A moment later, Jared knew all about the process of having his greatest victory snatched from his grasp. He was still celebrating his good luck when Cassie's mother had to show up and ruin everything.
"Cassie, what in the world are you doing out here?" Mrs. Henderson asked her currently fresh-from-the-shower naked daughter. "You're dripping all over!"
"I'm sorry, mom, but poor Shaggy was scratching at the door..."
"Scratching at the door!" Mrs. Henderson exclaimed and looked down to see a few faint scuff marks that became greatly magnified in her eyes. "Well, you're coming with me."
With that, she grabbed Jared's collar in a choking hold and pulled him from the side of her naked daughter. "Now, young lady, you finish your shower. I'll take care of this bad boy."
Jared whimpered and tried to break free, but Mrs. Henderson proved stronger than she looked and quite formidable once her mind was made up.
"Dogs belong outdoors," she muttered as she pulled Jared toward the stairs. "Especially big dogs."
Jared thought several uncharitable thoughts and in a stubborn defiance, tried to sit down on the floor and refuse to budge.
Mrs. Henderson wasn't having it. She thumped his nose, hard, and ordered him to his feet.
Perhaps more from shock (although the thump to his sensitive nose did hurt) Jared indeed got back onto all four paws. She got him downstairs and passed him off to her husband, who had watched their arrival with surprise.
"We're going to have to show a united front to the kids," she told him. "And this dog stays outside!"
"Of course, dear," her husband said and grabbed Shaggy's collar. "Where's his leash?"
"I have no idea," she said. "Just put him in the caged area of the yard for tonight and we'll worry about the rest tomorrow."
"Let's go, boy," Mr. Henderson said.
Jared didn't want to go. He didn't want to have to spend the night in some strange backyard. Once more, he resorted to an act of defiance.
"Oh no you don't!" Mrs. Henderson's raise voice alerted Jared that her temper was rising. She grabbed the newspaper from the kitchen table and rolled the newsprint into a tube that she whacked against her hand. The sound made Jared cringe. "Up!" Mrs. Henderson exclaimed, and repeated the action with the rolled-up newspaper. The noise, and the fear she might take the newspaper to his backside, motivated him.
Jared, nose still smarting from being thumped, stood. "Wise decision, Shaggy," Mr. Henderson joked as he led the now more obedient sheepdog out the back door. "You don't want to get on her bad side."
A few moments later, Jared found himself exiled to the yard, enclosed securely behind a fence that separated him from the Henderson home. It was so unfair! For such a brief moment, he had felt like the luckiest boy in the world.
Now, he felt like the unluckiest dog in the world, forced to spend the night outdoors in the cold like an animal.