Series – The Adventures of Roxie the Camouflage Dog

 Roxie & the Owl

Book 1 – Chapter 1

              “Roxie! Roxie!”

              “Where are you, girl?”

            Brooke and Ben stood on their backyard deck calling and calling to their new dog. She was nowhere to be seen.

              “She’s got to be back here,” said Brooke, pushing her blond curls out of her eyes. She took care to not disturb her sparkly tiara. “The gate is closed and there’s no other way out. I don’t get it. She was here just a few minutes ago.”

              “She could have jumped over the fence,” Ben said with a worried look, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe we should look in the front yard.”

              “I don’t think so,” sighed Brooke, “She’s just not big enough to jump over that tall fence. Where could she be? What if she’s lost? What if we really can’t find her this time?”

Roxie sat snuggly in the middle of the backyard’s flower garden in a tight little ball. She was only six feet from where the kids stood, but they couldn’t see her.

“Pssst!” said Roxie to a walking stick insect who was sitting near the base of a small crabapple tree next to her. The bug’s long twig-like body matched perfectly with the brownish bark of the tree’s trunk.

“Hey! How can you see me?” said the startled bug, “No one can see me! I’m supposed to blend right in. It’s called camouflage. And how are you talking to me? I’m an insect. You’re a dog. What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story,” said Roxie.

“I got all day.” The bug went on, “And why did you suddenly disappear? I know you were right here a second ago! You were brown with black stripes. And now you’re…you’re …gone!” The confused bug looked left, right, up, and down. “Where did you go?”

“You ask a lot of questions for a bug, but don’t worry, I’m friendly. I won’t hurt you,” said Roxie gently.

“Promise?” asked the bug.

Roxie nodded. “I promise. By the way, what’s your name?”

“No one ever asked me my name before. I guess I don’t really have one,” replied the insect.

“My name’s Roxie. The humans that live in the house named me. Can I call you Stick Bug since you look like a stick?”

“Sure, why not. Now, what’s going on with you? WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Roxie! Roxie!” the children called again.

“I’m just teasing them now, but I’m not really invisible. Look real, real close. I’m just blending in like you.”

Stick Bug focused on where Roxie’s voice was coming from and finally saw her. Roxie’s fur was the red, pink and yellow of the flowers in the garden and the green of their leaves and stems. “Wow! How do you do that?” asked Stick Bug, “My disguise just happens naturally so the birds and bats can’t find me and eat me.” He shuddered as he thought of the threat. “But you’re a dog. Dogs aren’t supposed to do that, are they?”

“I don’t really know exactly how or why it works. A long time ago when I was just a puppy, my human, his name is Dub, was nice to me. He fed me and kept me safe.”

“That’s good,” said Stick Bug.

“For a while it was, but once I grew up and wasn’t a cute puppy anymore he was soooo mean! He treated me and his other older dogs real bad and didn’t always feed us or give us water. Sometimes he even hurt us! You know, with his hands or feet. He’s an awful, awful human. He has a black patch on his eye that makes him look really scary and he always smells like smoke. Not the good kind of smoke that I smell when my big humans cook food. The yucky kind of smoke that just stinks.”

“That’s terrible,” said Stick Bug. “Wait… did you say dogs? There were more than just you?”

“Yes, there were lots of us. All kinds. Mostly puppies and young dogs like I was.”
              “Why? It sounds like Dub didn’t even like dogs.”

“He was selling us. Every few days a human would come and give Dub some money and take a dog away. He would always act all sad that one of his ‘precious puppies’ was leaving. Then as soon as the human was gone he’d be back to his old self. Mean! Anyway, when he was in a bad mood, which was almost always, I would run to the back of the yard, as far as my chain would let me go…”

“Chain?” Stick Bug interrupted.

“Oh yes, we were always chained up and had to stay outside in all kinds of weather. Hot, cold, rain, snow, all the time. Anyway, when I ran away from him I would say to myself, ‘I wish I was invisible, I wish I was invisible.’ Then one day it worked! I looked down and all my fur turned into the color of the dirt and weeds and the peeling white paint on his shed! He couldn’t find me even though I was right in front of him.”

“Couldn’t he just follow the chain?”

              “Hc could have if he was smarter, but the grass was so long in the yard it was hard for him to find the chain. I’m lucky he hardly ever cut the grass.”

“Cool!”

“It was cool. It was fun watching him look for me and get all confused. Finally he would just give up and scratch his head and go back in the house.”

“But what about being able to talk with other kinds of animals? I’ve never heard of that happening before.” said Stick Bug.

“Me neither,” said Roxie, “It’s a mystery. Maybe it’s magic. I can talk just through my thoughts to other animals who can also blend in or camouflage. The first time it happened it was with a toad in Dub’s yard. And now I can do it any time I want. I guess it’s my superpower.”

“Superpower? What’s a superpower?”

“You know, something you can do really well without trying too hard. The man human who lives here? His name’s James? He can juggle four oranges at a time. He never drops them. That’s a superpower. Not all humans can do that. And the lady human who lives here? Her name’s Anne? She can peel an apple in one long, long strip. I think that’s her superpower.”

“I don’t have a superpower,” said Stick Bug sadly, “but keep going with your story. How did you end up here in this nice house?”

“Well, one day Dub was being really mean to me. He said no one wanted to buy me because I was getting older and wasn’t a cute puppy anymore. It’s hard for me to talk about, but Dub was pulling me around the yard by the chain. It really hurt! The next door neighbor saw what was happening and came running over and made Dub stop. They started yelling at each other. A little while later a bunch of cars with bright lights and loud sirens came. The humans in one of the cars took Dub away in silver chains that went around his wrists.”

“And….”

“And then another human tried to find me but I was blending in so she couldn’t. She had food and water and a nice soft blanket with her. So after a while I made myself seen again. She was really nice and didn’t call me Stupid Mutt.”

“Stupid Mutt?”

“Yes, that was my name before these humans named me Roxie.”

“That’s a bad name. I’m glad you’re Roxie now. But how did you get here? To this house?”

“I’m getting to that. I told you it was a long story. The nice lady human with the food took me to some place called a rescue shelter with a lot of other dogs who needed new humans to take care of them. We got lots of food and water and something called ‘play time.’ That was new to me. We got to run around and play with balls and other toys. I never had that much fun in my whole life.

One day a lady human with curly gray fur…I think it’s called hair… came and played with me. You might know who she is. She comes over and watches the little humans who live here while the big humans go to work. The big humans are named Mom and Dad, but they call each other Anne and James. Her name is Aunt Claire and the little humans are Brooke and Ben. They once said she’s their great aunt. Brooke and Ben are twins which just means they were born in the same litter. But they don’t look alike.”

“I’ve seen them playing outside.”

“Ok, so where was I …”

“The Aunt Claire human came…”

“Oh yeah. She kept coming every day to play with me. At first I would disappear from her because I was still a little scared. After a while I realized she wasn’t going to hurt me. One day she brought the other humans from the house with her. I never knew humans could be so nice! They didn’t even care that I wasn’t a little puppy anymore. They liked me just the way I am. We had a great time playing and I was sad to see them go. Then about two weeks ago the Aunt Claire human came back to the rescue shelter and took me with her to this house. She put a big red bow on my collar and walked in the front door with me and said, “Surprise Brooke and Ben! Happy 8th birthday! That’s when they named me Roxie. And now I live here and it’s great!”

“But why are you hiding from them now? Are you scared about something?” Stick Bug looked all around, looking for signs of danger.

“No, I’m just playing a joke. I do it all the time now. They call me Roxie the Camouflage Dog. I don’t want to get out of practice in case Dub comes back to get me.”

“Good idea.”

“And if I stay here hidden in the garden long enough I can get my humans to give me just what I want.” Roxie smiled her special dog smile, “Just wait and see…”