The New Arrivals

Chapter 4

The next morning, the Harpercop siblings and their dalmatians sunk over next door to the Newtons house where the kids were already downstairs in the basement with Beethoven, trying to get the puppies to drink some milk. 

They all heard George shout out to his wife after the newspaper boy threw the paper too high this time and knocked a flower pot over on him. 

"Maybe fresh milk will help" Ted said. 

"Did you get the vet?" Kali asked Ryce, as she came downstairs with her younger siblings. 

"I'm on hold" Ryce replied. 

Ted then brought the bowl of milk over to the puppies and switched it out with another previous bowl. 

"Come on, puppy. Please take a sip" Emily begged.  

Ted even dipped his finger in the milk and held it out to the puppy but the puppy backed away, refusing to even take a small taste. 

"It's no use" Brock sighed.  

"Yes, Doctor" Ryce explained while on the phone. "Yeah, they're very young, and their mother's gone and they won't drink milk from a bowl"

Ann then frowned as she picked up one of the puppies who was whining for food. 

"Milk replacement powder? With an eye dropper?" Ryce then asked, hearing there might be a solution to help the puppies. "Yes..."

"Six to eight times a day?!" Ryce soon exclaimed.  

The kids all looked to each other in shock and sighed, knowing this would be a very difficult challenge for them. 

"Please, guys. They're my pups" Beethoven begged the kids. 

The kids soon sighed, knowing they had to do it to save Beethoven's puppies. 

Later that night~ 

Jane and Walter were over at the Newtons house, helping Alice with George on his next product line. Meanwhile, all the kids were in Ryce's room, discussing over a plan for a feeding schedule for the puppies.  

"Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings are gonna be trouble" Ryce told the others while holding one of the puppies they had brought upstairs.  

"What about the other two days?" Ted asked. 

"Well, on Monday and Wednesday, Ryce and I have a free period in the morning" Kali explained.  

"Well, Em, the twins and I will do the lunch hour feeding while Mom's at the office" Ted said. 

"Is there any way you guys can get home and back during recess?" Beethoven asked the Harpercop siblings since they could understand him. 

"Morning recess is too short" Brock replied. 

"Afternoons we can" Ann spoke up. 

"If we run" Emily added.  

Just then...

"Kids!" George's voice called. 

The kids all gasped, hid the puppy under the bed, and quickly got out the monopoly board game and other stuff as they could hear George coming up the stairs, getting closer. 

"Kids?" George called again.  

The kids kept quickly rambling to get all this stuff out and to hide what they were really doing until they suddenly stopped once George opened the door. 

"Hi, kids" George greeted with a smile.  

"Hi, Dad" the Newton kids smiled back at their father. 

"Hi, Mr Newton" the Harpercop siblings waved to their neighbor.

"Did we forget to do something?" Ryce asked. 

"No" George shook his head. 

"Would you like us to do something?" Ted asked while the rest of the kids smiled casually, but deep down they were nervous. 

"No" George smiled. 

He then noticed they were playing monopoly and asked if he could join. That's when the puppy came out from under the bed and was right underneath at George's feet, making the kids gasp on the inside. Ryce then quickly replied with they were almost done. George then left, closing the door behind him while the kids and Beethoven all took in a big deep sigh in relief. 

"Em, I told you not to bring them up here" Ted scolded his little sister. 

"That was close" Kali said as she grabbed the puppy in her arms. 

"Okay, now who wants Tuesdays and Thursdays?" Ryce asked, getting back down to business. 

Next day at school~ 

Ryce had told Kali to write down a letter to one of their teachers to excuse them from classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so they could go to the doctor's to get allergy shots. When really, they were doing it to feed the puppies. 

The two high school girls were walking through the hallways during passing period, when they spotted Taylor Devereaux up ahead talking with another girl, making Ryce a little on edge. 

"Ah, forget her. He likes you. He told me" The adventurous tomboy told her friend. "God, you can see her bra right through her shirt. Like totally accidental, I'm sure"

"Come on" Ryce said to her friend.  

For the next few weeks, the Newton kids would sneak out of school and even get up in the middle of the night in order to feed the puppies. The Harpercop siblings even came over to take their share of turns at feeding the puppies. 

Pretty soon, one morning when the kids came downstairs to the basement, to their surprise, they found that the puppies finally starting to drink the milk by themselves. 

The Newton and Harpercop kids all looked to each other, happy that the puppies were healthy and growing while they could finally take a break from feeding them.