Free Crazy Little Thing by Saxon Bennett, Layce Gardner Page B

aisle leading directly to the skunk. Claire marched
straight up him and threw her drink in his face.
    The crowd gasped.
    Skunk grasped both sides of his face and cried out,
“You ruined my head! Do you have any idea how much these heads cost?”
    “No, because I’m not stupid enough to pay to dress
up as an animal and parade around like an idiot!” Claire said. Which, as it
turns out, was completely the wrong thing to say when standing in a crowd
people dressed up like animals and parading around.
    “Oh yeah?” Shaggy dog said.
    Claire put her hands on her hips and faced him.
“Yeah, Mr. Snoop Snoop Shaggy Dog,” Claire said.
    Shaggy Dog wasted no time in picking up Claire and
unceremoniously tossing her, headfirst, into
the pool.
    The crowd applauded.
    Glug, glug, glug , said Claire.
    “Hey!” Ollie said, pointing a finger at Shaggy Dog.
“You can’t throw my wife in the pool!”
    “I just did!” Shaggy Dog said. “What’re you going to
do about it?”
    Well, that was like waving a red cape in front of
Ollie. She pawed the diving board with one foot, lowered her head and charged
off the board and around the corner of the pool. She ran straight into Shaggy
Dog and head butted him in the belly. He flew backwards and splashed into the
pool.
    Glug, glug, glug, said Shaggy Dog.
    “You can’t do that!” said Skunk.
    Ollie glared at Skunk. “You stink. You need a bath.”
Then she charged Skunk. She head butted him and he flew high in the air, ass
over teakettle, and did a belly buster into the deep end.
    Glug, glug, glug, said Skunk.
    The next thing Ollie knew she was airborne. And
while she was spinning in the air she saw the French Poodle triumphantly
holding her hands above her head and doing a victory dance.
    Ollie cannon-balled into the pool and when she stood
up, she was next to Claire. Claire flailed and gasped, “I can’t swim! I can’t
swim!” Claire churned the water with her arms and sunk under. When her chin
lifted back over the water, she yelled, “Somebody help me! I’m drowning!”
    Ollie reached over and grabbed Claire by the back of
her shirt. “Stand up, Claire. You’re only in three feet of water.”
    “Oh.” Claire stood. “Thanks.”
    Splash!
    Ollie looked over. The big red dog was treading
water in the pool.
    Splash splash!
    Two more Furries were thrown in!
    Splash splash splash!
    Three more Furries were hurled into the pool!
    Ollie couldn’t believe her eyes. The entire place
was in mass hysteria and Furries were fighting Furries. Dogs, cats, and every
type of animal in between were being tossed and kicked into the pool.
    And standing to the side of it all was G-Ray. His
helmet cam was blinking red and he looked ecstatic to be catching all of the
action on film.
    Police sirens wailed over the din of fighting. Ollie
panicked. She grabbed Claire by the hand. “We have to get out of here. The police
are coming!”
    But it was too late. The S.W.A.T. team poured
through the hotel doors and quickly surrounded the pool. They were wearing
Kevlar, armor, gas masks, and had big shields and guns. Ollie almost peed her
pants at the sight. Okay, to be truthful, she did pee. But she was in the pool
and everybody peed in a pool so she didn’t think it counted.
    Ollie lost Claire’s hand in all the excitement. She
pushed a fat tiger out of the way and found Claire again. Ollie grabbed her by
the hand and pulled in the opposite direction, saying, “Follow me.”
    Ollie ducked, dodged and darted all the fists, feet
and flying drinks. She quickly pulled Claire away from the pool and under a
table on the far side of the pool grounds. She pulled an overturned lounge
chair in front of them, partially hiding them from view. She watched the melee
unfold. The police grabbed every wet animal they could find and threw them into
the back of several paddy wagons.
    The place was a messof
broken glass, overturned chairs and tables. Potted plants were smashed, fences
were ripped out of the ground; even