"Do you think they'll be okay?" Duke asked. Nodding his head, Max reassured the bigger canine, "Yeah, they'll be fine." He tried his hardest to not sound worried. Truth was, he had no idea if his friends were going to be okay. Hopefully they will be. Looking up at the Newfoundland mix, the Jack Russell terrier pointed out, "But we'll worry about them later. Right now, we're about to meet your owner."
"Do you think he'll remember me?" Duke questioned, glancing over at the house, his old home. Patting the other dog's paw, Max answered, "Hey, he's going to be overjoyed to see you Duke." Feeling a little more confident, Duke smiled quietly and mumbled, "Okay. Thank you Max."
"Anytime. Now go on, go scratch that door," Max insisted, head butting the mutt in the leg. Getting up to his paws, Duke turned to face his old home. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the Newfoundland mix headed straight for his old front porch. Max followed, not saying a word. Passing by the cars, Duke murmured, "Weird, the car looks new... both of them."
"Friends maybe?" Max guessed. Biting his lip, Duke replied, "Fred's car would be here if he had friends over. I know him too well." Despite the confusion over the two new cars, the two dogs resumed their trek up the front porch. Standing in front of the door, Duke was about to scratch it when someone hissed, "What are you doing at my house?!"
"Who said that?!" Max and Duke exclaimed at the same time, jumping with fear. Max almost tumbled down the porch steps. Looking around frantically, the canines spotted the speaker. Lounging in an open window was a Himalayan cat, his blue eyes narrowed and his dark tail lashing. Flicking his ear, he repeated, "What are you doing at my house?"
"I'm sorry, this is my house. Or at least I used to live here," Duke pointed out, frowning at the cat. Watching quietly, Max spotted movement inside the house behind the cat. It seemed to have been a person. Gesturing towards the front door with a simple toss of his head, the terrier asked, "Is Fred inside? Duke lived here with him."
"Fred, the old guy?" the Himalayan cat gasped, his eyes widening with surprise. Nodding his head, Duke stated, "That's the one! Now get out of here! Fred hates cats!" Staring at the Newfoundland mix, the feline murmured, "You don't know what happened, do you?" When neither of the dogs answered, the cat mumbled, "I'm so sorry but... he died."
"What? No, no. That's not true!" Duke exclaimed. Max could tell he wasn't taking the news well. He was horrified himself to be honest. Sitting up on the windowsill, the Himalayan cat raised one eyebrow as he questioned Duke, "If he wasn't dead, do you think I would be here? If I recall, you just said that Fred hates cats."
"This can't be happening..." Duke croaked, sadness evident in his voice. Daring to take a step forward, Max asked, "Duke? Duke, are you okay?" At first the mutt said nothing. When he finally turned around, Max could see tears. Trembling, Duke whimpered, "We were too late..."
Suddenly, a loop went over Duke's head.
