The next morning around the breakfast table, the family — Kev and his parents — looked a little bleary-eyed as they dined. A few feet from the table, Shaggy scarfed down a breakfast of dog chow so fast that the dog's haste drew remarks from Kev's parents.
"Look at that dog eat," Kev's mom said in an impressed tone.
"I am sure he worked up an appetite keeping half the neighborhood awake into the wee hours of the morning with his howling," Kev's dad said.
"He was just lonely," Kev said defensively. In the light of the morning after, he felt more guilt at having changed his brother into a large, shaggy English sheepdog and altered reality around the incident so that only he knew Shaggy's actual identity. "He's still getting used to it."
"Used to what?" Dad asked.
Kev had to think fast. He'd meant that Jared must be having trouble getting used to being a dog. "Uh, getting used to sleeping outdoors in the doghouse," Kev said.
Shaggy had finished the dog show and now pushed the dish around the floor with his snout. Kev glanced over at the dog and had to admit that, from everything he could observe, Jared seemed to have taken to his new life.
"Well, he's your dog and your responsibility," Mom said. "Hurry and finish your breakfast so you can take him for a walk and let him do his business."
"And I am going to find an obedience school that will take Shaggy," Dad said. "You'll have to go through the classes with him, son."
Kev groaned. He didn't want to go to extra classes, and he really didn't want to do clean up after Shaggy, but his mom wasn't having it. She handed him a paper bag and a single rubber glove from a box under the sink that she took from when washing the dishes after meals. "You can't expect a dog to clean up after himself," she chided Kev.
Kev took the bag and glove. Jared/Shaggy stood near the back door, whining, obviously knowing enough of the morning routine to know that a dog was imminent after finishing off his dish of dog chow.
With reluctance, Kev attached a leash to the dog's collar, then had to hold for dear life as the large sheepdog bounded out the door as soon as Kev opened it.
After nearly 10 minutes, Kev complained. "Hurry, will you? I've still got to get to school."
Shaggy gazed from behind eyes almost draped by a veil of fur and barked once.
"At least you don't have to go to school now," Kev said somewhat jealously.
Shaggy barked again, but he finally, in Mom's words, did his business. Kev groaned again as he used the glove and bag to tidy the scene. He looked around for a public trash can. Finding one, he was in the disposal process when...