Shelby's Story Read online

  I grabbed a corner of the bag in my mouth and gave it a good shake. That’s what I often did to things I picked up, just as I did to my squeaky toy. It always seemed like the right thing to do.

  The bag ripped. Everything inside tumbled to the ground. Oranges and apples rolled down the driveway. The bread flew through the air and plopped onto the grass. I pounced on the bacon and Teresa ran over to pull it from my mouth as somebody yelled, “Cut!”

  That again?

  I looked up at Teresa with the bacon in her hand. I wagged hopefully. She’d let me have the steak earlier. Would I get the bacon, too?

  “Shelby, that’s not it,” Teresa told me. She was trying to look stern, but her mouth was twitching. Some of the watching people were chuckling.

  “Going again!” someone called out, and people came to collect the groceries and put them in a new bag. I went to the side to stand and wait with Teresa.

  “Okay, Shelby, do it right,” Teresa told me. “Pick It Up! Put It in There!”

  I ran for the groceries again, got the bag in my teeth, and shook it, just like last time. Then I chased the apples all the way down the driveway to where they met the street. It was like Fetch! It was great!

  This time some of the watching people groaned. Bruce didn’t, though. He was laughing so hard that he was holding on to Cathryn’s shoulder to keep from falling over.

  I thought we were having fun, too. People came running to get the rest of the apples and I picked up one in my mouth in case anybody wanted to throw it for me.

  “Teresa, can’t you make her be serious?” someone called out.

  “She’s a dog,” Bruce said, getting his breath back. “They don’t do serious.”

  Teresa came to take the apple from me. I looked up at her wagging. Did I get a treat? I did Pick It Up, didn’t I? Okay, I didn’t do Put It in There, but how was I supposed to when everything fell out of the bag?

  No treat. Really?

  We played Rip-the-Bag a few times, and Bruce kept laughing, but I never got a treat. Apparently Teresa really wanted me to do Put It in There, even though Rip-the-Bag was a lot more fun.

  Okay. If that’s what Teresa wanted. The next time, I got the bag in my teeth and didn’t shake it. If I was going to finish Pick It Up! Put It in There! that was what I needed to do.

  Teresa was waiting by the box. I pulled the bag of bruised apples and leaky oranges and squashed bread over to her, lifted it up as high as I could, and dumped it in the box.

  Could Teresa and I share that bacon now?

  Apparently not. But I did get my treat and a lot of praise from Teresa. Bruce and Cathryn came over to tell me I was a good dog, too.

  “One more day of filming and we’re all done, Shelby! Bet you’ll be glad to go home!” Bruce said.

  I licked Bruce’s hand to show him that I liked him, even though he was not too bright. At least he understood that Rip-the-Bag was fun.

  “Okay, that’s it for today,” Teresa told me, clipping my leash onto my collar. “Back up on the mountain tomorrow, Shelby.”

  “The avalanche?” Bruce asked.

  “That’s right. Shelby’s big scene.”

  “She’ll do it,” Bruce said confidently. He reached down to scratch my back, and I wiggled happily. “She’s done great.”

  “Well, it’s all for nothing if we don’t get the last scene,” Teresa said. “We can’t do a lot of takes of the avalanche scene like we just did here. It’s too complicated to set up. We won’t get that many chances.”

  13

  In the morning, Teresa and I drove back up the snowy mountain. When we stopped and got out of the car, there were lots and lots of people standing around a big field of deep snow.

  Bruce and Cathryn came over to see me, but neither of them had treats. “This is your big day, Shelby,” Bruce said.

  “First you dig yourself out of the avalanche, and then you dig up the dummy,” Cathryn added. I heard the word “dig,” but it wasn’t a command. People are like that—they’ll says words like “sit” and “down,” but it won’t be a command for a dog and doing Sit or Down won’t earn any treats.

  Teresa had my coat and boots all ready for me. I was used to the boots now and didn’t try to shake them off. She took me to a new, cozy room with wooden walls. It was just the right size for me. Snow had been heaped over it.

  Teresa showed me a ramp that led up to a hole in the roof. She let me go up the ramp so that I could put my head out and see what was up there.

  Nothing that interesting. Just all the people who usually came to watch me do my jobs.

  Then I went back down the ramp and Teresa took off my leash and coat and boots. She told me I was a good dog. “This is the last day, Shelby,” she said. “You can do it. I know you can.”

  Then she left me inside the room alone.

  From the outside, someone laid a cover over the hole in the roof. It was a piece of white cloth that looked a lot like the snow.

  This seemed very odd. I thought I’d had a job to do—but I never did jobs all alone in a room. Teresa was always with me. People were always watching to see what a good dog I was.

  Here there was nobody to see me.

  I yawned. This room was cozy, even if it didn’t have a heat lamp like the tent. I curled up and put my tail over my nose. It was nice of the people to give me such a good place for a nap while I waited for my next job with Teresa.

  I could hear voices outside. One of them belonged to Bruce. “How will Shelby get out of there?” he asked. “With all that snow over the top?”

  “From our view, it looks like the box is completely covered, but it’s not really,” Cathryn told him. “Shelby can actually just jump out of the hole with no problem. But in the movie, it will look like she’s been buried by the avalanche and dug herself out.”

  I wagged sleepily that they were saying my name.

  “Ready, Teresa?” someone else called out. I wagged again, for Teresa’s name.

  “Shelby! Come!” Teresa called.

  My ears perked up. Teresa wanted me.

  But it was so nice and comfortable in here. Did I really have to? I sniffed. I could smell treats outside. Teresa would probably give me one if I went out.

  But … I wasn’t really that hungry. I didn’t really need another treat, not right now. Not as much as I wanted a nap.

  My eyes slowly closed.

  “Come on, Shelby!” Bruce called.

  Cathryn added her voice. “Shelby! Sweetie! Come out!”

  They probably wanted me to play. I didn’t feel like playing.

  “Cut!” someone called out. But nobody came to give me a treat or rub me with a towel or take me for a walk—even a short one. I wished the people would figure out what they meant by “Cut!” or stop yelling it.

  There was a rustle up above me. The piece of cloth covering the hole in the roof had moved aside and Teresa’s face was looking in.

  I wagged. It was nice to see her. Maybe she’d come down and we could take a nap together. Sometimes we did that on the couch back home.

  Teresa had something in her hand. My head lifted up at the smell.

  “Shelby, want some steak?” Teresa called down to me.

  A wonderful, meaty smell filled the little room. I got up and shook myself from head to tail and trotted up the ramp to take the morsel of steak from Teresa’s hand. I wasn’t hungry, but if she was offering it to me, it was only polite to accept.

  “We need this shot!” someone outside called out. “We’re running out of time!”

  “Come out and you’ll get more steak,” Teresa told me.

  I didn’t know what she was saying, but I sure appreciated the treat. I licked her fingers to get the last of the meaty taste from them. Then she pulled away and put the piece of cloth back over the opening.

  Okay. I guessed we were done. I headed back down the ramp and curled up on the floor again. Now I was more full than ever. Definitely time for a nap.

  Brian and April called m
y name. I yawned. Why didn’t they come inside my cozy room if they wanted to see me?

  “Shelby! Come!” Teresa called.

  I felt a little guilty. I knew I was supposed to come when Teresa wanted me. But it was so nice and warm in here.…

  “Come on, Shelby! Come on!” Lots of people seemed to be saying my name now.

  I rolled over onto my side and stretched out. I groaned with contentment. I’d been working so hard, doing Training every day. Couldn’t I have a little time just to sleep?

  “If we don’t hurry up, we’re not going to get the last shot of the day!” I heard somebody yell.

  “What’s he talking about?” That was Bruce.

  I heard a new voice answering him. “This is the last day we have a permit for shooting up here on the mountain. We have to get this shot of her escaping, and then the one of her digging up the dummy. If we don’t get both scenes wrapped today, we won’t be able to have the avalanche scene in the movie at all.”

  “We could just get a new permit, right?”

  “That would take a long time. The snow would all be melted.”

  “But without the avalanche scene, the movie makes no sense! We have to get this!”

  “I know, Bruce.”

  “She can do this; I know she can.” That was Teresa.

  “Shelby!” Bruce called out. “Please! Focus!”

  It was probably best to pay no attention to Bruce.

  “Oh, thanks, April,” I heard Teresa say. “This will work if anything will. Okay, I need quiet, everybody. Shelby! Come! Come on, girl!”

  I sat bolt upright. What was that sound?

  Something squeaked! Teresa was playing with my squeaky toy!

  Without me!

  I couldn’t let that happen. I jumped to my feet, all sleepiness gone, and tore up the ramp. That piece of cloth was in the way, but I shoved it with my head, and it moved. It was heavier than I expected, though. There was snow piled up on it.

  On the other side of that snow there was my squeaky toy and Teresa! I pushed my snout at the cloth, pawing at it.

  The cloth gave way. I got my upper body out of the hole and clawed my way into the light. Snow flew. I struggled all the way out and tore down a slope of snow toward Teresa, who was kneeling with a piece of steak in one hand and my squeaky toy in the other and a big smile on her face.

  I grabbed the toy, shook it hard, dropped it on the snow, snapped up the bit of steak, and seized my squeaky toy again. Everybody clapped and cheered. Lots of people petted me—Bruce included. He probably wanted a turn with my squeaky toy, but I didn’t give it to him.

  I could tell I’d been a very good dog.

  “Perfect! We got the shot we needed!” someone yelled. “All right, moving on to the last shot!”

  Teresa was petting me, but she was looking at the sky. “That took most of the day. We’re losing light,” she said, and her voice was tense. “We have to get everybody off the mountain soon for safety reasons. We can’t ask the whole crew to ride down in the dark.”

  “Hurry!” someone yelled.

  I felt the tension in Teresa—it came down her arms and into her hands as they stroked me. Clearly, the person who yelled had upset her. I stared up into her eyes and tried to let her know that whatever was going on, I was a good dog who would do her best to help.

  14

  I could sense from the way the light was changing that it would soon be time for us to all leave and go back down to where we would sleep and eat dinner. But unlike every other day, when people were relaxed and laughing as they put things in the backs of trucks, today people were running back and forth, carrying things and peering at their black boxes. The only person not doing anything, as usual, was Bruce, but even he seemed worried.

  I heard a door slam and saw Brian with Gusto on a leash. Each of them had on a coat and boots.

  I dragged Teresa over to exchange greetings. Would we play Dig? Or Take a Short Walk? I hoped it was Dig. That was much more fun.

  All of the people continued to mill around urgently, while Gusto and I sniffed. Bruce and Cathryn stood with Teresa and Brian, and eventually we all walked right up to the edge of a fresh field of snow, higher up the mountain than the place where my warm little nap room was buried. Unlike around the tents where so many people had been walking, there was not a single footprint to be seen.

  “Gusto first. Then Shelby,” Teresa told Brian. He nodded.

  “Gusto, Dig!” Brian said. He unsnapped Gusto’s leash.

  Gusto bounded out onto the snow and sniffed hard, sticking his nose into the fluffy white stuff. Then he began to do Dig. I looked up at Teresa anxiously. Gusto was going to get all the treats!

  I heard the buzzer make its noise under the snow. My ears perked up.

  “Shelby, Dig!” Teresa told me. She unsnapped my leash, too.

  I jumped into the deep snow and it fountained up around my feet. Usually snow was a lot of fun, but here I couldn’t enjoy it, because I was not sure what to do.

  Gusto was digging for treats. I should do Dig with him and get my share.

  But the buzzer was going off under the snow far away from Gusto! Should I do Dig where the buzzer was? Should I do Dig with Gusto?

  I didn’t like this feeling. When Teresa and I did Training, I usually knew just what she wanted. Now I didn’t know.

  “I can’t hear the buzzer,” Bruce said. “Isn’t that weird?”

  “No, it’s buried pretty deep in the snow,” Teresa said. “I’m not surprised that we can’t hear it. But Shelby should be able to. Shelby! Dig! Dig! Dig!” she called out.

  I knew Dig. I was supposed to do Dig. But where?

  Feeling a little panicked, I ran in a big circle around Gusto. He didn’t look up at me. He was busy with his job. I wanted to be busy, too, but I didn’t know how.

  Gusto got to the treats at the bottom of his hole and gobbled them up. Brian called to him and he came. I figured that’s what I should do, too, and I returned to Teresa and wagged hopefully. Had I done it right? Would I get a treat?

  “Try again!” one of the watching people called out.

  Teresa sighed. “It’s okay, Shelby. Good girl, Shelby. We’ll do it again,” she told me.

  People hurried out to brush at the snow with brooms and scrape at it with rakes until it was unmarked again.

  Then we did the trick again. But I still didn’t understand! Gusto dug in the same spot, but the buzzer still rang somewhere else.

  “Dig Dig Dig!” I heard Teresa call.

  Okay! I would do Dig! I would do what Teresa wanted! I ran to where the buzzer was going off under the snow and dug there, as fast as I could.

  “Cut!” someone yelled out. “Teresa, why’s she digging way over there? She’s supposed to be with the other dog!”

  “I don’t know!” Teresa called back. “Shelby, Come!”

  Why was she calling me to come to her before I’d dug up the buzzer? I ran over to see if I’d get a treat, but I didn’t.

  Unfair! I’d done Dig where the buzzer was. That was the job!

  Teresa knelt and held my head in her hands and gazed into my eyes. Her voice was warm and kind. “I know you don’t understand this, Shelby girl, but we only have a little time left and then all this work we have done together won’t count for a thing. Just go to the buzzer and Dig, okay? I know you can do it.”

  The next time I didn’t do Dig at the buzzer, since that hadn’t generated much enthusiasm. I ran up to Gusto, but that buzzer was still bothering me. So I ran away from Gusto and rolled in the snow.

  People groaned. Teresa called me, and I came. No treat, though.

  This was not as fun as Training usually was.

  I could tell Teresa didn’t think it was fun, either. She still spoke to me softly and called me a good girl. “Just try again, Shelby. You can do it,” she told me. “I know you’re trying.”

  But beneath her kind voice, I could sense frustration. I could feel it and smell it in the other people, too. They w
ere worried.

  What had happened? Why was Training suddenly so confusing and difficult? I didn’t like it. Maybe we should go back into town and play Knock-Over-the-Trash-Can or Rip-the-Bag some more.

  “One more time,” Teresa said with a sigh. Gusto bounded out into the snow, sniffed, and began to do Dig.

  The buzzer sounded in its strange, faraway place.

  I sat down in the snow and looked up at Teresa. I wanted to do what Teresa wanted. I knew that would make her happy. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.

  People were looking at their wrists and then frowning at the sky.

  “We’re going to have to call the day pretty soon,” Cathryn told Bruce. “The sun is nearly down.”

  “Hey, wait!” someone called, far away from our group. It was April. “I can hear the buzzer! It’s over here! No wonder Shelby’s confused!”

  Teresa groaned. “You’re kidding! Shelby, don’t worry. Shelby, good girl,” she told me, and bent down to stroke my head and scratch behind my ears. Suddenly, she was relaxed, which let me relax, too. I licked her nose.

  There was a lot of running around and talking after that, but nobody told me or Gusto to do Dig. Teresa put on my coat and boots, and Brian did the same for Gusto. I’d figured out that I never did a job while I had my coat on; coats and boots on dogs meant it was time for the people to work. So we waited.

  “The signal was going to the wrong buzzer!” somebody called out after a while. “All fixed now.”

  “Are you sure?” Teresa called out. “I don’t want Shelby getting any more upset.”

  “Yes, sure!” the person said.

  More people hurried out to broom the snow around and Teresa talked to me as she took off my coat and boots. “You were trying, weren’t you, Shelby girl? I’m so sorry we messed up. Now we’ve got it right. It’ll be okay this time.”

  “All right, everyone!” a man called out. “This is the last take.”

  Everyone went very still. A few of them were shaking their heads. Then Teresa spoke.

  “I know how hard everyone has worked to get here, and I’m sorry if it’s all for nothing. Let’s just do our jobs and hope that Shelby does hers.”