Carter Hughes

**Carter Thomas Hughes** is eleven-years-old. He is Frankie's older brother, Whitney's son, Josh and Didi's grandson, Uncle Rocky's nephew, Aunt Vida's nephew, Aunt Tina's nephew, Aunt Billie's nephew, Uncle Willard's nephew, Wolfgang's younger cousin, and Benji's owner. He is played by Gabriel Bateman.

He lives in New Orleans with his sister, Frankie and his mother, Whitney. Carter is the grandson of Josh, a dancer, and Didi, a US Air Force Academy student who was the younger sister of Jack, Carter's great-uncle. He is the nephew of Rocky, Vida, Tina, Billie, and Willard (two of Whitney's older siblings were Rocky and Vida and three of Carter's father's older siblings were Tina, Billie, and Willard). Carter is also the younger cousin of Wolfgang, Vida's college-aged son who went to college out of New Orleans. After the death of their father, life wasn't the same anymore and the entire family became miserable. At one point, their father's watch was sold to a pawn shop owner named Sam King and he and Frankie have tried several times to get it back.

After being bullied, he comes across Benji walking on the sidewalk and feeds him strawberries after buying them from Mr. Okra. He meets Frankie and she becomes suspicious about him hiding strawberries as they get on the streetcar with Benji following them. They arrive home and get into a small argument until they notice Benji watching them from the window. They decide to keep him, but realize that they need to hide him from their mother. After giving him a bath, Whitney comes home and they try to distract her as she makes dinner. However, things don't go as planned, as Whitney catches them with Benji. They convince her to keep Benji, but she refuses and Carter argues with her about her complaints over not having a dog.

The next day, they come back to King's pawn shop, but he tells them that he has sold the watch and orders them to go home. Frankie confronts him, but they notice two masked robbers. Syd taunts them about threatening to call the police and forces them outside, while Titus locks King in a closet. Frankie tries to intervene, but Syd blocks her path and she struggles to get past him. She accidentally removes Syd's mask, revealing his face. He then kidnaps the kids and forces them into the van and they try to drive away, but Benji witnesses it and chases the van. Their mother calls them, but Titus throws it out of the window. Benji loses them, but the kids leave a trail of strawberries for him to follow them to their hideout at an abandoned house near a cemetery. Syd notices the watch and taunts them with it as they cry. Benji arrives, but their guard dog, Rott chases him throughout the yard. The two kidnappers also chase him, but he manages to trap them all. He tries to untie Carter and Frankie, but Syd and Rott break out and search for him. They find Benji and corner him, but he manages to escape through a window and flees the property to get help.

Benji finds King and manages to get him out. King reports the incident to the police and Whitney and they follow him to the house. Benji tries to show the kidnappers' traces to them, but they don't understand him and Whitney disowns him for leading them on a seemingly pointless chase. However, her kids' phone was found on the street and she watches their video about how they miss her. The next day, Benji gets Mongrel to help him rescue the kids and they discover a basement filled with transport tunnels. The kidnappers force them through the tunnels and they try to leave traces for Benji, but Syd catches them and covers it up. As Benji and Mongrel venture further into the tunnels, Mongrel, with her keen sense of smell, catches the scent and they follow the trail. Meanwhile, Whitney and Lyle Burton decide to head back to the house and discover the underground transport tunnels, but they come up with a plan to cut them off at the boatyard. The kidnappers call the boat over and Titus orders Rott to guard the kids. Frankie admits to Carter that she's scared and they pray to God to help them get back home.

Benji and Mongrel arrive at the boatyard and Benji lures Rott away. He manages to defeat Rott and Mongrel subdues him as Benji heads out to look for the kids. However, the kids are on the boat and the Captain gives Titus some cash. Frankie encourages Titus to not be like Syd and he makes up his mind to keep the cash so he doesn't have to be bossed around by Syd anymore. The kids call for help and Benji hears this as he heads to the boat with Whitney following him. The Captain tries to drive the boat away, but they forgot to untie the rope and they fall over. Benji tries to get across, but Titus tries to spear him. Benji leaps onto Titus and pushes him into the water, but not before he nearly kills him. The Captain tries to stop them from escaping, but Carter knocks him out with a fire extinguisher. They are reunited with their mother and mourn over Benji, but he recovers. The kidnappers are arrested and Whitney finally agrees to keep Benji.