These were the four immortal words that kept Laci and Junior wrapped up in Pop’s every word. Buck Sterling enjoyed the role of “retired adventurer” for two reasons. Firstly, it made the family drives all the more amusing when he’d pull off a stunt, and his pups felt part of their gray-furred father’s stories. Secondly, he loved telling them. He’d be pestered by the kids’ friends when they came over to play, he’d find himself telling them to his pals at races, and most of all, they were a public service for his dear wife Jane, who knew a story from Pop was their kids’ one-way ticket to Dreamsville.
It was on a particularly cool little evening, with Laci and Junior tucked under their dad’s big burly arms, that he and his boxy, sun-yellow Jeep Cherokee were in quite the quandary.
“And there I was, dangling off the cliff-edge, trunk full of gems, and a winch screaming under the Jeep’s weight. If the wire went, down I go. My archeology buddy’s short a few specimens, and you two’d be short one Pop.”
“What happened next?” pleaded Laci, worry all over her face.
“Well,” he continued casually, “I did what I always do: grit my teeth and dig in!”
He stomped his flat sandaled paw on the bedroom floor and curled his pups in towards him. First they gasped, then they giggled like mad, for they knew exactly what came next when the chips were down.
“I slammed that pedal like a sledgehammer, gripped the wheel with one hand and kept the winch-switch flipped with the other. ‘C’mon’ I says to ol’ Jeepy, ‘You got it girl, you got it!’ The winch kept screaming, but I didn’t let up on it or the throttle. The ol’ girl ran her engine red-hot for ol’ Pop, all four wheels clawing them ways up the rocks and crumbling stones. Closer and closer I climbed until the rocks SLIPPED!”
The tan pups gasped as Pop loosened his arms, clambering back into his lap, frightened of the one-foot drop from the brown recliner to the floor.
“Kept my paw down, kept the winching going, but boy was it touch and go like that. Ol’ Jeepy kept clawing them big ol’ wheels, looking for her leverage, but soon, I could see the top. ‘C’mon, baby-girl, c’mon!’ I hollered until, at last, all four of them off-roading wheels were back on ground they oughta be.”
“And then what happened?” Junior whooped.
“The devil who tried to fix my death stood right by the tree I had hooked the winch to. Right there with a gun in his hand…but I think that’ll save that for tomorrow night.”
Buck kissed the two on their noggins, and tucked them into bed. “But Daaaaad,” they moaned as he pulled up their covers.
“Hey, that’s part of the fun!” he teased, “Always making ya come back for more. Just remember: I’m right here, I’m right now, and anyone come trying to pull stunts like those have gotta go thru me and Ma first. And we ain’t letting ‘em. G’night kiddos.”
“G’night,” the pups replied, and just like that, the lights went out and the Sterling children were fast asleep.
When Buck stepped out to meet the Missus, she was snickering to herself. “God, you are brutal with them!” she guffawed. “All that suspense, and just letting ‘em stew on it for a night.”
“Only in their dreams, babe.” he grinned. “Nice thing about those two: after enough excitement, they’re right down for the count. Speaking of, I got myself a date with a warrior queen, don’t I?”
“There ain’t no warrior about it,” the red wolf blushed, almost embarrassed at the thought
“Not with the way you drive, and not with the way you been keeping ‘em safe while I’m out working?” he smiled. “That’s warrior enough for me, babe. Might have to make a few stories of our own one of these days.”
“Wanna start brainstorming?” Jane Sterling smiled, nipping at her man’s cheek.
“You betcha!” beamed Buck. The broad-shouldered gray snatched his wife up in his arms, carried her through their bedroom’s threshold, and off to their first session.