Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Puppy Love

The morning was peaceful and the two detectives were enjoying their day off as summer slowly gave way to autumn. Finally able to sleep in for more than a few minutes at a time Hank stayed in bed with his blue eyes shut until he was suddenly awoken by the sound of something glass shattering on the hardwood of the livingroom floor. The shattering sound was followed shortly by Connor telling Sumo to lay down. Grabbing his alarm clock sitting on the nightstand beside his bed Hank noted the time on the digital display at 9:34 in the morning. They both had the day off, they didn't have a schedule to keep, and Connor was always very quiet in the morning.

Something unusual was happening in the livingroom and was something Hank was almost afraid to check out.

"Damn it, Connor."

Hank rolled off his bed tiredly and wiped his hand down his sleepy face as he rose from the bed to check out the commotion.

"You better not be trying to rearrange the livingroom or some other weird shit."

As Hank walked down the hallway toward the livingroom he caught the sight of a small black furred puppy running out of the livingroom and into the kitchen at an excited pace. He paused for a moment as if he needed to stop and think about what he had just seen, but deep down he knew he wasn't mistaken.

"Connor?" Hank called out in a suspicious tone as he reached the end of the hallway and peered at the deviant kneeling on the ground in the corner of the livingroom with a small broom and dustpan in his hands. "Why did I just see a small dog running through the house?"

Sumo went casually trotting into the kitchen after the puppy in question while Connor was on his hands and knees picking up the pieces of the broken lamp on the livingroom floor. The deviant's L.E.D. was cycling a nervous red as he looked up at Hank somewhat anxiously and was too hesitant to respond right away.

"Connor." Repeating the question with more force behind his words Hank demanded an answer. "Why is there a puppy in the house?"

"It's not my puppy." Connor finally answered as he stood up with the glass shards of the broken lamp in his left palm. "I swear that I'm telling you the truth."

"Well that puppy sure as hell isn't mine, and Sumo is a boy so I know he didn't have a secret litter behind our backs." The twinge of sarcasm helped lower the tension in the air. "So, whose puppy is it?"

"Quincy belongs to the neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Brilstein."

"'Quincy', huh..." Hank scoffed at the response and ran his hand over his bearded chin in irritation. "So, why is Quincy here?"

"I had gone outside to get the mail and Mrs. Brilstein asked if we could watch him while she was out of the house for the day. Her husband fell down the stairs and had broken his arm this morning, and she had nowhere else to place Quincy on such short notice." Motioning toward the center of the livingroom Connor tried to prove his story to ease Hank's mind. "The mail is on the coffee table, nothing important arrived."

"And you agreed to take in the puppy, huh?" In a paternally induced scolding manner Hank crossed his arms in a somewhat impatient manner as he easily saw through Connor's attempt to deflect the questions regarding the puppy. "Are you going to be a volunteer for all the neighbors?"

"I didn't exactly volunteer..." Connor trailed off guiltily and his red L.E.D. flashed to yellow with a little guilt for not asking for Hank's permission. "I... Well..."

"You didn't exactly say 'no' either, did you?"

"I'm sorry, Hank. I should've asked for your permission first."