Hospital. Afternoon.
A doctor came out of Sasha's room to the waiting room.
"Is she okay, doctor?" asked Charlie.
"She's very sick." said the doctor.
"Do you know if it's contagious?" asked Charlie.
"As far as we know, it's not." said the doctor.
"May I see her?" asked Charlie.
"You may." said the doctor.
Charlie walked into Sasha's room, where she was sleeping and sat beside her. He kissed her paw and spoke.
"Please hold on, sweetheart."
Later.
Flea Bite.
"You seen Charlie, honey?" Itchy asked Bess.
"He was at the hospital with Sasha, but I think now, he said he was gonna be at that new ice cream shop." said Bess. "What was it? Oh! Now I know! Cherry's Ice Cream!"
"Is Sasha okay?" asked Itchy. "I mean, the both have been gone for a while."
Cherry's Ice Cream.
Charlie sat at a table, drinking a malt.
"How's your malt?" asked a girl german shepherd with long red hair.
"It's fine." Charlie said with sorrow and looked down to the ground.
"What's wrong, honey?" she asked and sat beside Charlie.
Charlie took a minute before he looked up and spoke.
"It's my wife." said Charlie. "She was fine when we went to bed and this morning, I found her at our cafe. She was sick... bleeding. She was drugged as hell. Couldn't even walk. I tell you something. I don't know what's going on around here. I'm scared she'll die."
"Well, I'm sorry, sweetie." said the german shepherd. "You think it was like an abduction or something?"
"Aliens?" asked Charlie.
"Well... no..." said the german shepherd.
"I don't know." said Charlie. "But I need to know what it was." he said, looked down and took a minute.
"You're Cherry, right?" he asked, looking back up.
"Yep." said the german shepherd. "I like to keep myself obvious. Can I fix you something?"
"No." said Charlie. "I'm not really hungry. I just some time."
"Okay." said Cherry. "You change your mind, you let me know, okay?"
"Alright." said Charlie.
Itchy and Bess walked in the shop.
"Hi, guys!" said Cherry. "Welcome to Cherry's! What may I get you?"
"What about an orange smoothie for me and uh..." began Itchy.
"Peanut butter milkshake." said Bess.
"Yep." said Itchy. "That's all."
"Coming right up!" said Cherry.
Charlie sat, stirring his malt with his straw as one of his paws held one of his cheeks as a tear ran down his cheek.
"Charlie?" asked Itchy. "Is she?"
"She's just very sick." said Charlie. "I'm scared."
"I'm sure she'll be okay." said Itchy.
"I feel the same amount of sorrow as the time I first met Anne-Marie." said Charlie. "I felt so worried about her. I cared about her. I just... I hope Sasha lives like Anne-Marie did."
"Just try not to worry about it." said Itchy.
"I don't know if that will help." said Charlie.
"I'm going to wait for our drinks outside okay, honeybuns?" said Bess.
"Okay, sweetie." said Itchy.