The rays of the sunrise peeked through the window blinds of Mike and Debbie's bedroom.
Mike woke up to the sunshine. He realized it was morning, and he tapped Debbie on her shoulder. "Time to make breakfast for the kids," he said then yawned.
Debbie woke up and glanced at the alarm clock. She noticed that it flashed "3:00." It took a few seconds for it to sink in then she panicked. "The power went out last night!" she yelled out then grabbed her watch off the bedside table and checked the time. It was 7:30 a.m., and they usually get up at 7:00 a.m. "The kids are going to be late for school!" she cried out in a panic while she jumped out of bed.
Mike closed his eyes for some extra sleep. Then it dawned on him what she said, and his eyes widened in a panic. "I'm going to miss my meeting with OSHA!" he cried out and jumped out of bed. He raced into their bathroom while Debbie raced out of the bedroom.
Down the hallway, Rascal poked his head out of Jenny's crack bedroom door to check out the commotion. He saw Debbie race into Chris' room.
"Wake up Chris. You're going to be late for school!" she called out to Chris from his room.
Rascal sensed something was not right, so he ran back into Jenny's bedroom and quickly crawled under her bed.
Debbie rushed into Jenny's bedroom. "Wake up, Jenny. You're going to be late for school!" she called while she shook Jenny in bed.
Debbie rushed out of her bedroom.
From under the bed, Rascal saw Jenny's feet touch the floor. Then he watched while Jenny walked out of the bedroom still half asleep.
Rascal waited for a few seconds and slowly crawled out from under the bed when he felt it was safe.
He slowly walked to the door and poked his head out into the hallway.
He heard a commotion in the bathroom.
He heard a commotion in the kitchen.
He heard a commotion in Mike's bedroom.
He heard a commotion in Chris' bedroom.
Mike's playroom appeared quiet, so Rascal quickly ran into the hallway and into that room.
Rascal looked around Mike's playroom and was curious with all the stuff.
He walked over and sniffed the Marshall guitar amplifier. That's not very interesting. Rascal thought.
Then he walked over to the Les Paul guitar that sat on a stand. He sniffed the guitar. His nose touched one of the strings, and it sang out a tone. Now that's interesting! Rascal thought to himself while he sniffed the guitar some more.
"I'll eat breakfast later," Mike called out from the hallway.
Rascal felt threatened by the sound of his voice and looked for a place to hide. He saw the lazy boy chair and hid behind it.
"Hurry up, kids; your breakfast is ready. Come eat so I can get ready for work," Debbie called out from the hallway.
"I'm off to work," Mike called out from the front door then he left the house.
Jenny and Chris quickly ate breakfast while Debbie got ready for work.
Then Jenny and Chris rushed into their bedrooms and got dressed for school.
From behind the lazy boy chair in Mike's playroom, Rascal heard more commotion and running up and down the hallway. Then he heard a door open and closed. He heard the garage door open.
He heard their Chevy Uplander start-up in the garage.
He heard the garage door close.
The house was quiet.
Rascal walked out from behind the lazy boy chair. He waited and listened to make sure it was safe. The house was still quiet, and he felt safe.
He walked over to check out the Les Paul further.
He ran a paw across the strings, and they sang out. He liked that sound and ran his paw across the strings again. The guitar strings sang out louder.
He jumped up on the guitar. It swayed. The Les Paul fell off the stand, and the headstock snapped off when it smacked the top of the amplifier.
This scared Rascal, and he ran out of the room and into the hallway.
He sat down in the hallway and listened to the quiet house.
He headed down the hallway to the living room where he spotted the couch, and it looked so comfy and playful.
He ran over and jumped on the couch.
He rolled over and scratched his back on the seat cushion. It felt so good!
He got up on all fours. He looked at the seat cushion, and it looked playful. He frantically scratched on the seat cushion, and it ripped open. He scratched the inside of the cushion, and stuffing flew everywhere. This is fun! He thought to himself while he scratched the stuffing out of the couch cushions.
He sat down and looked around the living room and wondered what could he play with next.
He jumped off the couch and headed to the hallway.
Later that day, Mike sat at his desk and looked depressed while he stared out the window.
Russ looked up from his paperwork and noticed Mike. "You okay, Mike? Are you still upset with the meeting with OSHA this morning?"
"The kids hate me. Debbie's mad at me. That dog has completely ruined my life!"
"I don't know why dogs bring joy to a family. All of our dogs were just like one of the kids," Russ replied.
"I'm sorry, but that's just way too weird," Mike replied while he continued to stare out his window.
"You don't know what you're missing."
"I know what I'm missing. A good life without a stupid dog is what I'm missing," Mike replied and silently cursed out Kenny for giving them, Rascal.
Russ got irritated with Mike's attitude. "I'm going to inspect some units," he said then grabbed a pad of paper and got up from his desk and walked out of the trailer.
Mike continued to stare depressed out the trailer windows. He watched while Russ walked over to one of the units. He started to think about Russ' comments and wondered that maybe he was correct.
It was later that evening, and Mike arrived home before Debbie and the kids.
Mike entered the living room, and his eyes widened in shock the second he saw the ripped couch cushions and cushion stuffing all over the floor.
"Debbie!" he called out and waited. The house was quiet.
Mike walked down the hallway and headed to his bedroom. "Debbie," he called out again. The house was quiet. He turned around and headed to the kitchen, thinking they might be outside with the dog.
He took a glance at this playroom while he walked down the hallway. Then he stopped in his tracks when something felt weird. He ran back to his playroom and stepped inside.
He looked around his room then his eyes widened in shock when he saw his beloved busted guitar. He did a double-take to make sure he saw correctly. He slowly walked over and picked up his broken guitar.
"My Les Paul!" he quietly said about ready to cry. "Someone broke my Les Paul!" while he looked at the broken headstock.
Out in the hallway, Rascal slowly walked out of the kitchen when he heard some noise. Rascal barked at the commotion in Mike's playroom.
Mike stepped out into the hallway and saw Rascal in the hallway.
Rascal sensed the danger the second he saw Mike and turned around and raced down the hallway toward the living room.
Mike ran furiously after him, as he knew Rascal broke his guitar.
Rascal ran on the couch, and Mike ran after him.
Rascal ran to the end of the couch and across the side table. He knocked over Debbie's favorite lamp, and it shattered on the floor.
He ran over and jumped on Mike's lazy boy chair.
"Get off my chair!" Mike yelled out.
Rascal jumped off the lazy boy chair and ran toward the 52-inch HDTV.
"Stay away from the TV!" Mike yelled and bolted after Rascal.
Rascal's paws went out from under him, and he slid into the TV stand.
Just before Mike got to the TV, he slipped on a puddle made by Rascal just before he got home. Mike slid into the TV stand then fell on his butt.
The HDTV rocked and fell over. Mike saw it coming and quickly moved out of the way just in the nick of time while the TV crashed on the floor.
Mike was red-faced furious while he stood up.
Rascal raced down the hallway.
Mike jumped up on his feet and ran after Rascal.
He ran in the hallway and saw Rascal while he ran into the bathroom, thinking that was a safe place.
Mike ran into the bathroom and slammed the bathroom door closed. He looked around and didn't see Rascal. He looked in the bathtub, and there was Rascal.
Rascal shivered with fear while Mike reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
Mike opened the bathroom door and walked Rascal down the hallway.
He walked Rascal through the living room and to the front door.
Mike went outside with Rascal in his grips.
Mike stormed Rascal across his front yard to his pickup truck while Debbie pulled her mini-van into the driveway.
Debbie, Jenny, and Chris watched while Mike with Rascal by the scruff of his neck stormed over to his pickup.
Debbie quickly got out of the mini-van, along with Jenny and Chris.
"What are you doing?" Debbie yelled out while she ran over to Mike.
Jenny and Chris ran over in a panic.
Louise walked Boodro down the sidewalk and stopped to watch the commotion at Mike's house.
"Daddy, what are you doing to Rascal?" Jenny cried out, upset.
"I've had it! Someone left him inside the house all day. How did that happen?" Mike asked while he glared at Jenny and Chris.
Jenny looked away, guilty.
Chris shrugged his shoulder to indicate he did not have a clue.
Rascal looked so sad while he hung by the scruff of his neck.
"He broke my Les Paul. My four thousand dollar Les Paul is ruined! And I decided I'm not having our backyard look a redneck's yard, with a dog living out back," he yelled out.
Mike opened up his pickup truck door and set Rascal inside. He got inside and slammed the door then started up his truck.
"I hate you, daddy!" Jenny yelled out and started crying while she ran to the house.
"I hate you, daddy!" Chris yelled out; then he ran to the house after Jenny.
"What are you doing?" Debbie yelled at Mike.
Mike ignored her and backed his pickup down the driveway.
Debbie looked furious while Mike drove his pickup down the road.
Louise glared at Mike's pickup while it drove down the street. Her hatred for him increased two-fold the second she saw Rascal looking so sad out the rear window. Then she got an evil thought, and she rushed Boodro back to her house.
Debbie stormed to the front door.
She stepped inside her house.
She immediately saw the mess made in her living room and saw her couch.
"My couch!" she cried out, as it was her favorite couch.
Later that evening, Mike pulled his pickup off on the shoulder of a two-lane country road five miles south of town.
While Mike drove down this road, he passed by Howard and Ginger while they walked south along the side of the road. Mike was too pissed to notice them on the road.
"I sure hope I have better luck down south, my little doggie friend," Howard spoke to Ginger and had always loved her company.
She looked up at him. "I hope I can find a family down south," she said but knew he didn't understand a word she barked out.
Howard and Ginger continued down that two-lane country road.
About a mile farther down the road, Mike pulled his pickup off the side of the road. He got out of his pickup and held Rascal by the scruff of his neck.
He dropped Rascal in the dirt.
"Git!" Mike yelled and kicked some dirt at him.
Rascal ran off with his tail between his legs.
Mike got back in his pickup and turned it around.
He headed back home down the country road.
Rascal stopped and whined while he saw Mike's pickup drive away. He already missed Debbie, Jenny, and Chris.
Rascal looked around the scary woods and shook with fear.
It was quiet in the middle of the night in New Castle except for the thunderstorm that was coming way off from the west.
Louise sat with Boodro on her porch. She used a pair of scissors and clipped off some of his hair. She dropped his hair into a small bowl.
She went back inside her with a smirk on her face.
Twenty minutes later, Louise, dressed in a black shirt and black pants, entered her back porch with that bowl in hand. Inside the bowl was a greenish looking concoction she made.
She walked out of her porch with her cane and quietly rushed through her yard and rushed through Mike's backyard.
She walked over to Mike's back porch. She opened up the screen door and stepped inside Mike's back porch.
She waved her hand across the handle of the kitchen door, and it magically unlocked.
She quietly opened the door and hesitated to make sure the coast was clear. It was safe, so she stepped inside Mike's kitchen.
She walked through the kitchen and stood in the hallway. She started down the hall but stopped when she heard someone stir in the living room. She looked and smiled when she saw Mike asleep on the couch. He slept there because Debbie kicked him out of the bedroom and even talked about leaving him.
Louise quietly tiptoed into the living room and went up to the couch. She removed a small pair of scissors and set the bowl on the floor. She clipped off some of Mike's hair and dropped it into the bowl. The concoction inside the bowl fizzed the second his hair came in contact with the liquid.
Louise cautiously grabbed Mike's right hand and slowly moved it down to the floor. She set his fingers into the concoction where it also fizzed.
She waved her hand across the bowl where the liquid bubbled and turned to a bright yellow.
Mike's body twinged a little in pain while he slept with his fingers in the bowl.
She cautiously removed Mike's hand and placed it on his chest. She then removed a spoon from her back pocket and scooped up some of the concoction out of the bowl. She cautiously poured the liquid into Mike's opened mouth. His body twinged a little in pain like he was having a nightmare.
He woke up and looked at Louise in a daze.
"Go back to sleep. You're having a dream," Louise whispered to Mike and snapped her fingers.
He fell fast asleep.
She tiptoed out of the living room with an evil smirk with the bowl in hand.
She tiptoed through the kitchen and out through the kitchen door.
She stepped out on the back porch and closed the kitchen door. She waved her hand across the handle, and it locked.
She opened up the screen door and left the porch.
Louise rushed through Mike's backyard to her porch where thunder was louder while the storm was getting closer.
Ten minutes later, Louise was inside her den were all kinds of Voodoo items hung on the wall.
There was a bookcase full of small bottles with cork tops, that contained strange-looking liquids, and other Voodoo items and old books with potions.
Lit candles were in a circle around Louise on the floor. She dropped some more of cut Boodro's hair into another bowl with a bright lime green liquid. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She slowly waved her hand over the bowl, and it ignited into a flame.
"May you wake up in one year living a dog's life," she called out.
She looked at the bowl on fire with an evil smirk knowing her job was done.
Fifteen minutes later, Mike still slept on the couch. Then thunder and lightning were heard from outside. He tossed and turned on the couch. He started sweating, and his face cringed, indicating he was in pain.
After a few seconds of Mike crying out in pain, Debbie rushed into the living room.
Then the second she stepped foot into the living room, a bolt of lightning crashed through the window and came in contact with Mike.
Debbie watched in horror while he glowed for a few seconds.