Story 39: Feliz Navi-dog!
7:30 am
It's the most wonderful time of the year down in the neighborhood of Royal Woods. With snow invading the town, and sleigh bells sounding, there's no time such as the present. Heh, present. That's a keeper. Not even a cloud in the sky in the darkness, it seemed like yet another flawless day to celebrate. Christmas time had ensued for the world. Citizens all around, opening their gifts like there's no tomorrow. The Loud family on one hand, still snoozed their peaceful morning away for just a couple more minutes.
Charles walked outside in the snowy atmosphere through the back door of the house with a big slice of ham he stole from the kitchen in his drooling mouth. Keeping his peppy mood for the special holiday, he glanced at the reader, dropping his meat on the ground. "Hey you!" he said, smiling. "I'm real glad ta see yer face at a time like dis."
The pup couldn't help himself but wag his tail. "Boy, you kids ain't gonna believe dis here story I'm about ta tell ya. It was a bit intense fer me, but gosh almighty, I was able ta pull it off." He cleared his throat. "Now, ya know da baby of da house right? Da one dat roams around without a diaper on and a lean mean poopin' machine?" He shook his head slightly. "I hope ya weren't expectin' any different in da first place, she's still a sweet little angel." He expressed another smile, this one, being more content. "Now, she had dis stuffed animal dat she liked a lot. And I mean, a lot."
A flashback ensued for the pup. His memory remembered the time Lily set up a play date with her stuffed bear. There was a table with sippy cups on it and everything. As the baby of the family cooed softly, making goo-goo eyes at the toy, she grabbed her cup and clinked it next to her bear. She drank from her cup not long after before she belched and laughed it off.
When his flashback was complete, the white hound shook his head. "Eh… ya get da point." He walked around in circles. "She couldn't even go fer a minute without dat ting. It's like dat toy meant a whole lot ta her. She'd be darned if anythin' happened ta it." He blushed as he scratched his head. "Da ting is, I… mighta had somethin' ta do wit' dat." With a chuckle, he asked, "Which reminds me, are ya kids ready fer another excitin' story?"
A single pause ensued.
"Dat's great ta hear. Now dere ain't no time ta waste, time fer me to tell ya what happened." I can remember it all as if it were yesterday." He stopped to pop up and glance at the reader. "It's weird too, cause it really was yesterday."
12 hours ago
The siblings hummed in harmony as they descended a flight of stairs, their gifts to each of their sisters corresponded by their respective colors. Lily held her old teddy along with Lori's gift for her as she held her in her arms. She teethed on one side before the teen grabbed it from her slowly along with her teddy falling to the floor.
"It all started wit' everybody gettin' ready fer da hoiday." Charles spoke.
"Poo-poo." Lily growled. Each one of them sans the baby showcased their calm and satisfied smiles.
"Alright, is everybody present?" Lori asked, looking back to her siblings.
Luan couldn't help but laugh as the eldest set her gift down. "That's a good one, Lori!" she gave an okay sign before the eldest teenager quickly realized and let out a groan.
"Gosh, isn't this the day to spread joy all around?" Leni set down her gift.
"Sure is," Lincoln uttered. "I have a feeling this might be better than last year!"
Luna set her gift down next to Leni's as everyone else would ultimately follow. "This is gonna be one heck of an awesome Christmas, dudes."
Lola joined her hands together. "I really hope I'm getting that fancy princess set I've been dying to have for the past three months!"
"Same here, but with a castle with a trustworthy dino dude action figure!" Lana added, excitedly.
Lucy took a glance down at her gift. "I could use an upgrade to my book of rituals."
Lisa gave a smile as she set her gift on top of Leni's. "I only need one thing that'll complete an upcoming experiment I've been doing progress on, and I heard it's slightly difficult for anyone to obtain." She turned back to her siblings. "And I do not wish to unveil my desire just yet. It's a surprise."
Just then, Rita and Lynn Sr. stepped inside the living room, but with more eclectic motion. "Alright kids," the father uttered. "Everyone set for tomorrow?" His feedback was filled with satisfied chatter from his offsprings. Given the reaction, he let out a smile. His teeth were shown as if it emphasized the way he felt.
His wife went over to the outlet next to the tree and plugged the lights in as they flashed multiple colors. "Now that we've got all of our shopping done, and thank goodness with a little time left to spare, I guess we can start having a little bit of fun."
"Like what, Mom?" Lincoln asked, the siblings' eyes on her.
His mother turned to Lori holding the youngest giggling child.
"Dat little munchkin was in da middle of celebratin' her first christmas evuh." Charles uttered. "Dose kids wanted ta do everythin' dey can ta make dis one a memory dat'll last forevuh."
Realizing that this was the baby's first Christmas ever, she wanted to go out of her way to make this holiday the best yet. She then turned over to the teenage rockstar of the bunch. "Do you have any ideas for a nice Christmas tune?"
Luna thought to herself for a bit. "I might have one idea," she shrugged in an unsure fashion. "But I'm kinda making it up as I go so I don't know how it'll turn out."
Rita walked over to Lori and grabbed Lily from her arms. She paused for a second before an idea would come to her head. "Let's try some caroling and see where that goes."
Lincoln glanced over to Luna. "We'll help back you up if you're stuck on something!"
As others agreed, Luna thought to herself before she gave her input. "Why not. What's a song without my family to participate?"
"I'll be the first to back her up!" Lola spat as she backed up to the front door. "Unh, unh!"
"Wait, I wanna be the first to back her up!" Lana said to her twin, walking over to her before Lincoln would do the same.
"Well, who says you two can't back her up together?" he said.
"Linc's right. No need to argue over who does what." Luna added. "We can all do this together!"
"That's what family's for anyway." With every smile she could possibly accumulate, she joined the twins by the door before she opened it soon after. "Alright, let's hit our first house!"
From shortest to tallest, everyone walked out of the house. Their first house for the night was the McBrides. If the middle child was lucky enough, he'd have an extra member to join in the fun.
Just after the door closed with the lights dim, Charles waltzed into the living room, donning a Santa hat for the special occasion. Scatting up a tune on the top of his head, he snagged a couple of cookies from the table and scarfed them down. He even drank down the glass of milk that was just lying there next to the plate, down to the last drop.
"Ahh," he quietly uttered before he resumed his holiday scatting.
"And den, dere were four of us."
Walt joined the room not long after, having the urge to sing to his heart's content. "Ohhh, what wondrous time of the year," he spun midair. "Perfect time to spread some joyyyy."
Geo entered the room almost immediately after, barely missing a beat. "And now's the time to break out the cheeeeer~"
Cliff walked in neutrally as if it was nothing at all. "So cut da signin' 'n get wit' da toys."
Everyone's singing came to an abrupt halt. Charles twitched a finger at the cat. "Now's not da time ta be such a grouch dere, cat!"
"I ain't no grouch," Cliff reassured. "I'm just not into singin'."
"Aw come on!" Geo said. "Who wouldn't want to break out the vocals at a time like this?"
Walt agreed. "Yeah, where's your spirit?"
Cliff rolled his eyes. "I dunno. It's just dat… Yeah, I really dunno."
Charles grew confused as he shook his head softly. "Whattaya mean, ya dunno?"
Geo rolled back in, donning a stethoscope and a white jacket. Whipping out a clipboard and a pen, he asked the stubborn feline, "Why don't you tell doctor George what's wrong?"
The feline sighed. "Well... ya doan need ta know." Receiving squinty eyes from his three peers, his eyes shifted left and right. He had no clear reason why he wasn't in the spirit to celebrate a joyous holiday. With the way everyone's staring at him, the cat grew just a tiny bit uncomfortable. One gulp in, he shook his head and sprinted to the kitchen. "You guys are scarin' me!"
With the three speechless, the dog spat "Bah, humbug."
"Poor cat." Geo said.
Walt squinted his eyes. He was determined to take some action to make something happen. "If he doesn't want to spill his words, then he leaves me no choice."
Out of straight curiosity, Charles asked the bird, "What are ya gonna do?"
Walt rubbed his wings together. "It's fairly obvious with what I'm gonna do, you filthy animal." His head lifted up slightly. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this." He flew out of the living room. A moment of silence later, Geo decided to follow the soaring avian to the kitchen.
"I'm going to get some answers if it's the last thing I do for the day." Geo spat.
Charles was left alone in the room. Having not a single idea on what he wanted to do next, he glanced to the reader and gave off a shrug. The jolly little pup took yet another cookie from the table and took a good-sized bite out of it. Just then, he influenced a tiny jump back. What was it?
"And aftuh dat, disaster struck down on us." Charles nervously uttered.
It was a shadow of a bear, thanks to the roaring flames in the fireplace giving off the illusion on the wall. It looked as if it was in motion. Just the sight of its appearance and scary roaring sounds in his head had Charles shaking with anxiety. But no matter, he wasn't going to let something like that cause any harm to his family. Attempting to assert that dominance of his, he growled immensely and slowly approached forward.
Charles wanted to be heroic once again in his life. He could barely even think at this point. As the hound gave off two livid barks, he lunged towards the bear and grabbed it by the snout. He closed his eyes and his maliciousness ensued. The thrashing of the innocent animal slowly inflicted some bit of tearing. It got louder as the attack continued. The dog switched over to one of its arms now. He simply bit down on it and thrashed about once more. Hopefully, after this move, it'd be enough for him to win the battle.
As it turned out for him, he had the courage to fell a certain animal. With one simple toss on the green carpet behind him, it was finally over. He did it. For a second, Charles was proud of himself for what he'd accomplished. Until reality came out of nowhere to bonk him in his head. With close inspection, he never even realized that he tore up a stuffed bear… which happened to belong to the baby of the family.
Oh no. This wasn't good, at all.
"This was in fact, one of da worst tings imaginable." Charles spoke uneasily. "I thought dat was a live bear for a sec! I felt like a good boy once again! But dat wasn't da case wit' dis one... In all seriousness, can ya really blame me though?"
Charles could quickly imagine how everybody in the house would react if they saw this terrible turn of events. Obviously, there was one clear reaction; madness. The dog gulped and his ears dropped slightly before the front door would open up. "Uh-oh."
Not even given a chance to do something, Rita stepped inside with Lily in her arms. She searched around for the baby's stuffed animal which was nowhere to be found. Glancing over to a frightened Charles with his eyes covered by his paws, there it was, all torn up in pieces. Rita was in shock. She had no idea what to do.
Lily was more shocked than her mother. Already, she got the waterworks running. With tears streaming down her face, Charles was quick to realize his grave mistake. He was finished. Mission failed. Game over. With his ears drooped, his sights caught Lily crying over her toy.
Charles thought to himself, "Aw no… what have I done?" He quickly noticed a scowl on the mother's face. This was all types of bad here. She was furious with him. After she set Lily down next to the remains of her stuffed animal, she grabbed Charles and lifted him up.
"Charles! How could you!" she said in a stern nature. "That stuffed bear was Lily's favorite toy!" She forced the dog to observe Lily's lament. "Look what you've done!"
Charles' pupils shook slightly. He was full aware of how much pain his action had inflicted on the mother and the poor child. Now, the dog came to a realization that he had a new mission to conduct.
When Rita glanced over to the table, she was swift to notice the cookies and milk were absent. Looking back at Charles, she asked "Did you eat all of our cookies too?" The response she received was just a tiny belch from Charles. Geez, so much for timing. That was the last straw. She had no choice but to resort to some sort of punishment for the bad dog. Given that it's Christmas time, she decided to go soft this time around.
With a sigh, she uttered, "Well, I guess I have to go out to the store and see if I can find another one." Her response confused Charles as he was set back on the floor again. "Meanwhile, you can forget about getting something for Christmas tomorrow."
Charles jumped. "Aroo?!"
"I don't have time to argue." She pointed towards the dining room. "Now go outside and stay there until I get back." When Charles sadly but calmly got up on his fours and obeyed her command, she had one last thing to utter. "Hopefully you'll use some of that time to think about what you did."
As Charles approached the doggy door in the kitchen, a lightbulb flashed over his canine head. An idea struck him fast as a bolt of lightning. He smirked as he glanced at the reader. "Or maybe I'll use dat time ta set tings right!" he thought to himself.
Pausing for a moment, he glanced back to find Rita watching him. His determination masked itself with lament as he walked out of the door. "I'll wait a bit later after she's gone."
Less than a minute later, Charles arrived back at his doghouse. What he observed was something he wouldn't have expected to see happen from his very eyes. Some roughhousing occured between his three companions, two of them wanting answers from the feline.
Walt approached him in a close proximity. "Come on cat, spit it out!"
Geo wrote down the actions depicted. "Feline, still being stubborn… after five minutes."
Despite not knowing a thing that was going on, the dog broke the ice between them. "What are ya guys doin' fightin' in my house?" he asked, curious and confused.
Walt's tone changed as if he took offense. "Excuse you, we're not fighting here."
"We're just trying to help our friend here but he's not cooperating!" Geo added.
"I am cooperatin' here," Cliff spat. "It's you two dat ain't listenin' ta what I'm sayin'!"
Charles wasn't in the mood at the very moment. "Alright, stop it, all of ya!" he said. "If any pet in dis house needs da help we can get, it's me!"
The pets froze. Out of everyone they could've imagined, especially over Walt, they never thought it'd be the dog in need of some assistance. Given his jolly spirit over the holiday, they were understandably puzzled.
"Wait a minute," Cliff uttered. "You need help?"
Geo's curiosity built up immensely. "How come you need help?"
"And I thought the puss need it the most." Walt added.
Cliff grew irritated by the second. "I'm gonna hafta tell ya again, don't ya evuh call me dat." he said to Walt.
The bird responded by rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say, ...cat."
The feline nodded. "Dat's bettuh."
"Geez, cat. It's just an alternative term." Geo neutrally uttered.
Charles called out to his peers, feeling ignored by them. "You guys! My problem?!"
Walt groaned as he turned to the dog. "What about it?"
"I've done somethin' bad…" The dog grabbed the cat's arms, shaking him back and forth. "Reeeal bad!"
"Ya pooped on da couch again?" Cliff curiously asked.
"Did you eat through another pair of boots?" Geo added.
The avian was getting irritated. "Get on with it already, why don't you?"
With paws in his head, Charles spat, "I… accidentally tore the baby's teddy!"
One by one, everyone gasped. It was a shock to them they never saw coming. Not wanting to believe his words, Walt asked one simple questtion. "You're… you're joking right?" he asked. "This has to be some kind of joke."
Cliff glanced to the skeptical avian. "Bird, I doan tink he'd joke about doin' somethin' bad."
"Crikey, this must be serious." Geo uttered.
"I just doan know how da heck dis happened!" He showcased a portion of the teddy's remains. "See?"
The hamster covered his mouth. "Oh no!"
"Dang, you tore that thing up real good." Walt spat.
"Gee, dat ting's definitely no good." Cliff concluded.
Charles rolled his eyes. "Ya tink?" He dropped the remains. "How am I gonna fix dis here toy fer da kid?"
Cliff, Geo, and Walt stood around for a bit. They were stumped without any ideas. "Beats me." the cat answered.
"I don't have anything dude." Walt added.
Geo sadly glanced down. "I'm sorry, but nada."
The hound shook his head. Normally, he'd expect at least one idea to come from their feral minds. "Are ya kiddin me? Not one of youse can come up wit' somethin' ta help me out here?" His feedback were the three slowly shaking their heads horizontally. So with that, Charles' response to them was an elaborate facepalm. "Wowza, thanks ya guys."
"Er… no problem?" Walt spat.
Geo provided the pooch with some confidence. "I'm sure you'll figure something out in no time, dog."
"Ya are da dawg wit' da plan aftuh all." Cliff winked.
Charles gestured to the house. "Now whadda 'bout da kid? She's in dere runnin' da waterworks cause of me!" Clamping his paws together, he asked his pals for a desperate favor. "Could ya please help do somethin' about her, fer me at least?"
Geo was quick to agree. "Don't worry, you can leave that to us!" Cliff and Walt followed along with a smile of determination.
Charles couldn't help himself but shake their paws and wings vigorously. "Gee, thanks pals! I dunno what I'd do without ya!"
Walt winked. "Yeah! This holiday isn't a time to sit here and lament about things."
Cliff placed his paws on his hips. "We hafta do everythin' we can ta lift da kid's spirit."
The hamster rubbed his stubby little paws together. "And I think I might have an idea on how we can do that."
Back inside, poor little Lily was still sitting there as she continued her lament about her stuffed animal. Her pupils slowly shook and her eyes began to water again. "Teddy…"
She toppled over, laying on her left side. After she got a sniffle in, she heard some subtle steps approaching her to a great degree. Who could it be, she wondered? The answer to that question was Charles' three good pals, Cliff, Geo and Walt. They looked at her, noticing her pain from the destruction of her toy bear.
Feeling quite bad for her, Cliff approached her with intent to spark a conversation. "Hey dere, little one." he meowed to her before he petted her on her head. "Why so sad?"
"Doggie bad." Lily spat, frowning with her arms crossed.
Walt landed in front of her face. "Come on you," he tweeted as Geo approached him. "Turn that frown upside-down!"
The hamster tampered with Walt's mouth, making him smile with a show of teeth. He would show his smile as well, in hopes to get the depressed Lily to lighten her mood, at least a little bit. She was confused by what they were trying to do. With a simple babbling response from her, the pets shared an awkward glance towards each other. From this point, they might as well think of something else.
Cliff tried to make a funny face. Shaking his head, derping his eyes with his tongue wailing about, he was able to extract a reaction out of her. That sad expression of Lily's traversed into unamusement. She's seen Lincoln's faces before, and not a single one got her to elicit a smile. His silliness toned down to sadness not long after. The cat's ears flopped down. "Aw, I thought dat always cheers ya up." he meowed.
"Well you thought wrong, cat." Walt tweeted.
Cliff shifted his irritated gaze on the bird. "Den how 'bout ya show us how it's done, why don'tcha?"
Walt facepalmed before he gave a shrug. "You seriously didn't notice that I already tried? If we can't figure out how to get this child out of a sad slump, the dog's going to lose his marbles."
Geo pointed to the television stand. "I thought those were his marbles..." Noticing that there was a jar halfway filled with marbles, Cliff shook his head and turned to the hamster.
"Now's not da time fer dis type 'o crud." he meowed, this time, patting Lily on her head. "Dis kid needs our help, and we're gonna give it ta her." His paw made a finger, intent to remind his peers about a key detail. "Plus, da mutt's countin' on us!"
Walt nodded. "He's right. I can't believe I'm doing this, although I'm never this soft towards anyone before, but this is what family is for."
Geo's eyes squinted. "Alright you guys, we all know our mission." He put his paw in, followed by Cliff's paw and Walt's wing almost immediately after. "Operation: Cheer Up is still a go!"
The three pets began to break. "Yeah!"
While the three stood for a moment, watching Lily rocking softly to her left and right, the hamster had an occurring thought come to him. "Also, I hate to bring this up, and I really do hate to bring this up, but is no one seriously going to mention that none of the family's watching over her?"
Walt scratched at his head. "If anything, we're way better authority figures than those forgetful human beings."
"Well, need I remind ya, in dis house, it's all a big mystery." Cliff added. "And a load of possibilities too if dat ain't enough."
Geo was impressed with the feline's answer. "You're not lying, I'll give you that." He shrugged. "Now, come along with me you guys." He strutted towards the dining room while the others including Lily followed him from behind. "I'll kick this mission off with a bit of showbiz… I mean showtunes!"
"Bah, I ain't in da mood ta sing!" the feline spat.
Walt smirked. "Too bad, cat!"
Just inside the parents' room, Charles desperately dug around the place. He spent a good few minutes looking for something to patch up the worst mistake he's ever made. "I've spent a good amount of my time tryin' ta find everythin' I can ta make amends." he spoke. The first thing on his mind was some tape. He was sure it'd be enough to fix the toy up.
Finding a roll in the mother's drawer he spat. "A-ha! This oughta do da trick."
With determination getting in the pup's way, he rushed back to the living room, collecting the rest of the remains he had tore into. Looking back and forth between that and the tape in his drooling mouth, the canine currently experienced some second thoughts. What if that first idea of his didn't work out like he thought it would? What if it tears apart again after a while? Charles looked at the bear irritably and shook his head, but not before extracting the roll from his mouth.
"Nah, dis won't work at all." he uttered. Just then, another light bulb flashed above his head as he slightly lifted it up. "Maybe some bit of glue oughta work out bettuh den dis!"
A couple of minutes later, Charles returned back to the stuffed animal. "Alright you, it's time I fix ya up… I hope." With every piece still lying around at the same spot, the canine animal got down to business. It felt like forever to him trying to piece together all the parts. But, he was confident enough that it would all be worth every second of it to make the pure child proud. Finally, after just another tiny attachment and adjustment to the bear, the pup was done.
"Dere, good as new!" he said, arms on his hips. The only problem? The arm was on the wrong way, and the bear's head fell clean off a couple of seconds in. So much for another potential idea that seemed to go down the drain. He quickly performed a facepalm. "Dang it." A sigh in, he had to come up with another alternative. There had to be something in his canine head that'll spark that perfect solution to a situation such as this. His desperate state of mind made him feel like he really needed it right this second.
The dog knocked on his head. "C'mon now, gimme something ta work wit' here!"
A moment later, he encountered a brain fart. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He stood there for a second before he growled at himself and shook his head. "I'm wastin' time here! Gimme somethin', please!"
Some ticking ensued in his head. There still wasn't anything the dog can work with. When he took a glance over at one specific present underneath the tree, the turquoise color of the paper reminded him of the teenage fashionista. A thought bubble popped over his head. Leni might be a silly ditz to some people, but she definitely had a knack for doing a lot of stuff that involved clothing. From knitting to decorating and designing her wardrobe, she was the teenager that had it all. Given that information that floated around in his thought, it poofed away and revealed a flashing lightbulb.
Charles smiled once again as his tail expressly wagged. He lifted a paw up and pointed upward. "I've got it!"
Just then, as he was in the middle of taking a couple steps away from the toy, he overheard an array of stomps to the floorboard. It was coming from the kitchen, not far away from where he now stood. What could be going on in there? "Eh? What's all dat noise?"
Curiosity would get the better of him, clearly. Knowing how he can snoop into people's business and personal space sometimes, it's no wonder he wouldn't try to stay out of what was happening. With just a peek into the kitchen, the dog was given a sight of a neutral Lily and the rest of his pals stomping their paws down to a rhythmic beat. Geo kept his pure tone, Walt moved his head a bit to their stomping, while Cliff played along, acting like he's enjoying the good time.
With four more stomps at a steady pace, Geo squeaked "One, two, three, four!"
Geo stepped forward in a swing mood before he sang. "Now come on, friends of mine, it's time to paint a little smile!"
The feline shaped up a smile for Lily, as she raised an eyebrow. "Poo-poo?"
"There's no time to feel mad or sad," Geo spins on the floor and sticks a landing pose. "You gotta celebrate with style!"
Walt flew in circles with a lightweight present for him to carry, keeping the mood of the musical number. "We always have to look forward" He inadvertently dropped it on Cliff's head, knocking him out temporarily. "To all those wondrous presents."
The bird walked back in scene, tapping away at a phone. "It's all a big priority, as well as a turn of events." He gave Lily the phone, the screen showing that it was her turn to roll a die.
Just then, a sea of candy fell on top of the group. Geo was on top of the counter though, he was the one that caused the event. "We'll freeload on a bunch of sweets,"
Lily and Walt's head popped up from the candy-lanche. "Like peppermint and chocolate!" He turned to the baby. "Although we can't have it."
Cliff poked the child from behind, licking a candy cane without a care. "What about all dat wad of value? Boy, I'll be stuffin' mah pocket!" He dropped his cane and rubbed his arms together sinisterly.
The hamster walked in scene once again, holding a scepter and wearing a robe fit for a small rodent like himself. "The attire, preferably cotton," He rubbed himself. "Such a warm and fuzzy sensation."
Walt was now wearing a tight sweater as he looked down at himself in disbelief. "If we're wearing ugly sweaters," He angrily looked to the reader. "I'll feel a burning frustration."
"Same!" Cliff added.
"Forget that!"
A quick solo took place. One by one, the four tore off their ugly sweaters in rhythm. They switched into their winter outfit and continued their show tune outside in the backyard.
The hamster of the bunch kicked it off, once again, as Lily watched it all go down in front of her. "Ohhhh, It's time to have some Christmas fun," He resorted to rhythmic prancing. "In all that fluffy snow,"
Cliff popped up, sending Geo in midair. His head bopped sideways in sync. "Oh, what a way ta celebrate," His paws raised up into the air. "Da day dat we all know!" Geo hit the cat's head, inflicting a meow out of him.
Walt slid across a frozen puddle in the backyard. "We'll skate across the freezing ice," He dismounted and stuck a landing. He picked up a snowball and aimed it at an empty can, and Geo. "Slam each other in a snow brawl." He launched the ball, missing the hamster as he jumped and knocking down the can he intended to hit.
Geo landed into the snow and smiled, putting his paws and feet in motion. "Nothing wrong with snow angels," Cliff ran across, dragging a sled across the snow with a giggling Lily seated on it. "Or a ride the cat can haul!"
Joining their paws and wings together, the pets moved together from side to side. With cheerful joy, they sang their made up chorus to Lily. "We gotta share that Christmas spirit, no matter what we do," The baby laughed, she was enjoying it, despite not knowing what they're saying of course. The pets swung their arms. "It's time to spread that happy joy," The cat dragged Lily close. "C'mon, let's not be blue!" He kissed her nose, like a little boop.
When Lily joined in, the chorus got happier. "It's a holly jolly Christmas, the day we know and love,"
From Charles's point of view at the doggy door, he grew impressed by their jolly performance. "Huh. Dat ain't half bad. I'll give 'em dat." He scratched his chin. "Now, where was I?" It struck him in the head in an instant. "Oh yeah!"
Sprinting inside the eldest teen's room, the dog looked around for a certain kit. The one in question was for knitting. Where Leni could've stashed it was anyone's guess. But no matter, he needed to find it. "C'mon, where are ya?" Charles spoke, his paw grazing against the floorboards. With little to no success at the moment, he had an idea of where Leni's kit may be resting.
"I wonder…" he smirked. Digging into another drawer to his right, his paw grazed along with the materials he needed. He smiled upon notice. "A-ha!" Pulling Leni's kit out he spat, "There ya are!" Just then, he walked out into the hallway and went back downstairs. With a determined glare in his face, the dog pulled himself together before getting right to work. "Alright, ya dumb lil' toy," he said. "Doan fail me now."
His knitting game wasn't as good as he thought it was, because he's never done anything like this before. This was his first time yet he really had no idea what he was doing. He gulped immensely over time, but he had to try and pull it off, for him, for Rita, and for the youngest wholesome child of the family. He softly growled at himself, trying to show off his majestic dominance.
When he thought he was making a bit of progress with trying to reair the stuffed toy, he unintentionally poked himself with the sewing needle. Realizing the pain, Charles howled, "Awooo!" Shaking his punctured paw, he grabbed it with his other. His eyes shook, cringing away as he watched his paw. Thankfully, his paw wasn't bleeding or anything. Lucky him.
He kissed his paw almost immediately after before stroking it gently. "Dere dere, I didn't mean ta hurt ya."
With an angry-looking scowl, he kept going at his business. No pain in the world was going to stop him from completing his only mission. His only thought at the current moment was, if he didn't succeed the first time, he can always try again. The only problem that stood in his way is a deadline, which could easily happen to him without any warning. So with that, he had to waste no valuable time fixing his mistake.
But, the faster he went, his results would turn out wonky. With the misshapen appearance of the toy now, his gaze locked on to it. His eye twitched a bit a moment in, wondering how could it turn out like that. With a shake to his canine head, he once again spat, "Dang it." That wasn't supposed to happen. Charles couldn't help but let out an immense growl. "C'mon Charles, you can do dis!"
Determined to keep on trying, he quickly dismantled the toy once more. Scratching his chin, he said, "Shouldn't be so hard ta handle." Charles began grabbing a stuffed arm. "Dis goes right here." He joined the body and the arm together, puncturing them with another needle. Not long after, he grabbed the head. "And dis ting goes right on top… I tink." With confidence, he joined together the two pieces and sewed them down. There, progress was finally being made. Now all that's left for Charles was to observe how long his repairing will last for him.
Charles wiped off his forehead, leaving behind some sweat. "Alrighty, I tink my work here is... finito." He winked at the reader and picked up the toy bear. "Now all dat's left fer me is ta get dis ting to da kid." Without any time to spare, he sprinted towards the kitchen. He assumed that's where the baby and his pals were, until it turned out for him, they weren't there anymore. But he did notice something else, a stack of presents he didn't notice were taken from the living room, and a mess of cookie crumbs all over the checkered floorboards. The pup was honestly confused out of his mind. What the heck happened in there?
Charles shook his head as he spat, "What da evuhlovin' flea…" He glanced to his left and right. There wasn't a trace that could lead him to his disappearing pals. "C'mon now, dere has ta be somethin' here dat'll take me to dat dang cat, 'n da bird, ...'n Ham." He tried going outside to have a look around. He'd figure that was their whereabouts if they're not inside the interior. As it turned out, he was right after all. "Oh yeah, dat's right." Finding his three animal pals preparing the baby up for a little sleigh ride once again, it put a little bit of faith in his heart. He smiled, knowing they'll do anything to cheer up a member of the family. "Ah… dat's mah pals."
The heartfelt pup took a good look back at Lily's patched up toy and stared into it as deeply as he could. "And at dat moment, it was enough ta get me ta realize somethin' dat day." He narrated, saltwater tears filling up his vision. "Helpin' out a friend in need, and settin' tings right sure can take ya a long way." So with that, the determination began to build up inside him again. He's just a few yards away from completing his only mission for the night, and he just hoped that for once, especially on a holiday such as this, nothing would deter him from completing his objective.
Charles grabbed a hold of the toy by teeth and turned to the porch steps. Just then, he lost his footing and slipped into a pile of trash bags just ahead of him, head first. He got his canine face inflicted with some pain from the impact. He didn't think the surface would have the impact of some discarded boxes that the parents threw out. Granted, they thought it'd be a better surprise to extract the products and wrap those instead of the box themselves in an attempt to save up some of their profit. But, who's to say that this was a rather risky move they're trying to pull off?
No matter, that wasn't important for the peppy little hound. He needed to get that bear to the child, and it needed to happen as soon as possible. There wasn't enough time for him to just laze around. He hopped up and ran towards the party, unknowingly leaving behind the toy's arm that fell off.
When he was a few feet away, he realized a piece of the bear was missing. "Yipe!" Charles yelped. He rushed back to the trash and grabbed the arm. Getting a gulp in, he made an attempt to try and fix it back up by hand… or paw, in this case. Treating the bear's hole like a socket, the pup tried to jam the arm back inside. "Get in dere, you..."
By the time he awkwardly struggled for a good couple of seconds, Cliff, Geo, Walt, and Lily wouldn't still be by the backyard. When the arm finally stayed put, Charles swiftly uttered out "Phew! Thought dat would nevuh work. But I'm glad it did." before winking to the reader. He had to get back on track. Running over to his three good pals, he stopped in his own tracks, thanks to a draft grazing upon his fur.
He shook a bit and uttered a tiny growl, before something he didn't expect inflicted a sensation to his cold nose. A few sniffs in, he let out a big sneeze, throwing the bear down into the cold snow. When he unintentionally tore the teddy's head off once again and covered it with some of his clear snot, the hound began to panic again as he soothed his nose.
"Aw c'mon!" he spat. He did show off some of his hesitation after what just happened. Not only was it a broken mess, it just had to get a little nasty too. So much for trying to patch things up between him and his family.
When an acorn or two fell directly onto Charles' noggin, he instantly turned to the tree above him. "Hey, dat ain't helpin', y'know!" He shook his head, confused. "Bah what am I doin'? Now I'm out here talkin' ta trees dat's several decades old!"
He could barely even pick the bear up from the patch of white snow. Holding its head by his index finger and his thumb, he cringed at it. "Aw geez, I know dat I can just go back inside 'n wash dis ting, but it'll take forevuh, and it'll look even worse den it was before!"
Just then, a squirrel he liked to encounter all the time in the backyard had approached him. With a few churrs to itself, he scouted around the remains of the torn up teddy. The dog was confused. "Huh?"
What was it trying to do? Torment him while he's down? Search for some more acorns in the snow? The answer Charles would get would be both, but it wasn't obvious to him just yet in his own point of view.
Not even having to think, the squirrel grabbed the teddy's body and scooped the two acorns he found inside. Running off with it at top speed caught the dog off his guard. His gasp shifted to a mad growl in the blink of an eye. That's enough to set off a desperate hound.
"Get back here, ya theivin' son of a rodent!" Charles spat, chasing the culprit down. "Give it back!"
From running in complete circles, to figure eights, to even diagonally and other patterns imaginable, the chase didn't seem to last for a short bit of time. But it all came to an abrupt halt when the hasty squirrel ran back into its tree, causing Charles to slam face first into the hole. Ouch. If that wasn't serious enough for him, his head got stuck for a brief moment inside. Hesitating for a few to try and figure out how to free himself, he got into a comfortable position and pushed his legs. A struggle or two later, his head freed itself without a hassle.
Charles grew just a tad angry. "Darn pests, dey sure do drive me crazy, I swear!" he spat, looking back inside the hole before taunting the rodent with "Doan tink I ain't through wit' ya!"
He reached a paw inside the hole and grabbed ahold of one of the teddy's legs. With every tug he did, he received a yank back with no hesitance to spare. Currently, It was a standoff between him and the animal that he really doesn't like. An all out game of tug-o-war. A one versus one duel for the ages. Who's going to take this home?
Charles yawned. "Seriously? Y'all know what da answer is ta dis one." With one final yoink, the dog finally got back the main piece of the teddy he needed. "And dat answer is not some pudgy, weaklin' of a bad squirrel! If ya guessed right, ya get no points."
When Charles chuckled, he sat and watched as the rest of the teddy's body would fall apart. As all the pieces inevitably hit the snow, he quickly influenced a terrified gulp. With the remains all over the place and with time quickly running out, the dog was left with only one other option.
"I… I…" He fell flat on his back. "Oh who am I kiddin'...?" he sniffled. "It's hopeless!" He covered his eyes before he would inevitably begin his crying. "Aftuh all I've done ta work dis out!" His whines got more audible as he kept running the waterworks. "And now... I'll nevuh git' ta make amends!"
Poor Charles was hurt. That bear was his only ticket out of the mess he got himself into. Now that it's completely in ruins, it's like he's trapped inside a box with no key to unlock it. For the next few minutes, his actions repeated themselves. There wasn't anything else he could do aside from that.
Inside of his doghouse now, Charles was still in a state of sadness. His fur was all uneven, looking like the aftermath of a flea invasion. Despite being a quiet blubbering mess now, he mumbled some words to himself. He beat himself up verbally, wondering what he could've done to prevent such a tragedy to take place in the family household. "I was a complete goner at dis point. I had no bear, and I had no chance of patchin' up what I've done." he narrated. "I wasn't born to be a monster ta dis child, but life sure is paintin' me as one. I ain't ask fer somethin' this cruel ta happen ta us! Dis was supposed ta be a jolly holiday. One dat we ain't gonna fugget about fer a long time! I just dunno why or what da heck had ta happen ta escalate ta dis."
Curled up into a ball, Charles muttered, "I dunno what ta do now… Why couldn't I have done dat…—sniff—I shoulda did dis..."
Hours later, Charles tried to sleep his trouble away. He thought maybe a simple rest would at least soothe his problems down at least a bit. His humble state of mind was somehow at a restful state after all the chaos he went through on j oyful Christmas eve. For a while, it was working for him, thankfully. Maybe his little mishap wouldn't be that much of a deal to him and the rest of the family anyway.
The dog had envisioned himself in a dream, one where he would kept hearing ringing voices and reiterating lines he basically kicked himself with. The same words he uttered earlier would literally come back and haunt him. As it lasted like it was forever, Charles started whimpering. Voices kept swarming around his head, in hopes to get the pooch to break.
"Why did you do that..?"
"You should've done this…"
"Doggie bad!"
"I can't believe you've done that…"
"You could've did that..."
"Bad dog!"
Each sentence reminded them of some of the siblings. It was more of a nightmare to him if anything. Charles' dream almost felt too home. His paws flailed, trying to run away from his problem. But, no matter where he went, his problem would inevitably catch up with him. Huge cotton remains of the destroyed teddy bear fell in front of him, couple feet away as it caused a yelp out of him. The frightened hound had to switch up his avenue at a quick pace. Turning around, another piece of the bear fell and blocked his way. Sprinting to his right, the same output fell into place. Before he got a chance to move, another ball of remains ate him whole.
A moment later, the dog popped back up on top. All he could hear now was the voice of the siblings lashing out. The dog shook strenuously, whining in complete fear. The first instance that came to his mind, he was singled out. The sounds grew much louder after each passing second. Covering his ears and closing his eyes, he curled back into a ball again. It almost felt like a fate that was worse than anything else he could've imagined. More tears began to stream down his face, before sounds of tracking snow ensued in his head, growing louder overtime.
The second he felt somet hing come in contact with his head, he let out a sorrow-filled howl. Waking up for the chaos he considered a living nightmare, he twisted and turned rapidly. Unknowingly, he awakened on a Christmas day, with just a full hour to go before present time. His vision locked tightly on his feline friend, Cliff, who just wanted to try and calm the poor pooch down. "Hey, are… are ya cryin'?" he said, Geo and Walt soon followed.
Charles sniffled. "Wh-what's it to ya?"
"Oh no," Geo sadly uttered. "I've never seen you this upset." His paws were on his hips, now showing mindedness. "And that's not the way to be on a wondrous holiday!"
Walt just had to give his comment. "You look like you hadn't slept in days."
Charles nervously rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks bird. Dat meant a lot."
"No seriously, what's got ya so down?" Cliff asked.
The dog troubled himself uttering the only problem he had. "I… I'm a mess. I tried everything I could ta fix tings up fer dat peppy little kid," he pointed towards the remains. "And now look what happened."
Everyone just stared at the teddy bear, observing all the scattered cotton and pieces. Unbiased looks shifted down to melancholy. They felt a tiny bit remorseful for him. "I didn't intend fer dis result, I had hopes dat I can pull dis off. Blame my bad luck, or maybe it's all just a dumb coincidence." They had a realization on how much this objective meant to him, He may be just a dog, the leader of the pack of his pals who can solve anything in the blink of an eye, but maybe, just maybe for once, that role could be given to someone else just for a few minutes. "Whatevuh happened just painted me as a monster, 'n dey'll nevuh see me any different. I feel like I'm losin' sight of who da heck I am…— sniff—I doan deserve anythin' fer what I've done."
With one more whine, his pals exchanged some glances. Cliff shifted back to Charles and pet him on the head. "Y'know dawg, I might not know what yer sayin' sometimes, but what I know is… tings happen. And sometimes… it ain't yer fault."
"Yeah, it's not your fault!" Geo added.
"Uh, I don't know about that." Walt honestly responded. Given two glares from Geo and Cliff, the bird changed his answer fast. "You're not to blame." He concluded with an eye roll.
A lightbulb hatched over the feline's head. Ideas sparked inside. "If yer willin' ta hear me out on dis fer a little while, dawg, den I may have an idea!"
With all eyes on Cliff, the hamster asked, "You do?"
"Huh?" Charles added.
Walt raised an eyebrow. "Well, what is it?"
"We doan have much t ime so we gotta do dis quick." Cliff gathered everyone close together and uttered his plan in a low volume. Everyone was curious and nervous if it'll work. The dog on one hand was desperate for any help. He should be lucky that he had his friends take the time to give him the comfort he needed, to which he was. Cliff finished spilling his plan and threw his paw in. "Alright, paws 'n wings in!"
Geo placed his paw in and Walt threw his wing in. Now, all that was left, was the leader of the pets himself. Being a nervous wreck he's in, he obviously hesitated for a moment. With everyone looking at Charles, he uttered, "Y-ya sure... dis is gonna work out?"
"Trust me dawg…" Cliff responded, giving a wink. And with that, Charles slowly offered his paw with the rest of his pals.
Inside the house, the kids opened their presents as the parents stood and watched. Everyone seemed to be pleased with what they've gotten for the holidays. Satisfied chatter was thrown all around, eventually leading to them thanking their peers. "The only ting I had ta do at dis point, was a surprise." Charles narrated confidently. "I hafta hand it to da cat, honestly. He might be such a snark ta me, but I had no idear he can come up with such an amazin' backup plan after a mess of mine fell flat outta nowhere. Now, all ya gotta do, is just sit back, 'n watch what happened."
"This is beautiful!" Lola reacted.
Lori caressed her christmas gift. "These lounge pants are just my style!"
"I really love the coloring on this tricked out guitar dudes!" Luna reacted.
Lucy gave off a smile. "It's about time, my book of rituals get a wondrous upgrade. I've been waiting to try out that one levitating trick for a little while though."
Lynn Sr. sighed. "Isn't this wonderful? Our kids having the time of their lives on a good day such as this?
Rita gave off a half-hearted smile. "Well, almost wonderful."
"What do you mean, Honey?"
She looked down and thought for a bit. When her sights turned to the merry baby of the family surrounded by a couple presents, bopping her hands on the unwrapped paper, she uttered, "Well… I don't know if I told you this, when I should have last night…"
"Hey Lily!" Luan said. "Aren't you gonna open your present?"
When Lily looked back at her gift, the rest of the family calmly cheered her on, including Cliff, Geo, and Walt. She would hesitate for a bit, since she could easily feel a bit of pressure just for doing a simple task. She rubbed her hands together before she could grab onto the strip of her respected bow. Just then, after just a tug, the top popped up, revealing Charles dressed as a fuzzy polar bear, complete with buttons and even a tie to accent. The baby gasped, before the rest of the family reacted the same way.
"Surprise!" he barked. "Merry Christmas, kid!"
Everybody just froze. Nobody saw this coming at all. His intent worked out without even a flaw. But, what he really wanted, was her happiness again, and it'll depend on how Lily would react in the next couple of seconds.
She giggled and clapped her hands. "Teddy!" She got glomped and licked on by the jolly pup. The rest of the siblings reacted in awe and heartfelt laughter. Cliff's work was done. With a confident smile, he received high fives from the bird and the hamster of the bunch.
"Okay, now it's wonderful." Rita reacted with a smile. "It's so nice of Charles to do this for our little Lily."
"Honestly, I had no idea the darn dog could be capable of doing any of that." Lynn Sr. admitted.
"You literally have to hand it to Lana." Lori said to her dad.
Lincoln agreed. "Yeah, the girl knows her animals."
"Aw, stop you guys!" Lana uttered, dismissively waved a hand.
"Yeesh." Lynn muttered.
Lily gave Charles a hug. "Teddy!" The happy driven hound couldn't help but hug her back and snuggle at her face. Lana and Lincoln walked over to him and pet the canine on his head. There was only one thing left for him to do now. Glancing over to Cliff, Geo, and Walt now, he received a thumbs up and a wink from him, before he winked at him back.
Charles sighed. "Well, I guess dat's da story of da kid's first Christmas, as far as I can remembuh. I'm real surprised dat everythin' managed ta work itself out in da end. I've nevuh been so happy ta lift a kid's spirit before in my life. Although, I'm definitely ain't gonna git used ta dis fur, it was still worth it to give dat baby a smile. Besides, makin' a gift dat we animals came up wit' on our own, and puttin' some thought into dem? Ain't dat one of da true meanings of dis holiday?"
"AAAAHHH!" Leni screamed, running downstairs with one of her damaged dresses. "You guys! What happened to one of my beautiful dresses?!"
Everyone paid their attention over to Charles. He had no idea why they were looking at him like that, but it wasn't going to be pretty. "Aroo?" he uttered.
"Hoo, boy. Some story dat was, ain't it?" Charles asked the reader. A beat took place before the dog responded with, "Definitely! It's definitely a story I'll remember for a long time. It means a lot ta me, servin' my purpose ta bein' a good pal ta dese kids, 'n bondin' wit' em at every chance we get. I love 'em wit' all my heart. But den again, what dog don't do da same?"
The pooch turned to his calendar on his right side and whipped out a marker. "Hope ya don't mind me doin dis fer a sec." He crossed out the remaining seven days he had left. Just then, some fireworks popped off in the background. The dog turned to the reader and gave off an awkward chuckle.
"Doggy!" a voice spat.
Overhearing that single word, Charles geared himself up to run. Before doing so, he spat. "We've got one more ting ta celebrate, kids. C'mon!" Sprinting outside, a marker spun in midair before falling to the ground.
Two barks in, Charles approached Lily and sat next to her, watching the show of fireworks. She giggled as she flailed her arms up and down together. Charles' tail wagged around playfully as he smiled at the sky. As a few more popped off in the night sky, Lily placed a hand around the dog's back. Charles would inevitably do the same thing.
"Doggy, doggy". Lily said, giggling.
Charles panted and licked her face once again. Looking back up into the show, fireworks popped again, this time, showing off some multicolored stars and snowflakes. When a heart-shaped firework exploded into the sky, Lily happily exclaimed only three simple words: "Happy New Year!"
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone!