Speaker 1: Golden doodle doo. Cole was a golden doodle. Unlike most
golden doodles, Cole didn't have golden fur, but instead a
coat of black. As a puppy curled up on his bed,
it was remarked that he looked like a lump of coal,
and from that moment onwards, Cole was his name. Cole,
it turned out, was a smart dog, brighter than the
average hound, and certainly brighter than the other golden doodle
in the house.
Speaker 2: This was Ellie.
Speaker 1: Ellie was just as lovable as Coal, but she was
both clumsy and, if truth be told, a little daft. Fortunately,
Cole was very patient with his fellow doggo He didn't
complain when Ellie stepped in his food dish, knocked objects
from the table onto his sleeping head, or shut the door.
Speaker 2: On his tail. He knew she didn't mean it.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, oh boy, it's stopped raining, barked Ellie as
she rested her front paws on the sill of the
front window. Cole came over to look for himself. That's good,
he said, As out on the street a large truck
pulled up in front of the neighbor's house. Cole cocked
his head to one side as he observed a grumpy
looking woman get out from the driver's side. She wore
grubby overalls, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail,
and there was a greasy mark across her cheek. Oh
is that the lady, asked Ellie as she wagged her tail. Yep,
that's her, replied Cole. They watched as she opened the
back of the truck. She had moved in just over
a week ago, and Cole had noticed that she would
leave to collect a truckload of boxes every day. More boxes,
said Cole. That house must be full of them. Maybe
they've got treats in them, Cole said Ellie excitedly. Just
imagine a house full of doggie treats. But she doesn't
have a dog, pointed out Cole, not that we've seen anyway.
Maybe the treats are for us, announced Ellie. Maybe she
wants to make friends with us.
Speaker 2: Cole doubted this.
Speaker 1: He'd been on the back lawn yesterday and caught sight
of the neighbor in her upstairs window, and all she
had done was glare at him. I don't think so, Ellie,
he said. She doesn't act like she wants to get
to know us better, Ellie, Cole realized he was talking
to an empty room. Oh now, where's she gone, he sighed.
He found her outside by the back fence, sniffing furiously.
What are you doing, you daff dog o, he asked,
sniff the treats, she said, she's been putting them in
the garage. I heard her going in and out. I'm
sure they're not treats, insisted Cole. They might be, said Ellie,
although all I can smell is whiffy socks. Do dog
treats come in whiffy socks? Flavor? No, Ellie not, normally,
smiled Cole. They heard the neighbor come marching back to
the garage, presumably carrying another box, something she repeated another
twenty times. At that point, they heard her close the
garage door, and from within there came the sound of
power tools. I'm going in, Ellie, said Cole. It's too
noisy out here for me. You go right ahead, Cole
replied Ellie, still sniffing. I'll be right behind you. Except
Ellie wasn't right behind him. She didn't come in at all,
and it wasn't until it began to get at dark
that Cole realized he was still alone. What's that daft
pup up to out there, he said to himself. He
was horrified to discover that Ellie was no longer in
the backyard, although there was a golden doodle sized hole
right beside the fence. Oh Ellie, what have you done,
Cole groan. She'd get into trouble in the neighbor's yard.
The noise in the garage was still going on, so
there was a chance the neighbor hadn't seen Ellie yet.
He was going to have to fetch her back before
she did. Taking a deep breath, Cole dived after her.
He emerged behind a magnolia bush, which allowed him to
look around without the risk of being seen. There was
no sign of Ellie, but he could see the garage
clearly now. There was a glass panel in the top
of the door, through which light flickered then went out.
Seconds later, the garage door swung up and the grumpy
looking lady came out. She pushed the door back down,
but didn't close it completely. As she made for the
house with her back turned, she didn't see Ellie dart
around the garage's side and squeeze through the open.
Speaker 2: Gap, but Cole saw it all.
Speaker 1: The trouble was with the ladies so close by, he
couldn't call out or follow, at least not yet anyway.
Come on, come on, Cole muttered, as the neighbor began
fussing with some cardboard she had stacked by her back door.
Finally she went inside. Cole broke into a run, crossing
to the garage quickly to shuffle underneath the open door. Ellie, Ellie,
where are you? He hissed as he stood up straight.
The garage had been turned into a workshop, with boxes
stacked all around the walls. Many open boxes littered the ground,
some still containing objects, some empty, and some flattened out.
Cole picked his way through them, sniffing the air for Ellie.
He needed to be quick. He couldn't imagine the neighbor
intended to be long if she had left the door open.
Speaker 2: Ellie barked, Cole, where was she?
Speaker 1: In the center of the garage was a machine of
some sort. It was a wide metal ball covered in
lumps that looked a lot like those in the boxes.
The front of the giant metal ball was made of
a circular glass panel like a porthole, and staring out
from it was Ellie Cole.
Speaker 2: She yapped happily.
Speaker 1: Have you come to look for treats too? No, Ellie,
I've come looking for you, he replied gruffly. Come on
before she gets back. I can't, Cole, said Ellie, suddenly
looking worried.
Speaker 2: I can't get out. Well, how did you get in?
Cole asked?
Speaker 1: There was a door, but it closed when I touched
a button, explained Ellie. Then press it again, Cole said urgently.
He was worried they'd be discovered any moment.
Speaker 2: I don't know which one it was, whined Ellie.
Speaker 1: And there are hundreds of them in that case. Let
me think about this, said Cole, sitting down. And don't
go pressing anything else in case you make things worse. Oh, Cole,
whimpered Ellie. As the metal ball whirred into life, Lights
came on across its surface, and crablike legs appeared around
its base. You pressed something, didn't you, barked Cole as
he scooted backwards into a stack of boxes. The metal
ball was walking forwards. I didn't mean to, Ellie said,
starting to panic.
Speaker 2: It was an accident.
Speaker 1: In desperation, she slammed two paws down on the control
panel in front of her. Two large metal tentacles snaked
out of either side and slashed forward like whips, ripping
the garage door from its hinges. Ellie yelped Cole, running
after her. Get me out of here, the trapped Golden Doodle,
barked as the machine scuttled into the evening air. Just
don't press anything else, Cole barked as he dodged a
flailing tentacle too late. Yapped Ellie as a large lump
on the machine's top opened out to reveal some sort
of cannon. It blasted a bloom of fire so hot
that Cole had to shrink back from the heat. The
blast tore into the parked truck, triggering the vehicle's alarm,
shattering the window and igniting the roof. Cole yelped Ellie
again as the machine continued its march forward. This was
a disaster, thought Cole, but it soon got worse. The
grumpy neighbor was staggering out of her back door, hands
tearing at her hair in disbelief as her creation trashed
her truck. She watched in horror for a moment before
racing for the garage Cole realized that in all the chaos,
she'd not seen his dark coat in the gathering shadows,
and she wouldn't know that there was a dog inside
her machine either, at least not yet. Cole ran forward,
ducking a tentacle that was now pushing the truck out
of the way. Ellie, quickly, just press everything, he barked.
But you told me not to press anything, the.
Speaker 2: Trapped dog replied.
Speaker 1: I know I did, But we we've got to get
you out of there, now, replied Cole urgently. The neighbor
was returning, fiddling with what looked like a remote. Now, Ellie, now,
he barked. Several things happened, one after the other. Firstly,
a tremendous blast of smoke blew outwards in a billowing
ring from the machine's base. This smoke screen was so
thick that it instantly made it almost impossible to see
the machine. This was followed by a sharp bang, and
Cole caught sight of Ellie in a chair, rocketing up
into darkening skies from the expanding smoke cloud. The smoke
cloud overtook him, forcing him to scramble backwards.
Speaker 2: Until he backed into the fence.
Speaker 1: This gave him the briefest of glimpses of his neighbor
angrily pressing buttons on her remote. As the smoke covered
him again, the machine, somewhere at the center of the
expanding cloud, became silent. Not wishing to be found where
he shouldn't be, Coal scuttled along the line of the fence,
using the smoke as cover, until he found the magnolia bush.
Two seconds later, he was in his own backyard and
looking skywards again for any trace of Ellie. A large,
dark shape was drifting downwards. A parachute, barked Cole, running
towards the front of the house. It gently set down
the ejector's seat and its golden dudal passenger in the
middle of the road, just as the first sirens could
be heard.
Speaker 2: Approaching.
Speaker 1: You okay, Ellie, asked Cole, sounding worried. Oh that was fun,
laughed the dog. I wish I could do it again.
Speaker 2: Not much chance of that.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's get out of the road, he said,
leading the way to the cover of their own front yard.
Neighbors all along the street were gathering in the road
to stare at the blanket of smoke and flaming truck,
not to mention the bizarre machine that now stood motionless.
People backed away to let the first police cars pull up.
Speaker 2: Am I in trouble?
Speaker 1: Asked Ellie with a whimper, as police officers poured from
the vehicles. I think we both might be, said Cole
as they watched. To their surprise, though, it was the
grumpy lady that was led away in handcuffs and bundled
into the nearest police car. A fire truck arrived and
tackled the flames. Then more police and a specialist crime
team turned up.
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: Asked Missus Noakes, who lived across the street. Her question
was directed to a police officer doing crowd control. Looks
like we've caught the person responsible for the nationwide bank robberies,
replied the policeman. You made the vault villain, gasped Missus Noakes.
She'd not long ago moved in. We're thinking she must
have moved to a new city after each robbery, said
the policeman.
Speaker 2: Wow, said cole By.
Speaker 1: Now both dogs were lying on the lawn watching the
goings on as if it was a movie. It was
all too exciting watching the comings and goings. Our new
neighbor was a bank robber. Ellie, so I'm not in trouble, then.
Speaker 2: She asked, I don't think so, confessed Cole.
Speaker 1: In fact, I think you might have saved the day.
The policeman, having finished speaking to missus Noakes, was approaching them.
Speaker 2: Look at you two sitting so beautifully there, he said,
with a smile. I bet you don't.
Speaker 1: Have a clue what all this fuss is about, do you.
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a bag
with a crushed cookie, giving a large chunk to each
of the dogs before returning to his duties. A treat,
said Ellie, sounding delighted. Well, I guess you've earned it,
Cole replied with a grin.
Speaker 3: The end, like like like like like