It was later that night in the Hanson home, and it was quiet.
Rascal sat on Jenny's bed and watched while she played with her dolls.
Some of Jenny's clothes were on a pile on her bed near Rascal, and they were ready to be placed in a suitcase.
In Chris' room, he played a game on his Wii, while Mike sat on his bed and watched. Also on the bed was a pile of his clothes ready to be placed in a suitcase.
Mike jumped off the bed and walked out of Chris' bedroom.
Mike walked down the hallway and went into Debbie's bedroom.
Mike looked so sad when he saw Debbie while she packed clothes into a suitcase then zipped it up. There were two other suitcases on the floor, ready for Jenny and Chris.
She looked at her watch and looked a little worried.
Mike walked out of her bedroom.
Mike walked down the hallway and went inside the living room.
Danny relaxed in Mike's old lazy boy chair and watched the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland baseball game on ESPN.
Mike sat in the doorway and stared at Danny and knew he was losing his family to this man.
The doorbell rang.
Danny got up from the chair and went over to the front door. He opened it and outside was Debbie's parents both enjoying retirement.
"Hello Danny," Wendell said as soon as he and Dottie walked into the living room.
Wendell and Danny shook hands.
Mike looked at his old in-laws and remembered he didn't get along with them for some reason. Probably my fault! He thought in his head while he watched Dottie hug Danny.
Debbie rushed into the living room, excited, as she knew they were supposed to arrive soon. "Mom! Dad!" Debbie said.
"Sorry, we're late. We took a little nap when we got to our hotel room," Wendell told Debbie while he gave a hug.
Debbie gave Dottie a hug and kiss on her cheek.
Jenny and Chris ran into the living room, all excited.
"Grandma! Grandpa!" Jenny and Chris called out in unison.
Chris and Jenny hugged their grandparents.
Rascal walked over and sat next to Mike in the doorway.
"Who are these people?" Rascal asked Mike.
"Debbie's mom and dad," Mike replied.
Dottie and Wendell saw Mike and Rascal in the doorway.
"You got two dogs?" Dottie asked.
"I can imagine Mike's turning over in his grave at this moment knowing you have two dogs in his house," Wendell replied.
"That's Buster, and that's Rascal," Debbie told her parents while she pointed out the dogs.
"I remember the cute picture of Rascal you sent me last year, Debbie. I'm glad you found him," Dottie said while she walked up to Mike and Rascal. She petted Mike and Rascal on the tops of their heads.
"Kenny found Rascal and Mike at the dog pound, and he rescued them," Debbie replied.
"They're so sweet! Is Kenny here?" Dottie asked while she looked around the room.
"No, he's running late, and I'm getting worried," Debbie replied.
"I'm sure he'll be here before too long. Let's make some coffee and wait up for him," Dottie said.
"Coffee sounds good!" Wendell said while he walked over and sat down on the couch while Danny sat down on the lazy boy chair.
Debbie and Dottie walked out of the living room and went into the kitchen.
Mike and Rascal followed them.
"Who's winning?" Wendell asked Danny while he saw the baseball game on the TV.
"Mariners, six to nothing," Danny replied.
They continued to watch the game while Debbie and Dottie made a fresh pot of coffee.
"How's work, Danny?" Wendell asked.
"Great. I'm being transferred to our Seattle office with a huge pay raise," Danny replied and looked excited about this.
"Debbie did not tell us you might be moving after the wedding," Wendell replied.
"I just got the news," Danny replied.
Mike motioned at Rascal that they should go outside.
Rascal nodded in agreement.
Mike went through the kitchen doggie door.
Rascal went through the kitchen doggie door.
They both went through the back porch doggie door and sat in the backyard.
"This doesn't look good. They might stay up all night and chit chat," Mike said while he paced around a little and looked back at the back porch.
"I wonder if Ginger is okay?" Rascal asked with a worried look.
"Well, we can't go back to Boodro's house to check up on her now," Mike replied while he stopped pacing and looked back at the kitchen. "Let's go back inside," Mike told Rascal then he walked over and went through the doggie door.
Rascal went through the doggie door.
A toad was in the middle of the backyard, and it slowly hopped toward the house.
Mike and Rascal went through the other doggie door and entered the kitchen while Debbie and Dottie poured coffee into four cups.
Mike and Rascal followed them while they carried the cups into the living room.
An hour later, they were finished drinking their coffee, and the baseball game was over, and the Mariners won.
The doorbell rang in the living room.
Debbie got up with a smile and opened up the front door.
Kenny walked into the living room and looked sad. "I'm sorry, I'm late. I found a stray dog laying in the street a few houses from here. It looks like she got in a dogfight and was hurt bad. I took her to the emergency animal hospital, but she died," Kenny told everybody with sadness in his eyes.
"That's a shame," Debbie said.
Wendell and Dottie stood up and walked over and hugged Kenny.
"Hi, mom. Hi dad," he greeted them and gave Dottie a hug and Wendell a hug.
Mike's ears perked up, and he looked at Rascal. Both of their eyes welled up as they knew Ginger was dead.
"Sis, everything's in place for the wedding tomorrow," Kenny told her.
"Thanks, buddy," Danny told Kenny.
Mike motioned for Rascal to follow him out of the room.
They walked into the kitchen while Kenny sat down on the couch with Debbie and his parents.
After they both went through the doggie doors, Mike and Rascal sat in the backyard.
Mike wiped away a tear from his eyes with a paw. "I can't believe she sacrificed herself for me," he said while his voice got choked up.
"She was an exceptional dog," Rascal added while his eyes welled up.
"It's my fault she's dead. I deserve to remain a dog for the rest of my life. Especially with the way I treated dogs when I was a human," Mike replied while tears dripped into the grass.
"I came in this world as a dog, and I'll leave a dog. You came in this world as a human, and you should leave as a human. It's your destiny. So after they go to sleep, we'll correct your destiny," Rascal said with a determined look.
"You are truly man's best friend," Mike said while he placed a paw on the back of Rascal's neck.
"That's my destiny," Rascal responded.
"I think I know what mine is," he said while he looked at his home.
Mike and Rascal high-paw each other, then they walked back to the back porch.
Mike and Rascal lay in the back porch and waited until everybody went to sleep.
Hours later, Mike and Rascal pretended to sleep in the back porch.
The kitchen light came on while Debbie and Kenny entered looking for the two dogs.
Kenny peeked into the back porch through the window of the kitchen door. "Here they are," he quietly told Debbie.
She walked over and saw Mike and Rascal asleep on the back porch.
"They look too peaceful to wake up," Kenny told her.
She nodded in agreement. "They'll be fine out there. We better get some sleep," she said.
Debbie turned off the kitchen light while they walked out of the kitchen.
From the back porch, Mike popped his head up and looked at the window in the kitchen door and saw it was dark inside the house.
Mike waited thirty minutes then he sat up when he saw the house still appeared dark and quiet inside.
"The coast is clear," he said while he nudged Rascal who was asleep.
Rascal sat up and yawned while he watched Mike walk over and grab the straps of the cloth bag with his teeth. He dragged the cloth bag out from under the chair.
"Rascal, see that switch on the wall next to the door?" he said.
Rascal looked up at the wall by the door. "Yeah," he replied.
"Jump up and see if you can flip the switch up so I can have some light," Mike said.
"Got it," Rascal said then walked over to the wall and stood under the switch.
He jumped up and tried to hit the switch with his nose, and he missed. He tried to hit the switch again, and he missed. He tried to hit the switch again, and he missed. He tried to it the switch again, and bingo there was light in the back porch.
Mike dragged the cloth bag over to the kitchen door to be under the light near the two water bowls that Debbie placed on the porch for the two dogs.
Mike stuck his nose inside the bag and grabbed a corner of the book with his teeth. He dragged the book out of the bag. He opened up the book with one of his paws and flipped to the page with the needed potion.
Mike then grabbed one corner of the bottom of the bag, and he raised it until all the bottles fell out of the bag and rolled on the back porch floor.
Meanwhile, Louise walked with her cane down Fay Avenue along with Boodro who limped from a bite Ginger gave him during their earlier fight.
"Some watchdog you are to let those other two little dogs escape with my belongings," she scolded Boodro while she walked down the street and searched the homes for signs of those two dogs.
"I'm sorry," Boodro replied while he hung his head down in shame.
They turned and walked down Kiscoe Avenue.
Back on Mike's back porch, he pulled out the cork tops of the bottles and poured the liquid of all the bottles into one the water bowls Debbie placed outside. He stirred the liquid with his paw.
He glanced over at the book. "It now states that I have to drink half of this stuff," he said while he read over the potion recipe.
He slurped up half of the liquid in the bowl then had a sour look on his face. "This potion tastes awful!" he cried out and had some dry heaves.
Then he burped while he looked at the recipe again. "It states I need to be at the exact place I originally was when I had the other potion," he read.
Mike thought for a second. "I slept on the couch," Mike remembered.
He rushed through the kitchen doggie door.
Rascal rushed through the kitchen doggie door after Mike.
Mike rushed through the kitchen and into the living room.
He screeched to a stop when he saw Danny sleeping on the couch.
"What am I going to do now? He's sleeping on the couch," Mike said and looked worried.
Then thunder was heard outside the house.
Rascal looked at Danny on the couch and pondered how he could help.
Meanwhile, Louise and Boodro stood on the sidewalk in front of Mike's house. "I knew there was something familiar about that dog!" she said with hatred in her eyes when she stared at Mike's home.
She rushed through Mike's front yard and headed to his backyard.
Boodro followed her through the yard.
Louise rushed over to Mike's back porch and peeked inside through the screen. She saw her Voodoo bottles and book on the back porch floor. "He won't get away with this!" she said while she gritted her teeth. She waved her hand over the handle of the back porch screen door, and it unlocked. "Come and you better not mess up this again!" she told Boodro with a threatening tone.
She opened the screen door and stepped inside the back porch with Boodro. She also didn't notice the toad that followed them into the porch.
Louise walked up to her Voodoo items and looked pissed when she saw that her bottle was empty. She picked up her book and placed it inside the cloth bag.
The toad jumped into the water bowl of Voodoo potion.
Then Boodro accidentally stepped into the bowl. He dumped the rest of the liquid onto Louise's toes that stuck out from her sandals. She was too mad to notice, and then she waved her hand across the door hand of the kitchen door, and it unlocked.
She opened the door and quietly stepped inside Mike's kitchen. Boodro and the toad followed her through the door.
Louise and Boodro quietly walked through the kitchen, and she saw Mike and Rascal while they sat and looked at Danny sleeping on the couch.
"You're now going to get what's coming to you," Boodro quietly said to Mike and Rascal while he inched his way behind them.
Mike and Rascal's eyes widen with fear, and turned around and saw Boodro about three feet away with Louise.
"This isn't your territory!" Mike told Boodro.
"No, but that book and other items belong in our territory," Boodro replied while he snarled at Mike and Rascal.
The thunder got louder outside, and lighting was also visible from the living room window.
"I can't believe this!" Mike said, worried that he wouldn't get his chance. "I need to get on that couch without Danny being there," he told Rascal.
Rascal looked at Danny then had an idea. He quickly ran over and jumped on Danny's tummy. "Burglars! Burglars! Burglars!" he repeatedly yelled inches from Danny's face.
Danny jumped up out startled out of his sleep when he heard a dog barking.
Danny saw Louise and Boodro and jumped off the couch and caused Rascal to drop to the floor.
"What are you doing in this house?" he yelled at Louise.
Rascal quickly jumped up and ran after Boodro, who was in a position to fight.
Mike saw the opportunity, and he ran over and jumped up on the couch.
Rascal slapped Boodro across his nose with a paw to give Mike some more time.
"What's with this slapping stuff?" Boodro asked and looked mad.
Rascal ran between Louise the second Boodro lunged at Louise.
Boodro knocked Louise down, and he landed on top of him.
Debbie and the kids ran into the living room when they heard the barking and commotion.
"Louise, what are you doing in my house?" Debbie asked, concerned when she saw Louise on the floor with Boodro on top of her.
"Your dog got inside my house and stole something of value. He must pay!" Louise replied.
"My dog stole something from your house? That's a joke. I think you better leave!" Debbie threatened Louise.
Danny ran over to Debbie and the kids to protect them from Louise and Boodro.
The toad jumped on Louise's feet the second she realized some of that potion was on her feet and Boodro's paw. "No!" she cried out the split-second more severe lightning was visible from the living room window.
A bolt of lightning came through the living room window and splintered into two bolts.
One bolt of lightning struck Mike, and the other bolt splinted into three bolts with one striking Louise, one striking Boodro and the third one striking the toad.
Debbie, Danny, and the kids watched in shock while Mike, Louise, Boodro and the toad all glowed.