought about it, staying at the superstore might have been their best option considering it had almost all of those things.
Arthur knew that ship had sailed and they might as well continue flying. He didn't know who that man was, and he certainly didn't want to find out. Thankfully now that they were in the sky, it wouldn't be long until the man was miles behind them.