While walking through the park and hollering for the missing Shaggy, Jared heard someone shout his name. He turned to see two of his buddies, Billy and Greg, run across a wide lawn toward him. As they got closer, his eyes fastened with excitement on the bright red frisbee held in Greg's right hand.
"We came down to the park to toss around the frisbee," Billy said. "Want to join us?"
Jared's eyes followed the bright red disc in Greg's hand, but he tore his gaze from it long enough to explain that he had managed to lose the family dog.
"You haven't seen him, have you?" Jared asked. "Big, furry English sheepdog. You can't miss him."
"I'm sure he will turn up," Billy said. "Toss the frisbee with us."
Jared needed little persuading and readily agreed. The boys took position in a rough triangle on the spacious lawn area in the park. Jared meant to keep his eyes peeled for Shaggy, but as soon as Greg tossed the frisbee to Billy, Jared felt the need to go charging across the grass to intercept the red disc. Only with much resistance did he manage to stand his ground and wait for Billy to toss the frisbee to him. He caught it and examined the plastic disc. He sniffed it and picked up scents from Billy, Greg and other unidentified sources.
"What are you waiting for?" Billy called. "Toss it to me."
With reluctance, Jared spun the disc through the air toward Billy's waiting hand. Billy stretched and caught the disc, causing some girls on a nearby blanket to giggle and whisper to each other.
Billy smirked and stretched again as he tossed the frisbee to Greg. He liked having an audience, and the girls liked his undeniably good looks. Tall and lanky, he had a head of curly brown hair, romantic dark eyes and handsome features. Greg, who played on the school's football team, had the more beefy build and lacked the grace and agility Billy used in spinning the frisbee through the air toward his friends.
Jared, too, noticed the girls. Their giggling distracted him and, when he cocked his head, he could actually hear their conversation even though they were at least 20 yards away.
"Billy's gorgeous," one of the girls said.
"Yea, better than Greg," she said. "He reminds me of a big ox on my great-uncle's farm."
Jared didn't think much of their dismissal of his friend, but then he heard them refer to him by name.
"Jared's not bad, though," the first girl said. "He's just so stuck up. He never talks to anyone."
Her friend giggled. "He's probably just shy."
Suddenly, his eavesdropping came to a halt when a red disc slammed into his face.
"Sorry," Greg called. "Pay attention, buddy."
The girls laughed and Jared felt a crimson burn spread across his cheeks.
He picked up the frisbee and tossed it to Billy, who turned slow and studied as he gave the girls a show. He waved the frisbee in the air over his head. The plastic disc called like a beacon to Jared who, without warning, bounded across the grass and body-slammed into the unsuspecting Billy. They went down onto the grass, and Jared emerged from the tangle, frisbee held securely between his teeth.
"What the hell got into you?" Billy demanded and grabbed hold of the disc.
Jared clamped his jaws down tighter on the frisbee and growled at Billy's attempts to dislodge it.
"Are you nuts?" Billy asked.
Jared didn't respond. He simply jerked his head to one side and pulled free from Billy's grip. The frisbee held tightly in his jaws, he turned and bounded across the green space, dropping to all fours as he raced toward the edge of the woods with his prize. He heard the giggles from the girls and the outraged protests from Billy and Greg, but he didn't care. He had the red, shiny object.
Keep it! Run! Don't give it up! Run!
He might have kept going but he bumped into one befuddled sheepdog and let the frisbee drop out of his mouth and fall to the ground.
"What's this?" Shaggy asked.
Of course, Shaggy didn't ask in words. His query presented itself in something that sounded like "Arf? Arf?"
Jared responded with a low growl. "Mine! Keep away! Mine!"
"Oh, it's a frisbee. Were you playing fetch?"
Fetch? He flashed onto a memory of himself tossing an old baseball around the yard for Shaggy to fetch and chase.
He nosed the frisbee closer to the sheepdog and whined.
Shaggy laughed in a series of barks. "I'm sorry. I can't throw the frisbee."
Jared expressed his disappointment in a whimper.
"I could throw the frisbee for you," Shaggy explained. "You would need to agree to let me have your body again."
Jared stared at the motionless circle of red plastic. He wanted someone to make the disc fly through the air again so he could run, chase and bark.
"Do you want me to have your body again?" Shaggy asked eagerly, remembering how it had been so nice to see the world in full-color vision, among other things.