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Stick Dog Dreams of Ice Cream
Tom Watson
Everyone’s favourite furry friends are BACK in this fourth hilarious adventure!The temperature is rising – and Stick Dog and his pals are feeling the heat! The dogs need cold, cold ice cream on this hot, hot day – but their quest to find a sweet treat is threatened when Stick Dog is spotted by a human and the police are hot on his tail…Funny, furry and loveable, this four-legged hero is destined to be Top Dog.
Copyright (#ulink_6c4fde08-a610-5bed-9a2d-3e76536fdecc)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2015
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Copyright © 2015 by Tom Watson
Cover art © Ethan Long
Cover design by Tom Starace
Illustrations by Ethan Long based on original sketches by Tom Watson
Tom Watson and Ethan Long assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007581252
Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780007581269
Version: 2015-05-06
Dedicated to Carol, Donna, Susie, Richard,
Jim, and Tom
Contents
Cover (#ub81d7985-5f9d-59d1-acd8-2a322ae72d71)
Title Page (#ue5b75399-328a-5824-a5b0-8e931a8b5783)
Copyright (#u021a2a54-1238-5121-8bfe-a3204397472f)
Dedication (#u1ea0a452-8817-5677-b8a3-5b844d57dca4)
Chapter 1: Escape from the Heat (#u9f5f1e08-9075-5ae7-b4e2-cd6980711499)
Chapter 2: Going Nowhere (#ud57f67ab-a05c-5cd1-9e57-e40f4fce79bf)
Chapter 3: Poo-Poo Is Quite Special (#u0e282fa7-07b6-5add-893f-1bfd171470d4)
Chapter 4: Running around in Underwear (#u7f840411-0b53-5c12-9372-dc1ebc4a7c30)
Chapter 5: A Water Machine Attacks (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6: It’s Totally Annoying (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7: What’s Weird about It? (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8: Rainbow Puddles (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9: Drips Are Drippy (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10: Dance Party (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11: Poo-Poo Figures It Out (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12: Woggy! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13: Karen Tackles Stick Dog (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#ulink_3492f1df-7d41-5138-bcf0-33d4bcce5eba)
ESCAPE FROM THE HEAT (#ulink_3492f1df-7d41-5138-bcf0-33d4bcce5eba)
It was really, really hot.
Stick Dog, Stripes, and Poo-Poo looked forward to some brief relief from the heat.
And Mutt was just back from the creek to provide it.
He was sopping wet. He didn’t say anything at all but simply sidled up close to the others. They all knew the routine. This was, after all, Mutt’s fourth trip to the creek in the past hour. Stick Dog, Stripes, and Poo-Poo stood at the ready.
And then Mutt began to shake. He started slowly at first, spraying the others with big droplets of water from his shaggy fur. But then his shaking sped up, until he trembled and vibrated so hard the dry dirt around his paws puffed up in little brown clouds. With this vigorous shaking, Mutt was able to spray his companions not with big droplets of creek water but with a fine, cooling mist.
The other three sighed as they felt the wet, cool relief.
“That feels wonderful,” whispered Stripes when Mutt finally stopped shaking.
“I never get tired of that smell,” Poo-Poo said.
Stick Dog enjoyed the temporary respite. He needed a little break from the dry, hot day as much as anyone. “Thank you again, Mutt. That really does feel great,” he said. “Come on, you guys. Let’s help him retrieve some of this stuff. That’s the least we can do.”
Immediately, Poo-Poo and Stripes helped Stick Dog gather all the things that had come flying out of Mutt’s fur with the water. They picked up a crushed Ping-Pong ball, a blue marker, two bottle caps, and an old grey sock. They returned them all to Mutt, who tucked everything back into his fur except the old grey sock. He took that to the shade of a beech tree and began to chew on it.
Poo-Poo and Stripes shared some shade under an old oak tree. And Stick Dog settled beneath a leafy maple. Unlike Mutt’s shaking, the shade provided little help. They all heated up again quickly.
“Stick Dog,” Poo-Poo said. “We have got to do something about this heat.”
“There’s not much we can do,” Stick Dog answered. He seemed to be conserving his energy as he spoke. He didn’t even turn to address Poo-Poo. “My pipe is even warmer than out here. The air doesn’t circulate in there. We’re not going to find better shade anywhere. I guess we could go down to the creek and get another drink of water. That always helps a little.”
“I’m sick of drinking creek water,” Stripes said. She sounded frustrated. “It’s too sandy and gritty. And on a day like this, it’s not even cold.”
“Let’s go look for some new water,” suggested Mutt. “Maybe we can find a better place to get it.”
Stick Dog considered this. “A new water source, hmm? Cleaner, colder. I think it’s a good idea.”
“You do?” said Mutt. “Really?!”
Stick Dog nodded. “Let’s just wait for Karen to get here and then we’ll go look.”
“Did you hear that, you guys?” Mutt asked Poo-Poo and Stripes. There was genuine excitement in his voice. “Stick Dog thinks we should go find a new place to get water. It was my idea! Did you hear me suggest that?”
Poo-Poo nodded his head, and Stripes closed her eyes.
“Another great idea by yours truly,” Mutt whispered to himself as he shifted around a little in the shade. “Old Mutt comes through again.”
Stick Dog took pleasure in seeing Mutt act this way. And he took even greater pleasure when a random summer breeze whooshed through the woods for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and waited for Karen.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Chapter 2 (#ulink_0ae591a4-6629-5471-86fb-ff2bfab45eb0)
GOING NOWHERE (#ulink_0ae591a4-6629-5471-86fb-ff2bfab45eb0)
Karen soon came through the woods and entered the small clearing at Stick Dog’s pipe. She joined him beneath the maple tree.
“Can you believe how hot it is?” Karen said as she plopped down.
“Don’t remind us,” sighed Stripes.
“Where have you been?” Poo-Poo called from beneath the oak tree.
“Nowhere,” Karen answered. She panted and added, “It’s so hot!”
“I said, ‘Don’t remind us,’” Stripes complained. She seemed really agitated. “And you can’t be ‘nowhere.’ That’s impossible.”
Poo-Poo nodded in agreement.
Mutt ignored the entire conversation. He had now chewed through the heel of the old grey sock and was working on the toe area.
“Look,” Stripes said to Karen. “You don’t have to tell us where you’ve been. It’s your business. But you have to agree that you can’t go ‘nowhere.’”
“Yeah,” Poo-Poo said. “You have to admit that.”
Karen’s chin rested on the ground. She didn’t respond, but she did shift her eyes to look at Stick Dog next to her. It was almost as if her eyes were saying, “I really want to prove these two wrong, but I don’t know how. Can you help me?”
Stick Dog got the message. And he thought it was just too hot for this back-and-forth conversation. On a nicer, cooler day, it would be fine – maybe even amusing. But not today. Not in this heat.
“Listen, Stripes and Poo-Poo. Do me a quick favour, will you?” Stick Dog asked. He stood and stretched his legs. He knew they would leave soon. “On the count of three, will you two go and climb into my pipe? It’s not a race or anything. I just want you to get into my pipe for a second. OK?”
It was an odd request, but neither Poo-Poo nor Stripes saw any harm in doing so. They nodded to indicate they would do it.
“One, two …,” Stick Dog said, and then paused. He waited. Poo-Poo and Stripes were ready to move from the oak tree’s shade to Stick Dog’s pipe, but they held still, waiting for the signal. Then Stick Dog said, “Forget it. I don’t want you guys to go to my pipe after all.”
“You don’t?” asked Stripes.
Stick Dog shook his head.
“Why not?” Poo-Poo asked.
“Just changed my mind,” said Stick Dog. He winked at Karen and turned to Stripes and Poo-Poo. “Can I ask you both a question?”
They nodded.
“Where did you guys go?”
Stripes looked at Poo-Poo. Poo-Poo looked at Stripes. They both looked at Stick Dog, shrugged their shoulders, and answered together, “Nowhere.”
“Yes!!” Karen exclaimed, and began hopping up and down. “I knew Stick Dog could prove it! I knew he could! You two just went ‘nowhere’!”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Stripes began to complain.
“That’s not right. That’s like word magic or something,” Poo-Poo said, and shook his head. “That’s what it is: word magic.”
Stripes turned to Mutt, hoping that he could help them. She called over, “Mutt, what do you think about all this?”
Mutt lifted his head. The other dogs were too far away to see it, but grey and white threads hung from the corner of his mouth. He seemed to take the question very seriously. He tilted his head a bit to the left as if pondering something that concerned him quite deeply.
“Well, what do you think?” Stripes called again.
“I think,” Mutt said, “that was the best darn sock I’ve ever eaten.”
Stick Dog smiled and said to them all, “Come on. Let’s go find some nice, cold water.”
Karen followed Stick Dog with light, happy, and energetic steps.
Poo-Poo and Stripes followed as well – glad to end the conversation.
And Mutt came along too. He was eager to find something to help wash down the final threads of that old grey sock.
Chapter 3 (#ulink_769bf52f-a354-5740-94b1-6e93c86504ca)
