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Chapter 7 – Part 4

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Charlie was a good dog. He knew this was true because when he opened his mouth just so, and wagged his tail just so, and made just the right kind of bark he got treats from Master. Master was a good dog too, because he always scratched Charlie’s ears, and gave Charlie treats, and made sure Charlie had a warm place to sleep.
Master was a funny looking dog, he moved funny, and barked funny, but Charlie didn’t care because Master was the source of treats, and ear scratches, and Charlie liked both of those a lot. Charlie was a good dog, and he loved his life. He would run along the beaches, and chase the crabs back into their holes in the sand. Charlie always wondered where the crabs went, but no amount of digging ever seemed to produce them. Charlie didn’t care; he liked digging in the sand.
Sometimes Charlie would run around in the ocean, Charlie liked the ocean. Master would toss a stick, and Charlie would get it back. Master liked this, and Charlie liked this, and the water was fun to play in. When Charlie was hot the water made the hot go away, and when Master was near Charlie would shake the water off in a synchronized dance starting at his nose and going all the way to his tail. Master liked the water because he would always bark his funny bark when Charlie brought him ocean water to make the hot go away.
Because he was a good dog Charlie got Blanket. Blanket was great, Charlie could attack Blanket, he could chew Blanket, and he could rub new smells onto Blanket for later. Charlie loved Blanket. Sometimes he would bring Blanket to Master so he could play with it, or they could each pull on it. Charlie liked pulling on Blanket. Charlie had a problem though. He couldn’t find Blanket.
Charlie had lost blanket when the big noise had come. The big noise had made Charlie’s ear hurt, and had made Charlie hide with master in the cool dark room of the basement. The big noise had come and scared Charlie very badly. When the big noise was gone, Charlie was surprised to find that sunshine had come into the dark cool basement, Charlie could never remember a time when sunshine had been in the dark cool room.
Charlie looked all over but couldn’t find Master. He looked in the cool dark room, and under the stairs. Charlie eventually found Master. Master was hiding under some big sticks, sticks so big that Charlie couldn’t fetch them, instead he dug and dug until he found the source of Master’s smell. Master was very quiet. Charlie barked and barked but Master didn’t want to play. Charlie licked Master’s face, and opened his mouth just in the right way, and wagged his tail in just the right way, and made just the right bark for treats, but Master didn’t give Charlie treats. Charlie was sad, he liked playing with Master. Charlie sat down next to Master and waited for a long time, maybe Master would like to play later.
When Charlie started to get hungry he got up and checked on Master again. Master was starting to smell strangely. Charlie had never smelled a smell like that before, and Charlie knew a lot of smells. Charlie wanted to find Blanket to save this smell for later. After rolling on Master and giving his face a final lick Charlie left the dark cool room, which was not so dark or cool anymore.
Sunshine was now in all the rooms of Charlie’s house, he had never felt so much sunshine before inside the house. When Charlie got to the front room he was surprised to find that the door was open. An open door meant that Charlie got walks! Charlie loved walks. Charlie was a good dog; good dogs got to go out.
Charlie quickly forgot about Blanket. There was so many new smells in the yard. The tree smells were different, and the ground smells were different, and the same smell that Master had made was all over the place. Charlie also found out that the fence was no longer there. Charlie had never been outside the fence without Master before. But there were so many wonderful smells, he couldn’t resist. Charlie was hot, when Charlie was hot the ocean made the hot go away. He would go towards the ocean.
Following his nose Charlie quickly reached the ocean. Tiny crabs littered the beach, to his surprise the first crab Charlie lunged for didn’t run away. Charlie noticed that none of the crabs were moving. Before him on the beach were thousands of crabs, fish, sea weed, and a million new smells for Charlie to explore. Charlie didn’t know what to do so he tried tasting some of the crabs. After a couple he noticed that the beach was covered with other strange dogs like Master.
Charlie had met other dogs like Master before, sometimes they were nice to Charlie, and sometimes they were mean. Charlie was always worried about other dogs like Master, he was always careful to give them a good smell before he trusted them. Every strange dog on the beach was making the same smell that Master had made. Charlie didn’t like this new smell, he barked loudly and ran the other way down the beach.
Charlie sat on the beach for a long time and got very sad. He didn’t have Blanket, Master wouldn’t play with him, and he was hungry. Even ocean wasn’t making the hot go away, for some reason ocean was very warm today. Was Charlie no longer a good dog? Had he chewed something he wasn’t supposed to? Once Master had not given him treats because he had chewed something he wasn’t supposed to. Charlie went and lay down on his paws in the shadow of a large boat that had been washed up on the sand. He whined quietly, wishing Master was here to give him an ear scratch.
As Charlie sat on the beach a wind started to blow. At first Charlie was happy because he had gotten very hot and was very thirsty, and the wind made him cooler. But then the wind started to get louder. It was just like before when the big noise had come. Charlie thought about running but he was mad at the big noise. Charlie would scare the big noise away! He would protect Master and make sure the big noise went away. He kept barking until a large piece of wood slammed into him crushing his small yellow furred ribs in. He was able to get one more bark out before the tidal surge washed him out to sea. Charlie was a good dog.

NOAH advisory 09SCWA001: Tropical event Ophelia came ashore briefly in previously un-affected South Carolina shore near Isle of Palms. Mandatory evacuation orders were ignored by approximately .01% of the population, no survivors reported. Damage was consistent with previous affected regions. See attached documents for latest satellite revisions to east coast sand bar locations.
Primary projection of Ophelia’s path: East Coast on trajectory 10A. Future actions not required; all areas marked uninhabitable/evacuated.