The Black Hound of Bakersfield

The Tale Of Camp Bakersfield

The next two days were filled with packing and last minute shopping. Kate tried to pack her entire wardrobe, but Frank was able to convince her to leave half of it. Rex decided he needed new hiking boots, and dragged every one to four different stores in search of them. In the end, he decided the pair he already had was good enough.

"Argus, have you seen Max's water toys? They're made to float, and I can't find them." Lexi asked, the dog at her side.

"Can't say I've seen them." He replied, busy with last minute preparation.

She turned to the dog, "Max, where are your water toys? Where are they?" She asked him. The Newfoundland tilted his head at her quizzically, and then barked and dashed out of the room.

"You're just going to confuse him with that. Are you finished packing? We need to load the car." Argus said.

"Yeah, I just need to get two bowls for Max, and his water toys, and then I'm ready." She walked over to the sink and grabbed Max's ceramic dog bowls off the drying racks.

The clacking of Max's claws could be heard as he came back into the kitchen. In his mouth, he held a furious Mars by the scruff.

"Look what your stupid dog is doing!" The cat yowled, "He tried to take my things and then grabbed me instead!"

"Max, let her go," Lexi demanded. The dog set Mars down on the floor gently and then gave a guilty whine.

"Where's Mars going for the weekend?" Ollie asked, walking into the room, dragging a suitcase along behind him.

"Oh... I hadn't thought of that." Argus paused, and then asked, "Mars, where do you want to go?"

"I'd rather stay here, but if I have a choice, I'll go with you guys. Why would a sophisticated cat like me want to stay in the outdoors for four days?!" Mars leaped up on Argus's shoulder.

"Well, I guess that's settled then," Argus stated. By now, Ollie had been joined by Rex and Kate with their bags as well. "If everyone's ready, I guess we can put our bags in the cars."

Outside, it was a bit of a mess as they figured out who's stuff went where, and where everyone would sit. Since the whole group was going, they'd have to take two cars. It was decided that all the kids' stuff would go in the back of the one car, and all the adults', in the other. As bags were shuffled around, spots claimed, and stuff passed out, no one noticed Max has gone missing again.

"Where's Max's bed?" Frank asked. It would be the last thing to go in the trunk. Upon hearing his name, the dog let out a bark, dropping whatever was in his mouth. Fuzzy mice, catnip pouches, and bouncy balls littered the pavement. Among them were two dog toys, made specifically to float. Max picked up Mars' toy bin, and tried to put all the toys back in it, but there were too many for him to get before everyone approached him.

"SEE! I TOLD YOU HE WAS TRYING TO TAKE MY STUFF!" Mars shouted from atop Argus's head.

The large black dog grabbed both water toys in his mouth and brought them to Lexi, his tail wagging a mile a minute, obviously pleased with himself.

"Good boy!" She declared, and the dog wagged even harder. Everyone stopped packing the cars to quickly clean up Mars' spilled toys and put the toy basket back inside.

Soon, they were on the road. The car trip was fairly uneventful, save for Mars yelling the whole way about Max, and it was over pretty quickly.

The camp was situated on the top of a large hill, with forests all around it. They pulled into the unloading area and got out of the car.

"Do you think we sign in first? Or do we wait here?" Frank asked. Everyone shrugged. They could see a house a little higher up on the hill, with a stone path leading up to it. From there, the path split off in many directions.