*Hi everybody! I was re-reading my fanfic just now, and I've decided that I wanted to rewrite the book after Chapter 21 (where Scamp, Angel, and Patch run away). I'm re-writing these final chapters largely because I was in a hurry to get them done beforehand, and there are a lot of changes I want to make to the story. The story will be different, though some scenes will remain basically the same. 你 will see one of these changes right here in this chapter. So here we are! I will write about eight 或者 so 更多 chapters. Enjoy reading!*

-AllegroGiocoso

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Chapter 22- A Trio No More

    One morning, Roger, Anita, Jim Dear, and Darling went out to look for all their 狗 who ran away. Roger and Anita left Rolly and Freckles, the only 狗 they had that did not run away, at Jim Dear and Darling’s house. Aunt Sarah babysat Rolly and Freckles, along with Annette, Danielle, and Collette. Much to Aunt Sarah’s disdain, Jim Dear and Darling insisted for Jock and Trusty to stay in the house to monitor the puppies.
    It was a rainy morning at Jim Dear and Darling’s house. The 小狗 were in an upstairs room that was largely empty, apart from 小狗 beds and a 台, 办公桌 facing the window. Annette sighed as she sat on the 台, 办公桌 and stared out the window, sitting sadly. Her humiliating performance at the dog 显示 weighed heavily on her mind. She sat there, and cried softly. Collette was pretending to be asleep, and she cried into her paw. Like with Annette, Collette was heavily thinking of her bad performance at the dog show.
    “I don’t like this,” Annette told Collette. “We’ve really done awful… all that work… and now, we don’t have our family home! I miss Mom and Dad… I even miss Scamp and Angel, don’t you?”
    “Yeah,” Collette sighed. “It was fun at first… but I miss them. I want them back!”
    “I miss Mother too,” Rolly sighed. “I’m hungry. I want 更多 food! And I don’t get as much 食物 here… I must have 迷失 two pounds on this trip! I’m so hungry! I could eat…well, two elephants!”
    “Why did Patch, Penny, and Lucky have to leave?” Freckles complained. “It’s a bit lonely here without them…”
    “Calm down, little ones,” Trusty told them in his reassuring low drawl.
    Danielle sighed. She just woke up. She stood up excitedly, and she looked outside. Then she told Annette and Collette, “Hey girls, it’s just a show.”
    “What do 你 mean, it’s just a show!” Annette whimpered.
    “We’ve spent weeks on this, don’t 你 remember?” Collette told Danielle.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Danielle yawned. “You’re complaining about nothing important!”
    “Nothing… important?” Annette sniveled. “I don’t understand… aren’t 你 upset about anything? Don’t 你 at least want Mom and Dad to come back?”
    “Oh, of course I miss Scamp and 天使 and Mom and Dad. But they’ll come back,” Danielle told the others confidently, strutting through the room. “But let’s have some fun in the mean time.”
    “How could 你 think about fun?” Rolly told Danielle. “Aren’t 你 starving yet?”
    “It’s not hard to get food,” Danielle told Rolly. “My brother Scamp showed me where the biscuits are stashed.”
    “Really?” Rolly asked, excited. His tummy growled again. “Show me the food!”
    “Okay then,” Danielle told Rolly. Jock grimaced at Danielle.
    “Ay, you’re being very naughty!” Jock told Danielle.
    “Oh, I’m just having fun! And Rolly wouldn’t mind, would you?” Danielle asked.
    “No!!!” Rolly exclaimed. “I’m starving!!!”
    “Hmph! 你 stupid slob!” Annette told Danielle condescendingly. “I don’t go and steal food.”
    “Here, I’ll help you,” Danielle excitedly stated. She looked outside. Even though it was raining, Danielle couldn’t help but admire the word outside of her windows.
    Danielle and Rolly entered the tiled kitchen. There was a little door in the 厨房 corner, which Danielle led Rolly to.
    “This is how 你 do it,” Danielle told Rolly. She had seen Scamp and 天使 open the little door many times before, and now she was eager to do it herself. She flipped down a little handle, and there, in a little crawlspace, was a bag of biscuits.
    “I can’t fit!” Rolly complained, staring into the hole.
    “I’ll get them,” Danielle told Rolly.
    Danielle crawled into the little dark space, dragged out the 饼干 bag, and opened it up. Rolly’s jaw dropped as biscuits tumbled onto the ground. He licked his lips, and then voraciously began to eat. Just as he started, Freckles, Jock, Trusty, Annette, and Collette entered the kitchen. They all gasped as Rolly began to eat and Danielle shut the door.
    “Rolly, are 你 going to eat all those biscuits?” Freckles asked.
    “Yup,” Rolly answered simply, swallowing three biscuits at once.
    “Oh, he’s gross!” Annette whispered to Collette.
    “Yeah,” Collette whispered back.
    “No he’s not,” Danielle told them back, rushing toward her two sisters. “He’s just hungry. And it was fun! To get that bag out… wow, it was awesome!”
    Rolly nodded, now eating his tenth biscuit. “More!” he exclaimed, swallowing another one.
    “Lassie, 你 shouldn’t have done that,” Jock scolded Danielle.
    “That’s right,” Trusty told her.
    “You don’t need to make him 更多 fat,” Collette told Danielle.
    “Why not?” Danielle asked back.
    “Because it’s against the rules,” Annette told Danielle back.
    Just then, the 狗 heard footsteps. Rolly froze, and then ran toward the other puppies. Then Aunt Sarah entered the kitchen. She stared, and gasped.
    “Merciful heavens! Look at this mess!” she exclaimed. Walking 由 her were her two Siamese cats, Si and Am. They delighted in the atmosphere of trouble.
    “All right then, who did it?” Aunt Sarah asked.
    The 小狗 remained silent. Her Siamese 猫 sniffed each puppy. Rolly took a drink to try to clear the stench of biscuits from his mouth. The 猫 ignored him. But then the Siamese 猫 went to sniff Danielle…
    “Ooh, a spi-dah!” Si exclaimed.
    “Naughty naughty,” Am added.
    Danielle gasped. She knew that there were spiders in that cupboard… and one must have fell onto her back. The Siamese 猫 loudly yowled, placing their paws on Danielle’s back.
    “So, you’re the thief!” Aunt Sarah yelled.
    Danielle smiled guiltily. Trusty and Jock glared at Danielle. Rolly breathed a sigh of relief.
    “I’m going to get a chain now,” Aunt Sarah told Danielle, and she went upstairs.
    There was silence in the kitchen. Rolly uncertainly walked toward the biscuits again. Danielle smiled, nervous.
    “You’re a disgrace!” Annette shouted to Danielle.
    “You’re 表演 just like Scamp and 天使 now!” Collette added.
    “Yeah, you’re breaking the rules,” Annette told Danielle.
    “I don’t care about stupid rules!” Danielle told her sisters.
    “Then you’re not one of us,” Collette shouted at Danielle.
    “Fine, I’m not!” Danielle shouted. Then she took a run out of the kitchen, and into the front room. “I’m not one of 你 anymore, and I’m not going to put up with any 更多 stupid rules either!” she shouted.
Jock and Trusty just realized what she was going to do before she did it. “Come back, Danielle!” Jock shouted.
“Yeah, Miss Danielle,” Trusty told her.
But Danielle jumped through the front dog door just as Aunt Sarah was coming down with the chain. She looked at her surroundings and felt the raindrops tickle her back and saw the fresh, green 草 covered with dew. Today was a new 日 for her. And she hollered in excitement as she ran down the front steps on her own. She was free, for the first time in her life!