December 13th
A Dog's Life
It'll be a day that Penny would remember for a long time. There'd been a particularly savage Winter, with thick swirling snow and extremely poor visibility. It was drifting up towards the windows. Thank goodness they'd managed to stock up for such dreadful conditions.
Sherbet, however, had other ideas, and demanded quite stridently, to want to be out in this weather. And as much as Penny and Parker tried to stop him, the dog flap beckoned.
Before they knew what had happened, he'd shot straight out into the thick snow. Parker - if he was being truly honest with himself - actually relished the whole idea of life without Sherbet. But, since the spoiled little mutt belonged to M'lady, that meant that he was under Parker's protection too.
Heaving a great and heavily aggravated sigh, he joined in with the search party. There was a problem, however. It might have been 1:30 in the afternoon, but the thick heavy clouds made it look a lot darker. And the falling snow, basically dampened any sounds. It was eerily quiet, with just the gentle, almost inaudible hiss of snowflakes hitting the ground.
Wading through knee-deep snow drifts, Penny was beside herself with worry, and in her hurry, she'd forgotten her coat. So here she was, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to keep warm and searching for her headstrong little doggie at the same time.
Half an hour had passed and she was starting to develop a chill. Parker tried to get her to go back inside but she refused. Sherbet HAD to be found. It was imperative.
They'd almost given up hope, when Parker heard the tiniest of whimpers. On closer inspection, he found Sherbet curled up in a ball. Gently picking the dog up, he tucked him inside his own jacket and hurried to a waiting Penny. They managed to get back inside, just as another snow storm approached.
Penny made sure that Sherbet was dried, wrapped him up in some blankets and served a broth. Instead of sleeping in his bed, he ended up fast asleep next to Penny.
Needless to say, she caught a chill and ended up ill in bed. But at least Sherbet was safe.
The dog flap was blocked and locked after that - for safety reasons. Much to Parker's dismay