A Vet Series Snippet

By JudyL

December 31, 2003

Well, this may very well be my last story finished in 2003, unless my muse gets really busy. <G> You can blame this one on BAW. Thanks for the idea.

Spoilers: If you don't know what flyball is or haven't read "A Doggone Good Time" you may not get this story.

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"I could do that," Wolf said watching the racing from the sidelines.

"Of course you could," replied Jaguar. "It's a piece of cake."

"Jenny and Dreamer really enjoy it," Dog (also known as Golden Retriever) added wistfully as she regarded the dogs flying over the hurdles to get the tennis ball.

"We should have a team of our own," Wolf suggested his jaw dropping into a grin.

Jaguar cuffed Wolf on the shoulder. "Don't be silly. First of all, we're spirit guides. They'd have to be able to see us. Secondly, only dogs are allowed to play.

Wolf closed his mouth wishing he could frown.

"Yeah, but we are spirit animals," Dog said with a grin of her own. "You could always appear to be a dog."

"Right!" Wolf agreed wagging his tail.

Jaguar sighed. "But it still takes four dogs to make up a team. In case you forgot, there's only three of us."

Dog licked her paw thoughtfully then met Jaguar's gaze. "We could ask Ocelot. I bet she'd love to play. And she could be our height dog. Get those jumps down a bit."

"Oh like sixteen inches is a big deal," Wolf snorted. "But we do need a fourth. Ocelot would be great. And I've got a perfect name, Spirit Walkers." He grinned, his tongue lolling out one side of his mouth.

"That's pretty corny, Wolf," Jaguar said his big yellow eyes narrowing to express his displeasure.

"Could be worse," Dog replied. "Maybe "Team Spirit," or "That's the Spirit.""

Jaguar groaned and fell on his side. "You're killing me."

Wolf took that as an invitation and pounced on his buddy and soon they were all three chasing around the building through the middle of everyone and everything, unseen by all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenny grinned at Jim and Blair. "You won't believe what I dreamed last night."

Blair returned her grin while Jim deadpanned. "Your spirit animal wants to play flyball."

Jen's jaw dropped in surprise.

The two men chuckled.

"We both had a visit last night too," Blair told her. "They seem to think it would be fun and want to know if we'll help them play."

Jenny shook her head grinning. "Well, I'm game if you are. I think it would be fun. But we have to set some ground rules. Can't have anyone else thinking there's something strange about the team."

"Well," Jim said, "the Jag said he would look like a big black dog. And they evidently found a fourth spirit animal that wants to play, another cat, but she can look like a small dog of some kind. As long as they understand the rules and we practice a bit, it should be easy enough."

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"I told you not to do that," Wolf complained shoulder butting Jag as they walked. "We could have won, and now we can't even play any more. Thanks a lot."

"It was my ball," Jaguar huffed. "He should have stayed in his own lane."

"He was just a young pup," Dog replied rolling her eyes. "You didn’t have to pin him down until he dropped the ball."

"I bet he won't ever go after someone else's tennis ball again," Jaguar said defensively.

"Be lucky if he ever wants to pick up any ball again," Ocelot snarled.

Jaguar sat down and hung his head. "I'm sorry. I sort of got carried away."

Wolf, Dog and Ocelot stopped and turned to look at their friend. They looked at each other then back at Jaguar and sighed. All three went back to the big black cat.

"It's okay," Wolf said sitting beside the Jag and leaning into him.

"Yeah," Dog replied taking a seat on Jag's other side. "I suppose we could always try again later. You can go as a different kind of dog."

Ocelot stared at the trio with her big yellow eyes. "Why don't we just set up our own flyball tournaments here. Then we don't have to worry about spooking the pooches."

Three sets of eyes turned to her.

"That's a great idea!" Dog said bouncing into a stand her tail wagging wildly at the idea.

"Cool!" Wolf replied.

"Yeah, I like that idea," Jaguar said slowly. "As long as it's okay to pounce on someone if they come into my territory."

Dog and Wolf both lay down and covered their noses with their paws. Ocelot twitched her tail in annoyance.

"What?" Jag asked innocently. "If we're making up rules for the spirit plane version, I think that' a good one. It's not like the other contestants won't understand the concept of territory."

"The birds are going to want to play too," Ocelot added.

"Well that will require a whole new set of rules," Jag replied.

"How are we going to keep track of all this?" Wolf asked sitting up.

Dog rolled onto her side batting playfully at Wolf with her paw. "Maybe Blair will set it up on his computer for us."

Wolf snorted in amusement. "Oh man, just imagine his surprise!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blair was typing furiously and mumbling under his breath at the same time. Jim had to focus his hearing tightly to make out what his Guide was saying.

"… good thing I'm not writing a thesis on Sentinels. Be hard enough to explain and expect people to believe spirit animal guides, but this! Crazy wolf. I can't believe I agreed to do this…"

Jim grinned and looked toward his bedroom at the loud rumbling purr. The jaguar was hanging his front feet off the ledge. The Sentinel just grinned and shook his head as the big cat winked.

Life was certainly never dull in Cascade.

Finis.

Feed the spirit guides, they get hungry too. Please let me know what you think. Judy

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