"No. Magda made them," Sam told them.
"But I bet Sam could make these sandwiches if he wanted to," Wyatt said and grinned at him.
"Maybe," Sam admitted and the boys looked impressed.
After taking a few bites of their sandwiches, the boys then started calling the dog's name again. Sam wasn't sure if a stray dog would answer to a name he had been given, but he didn't want to discourage the boys.
The field out here was overgrown with brush and dotted with small trees here and there. It would give a small dog plenty of places to hide. Sam didn't expect the dog to come out, but as they called out to him, he thought he heard a low whimper nearby.
"Let's be quiet for a minute. I thought I heard something," Sam said.
"Was it Brownie?" Riley asked in a whisper, and Sam heard the whimper once again.
He went toward the sound and pointed out the likely hiding place. A fallen tree with its trunk hollowed out was mostly hidden by the brush. As they went closer, they could see the little brown dog looking up at them through a small hole. The big hole that the dog must have used to climb inside was partially blocked by a bush.
"I guess he feels safe in there," Sam said seeing that nothing bigger than him could get inside.
"I'll go and get him," DJ said and started to get down.
He was ready to reach for the dog, but Wyatt stopped him. "No, no, no. It might not be safe. I'll do it. Hold my sandwich," he said to Sam. "I'll just take a piece of this meatloaf to help me make friends with him. You keep these guys out of trouble."
"I will," Sam told him then he addressed the boys. "We are going to stay back here with Barney. We don't want to crowd around and scare Brownie. Your uncle will take care of everything. He knows what to do, OK?"
"Uncle Wyatt knows how to make friends with dogs," DJ said to Riley reassuringly. Both boys crouched down next to Barney and put their arms around him. Their eyes were wide as they watched what Wyatt was doing.
First Wyatt cleared the ground of loose rocks so he could lie down, then he looked inside the hollowed out log. "There you are. The boys told me your name is Brownie. Nice to meet you. Look what I have for you." Wyatt reached in and offered the dog some of the meatloaf.
Sam couldn't tell what was going on inside, but he then heard Wyatt praising the dog. "Good boy. That's some tasty meatloaf, isn't it?" he fed him the rest of it too.
"Want more?" Sam asked him.
Wyatt reached back for it, and Sam handed a piece to DJ to give to his uncle.
"See, we have good food," Wyatt said as he gave the dog more meatloaf, but it looked like he wasn't reaching in as far as before. "Let's be friends and go home together."
Sam gave Riley the next piece to hand over to Wyatt. This time Wyatt held out the meatloaf just at the entrance of the hollow log. "Come and get it," he said to the dog, who stepped right to the opening but no further.
"Let's all sit here and finish our sandwiches and see if Brownie will want to come over to us," Sam said and pointed to a clear spot in the field.
Wyatt drew back too and offered the dog another small piece of meatloaf. Slowly they got the dog to sit with them and eat some of Sam's sandwich too. The spring grass was fresh and fragrant around them, and it wasn't a bad picnic after all.
"Can he really come home with us?" DJ asked his uncle.
"For now, but we have to put up flyers to find out if this is a dog someone lost," Wyatt told him while the dog sat next to him.
"He's ours," Riley insisted.
"But before he was yours, he might have belonged to someone else," Wyatt explained. "And his owners might miss him. If no one answers the fliers, we can keep him. He'll have to go to the vet to get checked over. I already picked out a vet for Barney. I'll take Brownie over there too."
At the mention of the vet, Riley made a worried noise.
"There is nothing to be scared of. Going to the vet isn't like going to the dentist," Wyatt assured him.
"A veterinarian is a doggy doctor," DJ told his little brother.
"No shots, right?" Riley asked and both boys looked up at Wyatt worriedly.
That was a tricky one. Not wanting to lie to them, Wyatt had to admit, "Sorry, Ry. There might be some shots."
