Secrets

Chapter 49

"Um, is everyone else seeing this too?" Bearded Dragon asked, looking around confused. Tattoo and Ripper nodded their heads in unison. His blue eyes wide with shock, Snowball called out, "What the heck is going on here?!"

"It's Snowball!" a puppy yipped. All of the puppies and kittens and other baby animals looked up. Seeing the white rabbit, they cheered and raced over. His long ears standing straight up, Snowball mumbled, "Uh oh." However, it was too late to run away as he was quickly buried alive under a mound of baby animals.

"Aw crap they found us," Leonard murmured, looking up from where he was helping with arts and crafts. Flicking blue paint off his long tail, Ozone meowed, "Welp, time for us to go on the run."

"Is this what you've guys been up to?" Tattoo questioned as he and Bearded Dragon approached the pair. Ripper and Snowball followed, the latter having been rescued from the pileup. Gesturing to the kids, Bearded Dragon chimed in, "You've been going to birthday parties for kids?"

"No, just this house," Leonard answered. Nodding his head, Ozone added, "We've been helping out with a fundraiser." Frowning slightly, Snowball glared at the duo and demanded, "A fundraiser?! A fundraiser for what?!"

"Leonard! Ozone! Snowball came! He really came!" a high pitched voice barked. Snowball and his companions turned around to see a beagle puppy hobbling over on three good legs. His left hind leg was in a cast and he looked sickly. But he had the biggest smile on his face and his tail would not stop wagging. "Of course he did Po," Leonard said, "I told you I could get him over here."

"You run along and have fun Po, we'll be with you in a minute," Ozone joined in. Smiling from ear to ear, the beagle puppy raced off to play with his friends. Turning to Snowball, the hairless feline explained, "Po needs a special operation if he's to walk and run properly and he's also a very sick pup."

"However, his owners don't have enough money for the operation or medicine," Leonard added. Sitting down, the poodle continued, "So we're holding a fundraiser to raise enough money for him." Nodding his head, Ozone chimed in again, "And we're getting close to reaching our mark of twenty thousand dollars." After a moment's pause, he muttered, "Are you four okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay..." Snowball sniffled, tears running down his face. He and his pals were crying their eyes out. Actually, Tattoo was sobbing and Bearded Dragon was reduced to sad unintelligible noises. Even Ripper was shedding several tears. Blowing his nose into his paws, Snowball choked out, "We're fine... oh god I have something in my eye..."

"It's called a tear Snowball," Ozone grumbled, "You're crying."

"No I'm not... you are..."

"Sure."