"Can ya help him doc?" Amos asked for about the hundredth time. The doctor sighed and glanced up from where he was working on mending Chief's leg. "Mr. Slade, you're going to have to be a little more patient with me. Your dog will be fine, I promise; in fact he's doing better than you are at the moment, Just give me time to bandage the leg properly and calm down!". Amos nodded and forced himself to have a seat.
From where he sat over in a chair by the corner, Andy shook his head. "I just don't get it Mr. Slade, Chipi would never...I mean...the dog's not vicious...".
"Ya sure about that!" Amos snapped back from his seat, somewhat harshly. He then sighed, "I'm sorry boy...I know, that pup of yours is as well mannered and obedient as any I've seen, and Chief aint the kind ta go causin' trouble with puppies...I, I can't make head or tails of it either!".
Just then a yowl of pain interrupted the conversation, Chief had awoken as the doctor tied the last part of his bandage. "Well" the doctor said from over near the table, which is where they had set Chief for treatment, "his legs pretty well set for now, I'm just gonna run some of this medicine over ta the widow's place and then I'll be back to check on our little patient" he said, petting Chief as the old hound stared melodramatically down at his leg and began licking it in self pity.
Amos looked confused, "The widow? What's she need the medicine for? Last I heard her cow was fine". The doctor smiled amused, "Oh no, it's not for Abigail this time" he said, "It seems Chief here aint the only animal what got hurt, a little fox cub got his leg torn up pretty bad". Amos nodded distractedly, "Yeah, I saw Chief chasin' the little scoundrel around the yard" he said in a dismissive way, although the doctor's next statement perked his interest.
"Yeah, well, the widow's taken it upon herself to nurse the little thing back to health, and given how I saw her previously adopted fox hanging around the house, I'll wager it's his cub". Here the doctor gave a laugh, "Yes sir, Widow Tweed seems ta be out ta provide aid to the whole family, well I best stop chatterin' and get this medicine over ta the widow and that fox cub, be back", and with that, he headed towards the door.
As the doctor left, Amos just sat there in shock for a moment, "I should have known" he whispered, then louder "It's all that widow and her adopted fox's fault! again!".
Andy looked confused, "The widow's fault? How?". Amos shook his head, "Sometime a bit before last year (A/N: I'm guessing) that meddlin' widow took in a fox cub. The blasted thing caused nothin' but trouble since the day it came, it even almost killed Chief and was responsible for both of us breakin' our legs!".
"It tried to kill Chief and made you both break your legs?" Andy asked skeptically. Amos shrugged, "in one form or another, yes!". Andy shook his head, "Well ya can't blame it's cub for today, Chief was the one chasin' it". Amos nodded, "Yeah, and what trouble was it causin' in my yard that Chief stopped, that's what I'd like to know!". Andy shook his head again.
"Gee Willagers" he said, thinking. "The poor thing; Why it's only just a baby, and despite what you think I do think Chief has a tendency to overdo his attacks sometimes. I think I'll go see if I got any blankets the widow might need for it" Andy finished, getting up and heading towards the door. As Andy got up, Amos followed him out of the room, "Now don't go wastin' any of yer good fabrics on that disease infested, no good critter!" he said.
As the two humans' voices drifted off as they headed out of the cabin, Chipi peeked her head around to look in at the now almost empty room. Empty that was, with the exception of Chief lying on the table licking his injured paw. Chipi slowly walked further into the room. She was worried about Binx, sure, but things seemed to be going ok over there now that the widow was taking care of him and the doctor was heading over with medicine, and Chipi felt that she owed Chief an explanation.
"Hey, uh, Mr. Chief?" Chipi said hesitantly as she entered the room. Chief looked up from where he was lying on the table. He just looked at Chipi for a bit before answering, "Yeah" he said curtly. Chipi looked off towards the floor and then back at Chief as she continued, "I...I...well, I didn't mean...I'm sorry" she finished, looking down at the floor again.
Chief didn't say anything at first, as he shifted his injured leg over to rest on top of his other one as if moving it away from Chipi to avoid further damage. He stared down at it for a bit, before looking back towards the apologetic puppy standing at the other end of the room. "What got inta ya? Ya get possessed or somethin'!" he asked.
"No" Chipi muttered. She looked back up at Chief again and seemed to stumble with her words, "I...it's just...you...you would have killed him wouldn't you!" she asked suddenly. Chief looked confused, "Killed who?".
"Bi...the fox cub" Chipi corrected herself. If this conversation started out confusing for Chief, it was only getting worse. "Well, I...yeah, I suppose, why?".
"Well I didn't kill you!" was Chipi's answer. Yep, the confusion was definitely getting worse. "and I would hope you never did" Chief replied, "What are you telling me you tried!".
"No" Chipi sighed, "I...it's just, you got your leg hurt, and by the way you made me bit that hard since you wouldn't stop, but Binx would have been killed, so in figuring out the situation I actually did what was best for both". This last statement would have been more confusing for Chief had there not been the addition of one little tidbit of information.
"Binx?" Chief asked. Chipi stood there, shifting uncomfortably, "Y-yeah, it...it's his name". Chief nodded as understanding suddenly dawned, "You know him?" he stated, not really as a question. Chipi nodded. Chief nodded again, "Well at least I aint confused no more" he said.
"Mr. Chief..." Chipi began, but Chief held up his good paw to silence her. "No, no, please. It more than explains for this little mishap. Now that I see the slightly mixed up reasoning behind it, well as them facy folk say, bygones is bygones". Chipi smiled. "and at least it showed you your mistake and you've learned your lesson, aye?" Chief continued.
Now it was Chipi's turn to look confused, "My lesson?" she asked. Chief nodded, "Why certainly, 'bout dropping contact with this little fox cub immediately" he said. Chipi's jaw dropped slightly, "What! Why would I do that!".
"Chipi they're game animals!" Chief said, "Now I can understand if you were naive enough ta start palin' round with one, but surely now you've learned your lesson and today's showed ya your place and...".
"It's shown me that you need ta lighten up!" Chipi countered, "and stop trying to kill my friends". Chief stuttered a bit, was it possible for Chipi to have missed the point entirely! "No, that's not!" he began, but then noticed something else in Chipi's speech, "Wait, did you say friends...as in more than one! How many...!".
"I'm gonna go check up on Binx" Chipi interrupted in the middle of Chief's question, "I checked up on you and you seem ta be fine, now I gotta go make sure he's ok". Chief stared after Chipi as the little spaniel puppy scampered out of the room and towards the cracked front door to head over to the widow's place. The old hound shook his head, "Dang naive kid!" he said.
A/N: Yeah, Chief wasn't all that hard on Chipi after he found out, but keep in mind Chipi's just a puppy. Chief figures she doesn't know any better and she hasn't been hiding this as a secret or anything, it's only been, what, a few days after she first met Binx the gang.