Chapter 3: Out Of Luck

Sometime later during the day,Charlie Brown was sitting in his thinking chair in the living room endlessly looking through dog sitter catalogs in a desperate search for one,he never ever thought that he would have to resort to these despite them constantly being part of the mail his family would receive,so looking back it was a good thing he never tossed them in the trash.

"No too stern. Too expensive. With the way this one looks I'm surprised they don't kidnap dogs. No. No. No." Charlie Brown quietly muttered to himself as he brushed right through the numerous options for dog sitters in the catalog,for despite how many options he had none of them seemed to be what he was looking for. However it seemed that these were unfortunately all he had as he had quickly run out of catalogs and offers to look at as he deeply sighed and groaned "Why can't I find a good dog sitter?" before his eyes were directed over to the fireplace that had a small fire burning inside.

After a few moments of Charlie Brown just staring at the orange/yellow/red flames,he ultimately decided to just do away with the now frankly useless catalogs as he tore them all up and tossed the pieces into the fireplace to burn. Afterwards he was about to douse off and maybe take a short nap in the chair to calm down his nerves and maybe think of a different idea before he suddenly heard his house phone ringing from down the hall as he set all this aside and went off to answer it,unaware that the strangely unburned pieces of paper had blown right up through the chimney and into the sky above.

As soon as Charlie Brown answered his still ringing phone,he was instantly greeted by an enthusiastic and optimistic voice "Hiya there,about time somebody picked up the phone." to which the boy immediately recognized it as none other than Peppermint Patty's as he politely greeted her back "Oh hi Patty. How are you doing today?"

"Oh nevermind about me Chuck. What's up with you?" Patty cheerfully replied as she made a small knot around the telephone wire,but before Charlie Brown could even answer her question,she ended up interrupting him as she butted in "Don't answer that,anyway me,Marcie and Franklin are gonna see us a few movies since they have a bunch of discounts at the theater and maybe get some food after. And I was wondering if you'd like join us,I hear one of the movies is a rom-com."

Charlie Brown started to sweat and feel his face get hot at the prospect that Peppermint Patty was not so subtly asking him out on a date as he nervously and politely declined "R-really? W-well I'm flattered at the offer Patty,but I'm afraid I got other plans." to which Patty angrily asked "What do you mean you can't join us? Are you holding out on me?"

"No no it's nothing like that Patty." Charlie Brown nervously stammered so as not to make himself look bad in front of Patty before he explained himself and his reasoning "It's just that me and my class are gonna be going to the Smithsonian for all of next week,but they aren't allowing dogs this time,and I need to find Snoopy a dog sitter. But the problem is that it's proving to be very hard,I can't find one for the life of me."

"Well I'll be,what a wonderful coincidence." Patty replied in a suddenly cheerful and optimistic tone as Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow and asked for clarification on what she was talking about "Snoopy needing a dog sitter?" to which Patty sternly debunked his guess "No way,I'm talking about the fact that our school across town is having the exact same field trip,to the exact same place,at the exact same time. What do ya think of that Chuck?"

"That's actually pretty neat Patty,it seems that the whole gang is going to Washington,well except for Snoopy of course." Charlie Brown happily replied at the revelation that Patty,Marcie and Franklin's school would be going to the Smithsonian as well as Patty asked out of curiosity "Speaking of which,how did ol Snoop take the news?"

"Well to put it very lightly,let's just say not very well." Charlie Brown sighed and somberly retorted as he glanced out his window to see Snoopy angrily writing something in his typewriter,most likely letters to the school if the huge pile of balled up paper behind him was any indication before Patty suddenly got an idea and enthusiastically suggested "Hey I got an idea Chuck,if you need a dog sitter so bad,you just need some good and stern motivation."

"What do you mean by motivation-" Charlie Brown tried to ask since he didn't seem to know what Patty was talking about but would be swiftly interrupted once again when she sternly and loudly yelled "Don't interrupt me like that Chuck! I'm telling you this only once and you better listen,you have the whole rest of the weekend to find yourself a dog sitter,and if you don't have the best one in the whole wide world by the time you have to go to the airport on Monday morning,I'll never speak to you again! Got it?! Good!" before she slammed her phone down and left Charlie Brown in an embarrassed and mortified state as he timidly said to himself "That was some good motivation Patty. I just wish you hadn't hung up before I could tell you that."

Meanwhile at that exact same time,Patty had since left her house and was walking down the street with Marcie and Franklin,most likely on their way to their movies as the former asked out of curiosity "What was all that yelling about sir? We could hear it down the block when we were on the way to your house." to which the tomboy replied with a confident smirk "I was just giving our boy Chuck some motivation."

"Motivation for what?" Franklin asked for more specific clarification on what she was talking about as she merely shrugged her arms and retorted "I honestly forgot,something about needing a dog sitter for that crazy dog of his." to which Marcie calmly stated "Well that's the first time Charles has needed someone to look after Snoopy,I hope he can find one sir."

"He had better find a good one,he has the whole weekend to find one,and stop calling me sir." Patty sternly retorted and requested as she,Marcie and Franklin had finally made it to the movie theater and headed inside to see at least 6 hours worth of movies,a relatively nice way to spend the first day of the weekend.


Back in his side of the town,Charlie Brown had since taken a small break from trying to find Snoopy a dog sitter and was instead writing a letter to his pen-pal at the living room table,it wasn't like they were gonna read it or send him a letter back since they never,ever did,but it was still nice to write them letters anyway since it was a mostly convenient way to unwind and speak out his thoughts.

Dear Pencil Pal,

I don't know if you are ever gonna read this or send back a letter in response since you never seem to respond to any of my letters,but I do feel the need to tell you this little update on what's been going on in my life. Next week me and my class are gonna be going to the Smithsonian in Washington DC for a whole week,and it turns out that some of my other friends from across town are gonna be coming along with their class too,so it seems that the whole gang is going. Well almost the whole gang actually,unfortunately my dog Snoopy won't be able to come along like he usually does since they aren't allowing dogs this time,and I need to find him a dog sitter by Monday morning,and that's proving to be very difficult. I've looked through all the catalogs I have but none of them seem to be what I'm looking for,what I'm looking for is someone who can be stern yet very loving at the same time,someone who can handle or even rival my dog's…...abnormal nature so they're on equal ground,and someone who can make sure that Snoopy still feels right at home even when I'm gone…...someone extraidionary like that. Unfortunately I haven't found anyone like that yet as I told you earlier,but I do hope that I'll be able to find someone of the sort by Monday morning,one of the reasons being that one of my friends said they'll never speak to me again if I can't.

Your Pencil Pal.

After Charlie Brown finished his short but sweet letter to his Pen-pal,his younger sister Sally suddenly came waltzing in and asked as the former overlooked his letter "What are you doing there big brother?" to which he kindly replied and explained what he was doing "I'm writing a letter to my pencil pal,it's about the field trip next week and my desperate need for a dog sitter."

"What an absolute waste of paper and pencils there,you know they never respond to your letters,and that you never receive any letters. You're wasting your time there." Sally scoffed and lamented her brother for still writing letters and expecting a letter in return as Charlie Brown sighed and tried to keep positive while he put it in an envelope "Well,even though I never receive any letters back or frankly any letters at all,it's not for the lack of effort Sally."

Afterwards he headed outside and started to approach the mailbox while Sally followed him as he continued his ramblings "And even if they don't respond back with a letter of their own,that doesn't mean that they never read them. Who knows,maybe they actually do listen to what I have to say and have just never felt the need to write back."

Once they both made it to the mailbox and put the letter inside for the mailman to pick up the next day,Sally merely rolled her eyes and muttered to herself "Yeah you keep telling yourself that." before she skipped on inside the house to watch TV,and Charlie Brown looked at his watch to see that it was time to give Snoopy his supper as he followed after his siater,unaware that a small gust of wind by the mailbox had miraculously opened it and sent his letter far up into the yellow sky above.