"Hey, who's there? You're not supposed to be here! Hey, is that a dog? Dogs aren't allowed in schools," shouted a man from the field house doorway. He was silhouetted by the outside light behind him.
Karl turned around startled. He hadn't expected anyone to interrupt him in the field house.
"Um, Coach? It's me, Karl. I uh, it's not my dog. I saw it go into the open field house, and followed it. I thought I could catch it," blathered Karl.
Chad started barking and yapping trying to explain that he was human and not a dog.
"The field house was locked. How did you get in?"
"Like I said the door was open, and I followed the dog in," lied Karl.
"No, it wasn't open. I saw you unlock the door and enter the fieldhouse. That's why I came over. I didn't see a dog until now. Have you been keeping it in here?"
Karl swallowed hard.
Maybe it wasn't a coach. No one was visible when he opened the fieldhouse door - on the ground. But there were windows on the upper stories of the classroom buildings, so maybe a teacher? Or possibly a maintenance guy was on one of the rooves?
"Well, the door was open earlier. The key was in the lock. I locked the dog in, and came back later to catch him. That's when you saw me."
"So, it's not your dog. Do you know whose dog it is, or should I call animal control?" The light in the man's hand indicated a cell phone was activated.
"I think it has a tag. It looks like - uh, Chad's dog," Karl shouted, as his fingers danced on his tablet.
Chad felt something appear around his neck. He barked.
Zap!
He yelped.
Zap!
Damn, Karl's nanobots reshaped part of Chad's infected body into not just a dog collar, but an anti bark shock collar. Chad whined softly. While the collar was around his neck, the collar was also part of him. Chad could feel his own neck inside the part of him that was the shock collar. This was so surreal. He suppressed the urge to howl. He didn't like being shocked.
The man was getting closer. Chad smelled safety, security, authority.
"Karl, what's that in your hand?"
"My tablet," Karl replied.
"We'll see. Hand it over. Several teachers reported missing tablets this week. If it checks out, you can get it back tomorrow. Now hand me the leash sticking out of your back pocket," said the still silhouetted man.
Karl almost cursed out loud. Chad not being his dog, but him having a leash. When the guy entered, Karl's back was to him, so of course he saw the leash hanging out of Karl's back pocket. Karl pulled the leash out of his pocket, powered down his tablet, and took a step toward the man to see who he was. He rambled as he walked toward the man, "oh, the leash. That's why I locked the dog in. I went to get this leash, and when I got back is when you saw me. I suppose I should have gone to a faculty member first, but I thought I could handle it."
The man took the tablet, and leash. Then he squatted down, patted the ground with one hand, and said, "Come here, boy. Here, boy, come."
Chad ran to him.
The man petted and leashed him at the same time. He stood. Karl was still standing there.
"Shouldn't you be going home, Karl?"
"Well,...."