Housepets!

Looks very nice J-Man! I do love how he has came out! Awesome!

yeah...the next pictue i have to draw is one of "Grandma Cocoa"

Chapter 9: Clear skies

Once Bino had finished blowing his nose, he resumed watching Penelope’s life unfold on Tarot’s tablet. He really wanted to stop this, but he knew it was for her own good.

Tarot takes notice and reassures Bino. "Dont worry, she's almost done. Once she finishes, she will have faced her fears for the last time."

======================================

Back in Penelope’s mind:

Finally the rain had stopped and the blue sky had shown itself, signaling to all the pets in the shelter that they could come out of their cages and play in the open field. The employees all opened the cages for the pets to come out and enjoy the day, but Penelope just stayed in her bed with her blanket over her head.

Soon enough, Duke finally got the chance to come over and meet Penelope in her cage. He walked over to Penelope’s bunk and talked to her from below.

“Hey kid, come on out. The rain’s gone and it a beautiful day to run around.”

Penelope took the blanket off her head and peeked over the edge of her bunk to get a look at Duke, but she said nothing to him in reply. She looked very sad and tired from being kept up at night by the thunder storms.

“Hey are you okay?”

Penelope responds with a soft and wavering voice. “No…I'm so tired, I just-…I just want to sleep.”

Duke gave her a sad look, but he knew that he should just let her sleep as much as she needed. “Okay, you get some sleep.”

He leaves and closes the gate to Penelope’s cage behind him, looking to see that she had fallen asleep with her head still dangling over the edge of her top-bunk bed. He wanted to help her back into bed so she wouldn’t fall out, but the latch on the cage door had already locked shut behind him.

Penelope drifted into a crazy dream and didn’t wake up until the afternoon of the next day. She was awoken to the sound of someone tapping on her cage door, it was short man wearing a button-down shirt and pair of semi-new jeans. It took a few moments, but Penelope finally got to her senses and saw that her cage was being unlocked for the man to step inside. She heard the click of the lock and she sprung to life, accidentally falling of her bunk bed by mistake. “AHH!”

Penelope watched herself fall from the high bunk in slow motion as she knew that she was going to land on her neck, but she suddenly felt herself stop in midair. She looked at the ground just below her head and then at her feet to see that the man had caught her by her ankle. He spoke in a soft, friendly voice:

“Whew, are you okay? You could've broken your neck.”

Penelope was still stunned from the sudden fall she took. “Y-Yo-You saved me.”

The man set Penelope down so that she could get to her feet. “Of course, I’d never want to see a little pup like you get hurt.”

Penelope’s mood brightened up as soon as he said this, and she was showing it by wagging her tail at high speed and giving the man a smile.

“Your in luck kid. I saw an adoption ad for you on the internet and I’ve come to take you home. I’ve already filled out the paperwork and everything, so all that’s left is to get you a collar.”

Penelope wanted to be happy, but she still felt unsure. She looked over at the next cage to see Duke smiling and wagging his tail at the man, letting Penelope know that he was alright. “So…you’re my Dad now?”

“That’s right Penelope. Come on, my truck is parked outside.” the man said as picked Penelope up and carried her out of the cage towards the front gates of the shelter

Penelope smiled and looked over the man’s shoulder to give a final wave to Duke. He returned the wave and watched her until the gates closed behind them. “Bye kid…”

=========================================

Outside the shelter:

Penelope’s jaw had dropped at the sight of the man’s truck while she was still in his arms. The Pick-up truck was much bigger than she had expected, and the man took notice almost immediately. “why do you look so shocked?”

“I just didn’t expect your truck to be so big.”

“Yeah, there are certain merits you get when you drive a two-and-a-half ton V-8 Truck.”

“Like what?”

The man just smiled in response as he opened his front passenger door to reveal a high-chair that was secured to the seat with the seatbelt. He helps Penelope buckle herself in and then climbs into the drivers seat next to her.

Everything in the truck was foreign to Penelope. The light-up buttons on the radio, the crisp and cool air blowing from the multiple vents, the digital map on the GPS screen, and the sun-visor. Penelope got curious and pulled down the visor to see a mirror attached to the underside; she had never seen her reflection before, except in puddles of water. The mirror was too small for her to see a good image of herself, but it still fascinated her.

“Hey cool, a mirror. I’ve never used one before.”

The man chuckles at Penelope as he tries to contain his laughter. “I could tell…”

“What do you mean?”

The man pressed a button on his door, rolling down the window next to Penelope and unfolding the side-view mirror so that she could see a full reflection of her face. Penelope looked at her mirror image and was shocked to see her fur was a total mess. She was covered in patches of dirt and tangled fur.

Penelope puts her hands over her cheeks once she realized that she always looked like that. “Oh my Dog, I look horrible!”

“Don’t worry Penelope, I’ll get a bath ready for you once we get home.”

Penelope calms down once she heard a word that she had never used before. “Home…”

“Oh yeah, my name is John, you can call me by that name if you like.”

“hmmm…nah, I think I’ll keep calling you ‘Dad’.”

===============================================

Later, at John’s old house:

Penelope was led into the bathroom where her new owner had gotten the tub full of soapy water. She peeked over the edge of the tub to get a look at the soapy bubbles, she touched a few and started playing around with them until she hear her Dad come into the room with a fur-brush and a pair of strange-looking scissors in his hands. The scissors had a weirdly shaped handle, and they were sharper than most other scissors Penelope had seen before.

“What kind of scissors are those?”

“Oh, these aren’t scissors, they're hair-clippers. I have to cut out your tangled fur so it doesn’t get matted.”

“Oh…okay, if it has to be done.”

“Okay Penelope, time to get in the tub.”

Penelope climbed over the edge of the tub by herself and put her legs into the soapy water. She was amazed to see particles of dirt coming off her fur into the water like brown clouds coming off of her and revealing her white fur. “Whoaaaaa…Ha ha, coooooool.”

“Wow, that is a lot of dirt.”

Penelope lifted one of her paws out of the water to see the difference between the color of her clean fur and her dirty fur. The difference was night-and-day, and she couldn’t wait until all of her fur looked clean. “That’s what my fur really looks like? I always thought it was Naturally dingy.”

“Yeah, now for the rest of you…this is going to take a while.”

=============================================

One very long bath and grooming later:

Penelope shakes the water out of her fur to reveal her beautiful white fur and the newly revealed black spots covering her body. Her dad helped her up to the counter so that she could look at herself in the bathroom mirror.

“Wow…I never knew I looked so cute.”

Penelope then looks back at her dad to see that he was covered in her clipped fur and muddy water. “Yeah, it's a good thing I wasn't wearing anything I cared about. Do you feel better now that I got rid of all those knots and matted fur?”

“Uh huh, I feel a lot lighter and cooler without all that extra fur, thanks Dad.”

“Okay…I’m gonna go get changed and get your bed ready for tonight. The weather channel said another cold-front was bringing in some more thunderstorms.”

Penelope’s eyes widened and her pupils shrunk down to a small size as soon as John mentioned more thunderstorms were coming. John could see her scared reaction in the mirror, she looked like she had just seen a ghost. “Hey…are you okay Penelope?”

Penelope turns around and sits down on the counter with her legs dangling over the edge. “I…don’t like thunderstorms…”

I am liking how this chapter is playing out! You are good at emotional stuff!

Great update, J-Man!

thanks. this whole story is improving my skills with emotional ties with characters. at this rate, i'll be ready for a degree in free-lance writing in no time

That is very good to hear! With what you have written so far, I can see you being a wonderful writer in a few years!

Your mastery of story telling is impressive.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:That is very good to hear! With what you have written so far, I can see you being a wonderful writer in a few years!

few years? J is already there, AD.

No by that I mean being a successful book author.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:No by that I mean being a successful book author.

*gets devious idea and smiles evilly*
you just gave me the best idea ever...

Oh God. It doesn't involve any violence does it? I know how much you like violence.

Chapter 10: Clear skies
Penelope covers her ears again as the thunder rolls through the sky again and her new Dad tries to comfort her. She winces at every flash of lighting and whimpers at every vibration of booming thunder.

“Penelope, I promise you that you will be okay…just go back to sleep” John says as he brushes her standing fur down

“No, I can’t sleep with all this noise.”

"Penelope it’s just thunder, I can’t do a thing about it.”

Penelope was so tired of her sleepless nights of hiding in the corner of her room, she was tired of this long flash-back, and she was tired of trying. “Well if you aren’t going to do anything, just leave me alone!” She shouts.

John wanted to stay by Penelope and help, but she had made it clear that she wanted to be alone when she threw a blanket over her head. All of a sudden, she hears a disembodied voice in her ear, reminding her that this was all a dream:

“Penelope remember, this whole thing was about you facing your fears. Don’t just give up, I know you can do it.”

==============================================

Outside Penelope’s mind:

Bino was almost shouting into Penelope’s ear when he saw that she was about to give into her fear.

“Come on Penelope, you are stronger than this. Who told off my Ex-girlfriend and inspired me to leave her? Who made me believe that I can be better than who I was before? Who…who loved me for who I was?”

Penelope’s body twitched and Tarot gets an excited look on her face. “Bino, you did it. She hear you and now she’s winning.”

Bino looks at Tarot’s tablet screen and sees that Penelope had taken her paws off her ears, letting the noise of thunder in. She then took it one step further and headed outside in the middle of the rain until she stopped wincing at every single flash she saw. Bino heard her yell something up into the sky, but he couldn’t make out what it was.

“Tarot, what happened, why can’t I hear what she’s saying?”

“She must want to keep it private. The tablet monitor only lets us see what Penelope wants us to see.”

Just then Penelope finished shouting and headed back towards the front door of her house, but once she opened the front door, the sight of an empty void was revealed behind it. Penelope stepped into the white light behind the door and she immediately awoke from Tarot’s couch. The first thing Penelope did was throw her arms around Bino and tackle him to the ground in a very tight hug.

“P-Penelope, you’re crushing my lungs…can’t breathe!” Bino strains to speak

Penelope releases her tight grip and surprises Bino with a long kiss on his muzzle. Bino’s surprised face soon turned to one of happiness as he enjoyed the meaningful kiss. Soon, both Penelope and Bino stood up with their arms and tails looped around each other.

“Thank you Tarot, I don’t know how I can repay you for helping me though my fear”

Tarot waves her hands in disagreement. “No-no, it's okay. This was just a friend helping a friend.”
Penelope suddenly picks Tarot up and hugs her much the same way she did Bino squeezing the life out of her. “GAK! Easy, I'm not used to getting injured like Bino!”

“Oops, sorry.”

==============================================

Meanwhile, at Duchess’s house:

Duchess and Karo go over their plans on sabotaging Bino and Penelope. Duchess then gives Karo his mission for Penelope:

“Okay Karo, this plan always works with me. You need to find some way of getting Penelope and Bino mad at each other.”

“And how do you suggest I do that?”

“I don’t care what you have to do. The pageant is a month and a half away and they are starting to threaten us with the ‘Emotional bond’ thing that they have going.”

“You say that as if they have a chance against us in competition.”

Duchess’s calm expression changes to an angry one and she pokes Karo in his chest, threatening him. “Karo, be realistic. The moment we admit weakness is the moment we can overcome it. Now, go work your magic and get them mad with each other. Just make sure you find some way of being indirect”

“You mean you want me to give her 'Conflicting feelings’ and keep her off balance?”

“Sure, let’s go with that…”

=====================================================

Back at John’s house:

Penelope and Bino walk into the house to see John organizing his books on a display shelf “Oh hey guys, you stayed out kind of late.”

Penelope smiles and replies. “Dad, you’ll never guess what Bino did for me!”

“What?” John says with a suspicious expression.

“Bino helped me to get over my fear of thunderstorms!”

“He did what now?”

Penelope and Bino proceed in telling John the whole story about what happened with Tarot and he seemed to understand…to an extent. They also told him about the part where they kissed.

John takes a few seconds to process the fact that Penelope was now in a relationship with a dog he barely knew. “Okay…so let me get this straight; you guys are now officially in a relationship?”

They both answer at the same time. “Yep.”

“And you’re not just doing this for the pageant?”

“No sir. I am, honest to dog, in love with Penelope.” Bino replies without hesitation.

“Well…Penelope, are you sure you want to be with Bino?”

“Of course Dad; after what he did for me, I think he is the sweetest dog I could have ever met. We both really want to be together.”

John stands up and walks over to Bino and leans down so his shadow casts over him. “Okay…but let me offer you a warning Bino: if you do hurt Penelope, you will have to answer to Grandma Cocoa.”

Bino imagines what Grandma Cocoa would do to him if he made her legitimately mad. The scenario he imagined was something along the lines of Grandma Cocoa hammering him into the ground with her cane until he was six feet under “Er…I understand sir, I promise that I will always be faithful to her.”

“I’ll hold you to that Bino, don’t let me down.”

Penelope hugs Bino when she sees that he was getting intimidated “He won’t Dad, I’ll be just fine”

=================================================

Meanwhile, again:

Karo goes over his plan for getting at Penelope. He draws out his plan on a paper and talks it over to himself.

“Okay. First, get in through the window. Next, make sure she’s alone. Then, destabilize the relationship flawlessly. And lastly, make a clean getaway…should be simple."

Just then, Karo heard a voice come from behind him that scared him half to death: “Hi I’m Brownie!”

He spins around in surprise and looks down at Brownie “Gah! Oh great…Go on Kid, get out of here!”

Brownie did nothing but keep staring at him.

“Are you deaf, kid? I said ‘GO’!”

Brownie only tilted her head questioningly and repeated: “Hi I'm Brownie!”

Karo was starting to lose his cool. He looked around and by sheer coincidence, he saw Daisy walking by on the opposite sidewalk repeating her own shtick to every living thing she passed by until she got to Karo and said to him: "Hi Im Daisy!"

Karot immediately grabs Daisy and introduced her to Brownie. They both just stood there...staring at each other with their wide grins on their faces. Neither of them moved a muscle as they seemed to stare into each others soul

“hmmm, I was expecting a time paradox, but this will work too..."

Great update, J-Man!

Nice new chapter you have here! It really fits in well!

SORRY BUT THIS ARTIST/WRITER IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING A SEVERE CASE OF "WRITER'S BLOCK"
PLEASE ENJOY THIS CUTE FILLER ARTWORK WHILE YOU WAIT

I can't see it. I think there is something wrong with the link.

For those who could not see the art
follow the link below : http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17117254/

Yep, I know exactly how he feels; writer's block is the worse. Awesome draw by the way... I can just imagine him turning around and incinerating that distracting leaf out of aggravation.

Do not make the chaotic rage ball dog transforming into a crazy centipede angry.

Great job, J-Man!

Chapter 11: Clear skies

The next morning:

A whole crowd of dogs and cats have gathered in the street outside of Penelope’s house where Daisy and Brownie have been locked in a stare-down for the last few hours. Bino; of course, was the last to know about this and only found out because Penelope had told him about it on the phone a few minutes earlier. Bino walked down the street, pushing past the large crowd that had gathered and was surprised to see that Penelope had already separated Brownie from Daisy. Penelope had been scolding Brownie, but eventually gave up when she realized her yells were literally falling on deaf ears. Soon, the crowd dispersed itself and only Penelope and Bino were left in the area.

Bino walked over as casually as he could to the distraught Penelope. “Hey…are you okay?”

“Yes, I'm fine. That little dog can be a whole lot of trouble at times.” She replied.

Bino snickered a little. “Well I guess you finally met Daisy huh?”

“Yes, and to my surprise, the world did NOT end.”

Bino and Penelope traded looks for a second and then promptly started snickering with each other. When they looked back on it; the whole scenario was just so hilarious. Bino then realized that this was the first time in a long time that he had genuinely laughed at anything, or with anyone.

Bino then got an idea. “Hey Penelope, how about we go take a trip to the mall? It's not far from here and my Dad can drive us.”

Penelope got really excited at the idea, and her tail went into overdrive. “Actually that sounds like a really good idea, I heard they got lots of restaurants that I’ve never tried before in the food court. There are lots of stores here in Babylon Gardens that aren’t in Texas, so I’ve always wanted to go see what they were all about.”

“Then it's settled, onward to the Mall!”

Bino and Penelope started walking down the street hand-in-hand right in front of all the other dogs that were watching them, wondering what they were still doing in the middle of the street.

==========================================

Meanwhile:

Karo lies in wait outside of John’s house, hiding underneath one of the shrubs located near the windows. Soon enough, he hears the distinct sound of footsteps on the walkway and he pokes his head out of the bush to see who it was. Unfortunately; it was only Penelope’s owner and the other two dogs she lived with. Karo then sees them stop in the middle of the walkway to talk, so he kept an ear out and listened in on their conversation:

“So you’re telling me that Brownie here has some kind of Doppelganger living in this place, and she had a stare down with her for SIX HOURS?!” Grandma Cocoa urgently asked John.

John replied with his signature grin on his face, showing that he was not particularly concerned. “Yeah her name is ‘Daisy’, but Penelope managed to split them up before the morning traffic came through. I'm going to have to go have a talk with Daisy’s owner after I go pick Penelope from the mall later.”

Grandma Cocoa motioned for Brownie to go into the house and she did so without question, but Cocoa and John remained outside to continue the conversation. Cocoa did not seem to be happy about the fact that Penelope was going out with Bino again

“Oh she’s still going out with that Mutt huh?”

John’s grin fell off his face and he defended Bino, knowing how he had helped Penelope. “Hey, be nice. What’s got you so salty lately?”

Cocoa leaned on her cane with her elbow and she had to think for a minute. “Oh I don’t know. To be honest…I guess I'm a little jealous of them.”

“Wait…you’re jealous of their relationship? Why?”

“well when you say it like that it sounds like--WAIT!!”

John jumped a little in surprise. “What, what is it?”

“…My STUD senses are tingling…”

Grandma Cocoa sniffed around and then started to walk towards the bush Karo was hiding in, as if some sixth sense was drawing her to him. Karo pulled his head back into the bush and prayed that she did not see him. If he was discovered he would never hear the end of it from Duchess, and he ran the risk of being banned from competition. Suddenly, his prayers were answered when John called Cocoa back from her self-proclaimed mission.

“Cocoa, come on. I gotta start my practice and I can’t do it knowing you’re out here hunting for some guy you don’t know.”

“Oh…Fine, but I know for a fact that there is a Prince Charming out here somewhere, and I will find him!”

Karo breathed a sigh of relief and looked through the window to see everyone in the house going to their own rooms, now all he had to do was find out which room belonged to Penelope and he could put his plan into motion.

===============================================

At the Mall:

Penelope excitedly leads Bino by the arm towards a novelty store and quickly becomes enthralled by all of the knick-knacks laid out on all of the shelves. She releases Bino and walks over to a case displaying designer collars with highly intricate designs and decorative patterns; she would have picked one out if the price wasn’t so high. Meanwhile, Bino was looking around a section of the store that was displaying some southern garb such as large-brimmed hats, large boots with spurs, and even some mariachi uniforms. Bino looked at the rows of hats on a long rack and got a great idea; he picked out a hat and placed it on his head, and then went over to Penelope.

In his best Southern accent, Bino imitated a Cowboy drawing his pistol at her. “Howdy…Bang.” But the hat he picked out was an oversized sombrero.

Penelope put her paws over her mouth and tried to stifle her laughter, but she ended up losing that battle. “PFFFFT. HAH hah ha ha ha! Oh that’s priceless!”

“Uh yeah, I didn’t think it would be THAT funny though…”

Penelope takes the hat off Bino’s head and places it back on the rack, still snickering. “It was really funny because you just did that wearing a Sombrero. You would have been much more convincing wearing a ten-gallon hat.”

“Hmm. I may need to do some research on that kind of southern culture.”

Penelope gives Bino a confused look. “Why bother?”

Now Bino has the same confused expression. “Well…isn’t that the kind of place you come from?”

Penelope almost starts laughing again. “Oh Bino, Texas isn’t really like what you see on TV. The city I come from is called ‘San Antonio’. That name ring any Bells?”

Bino though for a moment, he knew that he had heard of that City before and it eventually came to him when he spotted a postcard depicting many landmarks. “Oh that’s where the ‘Alamo’ is, right?”

“Correct, but everything in Texas is really modern. Just look…” Penelope pulled out a photo from her collar showing her as a puppy in her owner's arms standing in front of a giant observation tower that had all of the floors suspended fifty stories in the air and three elevators going up the spire that held the floors aloft. “Here look, that’s me and Dad in front the ‘Tower of the Americas’ after the elevators got stuck for the second time.”

Bino was amazed at the size of the building and of all the other buildings in the background. “Wow…it's…huge. That city really looks beautiful in that photo.”

“I know; but to be honest Bino, I’m not going to miss that city one bit.”

Bino regrets bringing up Penelope’s past again. “Oh yeah…with all the homeless pets it must’ve been really hard to live there…But hey, come on lets get on a lighter note here.”

"Yeah, sorry. Here lets go to some of those restaurants I saw in the food court"

===========================================

A couple of hours later:

John dropped Bino off at his house and then returns home with Penelope, who was in a particularly good mood. Little did she know, she was being watched by Karo in the bushes as he awaited her to enter the house. Once Penelope entered the house, Karo climbed up the side of the house and opened up a window leading to a bedroom. Karo laid himself out on top of the bed and placed a trimmed rose in his mouth just as the doorknob was turned.

Karo smiled and awaited a shocked reaction but ended up swallowing the rose he held in his mouth when he saw Grandma Cocoa on the other side of the door.

“Oh crud…wrong room.”

“Hardly! I knew my Stud Senses were tingling. Come over here and tell me about yourself!”

Karo immediately tried to flee back out the window, but the lock had bolted itself shut behind him, so he tried to make a run for the door.

“GAK!”

Karo managed to reach the doorknob, but Cocoa had caught Karo by the neck with the hook handle of her cane. She then pulled him back into the room, closing the door behind him.

“Oh come on, I don’t bite. I just wanna talk!”

Karo had finally managed to unlock the window again and he dived out the window and by some miracle, he landed in the bush he was previously hiding in unharmed. Karo didn’t even stop to make sure he wasn’t injured, he just kept running until he got back to Duchess’s home. Grandma Cocoa didn’t know what to make of it so she just shut the window and went to bed, wishing she could remember what the name of that border collie was the last time she hit him over the head with her cane.

Great job, J-Man!

Wonderful job on this chapter J! Its really nice!

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Wonderful job on this chapter J! Its really nice!

Yeah. Karo sure got a surprise out of someone

Announcement of Temporary Hiatus!
Starting Monday, i will be resuming college classes and i will not have time for writing four pages worth of Fan-fic material...sorry
(but i will have time for drawing *hint hint*)

Thats OK. We understand that you have to put your classes ahead of your art. Good luck!

WHAT'S THIS? A YEAR WITHOUT AN UPDATE?!
that simply won't do.
I'm back everyone!

Great to see this fanfic coming back, J-Man!

Chapter 12: Clear skies

Karo jogged his way back to Duchess’s house and didn’t stop until he reached the front door on the top of a massive stairway. He stopped in front of the large doors and caught his breath for a minute before he went in, only then did he realize that he seriously needed a bath. His fur was all dirty from hiding in the shrub for so long and he had several twigs tangled in his coat from when he landed in it after jumping out of a two-story window. Karo was reluctant to knock on the door, because he knew what Duchesses’ reaction to his appearance would be.

*knock-knock*

Duchess opened the door and what followed was a montage of soap, water, and drowning sensations; but soon enough, Karo was returned to his former glory. He plopped himself down on the floor in front of Duchess’s bed, when she poked he head over the edge to look at him with a piercing stare.

“Duchess, I’m sorry. I couldn’t get to Penelope.”

“Oh, that’s okay...I had a plan B in place.”

“Wait... ‘Had’?” Karo asked as Duchess sprouted an Evil grin

Duchess reached under her pillow and pulled out a vanilla folder that had Penelope’s name and her current address stamped onto it. It held a few documents within that looked something like what you would see on a doctor’s clipboard.

“What’s that?” Karo asked.

“While you were spying on them, I got into the house and found these in one of their boxes. These are Penelope’s veterinary records. Look at all this; her age, her history, even her allergies are at my disposal!”

Karo could see how Duchess’s eyes lit up as she said the word “allergies”. It put a deep worry into him, the kind that make’s one question their life choices.

“Duchess, you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re doing, are you?”

Duchess just looked at him with the most innocent look she could muster past her evil grin. “Whatever do you mean?”

============================================

Meanwhile:

Bino again made his way down to the end of the street to meet with Penelope for practice, but he was surprised when she appeared out of nowhere and joined him in his walk.

“Hey Bino, how are you doing?”

“I got the practice down to a science, I think I’m ready for next month!” Bino said as he showed off his unchanged figure, despite all the work out’s he’s been doing with Penelope

Suddenly, Penelope unexpectedly grabbed Bino’s shoulder and turned him around so that he was facing her. He could see the seriousness in Penelope’s eyes as she began to explain something to him.

“Bino, we’ve been together long enough for me to trust you. You promised my Dad that nothing bad will ever happen to me, and I want to be sure you have the tools to do that.”

“What do you mean?” Bino asked with a raised eyebrow.

Penelope reached into her collar and pulled out what looked like a pen at first, but Bino soon recognized it to be a medical tool; an eppy-pen for pets. She handed him the injector and held his hands tight over it.

“Bino, this is for my Peanut allergy, can I trust you with this?” Penelope asked wile staring Bino dead in the eyes.

“Of course, but I’ve never had to use one of these before.” Bino said as he looked at the injector.

“It’s easy, all you have to do his uncap it, stick it in my shoulder or hip, and press the button. Hopefully you’ll never have to use that, but you can never be too careful. Sorry I had to bring it up like this, But I just can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen soon.”