Chaos In The Barnyard : Amazing Tales Of The Service Dog Project
By JDR-IN
It all started late last night when Oscar decided he wanted to enter the dart competition at Mark’s Dart World in downtown Ipswich. Oscar’s persuasive personality made it easy for almost every creature on the farm to decide they wanted to go along and cheer for him during the big event. Mary the Donkey and her identical twin sister (visiting from parts unknown) reluctantly agreed to pull a covered wagon with everyone riding inside and of course, Oscar driving. Oscar by holding the reins of the wagon hoped to loosen his paw-grip, which he knew would give him a competitive edge during the dart tournament.
The next morning around 10AM, everyone had their ideas on how to load the wagon and where they wanted to sit, so things proceeded exceedingly slow. Finally, the wagon was loaded to capacity, (every dog not living in the main house was inside the wagon) and Mary the Donkey and her twin sister slowly began the journey, moving away from the barn entrance. It was about noon when the donkeys took their first timid step; with an estimated total journey time of perhaps seven hours, everyone was assured they would be on time for the ceremonial first dart at 8PM. Around 2PM, the donkeys had proceeded all the way to the Chicken Shack, and all of the hens and roosters with the baby chicks flew onboard to join the others. Around 4PM, Mary had made a navigation error by inadvertently making a wrong turn and everyone found themselves on top of Puppy Hill. The whole wagonload knew it was suppertime, so Ebony agreed to pick-up the box lunches that Megan’s stores in the refrigerator for a rainy day, and Oscar had her run to the kennel and fetch them. She was back in around a minute, which was sort of slow for her, but she returned not carrying any of the box lunches. She told Oscar in a muffled voice, Megan had forgotten to add the roast beef and the box lunches weren’t really fit to eat, and suggested everyone could grab a bite to eat after the event was over.
Time moved on, and around 6PM, things were getting tense. Mary and her sister had pulled the wagon all the way to Carlene’s house and both of them were panting heavily, and then everyone knew this trip for Oscar just wasn’t in the cards. Around that time, Carlene with her faithful house dogs, Bailey, Bentley, Chaos, Lulu (visiting from sunny California), Luna, and Noel & the Nuppies, came out of the house and Carlene instructed everyone, including all the occupants in the wagon and even Mary the Donkey and her twin sister to immediately get in the SDP cargo van.
No need to further explain all the details; the rest of the night went according to plan. Oscar won the tourney, Carlene and all the animals cheered him on, and everyone went out to a late night supper when it was over. They all “stuffed” themselves at the Ipswich Buffet in honor of Olive “Mother of the ten Pimentos” and of course celebrated Oscar’s win. Only Ebony, slyly picking the roast beef bits out of her teeth with a toothpick, decided to wait in the van alone, saying she wasn’t all that hungry, and just wanted to take a sedative for her upset stomach. Of course, Ebony felt better by the time everyone had re-boarded the van and upon their return to SDP, all were sound asleep by midnight. Another day, another night, and all is well in the zany world of the Service Dog Project.
