Meanwhile, our heroes arrive at the hospital, where Penelope, not feeling so well as a result of the Hooded Claw's sleep potion, is being examined by a doctor.
At a small hospital in the city, Penelope sat on an examination table with fatigue and her feelings of sickness as a male white-haired doctor listened to her back with a stethoscope.
The Ant Hill Mob and Angel waited in the exam room with Penelope.
"I'll need to have you take deep breaths, Penelope." The doctor told her.
Penelope did as she was told and took deep breaths as the doctor continued to listen to her back, but even those deep breaths made her feel queasy.
"Tell me exactly what happened, my dear." The doctor said.
"Well, doctor. The reason I'm feeling so sick and so tired, is because my archenemy, the Hooded Claw, gave me a drink with sleeping potion." Penelope explained. "When I finally woke up, that's when I started to feel so tired and so sick."
As the doctor continued to examine Penelope, in came Sylvester Sneekly with a fake look of sympathy for Penelope.
Penelope: "Oh, Mr. Sneekly. You made it."
"Yes, I'm right here, Penelope." Sneekly said with pretend kindness in his voice as he went up to Penelope right after the doctor took her blood pressure. "How are you?"
"Still feeling weak, tired and sick." Penelope moaned. "And my little ole head still hurts badly."
"You poor dear." Sneekly placed a gentle hand on Penelope's forehead. "On the bright side, you're not running a fever. How did you start to feel so sick?"
"The Hooded Claw gave me a little ole drink laced with sleeping potion for his recent peril." Penelope told her guardian. "When I woke up, I felt sick and my head was aching like it still is."
Sneekly: "Oh, why would that fiend do such a thing?"
After he said that, Sneekly gave a sinister grin in secrecy as the doctor took Penelope's temperature. After all, he was the Hooded Claw, the one responsible for what happened to Penelope, who still had no idea that he was the Hooded Claw.
"Well, Penelope will be okay, but she needs to stay here until she is well." The doctor told everyone. "I'll have a nurse get a room set for her."
Penelope thanked the doctor and followed a nurse with short black hair and a nurse's white dress and cap.
As soon as the nurse got her into a room in the hospital, Penelope took off her helmet and her boots and climbed into a bed in the room to rest as the doctor advised her.
"I'll have you take two aspirins to relieve your headache." The nurse said as she came in with a tray holding a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin. "The doctor will come in and give you medicine to ease your symptoms and wake your system up a bit."
"Thank you." Penelope whispered as she took two capsules of aspirin and swallowed them with two small sips of water before lying down in her bed.
Angel carefully went onto the bed and laid her chin on Penelope's stomach with a whimper.
"Don't worry, Angel." Penelope quietly reassured her pup in a tired voice as she slowly stroked her fur. "The Ant Hill Mob will get you to the groomer. And I'm positive that we'll be ready for the dog show."
The Ant Hill Mob walked into the hospital room with Sneekly behind them. The Ant Hill Mob walked over to the left side of Penelope's bed and Sneekly walked to the right side.
"Don't worry, Penelope. You'll be okay." Softy wept.
"The doctors and nurses here will make sure of it." Clyde smiled.
"Penelope my dear, as promised, I'll stay right here with you until you're well enough to leave this hospital." Sneekly pretended to care as he gave her a quick hug and let her go.
"Thanks ever so ever, Mr. Sneekly." Penelope smiled wearily.
Angel walked over to the right side on top of the bed, sniffed Sneekly's hand up to his chest, and started barking, growling and snarling at him.
Angel is not about to let Sneekly lay even the slightest finger on Penelope.
"Angel, no!" Penelope sat up and scolded Angel even though she didn't feel well. "Down girl!"
Sylvester tried to keep his nice guy image in front of Penelope and tried to keep Angel under control.
"Steady, Angel girl." He tried to calm her by reaching out a hand. "Nice doggie. Down girl."
Angel snarled and was about to bite Sylvester's hand right before he pulled it away.
"Steady ole girl! Enough! That was just plain rude, Angel." Penelope reprimanded Angel as she gently but firmly tugged her leash, making Angel stop her barks and snarls at Sylvester. "Don't you remember? Mr. Sneekly's the same sweet man who rescued you from a life in the pound on a cold Christmas Eve. Besides, you need to see the Ant Hill Mob. They're taking you to the groomer."
"Come here, Angel." Clyde called to Angel, who came to them. "We've got you."
Angel jumped off the bed and went to Clyde, who held her leash. However, Angel looked at Sneekly and once again started barking and snarling at him.
But Angel's not going down without a fight.
"Angel, steady girl!" Clyde yelled as he and the rest of the mob tugged the leash back.
"Uh, stop it, Angel!" Dum-Dum cried.
Zippy: "Down girl! You need to see the groomer."
"We'll see you at the dog groomer's Penelope." Clyde called to Penelope as he and the other members of the Ant Hill Mob got Angel out the door. "We hope you feel better."
Penelope: "Thanks again, boys."
She felt a sharp pain in her head and winced and whimpered as she rubbed her head.
"Mr. Sneekly, all of Angel's barking and growling at you made my little ole headache feel much worse." Penelope was almost in tears from her headache.
"Shh. It's okay my dear." Sneekly whispered as he held Penelope and calmed her down. "The aspirin should kick in and do its job of getting rid of your headache and the doctor will be in shortly to give you the medicine you need to feel better. Just lie down and try to sleep."
Penelope lay back in bed as the doctor came in the room.
A nurse took off Penelope's glove and cleaned her lower arm as the doctor filled a syringe with medicine from a small jar.
"This should help lessen the symptoms that you're feeling, and it should help you feel more awake." The doctor told Penelope as he injected the medicine into Penelope's vein.
Penelope did not feel the syringe prick her vein, as she was very tired and sick.
"Doctor." Her voice soft. "I'm freezing a bit."
"Here you go." The nurse said as she gave Penelope two warm blankets. "Now try to sleep, Miss Pitstop. We'll keep an eye on you."
"Don't fret Penelope, my dear. Everything's alright." Sneekly soothed Penelope by holding her hand in one of his and stroking her hair with his other hand. "I'm not leaving until you feel better, just like when you got sick with measles last month. Get some sleep."
Penelope softly yawned.
"That a girl. It's okay." Sneekly whispered as he still had a hold of Penelope's hand. He very softly hummed a soothing lullaby that Penelope's parents each sung for her when they were still alive.
Penelope fell fast asleep as she was calmed by her guardian stroking her hair and gently whispering and humming her family lullaby to her.
With Penelope sleeping peacefully in the hospital while Angel is at the groomer's being pampered, Sneekly's sure to treat her with respect in a place crawling with doctors and nurses.
Sylvester smiled evilly and covered Penelope's ear as she slept soundly on her side.
"Penelope's been a very sound sleeper since she was a baby, and has slept through even the worst of thunderstorms, but better safe than sorry." Sneekly whispered. "Right now I'm indeed stuck treating her with respect, but by the time she's better and back on track with the dog show, I'll have something sinister cooked up for her. Oh, and when she had measles last month, I was tempted to poison her medicine, but where's the fun and creativity in that?"
Penelope still slept soundly through Sylvester whispering about his next scheme.
One hour later, Penelope felt better. She woke up and smiled at Sylvester.
"Why, Penelope my dear." Sylvester smiled in a voice of faux happiness. "It looks like you're feeling better."
"I am indeed feeling better, Mr. Sneekly. And I'm sorry about Angel. I don't know what got into her." Penelope replied. "Now I must get to the dog groomer, pick up Angel, and get ready for the dog show."
She then saw the doctor walk in.
"After I see the doctor one last time, that is." She giggled.
Doctor: "Why, miss Pitstop. I see you're starting to feel better. Before you leave, though, I must examine you one last time to make sure you're ready."
The doctor listened to Penelope's heart and lungs, and then took her blood pressure, temperature and pulse.
"Well, you're in good health." The doctor told Penelope. "You are free to go, my dear."
"Oh thank you doctor." Penelope smiled.
She then turned to Sneekly.
"And thank you ever so ever for staying with me at the hospital Mr. Sneekly. You being at my bedside really made me feel less scared during my time here." She gave Sneekly a hug and a quick kiss on his cheek before she left the hospital.
As she left, Sneekly gave an evil laugh.
"Now that you're well Pitstop, I can get back to doing you in." He thought to himself.
"Good thing the dog groomer is only three buildings away from the hospital." Penelope thought to herself as she walked to the dog groomer's.
When she walked in, she saw the Ant Hill Mob waiting for Angel and she greeted them.
"Hi, Penelope!" Clyde greeted back as he and the rest of the Ant Hill Mob went to Penelope. "Glad to see you're feeling better."
"I certainly am." Penelope replied with a grin. "Where's my sweet Angel?"
"There's our dog show star now!" Said Clyde as the dog groomer walked Angel to Penelope.
Yes, and she looks perfectly groomed and ready for the dog show!
Angel's nails were trimmed, her golden fur on her body was cut in short curls, the fur on the back of her legs and her tail were shorter, and she had two fuchsia bows in her ears that matched the fuchsia color of her collar. Angel looked happy to see her owner again.
"Oh, Angel, you look darling!" Penelope cried happily as she pet and embraced her pretty pooch. "And you smell so good. The groomer must've done a good job in giving you a bath."
Angel licked Penelope's cheek.
"Come on everyone!" Penelope called as she held Angel's leash and the Ant Hill Mob walked out the door with them. "Now that we're ready, we need to get to the show right away!"
And so with all their preparations for the dog show done and out of the way, Penelope, the Ant Hill Mob and Angel make their way to the stadium where the dog show is to be held.