By Ann Marie R. Harvie
Odin raised his muzzle in the air and closed his eyes. He could feel the warmth of the morning sun
on his face and smell the sweet, salty water just a few feet away. His puppy
ears perked up at the sound of the lapping waves and his tongue fell out of his
mouth in a pant, catching salty drops of sea foam flung ashore by the waves.
The puppy pirate king could only enjoy the peaceful morning
on the beach for a minute. Soon he and
his band of puppy pirates would board their ship, “The Barking Bone” and chase
after greedy King Merrick. The king and
his men had cruised along Odin’s shore earlier that morning, shortly after the
puppy pirates dug up their secret, locked treasure chest of puppy treats. The king must have seen the treasure chest
and thought it was filled with silly human treasure. The German Shepherd snorted at the thought as
he started towards the ship. Why would
anyone want gold? It didn’t smell good
and it tasted worse!
Odin quickened his pace when he saw his mates – Dachshunds
Klaus and Marley, Bull Dog Otis, Poodle Kip and mixed breeds Coco and Rue –
were all ready to go.
Otis barked at the playing puppies that were nipping at each
other’s ears on deck. “Straighten up you
scurvy swabs, here come the Captain!”
Otis always showed Odin great respect. He was the pirate king’s first mate and best
friend. He kept the other puppies in
line. Soon the other puppies stopped
playing and took their places on the ship.
“Okay, Mateys,” barked Odin loudly. “The sooner we get back our treasure, the
sooner we can get back to chewing the roots on the palm trees!”
Odin’s band of puppy pirates howled in unison before Coco and
Rue hoisted the anchor by pulling on the rope with their puppy teeth. Klaus and Marley used their teeth and paws to
hoist the sails, and Odin jumped up on his hind legs and placed his big paws on
the big wheel to steer the ship.
King Merrick and his men had not gotten far. The “Barking Bone” was a smaller, faster ship
and it didn’t take Odin long to find the greedy king. Odin’s pirate ship was so small, it didn’t
seem as though the king and his men noticed they were being pursued and didn’t
seem to be in a great hurry to get back to their kingdom.
As the “Barking Bone” got closer, Odin could hear the king’s
crew laughing and singing on the deck of the large ship. The king’s men were so occupied with their celebration,
they didn’t see the little pirate ship pull alongside them. Odin craned his neck and could see the
treasure chest glinting in the sunlight high on the quarter deck of the ship,
pretty close to where the “Barking Bone” was positioned. Odin scanned the larger ship and noticed that
some of the port holes were open on the lower levels.
The pirate puppy king had an idea. He gave Otis the helm while he and the other
puppies snuck on board King Merrick’s ship through one of the open portholes. Once on board, the puppies whimpered at the
horrible smell of dirty feet that hung in the air of the larger ship. Odin hushed them, although his eyes watered
too, and with wrinkled noses on their muzzles, they pattered their way up the
stairs towards the deck. Odin jumped up
and opened the door latch with his paws.
He nosed the door open just a crack so he could see what the humans were
doing. He counted ten men on deck
singing and dancing. His puppy tail
wagged. He wanted to play, too! But then he remembered why they were there
and focused on the treasure chest. The
king was not on the deck. The treasure
chest lay all alone on the quarter deck.
Odin turned to his pirate puppy pals. “Rue, Coco and I will distract the king’s men
by playing with them,” he said. “Marley,
Klaus and Kip will run up to the quarter deck and push the treasure onto the
deck of the ‘Barking Bone.’ Then you
should jump onto the ship, too. As soon
as we see you leave the ship, we’ll leave, too.”
Kip began to whine a little.
“What if they catch us?” he
yelped.
Odin shook his head.
“We are very cute. They will want
to play with us. We will keep them busy,
don’t worry.”
The puppy pirate king, Coco and Rue padded out onto the
deck. One of the King’s men played an
accordion while the others danced. Odin
and part of his band walked into the middle of the festivities and wagged their
cute puppy tails. One thing the crafty
puppy pirate knew – no human could
resist the charms of a cute puppy.
The music and dancing stopped when the men saw the
puppies. Odin gave out a small bark, wagged
his tail, sat down and waited. Soon the
air was filled with ooohs and awwws over the cute puppies. One of the men bent over Odin and asked where
he came from. The puppy pirate panted
and got up on his hind legs and begged for a treat. This simple trick sent roars of laughter and
calls for bits of meat to be given to the Shepherd. Rue and Coco also got on their hind legs and
tried to be as cute as they could. The
king’s men delighted in petting the puppies and scratching behind their ears.
During the commotion, Odin saw the other puppies sneak their
way up to the quarter deck. As he
twirled around on his hind legs, pretending to look at the dangling piece of
bacon inches from his nose, he watched as Marley, Klaus and Kip pushed with all
their might until the chest disappeared off of the ship. Odin and the other puppies barked and howled
to cover up the “thunk” noise of the treasure chest hitting the “Barking Bone’s”
deck. Soon, Kip, Marley and Klaus
disappeared as well. Odin panted with
delight at the King’s unsuspecting men.
Soon they would run away and disappear into the bowels of the ship and
make a clean get away.
Suddenly, King
Merrick’s cabin door slammed open, revealing an angry monarch filling
the doorway. “What is all the racket?”
he demanded.
The men fell silent.
Odin and the puppies stopped doing tricks and sat. “Look, Sir!” said the first mate. “Puppies.
We don’t know where they came from, they just appeared and started doing
tricks.”
The king glared at Odin, who now stood and defiantly stared
back. The king’s eyes then went to the
quarter deck. They went wide when he saw
that the chest was missing. The king’s
head whipped from one side of the ship to the other as if he were looking for
something. Odin noticed he never looked
down to the sea to discover the puppy pirate ship. King Merrick pointed to the puppies. “The treasure! It’s been taken! These puppies were a distraction. Devil Dogs!
Get them!”
Odin turned to Rue and Coco and barked. “Go now!”
Coco shook her head.
“We’re not leaving you!” she barked.
Odin growled and then barked again. “Do as I say.
I will handle the stinky human king.
Go now! I will be with your
shortly.”
Rue and Coco reluctantly ran past the king’s men who were
trying to catch them. They jumped
overboard to their waiting pirate puppy
ship. With all his crew and their
treasure safely aboard the “Barking Bone,” Odin could turn his attention to the
king. He had to act quickly. He dodged past the king’s men who desperately
tried to capture him. Just as he was about
to jump ship himself, he felt a hand grab his collar and pull him back onto the
ship. The hand belonged to the
king. Odin yelped in surprise and nipped
at the king’s hand. The king let out a
small cry and let Odin go. Odin ran to
the quarter deck, followed closely by the king.
Odin needed a distraction. There
were too many men. He spied the king’s
long waist coat and had an idea.
The king was the closest to him now. Odin back up to the edge of the deck and
began to whimper, pretending to be trapped.
“I have you now, Devil Dog!” yelled the angry king. He lunged for Odin who dodged past him. The king lost his footing and nearly fell
overboard. Odin used his big, German
Shepherd puppy paws to help him over the edge.
Shouts of protest and screams came from the king’s men. That
got their attention, thought Odin.
He ran to the other side of the deck where his pirate ship waited. Odin turned back to see the king’s men try to
fish the king out of the sea. They had
forgotten all about Odin and his band of puppies, but most importantly they forgot
about the treasure. The pirate puppy king
wanted to let out a howl of victory, but decided against it. He jumped off the king’s ship and onto his
own. The “Barking Bone” quickly sailed back to the puppies’ island.
Once they got off the ship, the puppies dug a deep hole just
at the edge of the beach where the sand met the delicious palm trees. Soon the treasure would be safe again, but
Odin decided their adventure and victory merited a reward. He placed his paw in the lock that matched
his pads and pushed. The lock clicked
and the top sprang open to reveal various arrays of puppy treats they had
gotten from admiring humans from different lands. “Take one treat each, lad. You deserve it!” barked Odin after taking his
own tasty treat.
The band of pirate puppies yipped in excitement and each
took a piece of puppy treasure before Odin locked the chest back up. The chest was pushed into the deep hole and
covered with sand by powerful puppy paws.
Smelly King Merrick would never get his nasty-tasting hands on Odin’s
treasure again. That night the puppies
dreamt of their treasure and the future adventures that awaited them.
End.
