“Can we help you guys?” Panda asked.

We were visiting with our penguin friends in their RV at the Grand Canyon when Panda asked the question. Our friends had just told us about their undercover mission to find out if the men in orange jackets were behind the mysterious orange van that had been sighted in the area. “Sure!” the penguins answered in unison. “We’d love to have you along!”

I can’t say I was thrilled with the idea. Of course I wanted to help catch the men in orange jackets, but I wasn’t necessarily in the mood for another adventure. It hadn’t been that long ago that we helped catch them in their diamond stealing ring, and I had thought they would still be safely locked up in Australia. But, since Panda and the penguins were so excited, I consented as well. “Where do we start?” I asked.

“We probably should go to the highway where they were last seen,” replied the head penguin. “Fortunately, it isn’t that far away.” We drove out to the highway and parked the RV off the road so it wouldn’t be noticed. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we heard the sound of a van in the distance.

“That’s them!”, the head penguin said as we watched the van go by.

Suddenly, we noticed something we weren’t expecting. It was our friend, the dog in the orange jacket, looking out the back window of the van! Panda and I stared at each other, our eyes wide. “They got him back!” we exclaimed in unison.

We went back to the picnic table, where we explained to the penguins and the crow how we had met the dog in the orange jacket when we were in Australia. “We thought he had escaped,” Panda said gravely. “He really didn’t like being their dog. I guess you could say they sort of kid- I mean dognapped him.” Our friends listened intently. “”So there is a crime,” the crow said slowly. “Dognapping!”

We decided to split up to carry out our search. The crow came with us, while the penguins followed the van in their RV. We ran into a friendly squirrel as we looked over a vista point in search of clues. “How far do you think it is across the canyon?” I asked, as we gazed at the other side. The squirrel thought for a minute, looking across the canyon. Then he replied, “Well, as the crow flies, I’d say a couple of miles.” Panda and the crow exchanged glances. Somehow, I knew where this was going to lead!

“Let’s go!” exclaimed Panda enthusiastically. The squirrel and I watched in amazement as the crow picked him up and they took off over the canyon. “Be careful!” I called after them, but they were already out of earshot.

Panda told me later that after flying for a while, they had seen the men in orange jackets below them. They were looking at a sign that said, “Do Not Cross”. However, the dog was nowhere to be seen. “What do you think they’re doing?” Panda asked. The crow shrugged, not wanting to open his beak to answer. “Right,” Panda said. “You can tell me later.”

When Panda and the crow returned to the vista point, we discussed what they had seen. “Maybe they were thinking about escaping across the canyon on foot,” the squirrel suggested. “I’ve heard of people doing that, but it’s extremely dangerous.” Panda looked thoughtful. “Isn’t there a river at the bottom?” he asked. Our friends nodded. “It’s the Colorado River,” explained the crow. “Over many years, the river has eroded the rock and soil, creating the canyon as we know it today. People can even go rafting down there.” Panda said he thought that sounded fun. I said Mom would never approve.

Somehow, I knew I wasn’t going to win this one. Before I knew it, the squirrel had shown us where to rent a raft and we took the mule train to the bottom of the canyon. “Wow!” Panda exclaimed. “This view is breathtaking!” I had to agree; I was so nervous I could barely breathe. But soon our rafting tour was over and we were back on dry land again.

“That was pretty fun,” Panda remarked when we got back to the top of the canyon. We hadn’t heard from the penguins, so we decided to look for clues from the edge of a steep cliff. “Hey look!” he exclaimed, pointing. “There they are, by the river!”

‘I’ll go down and take a look,” said the crow, jumping up and taking flight. I was about to say, “Be careful!”, but then I remembered birds do this stuff all the time.

It wasn’t long before the crow returned, and to our surprise, the dog in the orange jacket was with him! “Oh wow, it’s great to see you!” we greeted our friend enthusiastically. “What happened? How did you get away?”

“Well,” our friend began. “The men in orange jackets dognapped me from the police department in Australia. The hamster was going to see about getting me an undercover job with him when apparently, they escaped from jail. The next thing I knew, we were in a taxi, traveling to the Grand Canyon!” Panda looked puzzled. “Wait,” he said. “Can you even get to the Grand Canyon from Australia by taxi?” I nudged him. “Shh!” I whispered. “Let him finish.”

“After we got here, they rented an orange van, but they saw some penguins following us down the highway in an RV. That’s when they decided to cross the river at the bottom of the canyon. I’d never been on a river raft before, and I have to say it was kind of fun. But I knew this was my chance to escape.”

“As soon as I saw the opportunity, I jumped off the raft and started to swim.”

“I swam all the way to the riverbank and that’s where I met the crow. He told me you guys were looking for me, so I came with him to see you.” We were amazed by this narrative. “Good thing you’re such a good swimmer,” I remarked. “I don’t think I could have done that.” Our friend agreed with me. “I don’t think so either. I thought I saw you when you guys were on your rafting tour.” I looked at Panda, a bit perturbed. “It was his idea,” I said. “He has no concept of the element of risk.” Just then Panda’s cell phone went off. “Hey, it’s a text from the penguins!” he said excitedly.

The penguins texted that they had caught the men in orange jackets and taken them to the police station. They told us where they had parked their RV and we all met up there to debrief and have a delicious snack. “I guess we should be heading home,” I said after we finished our meal. “Mom might be getting worried about us.” The others agreed. The penguins offered to take us to the airport to pick up our travel tunnel. “We’ll take you with us,” they said to the dog. “We can probably get you a job with the FBI, if the hamster can send you a letter of recommendation.”

When we got to the airport, we said goodbye to our friends and picked up our travel tunnel. As we took off for Fresno, we heard an airport worker’s voice below us. “Have a great trip!” he called, waving. We waved back, and then we settled down for a nice nap on our way home.

Author’s note: The background photos for this story are from Unsplash.com, a royalty-free photography site.