Jason finally hung up and walked out of their very untidy bedroom, into the small living room. Jack followed, head down and tail limp, trying to show Jason how desperately he needed a cookie. He could hear Jenni and Juan snoring in the other room. They had been wrestling a lot last night and despite his doggy whimpers and his scratching on the door, they had not let him in to play.
Jason leaned down and hugged him tight, kissing his head and nuzzling him. Jack forgot his cookie for a moment, enjoying the love he received from his boy. He loved his boy very much, but sometimes it was hard taking care of him.
They left their rooms in the big house and went down to the weird room Jack wasn't too sure about. For one thing, there were never cookies inside, but also, it did a weird thing where when the doors shut they always opened to a different room. He also didn't like the way it moved. It made his head swim. With a doggy sigh, he walked into the small room, head down and endured the strange noises.
Happily, after they left the nasty little room, they made their way to the dining room. Jack inhaled the rich fragrance of food and felt much better. As he walked through the room, many people gave him pats on the head and a few nibbles of bacon. He gave them his biggest grin and wagged his tail extra hard. Certainly someone had a cookie.
But, alas, no one did.
With a certain amount of grumpiness, he wandered over to his dish and was happy to see someone had put a few pieces of bacon and some of that good yellow stuff on top of his kibble. Tucker was already at his bowl, eating slowly since he was an older dog. Jack knew Tucker was very old and very tired. He liked to sleep a lot, but he enjoyed Jack's occasional companionship. Tucker swung his head toward Jack and they touched noses briefly in greeting, then went back to eating.
Jack gulped down his food, then drank a bit of water. Tucker rubbed against him as he ambled away and they sniffed each other briefly, mostly as a courtesy. Licking his muzzle, Jack trotted away, searching out someone to give him a cookie.
Glancing back one last time at Jason, he noticed the boy was holding Shelley's hand under the table. Ah, his human puppy was wanting to mate. Oh, well. That was okay, but he really needed to be better about cookies.
Jack strolled down the hallway, looking around for one of his many human friends to greet and see if
they would understand his need for the sweet goodness that was a cookie. He had loved Halloween when the human puppies had sneaked him lots of treats. But that was a little while back and yesterday's turkey was just a memory. He had gotten lots of hugs with people telling him they were ‘thankful’ for him.
Again, humans were kinda weird at times, but he loved their hugs! “…and they took my Hummer and make me scrub floors and toilets!
My nails are broken and there is not a decent manicurist around here!
And you are doing nothing about this,” a woman's voice was shrieking from the stairwell. “And now Travis is mayor and you're nothing!”
Jack kept walking. He didn't like the woman who smelled too clean and always kicked him when no one was looking. He wanted a cookie not a kick.
The very stinky man was standing in another hall. He was holding up what he called a camera and talking to himself. Jack thought the man smelled great. He smelled of chickens, dogs, and yucky stuff.
Jack wondered if he could roll around on top of Calhoun while he slept and get that great scent on him. But Jenni would probably throw him in the bathtub and give him a bath like she had when he had managed to roll around on a dead squirrel before she caught him.
Jack pushed past Calhoun and looked into the room. Travis was there talking to Pepe's man. Pepe's man had nice leather shoes that Jack wanted to chew on, but never got the chance. Peggy was there, too, and Jack looked around for her puppy. The puppy usually had cookies or candies. But to his disappointment, there was no human puppy with goodies in his pockets.
“… had just received a grant for community development. We were trying very hard to improve the city,” Peggy was saying.
“So,” Pepe's man said thoughtfully. “Most of the city is on septic tanks or rudimentary sewer systems. ”
“Exactly. We didn't start actually zoning of the city until a year ago.
It pissed off a lot of people, that's for sure. And we just started passing ordinances for new construction. ”
Jack stared at Peggy as she talked. She must realize he needed a cookie.
Travis sighed. “We're dealing with an archaic system for the hotel and city hall. We'll have to come up with something soon. This isn't like a big city with a network of underground systems. Sewer will become an issue. ”
Pepe's man frowned as he studied something on the desk. “It's better to start planning now before it is an issue. Now that we have most of the fort construction mapped out, we need to think long term. ”
Jack decided to concentrate on Travis.
I need a cookie, Jack thought intently.
Instead, Travis patted his head and scratched him under his chin.
“Okay, so how we are going to make the fort sanitary and functional in the future? I would suggest that we began immediate inspection of any buildings we absorb into the fort so we…”
Jack gave up and left the office.
Walking into the lobby, he saw the human puppies playing hard.