"What?" D2 asked, puzzled. "What do ya have in mind?"
"Well, c'mon, dog, spit it out!" D3 demanded.
D1 pointed at the card then at their house, which confused his brothers.
"We share the money with our family!" D1 declared.
D2 tilted his head, perplexed, while D3 frowned at him.
"… Umm… Share the money, D1?" D2 walked up to him. "We won the money ourselves, did ya forget?"
"Yeah! We won the money, not them." D3 also walked up to his brother, peeved. "The only ones with the right to this money is us."
D1 scowled at his brothers and bumped them on their heads.
"Arghhh…!" D3 growled in pain. "The heck was that for?!"
D2 rubbed his head. "Yeah…?!"
"Sheesh! How can you guys be so selfish?" Rasped D1, then put a finger on his forehead. "Think about it, you two…"
His two brothers focused their attention on him.
"We've been getting into lots of trouble—especially lately, right?" D1 sat on the ground.
"Uh-huh!" His brothers agreed in unison.
"So, if we share the money with the family, they'll probably forget all that bad stuff we've been doing recently." D1 told them. "And they'll also adore us!"
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" D2 grew a grin.
"Ah! I see what ya mean." D3 bubbled. "You're a freakin' genius!"
"Right…? Not to mention that we'll also have some of the money to ourselves." D1 added. "What do you guys say?"
"I'm in!" D2 exclaimed.
"Me too!" D3 agreed as well. "… But wait…
"How are we gonna share the money?"
"We'll split it, of course, evenly." D1 replied.
"And… How much should we give to everyone, then?" D2 wondered.
"Simple, D2. We have 96 brothers and sisters, including us three, plus mum and dad that makes us 101, right…?" D1 began waving the card. "So we take the ten thousand pounds and… And….. Divide… I think…
"Right…? Guys?"
D3 shrugged his shoulders, while D2 rubbed his muzzle.
"I don't know." D3 scoffed.
"And I'm not sure." D2 faltered. "Hey! Let's ask Dawkins, he's good at math."
"Yeah, yeah. Mister Know-it-all can calculate it for us." said D3.
All of them nodded and headed to the house.
As Desmond was about to enter Da Vinci's room, he noticed Dante walking out of his room.
"Good morning, Dante!" Desmond waved at him.
Dante squinted at him, and quickly went back in his room.
… Weird… Desmond thought to himself but shrugged it off as Dante not being in a good mood.
He then slowly opened the door to Da Vinci's room and peeked in. Da Vinci was standing in front of a canvas, splattering paint with her paws on it, haphazardly. Desmond entered the room and silently walked up to her. He then sat next to her, trying not to make much noise.
"Good morning, Da Vin—"
"AAH!" Da Vinci got startled, and by reflex, splashed Desmond with paint in his face.
"Oh, Desmond! I'm so sorry, didn't meant to… You just startled me." Da Vinci exclaimed, then took a towel and started cleaning Desmond's face which was covered in wet paint. "None got in your eyes, did it?"
"No, no. I'm fine…" He reassured her. "Shouldn't have sneaked up on you."
Da Vinci finished cleaning Desmond's face and left the paint-stained towel on her desk. "Came early again, I see."
Desmond smiled at her and nodded.
"You don't have to always come this early, you know?" Da Vinci told him, then giggled. "We haven't even had breakfast yet."
"I know, but I don't mind. I get up early anyway." Desmond assured her. "By the way, don't you usually use brushes to paint?"
Da Vinci looked at her paint-stained paws. "Ah, this? I sometimes just use my paws to paint. I'm not as accurate with them as I am with a brush, but I guess it's a habit from when I was a pup."
"Aha… You know, I have such habits too." Desmond related.
"Oh, yeah?" She puffed her cheeks. "Like?"
"Ahem…!" Desmond cleared his throat, a bit abashed.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm… Kind of embarrassed from this one…"
"Come on, how bad can it be?" She giggled. "Everybody has their habits."
"Okay, okay, but this stays between us, alright?" Desmond firmly stated.
Da Vinci put a paw on one end of her lips and slid it to the other as if zipping a zipper. "Lips sealed."
"I… Umm… Occasionally… Bite on my paws… And sometimes, I even do it without realizing it…" Desmond spluttered as his face went hot-red from embarrassment.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Da Vinci frowned. "And here I thought I knew you better. Only a weirdo would do something like that."
"Ahh! There, I knew it… Oh, dog! I really wished I hadn't told you that…" Desmond fretted in regret.
"Hahahaha! Hehehe! Just kidding, Desmond, just kidding." She rubbed him on the back, comforting him. "You think I haven't heard worse? In a family like mine, everyone does weird things."
"But as I promised—Lips sealed! Your secret's safe with me." She winked at him.
"Alright…" Desmond exhaled in relief. "Got me worried there for a moment."
He then began spinning in place.
"Hehe!" Da Vinci started chuckling from seeing Desmond whirling around in circles. "What are you doing? Another habit of yours?"
"Have you noticed?" he asked. "Look at my back!"
"Huh?! Your back? Why your ba—"
"Ahh! The bandages are gone!" Da Vinci smiled. "So you're back's healed!"
"Yup! Thanks to Delilah."
"Oh, yeah! Here… I almost forgot why I came to see you." Desmond showed her the sketchbook. "Take a look."
Da Vinci looked over the sketchbook and saw the nicely drawn shapes.
"Excellent!" she gasped in delight. "You've nailed them."
"Thanks!" Desmond smiled at her as he wagged his tail.
"Alright, then…" Da Vinci put the sketchbook aside. "You ready for the next step?"
"Uh-huh! I am!" Desmond confirmed. "Let's go!"
"But first…" She pointed at a chair.
He rubbed his head. "Ah, yeah! Modeling, sure!"
Desmond walked up to the chair and was about to jump on it when Da Vinci suddenly made a gesture with her paw for him to stop. "Actually… Mind if you lay on the floor for this?"
"… Alright." Desmond did as Da Vinci asked.
"Now, face me, extend your right paw foreword, and retract your left one."
"Like this?"
"Perfect, now stay still…" She grabbed a pencil and started sketching on her canvas.
As Da Vinci was just beginning to sketch, the door of her room abruptly opened and Dizzy entered in.
"Sis! Come see this!" The small pup exclaimed. "WE'RE RICH!"
Desmond and Da Vinci jolted their heads at her, in a bit of confusion. Then looked at each other.
"Rich?!" both of them said in unison.
"What's this about, Dizzy?" Da Vinci asked her younger sister, puzzled.
"I told you, come see!" Dizzy repeated herself, then dashed to the living room.
Desmond stood up, and along with Da Vinci went to see what the fuss was all about.
"Where did you get this scratchcard from?!" Dylan demanded with an angry frown as he held the card.
"From a grocery store…" D1 answered his older brother, while D2 and D3 stayed behind him.
"And how did you get it?" the black-eared dog demanded again.
"I told you, from a grocery store."
"No! That's not what I'm asking, you have to be at least sixteen to purchase one of these." Dylan pointed at the card. "Well?!"
"… Umm… We… Err…" Quavered D1 as he couldn't think of an answer.
Dylan started pondering. "The only ones old enough to buy a scratchcard besides mum and dad, and I know they wouldn't, are me and… Oh, dog…!
"DOLLY! COME HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
Dolly entered the living room shortly after Dylan called her.
"What?! I was just gonna play tug of war with the pups." Dolly chided. "Why are ya shouting like that?"
Dylan showed the scratchcard to his sister which made her quickly shiver and break into sweet as she realized what was going on.
"Did you buy this scratchcard?" Dylan sternly asked as he walked up to her.
"Well, I…" She quickly glanced over to the Dimitris then fix her eyes at Dylan again. "N-Nooo~"
Dylan noticed Dolly's sudden glance, which confirmed his suspicion. "So you did buy it, then?"
Dolly sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I bought them for the Dimitris…"
"Wait! 'Them'?! You've bought more of these?" Dylan angrily asked.
"AH! NO, NO! It was just this one—"
"Dolly!" Dylan growled.
"Alright, alright. The Dimitris asked me to get them some of these cards and lottery tickets, and so I did." she confessed.
"You did? Without thinking it may be a bad idea?"
"Why a bad idea?" she asked.
"Because the chances of winning are very slim! You could've just spent your money for nothing!" Dylan scolded her.
"Actually… The money was ours, bro. Dolly just got us the cards and tickets." D3 told Dylan.
"Yours?" Dylan turned to the Dimitris. "And how many did Dolly buy you?"
"… A bit over…" D2 hesitated for a moment. "… Two hundred."
Dylan stood in shock. He quickly looked at the card's price. "Two pounds… So you spend over four hundred pounds for these?!"
"I guess… Not like we kept count on how much we spend. But, hey! Give us some props! We won way more money than we gave, right?!" D1 tried assuring.
Dylan looked back at the card then back at the Dimitris and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, look…! Here's what we're going to do.
"Since you did, in fact, made the money back, I'll close my eyes this time."
"Alright!" the three dogs chortled in unison. While Dolly wiped sweat off her forehead in relief.
"But…!" Dylan suddenly added.
"I'll consult with mum and dad about this. We'll see what they have to say." He then went out of the living room with the card.
"Aww, seriously!" D3 seethed. "C'mon, dog!"
As he was passing through the hallway, Dylan saw Desmond and Da Vinci walking down the stairs.
"Dylan, what's going on?" Da Vinci asked.
"Go ask the others in the living room." Dylan told her as he continued walking through the hallway.
"He seems mad…" Desmond noted. "He didn't even acknowledge me."
The two dogs threw each other concerned looks and hurried to the living room.
"What's going on?" Da Vinci entered the room. "Why is Dylan in a bad mood?"
"He found out that I was buying the Dimitris scratchcards and tickets for the lottery." Dolly answered her, she then rose an ear to hear if Dylan was nearby, which he wasn't, and turned to the Dimitris.
"Oh, dog! I can't believe you three actually won something!" Chortled Dolly. "So, how much didja win?!"
"A ton of money, sis!" D3 stuck his chest out with pride, then pointed to himself. "And it's thanks to this dog, right here!"
"Great, great, but how much?!" Dolly eagerly asked.
"Ten thousand pounds." D1 grinned at her.
Dolly gawked in disbelieve, and so did Desmond, Da Vinci, and the other dogs in the room.
Dolly then grabbed the Dimitris and began spinning them in joy. "YAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Ten thousand?!" Da Vinci stood baffled.
"WOW!" Desmond cleared his ears, making sure he heard right. "Aren't you the luckiest dogs?!"
"But, what happened?" Dolly put her brothers back on the floor. "I thought I told you to make sure that Dylan didn't sniff ya out."
"We were searching for Dawkins, so he could calculate something for us, but we stumbled upon Dylan first and he saw the card and… I guess ya can figure out the rest." D2 replied.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! That's unfortunate." Dolly sighed. "I could've dealt with Dylan, but mom and dad… Argh!
"Hold on… You said you wanted Dawkins for something…? Didn't we agreed that whatever ya win you'd come to tell me first?" Dolly scowled at the three dogs. "So why go to Dawkins, then?!"
"We thought of something else, Dolly." D1 told her. "We agreed we'd share the money with the family. That's why we needed Dawkins, so he can tell us how much each dog should get.
"Everyone must get an even amount of money, after all."
"Why didn't ya just calculate that yourselves?" Dolly listlessly asked.
The Dimitris looked to the side, away from their sister, slightly embarrassed.
"Ya-Ya know we suck at math." D1 answered.
"Well, I'm kind of mad that you didn't come directly to me, but I like your way of thinking!" Dolly told them. "Putting the family on first place, huh?"
She then pinched their cheeks. "Arentcha the sweetest little bros~"
"Knock it off, Dolly!" D3 growled as did his brothers.
"Hehehe~! Just teasing ya~!" She chuckled.
"What's going on? Why is everybody shouting?" Dawkins entered the room. "Can't a dog do its research in peace?!"
"The Dimitris won ten thousand pounds!" Dizzy told her older brother.
"PFFF! Get out of here!" Dawkins exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding!"
"Nuh-uh, bro!" D3 said in pride. "Thanks to me, we're all rich dogs now!
"Oh! By the way, by the way! Can ya tell us how to split the money evenly?"
"Well…" Dawkins composed himself. "You just divide ten thousand by the number of our family and there you go." Dawkins nonchalantly told him.
"… And that would be…" D2 asked.
Dawkins rolled his eyes. "Roughly ninety-ni—"
"Alright! I gave mum and dad a call…" Dylan said as he entered the room, interrupting his brother. "First things first…
"Dolly, Dimitris, you're grounded for a week."
"Craaap!" Dolly and the Dimitris bellowed in unison.
"Language, you four!" Dylan scolded. "It's what you get for buying things like this behind mum and dad's backs.
"You got it easy if you want to know. Mum and dad were thinking of grounding you for a month, but I convinced them to ease your punishment, so you should be thanking me!"
"So, you told me you wanted to split the money, right, Dimitri 1?" Dylan turned to him.
D1 nodded.
"I mentioned that as well. Mum and dad suggested splitting the money only between ourselves." Dylan returned the scratchcard to D1. "Pretty much, they don't want any of it."
"Well, that changes things then." Dawkins said. "In that case, we'll divide ten thousand by 99 which means everyone, except for mum and Doug, will get… Umm… Let's round it down to 101 pounds per dog."
"Nice!" Chirped Dolly. "I can finally buy a new skateboard!"
Dawkins rubbed his cheek. "I guess I can get some medical books now."
Dizzy hopped. "TOYS! TOYS! TOYS!"
"I've been running short on canvases and paint, lately…" Da Vinci thought to herself.
Dylan and Dawkins look at each other and smiled as they pointed at one another.
"And the rest of my money goes to my savings." The two of them grinned as they said in unison.
"What was that?" One of the pups entered the room when it overheard them. "Did Dizzy say toys?!"
"Toys?! Toys?! Toys?!" More puppies entered the room in a rush.
"Everyone's getting toys! Thanks to the Dimitris!" Dizzy said.
The pups then rush towards the three dogs in a huge hug and began cheering them. "Dimitris! Dimitris! Dimitris!"
"What I tell you, guys…" D1 smugly looked at his brothers. "They're loving us!"
"Oh, yeah! HAHA!" D3 cackled.
"Yippee-yeaaah!" D2 exulted.
"Okay, then. Let's go get our money from the store!" D1 told his brothers.
"You can't get the money from a store." Dylan stated.
"HUH…?!" D3 exclaimed, puzzled. "Why not?!"
"We aren't talking about a hundred or two hundred pounds here. To collect such a big amount of money you have to go to a post office." Dylan explained.
"Fine." D1 rolled his eyes. "We'll just go to a post office."
"One more thing…" Dylan added.
"Arrrgh! What?!" Snarled D1.
"You have to be eighteen or older to get the money." Dylan told his brother.
"Whaaa! Are you joking?!" D1 fumed.
"Eighteen?! But… Err… None of us are that old!" D2 fretted.
"So, What?! We can't get our prize just cuz we aren't adults?!" Scowled D3. "Ya tellin' us to wait five years before we can get our money?!"
"Calm down, you three!" Dylan barked. "No one's telling you to wait that long, just wait until mum and dad come home and they can go get the money."
"YEAH RIGHT!" D1 stomped on the floor. "We won the money, we're gonna claim the money, and that's that!"
"Why are you so stubborn?" Dylan chided. "You know that even if you go to the office, they'll make you leave."
"If they kick us out then we'll bite them!" the Dimitris responded.
Dylan angrily exhaled. "Fine, GO! Do what you want… You're going to come back empty-handed, anyway."
"We'll see…" D1 frowned, then looked around the room and saw Desmond. "Hey! It's tower-dog!"
D1 then suddenly got an idea. "Hey…! Umm… Desmond, right? You're eighteen, aren't you?"
"Seventeen." Desmond corrected.
"Ah, close enough." D1 waved with his paw then walked up to him. "You look like an adult, so how about helping us with the money? Whatcha say, you in?"
Dylan pondered for a moment when he heard this. "… I guess it could work… I mean, I mistook you for an adult the first time we met, Desmond."
"Then, let's give it a shot." Dolly said, then smiled at Desmond.
"Only if he's fine with it!" Dylan turned to his sister.
"Well, I'm willing to help, but I'm not certain it will work." Desmond told them.
Dolly took the scratchcard from D1 and walked up to Desmond. "It will! Just do this…"
Dolly grabbed his paw and gave him the card, she then cleared out her throat. "Walk in there, present the card and confidently say: 'Hello there! I'd like to receive my 10K pounds.'—Like that. You'll be fine!"
"If you're that sure, Dolly." Desmond giggled. "If I remember right, there is a post office a couple of blocks from here. Right, Dylan?"
"Uh-huh." Dylan confirm.
All the dogs walked Desmond and the trio of brothers to the main door and as Desmond and the Dimitris were about to head out, Dylan pulled D1 for a word. "I expect you to listen to Desmond and not give him a hard time while you're with him, okay?"
"Chill, Dylan. He's helping us get the money, right? We won't bother him." D1 reassured his older brother.
Dylan look over to the other Dimitris then squinted at D1. "I'm more worried about Dimitri 2 and Dimitri 3."
"I get you, bro." D1 nodded. "I'll give them a talk."
"Good." Dylan smiled at him. "Go now."
"Wait, Desmond!" Da Vinci ran to him as he and the trio were walking down the porch stairs.
"What?!" Desmond turned to her. "What is it?"
"Lean your head for a second." Da Vinci told him.
She then licked her paw and wiped off a small stain of paint from his ear. "There you go."
"Still had some paint left, huh?" He smirked at her.
"Got to be clean when you go to the office." She smiled back.
"YO! TOWER-DOG! HURRY UP!" D3 yelled, impatiently.
"Where's the rush?" Desmond told him as he walked down the stairs. "We have plenty of time before the office closes."
"Ya tryin' to be smart with me or somethin'?!" D3 retorted, frowning at him.
D1 jabbed him on the side. "Cut it out!"
"What?!" D3 pondered.
D1 pulled him and D2 towards himself and whispered. "Let's leave the tall guy alone, ah? He's the only one who has a chance of getting us the money. Just play nice until we're done."
D2 and D3 looked at each other, thinking it over, then decided.
"Fine." D3 agreed.
"As you say." D2 agreed as well.
"Alright, Desmond!" D1 tapped him on the side then gave him a friendly smile. "Let's go!"
Desmond returned the card to D1 and the four dogs headed towards the post office.
As Da Vinci was looking at them, she noticed Dylan looking at the four with a worried look. "Worried about the Dimitris?"
Dylan fixed his sight at his sister. "Obviously… I'm worried they'll irritate or provoke Desmond in some way. I talked with Dimitri 1, but still…"
Da Vinci sat next to him. "Then calm down. If Dimitri 2 and Dimitri 3 give Desmond a hard time, Dimitri 1'll deal with them."
Dylan looked back at the four dogs. "Hope you're right…"
"So, Desmond…" D1 walked to his side. "We haven't met that often since you moved in."
"I tried talking to you, but you never bothered to give me the time of day." Desmond reminded him.
"Ohhh, yeah…!" D1 coughed out. "Well… Err… Sorry about that. How about we try getting along now?
"I'm sure you already got our names, right?"
Desmond nodded then pointed at D1. "You're Dimitri 1…"
He then pointed at the other two dogs behind him. "On the left is Dimitri 2, on the right Dimitr—"
"Scrap that!" D1 interrupted him. "Just call me D1, and them—D2 and D3."
Desmond looked at him, confused. "Don't you want to be addressed by your full names?"
"Nah, dude! Just call us like that. We don't care much about others addressing us by full name… Honestly, it gets irritating saying Dimitri 1, Dimitri 2, Dimitri 3—Argh! There, it just got me annoyed saying our full names."
"You know, if it bothers you that much, when you hit eighteen, you can go change your names." Desmond suggested.
"As if! Those are the names mum gave us, so there's no way we'll change them." D1 stated.
He then turned to his brothers who were a bit behind. "You guys gonna move at a snail's pace or are you gonna speed up?!"
His brothers jolted a little from their brother's yell and quickly rushed over to them.
"Say something to Desmond, you two." Grumbled D1.
"Umm… You're tall." D2 shrugged.
D1 pulled D2's ear. "Not stupid things like that, D2."
"Okay, okay! Let go of my ear, will ya?!"
"You've got patches coverin' your eyes like me, that's cool, I guess." D3 tried complimenting.
"Thanks… I suppose." Desmond replied.
"Sheesh…! I thought this would be easier…" D1 hung his head.
After a while, the dogs came across a narrow alleyway that caught Desmond's attention.
"Hey!" Desmond turned to the trio that walked behind him. "This alleyway's a shortcut to the post office. Want to go through it?"
"If it's gonna reduce our walking, sure, why not." D1 agreed.
They then entered the alleyway.
"Hey, D1! Can ya give me the card for a second?" D2 said. "I wanna check something."
"Here." D1 passed him the scratchcard.
"Let me just see if–AHHH!" D2 yelped in pain as something suddenly pass over him. "My paw! My paw!"
The three dogs jerked their heads at D2.
"What happened, bro?!" D1 anxiously asked him.
"Arrrgh…! Something bit my paw!" He raised his paw, sowing the bite marks. "OH DOG! OH DOG! There's b-b-blood coming out!"
D2 began panicking. "I'm bleediiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"
"Keep calm, D2. You're bleeding just a little, nothing to fuss about." D1 tried calming him down.
As D3 looked at D2's bitten paw he realized the scratchcard was missing. "Did you drop it?!"
"Drop what?!" D2 tried composing himself. "… Oh, crap, the card! It's gone."
"Look over there!" Desmond pointed to a window.
The Dimitris fixed their eyes at the window Desmond was pointing at. They saw a slim cat with black fur and green eyes that had the scratchcard in its mouth.
"HEY! THAT'S OURS, YOU THIEF!" D3 Shouted in anger. "GIVE THE CARD BACK!"
The cat then quickly jumped off the window and ran through the alleyway.
"I'm sure that cat bit you, D2" D1 realized. "The scum!"
"What?! Not only did that cat steal our winner-card, but it also bit D2?!" D3 snarled in fury. "I'M GANNA BITE THAT CAT'S FREAKIN' EARS OFF!"
D3 rushed after the cat in a blind rage.
"D1 we can't let the cat ran off with the card!" D2 shuddered.
"But your paw… Can you walk on it?" D1 asked him with a worried look.
"It hurts when I step on it… But I have three more paws, don't worry." D2 reassured him.
"Alright, let's go get that fur-ball-spitting dirtbag!" D1 frowned.
"Then let's hurry or we're going to lose track of both D3 and the cat." Desmond told them.
The three dogs then dashed after them, hoping that they can catch up to D3, and get the cat before they lose their ten thousand pounds.