Jared put all his frustration and anguish at finding himself trapped, again, in canine form, into the deep-throated howl that resounded off the walls of the nearby house and into the entire neighborhood. He had been so stupid! The more he thought of the unfairness, the more agonized his howl became.
Until, from the house, a response finally came, but not the one he had hoped. The impostor walked slowly across the yard, holding a bag in his hands. As he got closer, Jared ceased his howling and sniffed the air. A delectable scent tickled his acute canine sense of smell. He salivated, drool splashing onto the dirt, as he inhaled more of the intense scent.
"What's the matter, boy? You lonely?" The impostor asked him in a pleasant tone.
Bark! Bark! Sniff, sniff. "What is that smell? What do you have in the bag?" Jared had to know. The scent was driving him wild.
"This?" The impostor asked, reaching into the bag and pulling out a bacon strip, the kind prepared and packaged as a treat for good dogs.
Ruff. Ruff! "Gimme! GIMME!" Jared could barely restrain himself. He strained against the tethered leash.
The impostor smiled and kept just outside the reach of the sheepdog, which had given him, or rather the treat in his hand, its full attention.
"Are you going to stop that howling and behave like a good dog?"
Jared whimpered. He wanted that bacon strip in his jaws. He lunged forward and snapped his jaws, hoping to snatch the treat, only to have it whisked away.
"Bad dog!"
Jared whined and felt miserable when the impostor chastised him in an authoritative human voice.
"Better," the impostor said. He waved the strip, letting that baconey goodness smell waft through the air.
Arf! ARF! "Mine! MINE!"
"You can have it, boy," the impostor said. "You just have to do some tricks. You can do some tricks for me, can't you, boy?"
Some part of Jared's brain balked at the humiliation. He sank to the grass and sprawled there, a lump of gray and white fur, and vowed not to budge.
"It's bacon, boy. Yum, yum!" The tantalizing scent of the pork treat hammered at Jared's baser senses.
He leaped to his feet, silencing the screaming of the boy to a far-off corner of his brain.
"That's the way," the impostor said. "Let's see if you can shake hands. Give me your paw. Shake, boy."
Jared lifted and extended his front right paw. The impostor shook the paw and dropped it. Jared waited for his reward.
"How about one more, boy?"
Jared whined with impatience. The impostor smiled and instructed him to roll over. Jared rolled his body in the grass, looking like a large furry mound as he did so.
"That's good, boy," sounded sweet to his ears. He wagged his hindquarters and smiled by opening his jaws and letting his tongue loll out.
"Almost there," the impostor said. "One more trick. Can you do it?"
Bark. BARK! "Yes. YES!"
"Speak, boy," the impostor commanded. "You can do it. Speak!"
Jared cocked his head. "Speak," the impostor repeated, so Jared opened his mouth and produced his best "Arf!"
"Good, boy!" The impostor dropped the bacon strip, which Jared scooped off the ground, along with some dirt and leaf litter. He didn't care! He munched blissfully on the delicious bacon.
"Is Shaggy all right?" Kevin asked, appearing at the impostor's side.
The new Jared reached down and scratched furiously behind the dog's ears. "He's just fine, aren't you, boy?"
Jared drooled slightly as he chewed crunched on the bacon strip. Kevin was standing right in front of him. He needed to tell his brother something. He needed Kevin's help...
"Want another bacon strip, boy?"
Jared leaped to his feet. "Watch this," the impostor said. He ordered Jared to shake hands.
Jared shook hands with the impostor. "Very good," Kevin said. "I think Shaggy might have gotten some of your smarts when he got split apart from you because of Wepwawet's magic."
The impostor smiled and tossed the dog its reward. "You think so?"
"Yeah," Kevin said as Jared scarfed up the second bacon strip.
Jared overdosed on bacon bliss and didn't even care as the two brothers walked back toward the house. He knew he had missed an opportunity, but he didn't dwell on it. Bacon makes everything better.