CHAPTER 5

ABBEY MOVED SLOWLY toward her blanket, exhausted from her workout. She had tried hard to please her masters.

"You'll just have to do better, next time, girl," Bruce said, closing the cage door.

"It really wasn't fair to expect her to do things she wasn't familiar with and then zap her when she couldn't," Willie said, looking sympathetically Abbey. He could tell she was depressed.

"Doctor's orders. Jared said Bartlett wanted Abbey put through a new routine and to punish her if she failed."

"And how was Abbey to know what to do without showing her?" asked Willie.

"Beats me. I'm just a trainer. They say jump, I jump."

"Like Abbey, eh?" Willie teased.

Bruce punched his arm playfully. "Exactly. Thankfully, I don't have my ears pierced. Let's go get a beer. She'll be okay. We'll bring her something special tomorrow to make up for it."

*  *  *

Normally, Abbey would greet everyone coming into the lab with enthusiastic barks and howls. Today was different. Curled up in a tight ball, she ignored the lab techs and trainers. Even her favorite treats failed to attract her interest.

"Hey Jared," Bruce said, looking up toward the vidcam hidden in the ceiling. "Has she been like this all day?"

"Yep! Hasn't moved at all except when she got up to pee. Kim couldn't even get her to eat."

"She was really depressed yesterday. I thought for sure she'd be over it today."

"Well, I can't say that I blame her. I reviewed the training vid. Twenty-three jolts could have done irreparable damage. I'm surprised she had only two seizures."

"Don't blame me. Dr. Bartlett wanted me to push her beyond her limit."

"Dr. Bartlett's an idiot. She was more interested in impressing Dr. Franklin than Abbey's welfare. I told her to halt the exhibition after the first seizure. A year of work is down the tube if she doesn't snap out of her funk. One day Dr. Bartlett's ego is going to get her in trouble... and all of us are going to suffer," Jared said.

"Willie and I'll see what we can do to cheer her up. We brought a new toy for her to try out. Knowing her, she won't be able to resist it for long."

"Good."

*  *  *

Snapping a lead on Abbey's collar, Bruce picked her up and tucked her under his left arm. In his right hand was a round multi-colored object.

"Let's go outside," he said and headed to the outside pen. The day was cool and bright. A light breeze blew from the direction of the woods, filling the air with the scent of evergreens. "Okay, girl, look what I brought you today."  

Putting Abbey on the ground, he laid the object next to her. When she showed no interest, Bruce sighed, knelt down and pushed one of the colored segments. It immediately lit up and beeped. Abbey's left ear twitched. Bruce pushed another color and a different tone played. Abbey lifted her head and cocked it at a slight angle.

"I thought you'd be interested. Watch and listen to this." Bruce pressed three different colors and three different sounds appeared. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Abbey walked over and sniffed the toy. "It's an old game I found in an antique store. You try it."

Glancing up at Bruce and then back at the object, she touched the yellow button with a paw. When it sounded off, she jumped back.

"Arrarrah rahhhh."

"Try the green one."

Abbey stepped on the green button and backed away at the different tone.

"Good girl. Now push red and blue."

"Rarr rraah woof. Arrr rarr rarr rahh." Abbey's enthusiasm mounted. Pushing red and blue, she jumped up and down excitedly. "RRooof!"

Bruce rocked back on his heels and laughed.

"Hey, Bruce," a voice interrupted. "What are you doing out there? I'm getting some really strange readings."

"Playing a game. It's called Simon Says."

"Give me an idea how it works so I can check the data," Jared said.

"It's pretty simple. It has colored buttons. When you push the button it emits a musical note. Each button has a different tone. If you push more than one, it will repeat the sequence."

"Gotcha! Have her do it a few more times. I want to test a theory."

"Sure. Okay, girl, press red, blue, red, yellow."

Without hesitation, Abbey did as he ordered and then ran in a wild, ecstatic circle around her trainer and the device.

"One more time," Jared said.

"Abbey, press yellow, green, and blue."

Again, Abbey followed his instructions.

"Bruce, tell her to press four buttons but don't give the colors in advance. Call them out to me as she does it."

"Sure. Abbey, press four buttons."

Cocking her head sideways, Abbey's ears perked up and she stared into Bruce's eyes for a few seconds.

"Awww rarrh rarrh."

"Four," Bruce repeated, holding up four fingers. "Press four buttons."

Abbey walked up to the toy and sniffed it. Then she circled it once. Lifting her right paw, she pressed one button.

"Red."

Then another.

"Red."

"Blue."

"Yellow."

"Whooo hooo!" Jared's voice screamed. "You've done it, man."

"Done what?"

"Come back inside. I'll show you."

"Okay. Come on, Abbey. Let's go see what Jared's so excited about." Picking the dog up, Bruce carried her back to her cage, making sure to leave the toy with her. "You deserve it. Have fun."

*  *  *

"So what's up?" Bruce asked.

"Look at this. The program was able to interpret her thoughts before she acted."

"No way!"

"It's true. See here," Jared said, pointing to a time stamp followed by the name of four colors. He then pointed to another time stamp. This is when she pushed the buttons. Red, red, blue, yellow. This is exactly what we've been hoping for. Thought interpretation. We already know she understands language but to actually see her thoughts... Wow!"

"That is awesome," Bruce said, slapping the tech on the back. "Who'd have thought something so simple...?"

"Let's keep this between us for now. I want to make sure it's not a fluke. Tomorrow, we'll run a few more tests and if we're right, we can surprise Dr. Bartlett."

"I thought you didn't like her."

Jared grimaced.

"I don't, but I like my job more than I hate her. Besides, she's been off for the last few days. The documentation will show this was done on our watch. She might try to claim the credit, but you and I are the real success stories."

"You and I and Abbey," Bruce said.

"Right, and Abbey."