Canine Rescue Squad
Canine Rescue Squad—Sort Of

It was late November, and the members of the Pack had been split up and sent to their various hosts just over a month ago.  Always conspiring to help the friendly theris, the Brewers and the Murphys, friends before they gained their new house guests, decided that a reunion was in due order.  And so it was that when Mike and Luke Brewer and their four theri charges arrived to the already packed Murphy household for Thanksgiving, Nuala greeted Benji with an enthusiastic hug, and they immediately went for a walk together to catch up with each other, leaving Chip, Yo-yo, and Elektra to greet Jordan, Anubis, and Kal.

The pair had been walking through the desert for quite a while, not realizing how far they were getting from the Murphy household, so absorbed were they in their conversation.  As they plotted various pranks to pull during the visit, the scheming Mafiosi heard distant shouts.  Curious and worried, they followed the noise, only to come to a well.  Looking inside it, they found a little boy, no older than ten, trying to tread the water that filled said well, but obviously beginning to tire.  Nuala looked at Scott with a worried glance.

“We have to do something!”  She exclaimed as the boy gave another shout of “Help!”

Scott looked thoughtfully at the well, and the boy treading water five feet below its surface, just barely out of reach.

“I have an idea.”  He said.  With that, he took off the T-shirt he was wearing, and handing it to Nuala.  “I'm going to jump down there, and then you need to use the shirt as a rope, so it can reach us.  I'll grab the boy and the shirt and you can pull us up.”

Scott slid into the well, and turned to the wide-eyed boy staring at him.  Scott couldn't resist quoting an old movie from the 1970s that he particularly enjoyed.

“I'm Luke Skywalker.  I'm here to rescue you.”  The boy only looked confused.  Scott sighed, and after a mutter of “Should make you watch Star Wars when we get you out of here,” called up to Nuala.  “Ready!”

Nuala leaned over the well, T-shirt hanging in her hands.  Grabbing the blond-haired boy around the waist with his right hand, Scott grabbed the barely long enough T-shirt with his left.  Slowly but surely, Nuala began to pull up the pair, grunting with the effort.  After an agonizing five minutes that felt like eternity for all three parties involved, Scott finally felt his hand hit edge of the well.  He lifted the boy up high enough for him to grab the edges of the well, than used his now free right hand to grab onto the edge himself, and letting go of the T-shirt, causing Nuala to fall backwards from the sudden loss of weight.  Quickly she scrambled up and pulled first the boy then Scott out of the well completely.

All three lay on the ground for a few moments, exhausted, until the little boy sat up in excitement.  Scott barely resisted the urge to turn into Benji and shake himself.

“Wow!  You were so cool!  Wait ’til I tell Cindy about you guys!  She's gonna be so jealous!”  As if on cue, a little girl a couple years younger than the boy came running over to them, pulling her father by the hand.  As soon as the man saw his drenched son however, he let go of his daughter's hand and sprinted the rest of the way.

“See!  I told you Daddy!  Paul got stuck in a well!”  The little girl cried.  The father was too busy hugging his son tightly to reply to the girl's comment.  After sufficiently suffocating his son, the man went to Nuala and Scott, who were now standing.

“I can't thank you enough!”  He said, shaking each of their hands tightly.  “You saved my son's life!”

“Oh it was nothing, sir.”  Nuala managed to squeak out with a blush while Scott attempted to stutter something similar.

“Please, my house isn't far from here.  Let me take you there so you can get some dry clothes and something to drink.”

Despite the assurances of Nuala and Scott that they were fine and didn't want to intrude, the man dragged them off in the direction he had come from with his daughter.  After walking for about 15 minutes, the group came to a quaint-looking house.  The man, who had introduced himself as Bill, immediately led Scott to his room for a change of clothes, ignoring any protests.  Once Scott had changed, the three sat around the kitchen table with drinks while the kids played tag outside.  Just as Bill was about to thank them for the umpteenth time, the theris got simultaneous calls on their links, Nuala's from Jennifer and Scott's from Mike.  Both groaned at the same time.

“We could have just used the links to call for help!” Nuala said as she acquainted her forehead with the palm of her hand.

Later that night, Nuala and Scott were lounging in the room Nuala shared with Yo-yo, Nuala on her bed and Scott at the shared desk.  Suddenly, Nuala started laughing hysterically.  Scott, clueless as to the joke he apparently didn't get, could only stare at her.  Nuala waved her hand as if to say she'll explain as soon she could control her laughter.

Her laughter finally calmed down a minute later, Nuala turned to the waiting Scott.

“’Don't expect me to go finding people trapped in wells or anything’ indeed, Benji!”

With that, Nuala lost control and began to laugh again as Benji thumped his forehead on the desk with a groan.