Chapter 2: Tender, Loving Care

The ride to the hospital was quiet, but perhaps it was better that Penny didn't say much. After surviving that fire on account of Bolt, she did need to rest. On arriving, the paramedics let Penny's mother out first and then brought Penny and Bolt inside. It was in the moment Penny was brought in that her mother felt something against her leg. Looking down, she saw Bolt's two friends; Mittens the cat and Rhino the hamster, both looking up at her with longing eyes. Something in her heart tugged, and the troubled woman lifted them both into her arms.

"Well, hello," she said. "Where did you two come from?"

Since the cat and hamster duo couldn't be understood with their words, Rhino pointed to Bolt as the stretcher carrying him and Penny was taken to the area where Penny would be given her hospital gown and then be brought to the room designated for her in a wheelchair. Then Mittens gestured with her paw to Bolt and then to Penny, and then to Rhino and herself before using her tail to point to Bolt. Bit by bit, Mrs. Forrester began to understand what Mittens and Rhino were trying to tell her: they had been helping Bolt rescue Penny.

These two unlikely friends helped save my little Penny, she thought with astonished joy. She carried them indoors with her, thinking all the while how happy Penny would be with some more pets to accompany her and Bolt. At first, the medics weren't so certain about Mittens and Rhino entering the hospital, but when Mrs. Forrester explained that the two had assisted in her daughter's rescue, the medics made sure that the cat and hamster would be checked for injuries with the best care and caution. Then while the medics sent a call to the local veterinary, Mrs. Forrester went to the front desk to ask for a visit to her little daughter.

...

Once she had gone through the proper entrance procedures, Penny was immediately placed in the best of care. She had her temperature taken, her blood pressure measured, and then was given a new breathing mask to filter out her lungs and an IV for the pain in her legs. Penny was glad to be all right, but she was more concerned about Bolt. He was still so weary from having to fight the smoke from the fire to save her. Nevertheless, she was so happy to be reunited with her pet that she couldn't help smiling at him.

Bolt buried his face against her stomach, which made Penny smile even more. Then she and Bolt turned their attention to the doorway as they heard voices outside, one of which was her mother's, and with her was one of the doctors and his assistant giving Penny's mother an update on her condition.

"Your daughter's condition is upgraded from stable to neutral, Mrs. Forrester," the doctor was saying. "She should be off ventilation in a few hours at best, but she has received a bit of burning on her legs. Not too serious, but she's lucky her dog got her away from the fire when he did. We'll be applying bandages with some burn-relief cream now."

Penny and Bolt saw the doctors arrive with Penny's mother, who hugged her tightly and kissed her cheeks, nose, and forehead. She said, "You ready for your bandages, honey?"

"I'm ready, Mom," the sweet girl said with a little smile. Bolt crawled into the arms of Penny's mother, and the doctors got to work handling the minor burns on Penny's legs. It took less than a minute, and soon, Penny had her legs rubbed with a gentle burn cream and wrapped in bandages from her knees to her toes.

The doctor said to Mrs. Forrester, "Her legs should be good as new in a few days as those burns are only first-degree and nothing worse. Until then, be sure to change the bandages and use the burn cream every twelve hours."

Mrs. Forrester nodded and thanked the doctor for his aid, and then handed Bolt back to Penny, who gave him a gentle scratch behind the ears. She said, "You saved me for real, Bolt. You're my good boy."

Bolt licked Penny's chin and yipped happily, and then the veterinarian arrived to see how Bolt was doing. While he was inspecting the brave German Shepherd, Penny's mother said to her, "There are some friends of Bolt's who want to meet you, sweetie. They actually helped him get into the studio to save you."

With that, Penny's mother brought Mittens and Rhino up to see her, and Penny smiled at them both. She held out her hand to Mittens, who slowly approached and caught her scent, and then let Penny give her a little petting. Even though Penny and her mother couldn't hear it, Mittens was speaking in a truly happy way for the first time in a very long while.

"I haven't felt a hand this nice in forever," sighed Mittens. "Bolt was right. This feels real."

When Rhino rolled his ball up to meet Penny for the first time, the pretty young girl couldn't help looking at him with wide eyes. She said with a squeak in her voice, "You are so cute!", which made Rhino blush under his fur. Then Penny turned her attention back to Bolt and scratched him behind his ears, which soothed the dog quite a bit.

"Is there anything good on TV, Mom?" inquired Penny.

"I don't know, honey, but we can find out," her mother answered.

With that, she requested that the television in Penny's room be turned on so Penny could have at least some entertainment. However, when it turned out to be the news channel that was on, Penny, Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino saw that there was coverage of the fire at the studio, but the headlines were not about the fire or the damages. They read: BOLT RETURNS TO STUDIO. OWNER SAVED FROM DEADLY FIRE.

On the TV, a news anchorwoman was saying, "Reports are flooding in that the fire was started by accident when torches on the set were knocked over by the trained dog hired to fill in for television dog star Bolt after his disappearance from the studio two weeks earlier. It wasn't until twenty minutes after the fire started that firefighters heard barking from inside a vent and found the real Bolt was inside the building along with his owner and co-star Penny Forrester. As no one was in the building when the girl Penny was apparently trapped inside, the logical conclusion is that Bolt found his young owner and fought through the blaze to get her safely out."

Penny and her mother looked at the report with wide eyes, and then looked upon Bolt, who was quite weary from the rescue. Penny gave her pet another big hug and said softly, "You're a real hero, Bolt. You're my hero."


Hope you all liked this chapter. When Chapter 3 comes, it'll be more heartwarming sweetness.