"Here you go, sweetie... Have a good time tonight..." Michelle handed her daughter an old childhood story book from when she was younger. "I also hope Edmond enjoys it... Tell his parents I said hi and we should have them for dinner sometime."
"Sure, Mom." Cherry nodded as she took the book, placing it in her bag.
"Oh, and be careful, I hear a storm might be coming tonight." Michelle warned her daughter.
"Okay, Mom!" Cherry called as she zipped up her bag, walking off to go to a farmland home to babysit tonight.
"Wait for us!" Atticus called.
"Yeah!" Patch called out.
"Easy... Easy..." Cherry said to Patch as they walked to the farm home.
"What's the book about?" Patch asked.
"Something about a rooster bringing the sun up and down..." Cherry shrugged.
"Cool." Atticus and Patch said in unison.
"I dunno..." Cherry shrugged as she walked with them.
There was a blonde boy, wearing pajamas already despite it being in the middle of the afternoon and close to dinner time.
"There's Edmond." Cherry pointed out.
Edmond's mother was feeding corn to the chickens, she looked over, smiled and waved. "Hi, there!"
"Hi, Mrs. Ganger," Cherry walked to her, then noticed the older boys. "Hi, Mark, hi, Scott."
They waved and noticed Atticus and Patch.
"Does he track?" Mark asked, observing the Dalmatian puppy.
"Yeah, he can and is also very adventurous." Atticus said.
"Dogs are great, we oughta get a new one sometime soon." Scott grinned.
"Um, why is Edmond in his pajamas, Mrs. Granger?" Cherry asked. "The sun's not even down yet."
"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, Edmond had the chicken pox last week, he should be fine by tomorrow though," the mother explained. "And call me Dory, your mother and I went to school together."
"Okay." Cherry shrugged.
"Come on in." Dory walked them inside the house to show them around, telling them instructions and reminded them that Edmond wanted a story before bedtime.
And that's what all three of them did, so then they wouldn't waste another minute.
"Hopefully there's enough leftover ham and potatoes for you all, Edmond's bedtime is at 9:00, and we should be back before morning... I also hope your dog is trained." Dory said.
"Don't worry, he is." Atticus promised.
"Hm... Is there anything else...?" Dory wondered.
Dory's husband Frank came in. "Come on, Dory, we better get ready to go."
"Alright... Have a good evening all of you." Dory smiled as she went to join her husband.
Mark and Scott grumbled as they were dragged along since they weren't sick like Edmond.
"Yes, ma'am." Atticus said.
"Where's your TV?" Cherry asked.
"No TV, all we have is a radio, sorry." Dory said as she grabbed her coat.
Cherry groaned, rolling her eyes. "Why did I take this job again?"
"Maybe so then Edmond wouldn't be alone." Atticus guessed.
Cherry rolled her eyes. "Very well..."
Edmond came out, wearing his pajamas with fuzzy red socks. He looked a little shy around them, but he smiled at Patch, trying to play with him.
"You can play with Patch." Atticus said.
"What if his spots turn wed?" Edmond asked.
"Dogs don't get chicken pox, kiddo, and don't worry about us, we already had it when we were younger." Cherry told him.
"Yeah." Atticus said.
Patch then began to bark, while wagging his tail, wanting to play. Edmond chuckled, though had some hints of coughing.
"Go play." Cherry said with a smile.
Edmond coughed a little, but he was well enough to play, he went outside with Patch to play with the animals on the farm.
"Maybe we should keep an eye on him." Atticus said, a little concerned for Edmond's health.
"Okay..." Cherry said, she put her hand above her eyes, squinting at the sunshine as she came out on the farm.
The animals did their usual noises, but of course due to Cherry and Atticus's abilities, the moos, quacks, and clucks turned into actual talking.
"Do I know you two?" a rooster who looked kind of like the chickens on the Radcliffe farms asked them.
"I don't think so, sir..." Cherry blinked down at him.
"No, sir." Atticus said.
The rooster ruffled his feathers and kept walking off.
"Ugh... It's hot... I hate hot..." Cherry grumbled.
Patch and Edmond seemed to have a good time together, at least they were having fun.
"Seems like they are having fun and I don't mind the weather." Atticus said.
"Ugh..." Cherry seemed to be suffering.
"You can stay inside, I'll watch over them." Atticus said.
"Eh, okay..." Cherry walked inside, trying to find a decent station to listen to on the radio.
"This place looks like it could be a great place for vacation, but why do I feel that something bad is coming?" Atticus asked himself.
Cherry decided to go inside and check out the dinner, getting it ready.
Edmond laughed, he fell, but it didn't hurt too much as he held Patch, licking his face. "D-Down, boy!" he chuckled.
Patch smiled, still doing the licking since he grew fond of the boy.
"Looks like Patch really likes you, Edmond." Atticus said.
"Is he always this friendly?" Edmond asked with a smile.
Patch smiled back, he looked around the farm, but whimpered slightly. It made him think of his parents, brothers, and sisters in their new home on the farm.
"Yeah," Atticus said before noticing patch whimpering. "Hey, Patch, you okay?"
Edmond saw the horses and decided to give them some hay.
"Oh, I'm fine..." Patch sighed with a sad smile, but then frowned. "It's just... I think I should visit the family soon... They live on a farm now after all."
"And that's what we'll do once we get home and ask my parents if we can visit your family." Atticus said.
Patch smiled. "Thanks, Atticus..."
The two shared a hug as Edmond came back, smiling.
"Supper time!" Cherry called from the window once she got dinner all together.
"Great, I'm starved." Atticus and Patch said in unison.
Cherry got dinner sorted out when the boys were coming, she found a nice juicy bone in the ham with some chunks of meat still in it and gave it to Patch while she gave herself, Atticus, and Edmond some dinner.
"Thanks, Cherry." Patch said, gratefully.
Cherry had a small smile to him. Edmond bowed his head with his hands together before he ate with Cherry and Atticus.
"Feeling any better, kiddo?" Cherry asked him.
"I think I'll be all better by morning..." Edmond shrugged as he ate.
"That's great, let's just hope Mother Nature is on our side." Atticus said as he ate.
"There's supposed to be a storm, but hopefully no tornado, and very likely no hurricane since they don't come in this state." Cherry added.
"Will Mom and Dad be okay?" Edmond asked a little nervously.
"They should be fine, we'll be right here with you." Cherry gently patted the boy on his head as he ate.
"Yeah." Atticus said.
Everyone kept eating dinner. Patch nearly looked like his brother Rolly with the good food he got to eat and he now had a full belly.
Cherry looked at the time. "Okay, Edmond, before we read your story and send you to bed, we have time for a game. What would you like to play?"
Edmond hummed, very deep in thought.
"I hope it's hide and seek." Patch said.
"How about hide and seek?" Cherry suggested since Edmond couldn't understand the puppy.
"That would be great!" Edmond's eyes lit up then.
It was decided, they would play hide and seek until it was story time.
"Yay!" Patch cheered.
Edmond chuckled. "Your dog seems to like games too."
"Okay, let's play for a little while." Cherry said, trying to be as gentle as she could with the little boy.
"Okay, so who's it?" Atticus asked.
Edmond smiled to the pup. "How about Patch?"
Patch smiled at that, his ears pricking up and his tail wagging as he had the chance to be it.
"Okay, Patch, you cover your eyes and start counting while the rest of us hide." Atticus said.
Patch nodded, then covered his eyes with his ears. Edmond laughed as he happily ran off, but not as quick since he was a little sick, but he could still play and be about. He went inside the farm house and went by the horses. Cherry went behind the chicken coop, not going inside of it as the hens were going out of it to join the rooster they liked. Atticus hid inside a pile of hay.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Patch barked, then ran around the farm, sniffing the ground to find out who was hiding and where.
'He'll never find me here.' Atticus thought.
Patch went by the hay as he sniffed and sneezed a little. He sniffled, then sniffed the hay and smirked. He stepped back from it, then wagged his tail again, laughing and leaping into the hay pile to catch Atticus.
"Aww! You found me." Atticus said with a smile.
Patch chuckled. "You're lucky I'm not allergic to hay."
"Yeah." Atticus said.
"Come on, let's go find Cherry and Edmond." Patch said as they walked off.
Cherry was trying to shoo away the chickens that noticed her.
"Okay." Atticus said.
Patch blinked as he saw feathers flying from behind the chicken coop. He then rolled his eyes with a smirk as he went closer there, having a strong feeling that Cherry or Edmond were there. Atticus had the same feeling. Patch growled, barking the chickens away, making them try to fly, he didn't want to be mean to them, but it was kind of fun how it would work out that way. Cherry covered her eyes and looked to them, a bunch of chicken feathers scattered across her clothes, hair, and glasses.
"Wait for it." Atticus said.
"We found you!" Patch beamed.
Cherry spit out some feathers. "Next time, I'm hiding in the bathroom."
"Yeah." Atticus said.
"Do you know where Edmond is?" Patch asked.
"I'm not gonna tell you that!" Cherry said with a laugh as took off her jacket and waved it in the air to get the feathers off her.
"Okay then, we'll have to find him ourselves." Atticus said.
"Sorry, hide and seek rules." Cherry sniffled once she got her jacket back on.
"Well, okay..." Patch went along with it. "I wish Thunderbolt were here... I bet he'd do this in one of his episodes."
"Yeah." Atticus said.
Edmond was heard giggling once they came to check inside the farm. Atticus then placed a finger to his mouth, telling Patch to be quiet. Patch nodded, but scratched himself, trying to be quiet. Cherry scratched behind his ears, knowing that dogs liked that. Patch began to get closer and closer. Edmond giggled as he kept behind the horse stalls, he didn't realize how loud he actually was that got Atticus's attention who then pointed to Edmond's hiding spot and where Patch then went to it. Patch smirked and ran toward it, following Atticus's instructions and playfully barked at Edmond.
"Aw, you got me!" Edmond said in defeat.
Patch laughed with him then, that was a lot of fun.
"Looks like he found all of us." Atticus said.
"He's a smart dog." Edmond smiled.
"Yeah, smart dog." Cherry said softly.