The claps of thunder in the night disturbed his sleep, causing him to growl at the storm. The booms of thunder from the dark sky reminded him of the laughter of the unhelpful, malicious Wepwawet. He shifted his shaggy form again, trying to find elusive comfort in the doghouse. He missed his old bed, but when he imagined himself sleeping there he visualized his sheepdog form sprawled indecorously over the warm covers.
"What's with that?" Jared wondered. He tried to think of his human self tucked beneath his covers and dreaming of getting his old life back. No dice! The mental picture conjured forth remained one of the shaggy sheepdog in various forms of indolent repose. Was he starting to think of himself as a dog?
Jared whimpered and tried to get back to sleep, but lightning flashed and illuminated the backyard with spooky shadows. He closed his eyes and wished he could close his ears to the thunderous violence bringing down rain to pelt the ground and the roof of the doghouse.
He must have finally fell asleep, perhaps as the storm dissipated in the early morning hours. He found himself in a dream with a setting, of all places, on a baseball diamond. He saw his coach and some of his fellow players, but when he looked into the stands he saw the darkly malevolent figure of Wepwawet in the announcer's booth providing colorful commentary.
"Looks like the team is trying a novel experiment at running bases," the deity said. "They're giving it a try with their new four-footed player. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your newest Palmersville High School standout... SHAGGY WEBSTER!"
Not Shaggy! Jared barked irritably and wanted to correct the announcement, but he responded to the crack of a bat and a ball that went soaring overhead. He started running the bases.
"Look at him go, ladies and gentlemen," Wepwawet invited dramatically. "A fine specimen of doghood if I ever saw one."
"Keep going!" The coach bellowed from his position near the dugout.
Jared paused and turned. "Coach!" Jared barked. "It's me! Jared Webster! I'm not a dog."
The coach grabbed the cap off his head and twisted it in his hands. "You're not much of a baseball player, either," he yelled. "Are you trying to get tagged out? Get to the next base!"
Jared resumed running as fast as his paws could carry him, but the ball flew through the air into the care of the waiting baseman. "He's out!" The umpire announced in a voice so loud it hurt Jared's ears.
The opposing team gave the valiant baseman a ride around the diamond on their shoulders while Jared, slinking toward his own dugout, faced rejection and revulsion from his own teammates and coach.
The coach, a big man even under normal circumstances, yelled down at him. "You're a sorry, no-good excuse for a member of this team, Webster," the man shouted. "Useless, worthless dog..."
"We should just kick him off the team," suggested Xander Patterson, their star pitcher and usually one of Jared's friends.
"I've got a better idea." This came from Cy Whalen. He'd always hated Cy, who returned the favor. They had been rivals since grade school, but Cy had never quite gotten the upper hand... until now.
"I don't want to hear it," the coach said in disgust. "Webster's off the team..."
"Well, he can still be on the team, but he doesn't have to have a position that costs us games," Cy reasoned. The teenager's face smirked as he looked down at Jared. "How about we make him the new team mascot? He is already a dog, after all."
"No!" Jared barked. "I'm not a dog."
The coach clapped Cy on the back. "That's a great idea!"
The other teammates agreed. They surrounded him, pointing and jeering.
"I'm not a dog," Jared whimpered. "I'm not..."
Suddenly, he awoke. Jared found himself halfway leaning out of the doghouse, his furry chin damp from a puddle that had collected during the rainstorm.
With the realization that he was still a dog, he didn't even feel like he had the strength to lift his face. He wished the water in the puddle was a little deeper. "Maybe I could have drowned," he thought despondently.
The last thing he wanted to see was ...