Chapter 6

Everest's Less Than Pleasant Surprise

Everest had been nervous since she woke up that morning. Based on what she had been told the previous night, she had reason to believe that Jake's punishment would be today. However, Jake had not told her what said punishment would be.

"Everest!" she heard Jake call from the other room.

She then proceeded to cautiously walk over to the other room, but when she actually got there, she was surprised to see Katie standing there with her owner, holding a bag of some sort. she then proceeded to offer her a spoonful of peanut butter.

Everest seemed to instinctively know there was a pill in it, and told Katie that she knew this, and wouldn't take it.

"Everest, if you take it, I will give you five liver treats," promised Jake. Unable to resist the offer, Everest then immediately wolfed down the peanut butter, and Jake made good on his promise.

"Now Everest," began Katie, "tell me if your head starts to feel a little foggy."

Everest nodded in understanding, and 20 minutes later she admitted that she did feel lightheaded.

Katie nodded and proceeded to take a harness out of her bag, before helping Everest into it. This wasn't the first time Everest had been in a harness, but this time it felt noticeably heavier than any she had previously worn.

"Now Everest, I need you to close your eyes for a second," requested Katie.

Everest nodded and did as she was asked. She then felt a pair of doggles being slipped onto her.

"Okay Everest, you can open your eyes now," informed Katie.

Everest was in for a nasty surprise upon opening them: she couldn't see clearly.

A figure vaguely resembling Jake approached her and began, "Everest, can you see me?"

"Not clearly," answered Everest, who was still startled by her impaired eyesight.

"But you can see I'm here, right?" asked her owner

Everest nodded.

"Good," thought Jake. "Now, Everest, I want you to follow me around, like a game of follow the leader," requested her owner.

Everest nodded, and Jake proceeded to lead her around the cabin for 20 minutes.

As the snow dog followed her owner around, the combination of the obscured vision, the cloudiness in her head, and the sheer weight she felt made this task much more difficult. She did manage to keep up though, but she frequently spaced out, had trouble walking straight, nearly fell over, and tripped over her own feet a couple times.

After 20 minutes, Jake said, "That's enough, you can sit down now Everest."

Katie then moved forward to remove the harness and doggles, but Jake stopped her.

"Huh?" asked Katie.

"Can I talk to you outside for a second?" asked Jake, before returning his attention to Everest. "Everest, if you sit here and wait like a good girl, I promise I will reward you later," promised Jake. After he and Katie were outside, the latter asked, "What was that about?"

"You said the Basenjidryl will make her fall asleep, right?"

"Probably, it will definitely make her drowsy," explained Katie.

"Anyway," began Jake, "I want to keep the doggles on her until I'm sure she's asleep.

Katie looked at him incredulously. "Why," she asked. "

Jake smiled and explained why.

"I see," said Katie. "What of the harness though?"

Jake then proceeded to explain that too.

After hearing him out, Katie smiled, and the two headed back to the cabin.

Once inside, Jake strode up to Everest, and gave her an affectionate scritch behind the ears to thank her for her patience.

"Everest," began Katie, "you might start to feel sleepy soon. If and when that happens, just lie down and take a nap."

Ten minutes later, Everest started to move toward one of the windows and kerflumphed onto the floor with a big yawn.

"Hold on," called out Katie, before running over to take the harness off her.

As soon as it was off, she collapsed onto the floor and dozed off.

After 5 minutes, Jake informed Katie, "She's out like a light."

Katie then immediately walked up to the sleeping husky and pulled the doggles off her. After retrieving them, she went back up to Jake and began, "The Basenjidryl will most likely take 5 to 9 hours to wear off. During that time, I want you to keep an eye on her, even if she is asleep the whole time."

Jake nodded to show he understood, and with that, Katie headed out the door.

Seven hours later, Everest fluttered her eyes open. For the first time since that morning, she could see clearly, and she could see it was dark out. Her eyes then fell on Jake, who immediately came over to her. He then knelt down and affectionately petted her.

"So," he asked, "how was it being drunk?"

Notes:

Doggles: Image search it; you won't regret it

I am still undecided as to whether to make the next chapter be about Marshall coming over, or whether to jump to Jake's next lesson. It has also become real hard to not give away spoilers about Jakes intent, but just remember that part about Jake saying he has faith in how bright she is.