"Why do they have to go outside?'' Kimi asked as Kira put the dogs out in the backyard.
"Because your father is afraid that they spread the disease.'' Kira explained.
Kimi looked up at her mother with a questioning look.''Can they really make us sick?''
"According to the news they can. Until we know for sure they have to stay outside.'' Kira told her.
Kimi didn't know if what the news people said was true or not. She didn't think so since half the time they got the weather wrong, so she figured that they were wrong about this too. She just wished she knew how to prove it.
She went to her room and called Zack.
"Hey why do you look so sad?'' Zack asked when he answered the call and noticed the sad look on Kimi's face.
"Fifi and Pepper have to stay outside cuz the news people said they can give us the disease.'' Kimi explained.
Zack felt bad for Kimi. He knew how much she loved animals.
"Don't listen to the mews people. They get the weather wrong all the time. What do they know?'' Zacks said with a smile.
The truth was nobody knew much about the sickness. Zack had tried researching but even he didn't know what to believe with new facts coming out almost daily. He doubted that dogs could give you the sickness though. Sure they had their fare share of germs, but nothing to harmful if you kept them and yourself clean.
"Thanks.'' Kimi said smiling slightly.''I just wish I knew how to convince my parents that the people on the news don't know what they're talking about.''
"Who knows maybe in a few days they'll come back on and say dogs don't cause the sickness.'' Zack assured her.''I gotta get ready for bed. Talk to you tomorrow.''
"Me too.'' Kimi said as she heard Kira from down the hall telling her and Chuckie to get ready for bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight.''
The next morning Kimi logged onto her zoom class. She was looking forward to talking to Tommy to get his perspective on the whole dogs give you the disease whole thing.
"That's ridiculous.'' Tommy nearly shouted when Kimi finished explaining her situation.
"I know.'' Kimi agreed.''You, me, and Min Jun all have dogs and none of us are sick.''
Min Jun's face fell at those words. Dil had gotten sick and then his mom and sister had gotten sick. He wondered for a second if what Kimi said was true, but if that were the case then wouldn't all of them be sick as well? He decided he couldn't take any chances.
Min Jun took a quick break from school and put Cleo outside.
"Sorry Cleo, but until we know if you make us sick, you gotta stay out here.'' Min Jun told her while he put some treats on the ground.
Min Jun hurried back to his laptop hoping school would distract him. He wished he could ask his mom if dogs could really give you the sickness. He knew Cleo didn't like being outside for long periods of time on her own.
Later that night Min Jun groaned as he was awakened by a thunderstorm. He knew Cleo would be scared so he put on his slippers and hurried outside only to not find her anywhere.
He went back inside and changed out of his wet pajamas and climbed back into bed figuring that his dad had let Cleo back inside when he got home.
"Dad did you let Cleo inside when you got home?'' Min Jun asked the next morning as he poured dog food into Cleo's bowl.
"No.'' Jin answered taking a sip of his coffee.''There was a storm last night. I thought she was with you.''
"No.'' Min Jun said softly as he dropped the bag of dog food on the floor.
"I'm sure she'll be back.'' Jin assured him as he left for work.
Min Jun signed into his zoom class, but didn't stay long. He had more important matters to attend to. He snuck outside while his older siblings were distracted with school and made his way down the street. He stopped when he came to Phil's house.
"What's that?'' Phil asked as he noises on his window. He looked out and saw Min Jun throwing small rocks at his window.
"Are we doing another meet up thing at the park that nobody told me about?'' Phil asled as he opened the window.
"No. I need your help to find Cleo.'' Min Jun told him.
"Great. Uh I mean not about Cleo being gone, I've just been looking for a reason to get out of school. Just let me change my background and I'm out of here.'' Phil hollard back.
A few minutes later Phil climbed out of his window and joined Min Jun on the sidewalk.
"Do you think Cleo overheard the news people talking about how dogs give you the sickness and ran away so she won't get anyone else sick?'' Phil asked as they made their way to the park.
Min Jun shook his head.''She's a dog. I don't think she knows what's going on except she misses my mom and sister and is driving all of us crazy.''
They arrived at the park and looked everywhere calling for Cleo as they went. There was no sign of her anywhere.
They trudged along the sidewalk not really sure what to do next.
"Maybe she went to the hospital to look for your mom and sister.'' Phil commented.
Min Jun shrugged and kicked a rock.''If she did we can't go there. It's to far.
"We better get back. School is almost over.'' Phil noted looking down at his robosnail watch.
They silently made their way back to their houses. Min Jun didn't care about school at the moment and went to the backyard, but was dismayed at still not seeing Cleo.
Later on that night the kids were watching the news only to see if there was any update on the dog situation. Instead all they got was mews of more rioting and more cops being injured. Min Jun went to his room when he saw who one of the cops was that had been injured. Now his dad, mom, and sister were all at the hospital. To make matters worse Min Hee barged in his room and told him that Mun Hee had called and said she found Cleo behind a dumpster and that she had taken her to the vet where she found out that someone had poisoned her.
Min Jun felt like his whole world was falling apart. He threw himself on his bed and cried himself to sleep.
A few days passed by with no new news saying whether or not dogs got people sick, so Kimi decided to take matters into her own hands. She was tired of seeing the dogs all alone outside.
"Why are you outside Kimi?'' Tommy asked when he noticed Kimi's background wasn't her room.
"She's doing an experiment to see if dogs really make you sick.'' Chuckie explained as Kimi's connection wasn't to good.
"Your parents are letting her stay outside?'' Lil asked with a shocked look on her face.
"Kimi can be very persuading.'' Chuckie explained.''She told dad it was an experiment for school. Mom is to busy trying to keep the coffee shop open to notice much. Plus she's been getting home late every night this week.''
"Can Cleo be part of the experiment?'' Min Jun asked.''I don't want her running off and getting poisoned again.''
"Everybody can bring their dogs to me. I want to help as many as I can.'' Kimi told him.
That afternoon Min Jun brought Cleo over and noticed that there were at least five other dogs in the yard not including pepper and Fifi.
"Where did all these other dogs come from?'' Min Jun asked as he let Cleo into the backyard.
"People were going to take them to animal shelters so I took them instead.'' Kimi explained.
"Well good luck. Thanks for watching Cleo.'' Min Jun said as he headed home.
Min Jun arrived home a few minutes before his father. He noticed he was banged up, but knew he would be ok.
A few days passed and Chuckie went out to the backyard and gasped in shock when he saw all of the dogs running around.
"Uh Kimi, you might want to get rid of all these dogs before dad sees.'' Chuckie told her.
"Yeah. You're probably right. By the way I think I proved they don't get you sick.'' Kimi remarked giving Fifi a hug.
While Chuckie distracted Chas, Kimi got all of the dogs back to their owners. For the ones who didn't have owners she let go near an ongoing peaceful protest hoping that someone would take them home.