Chapter 6
Bambi
Eliza giggled and kept from touching me. She stood up. Eliza turned around to face her mom.
"Oh dear! What happened here?" asked the lady.
I looked down at my fur and noticed it slowly becoming red.
"Liza, hurry out. I'll take care of Bambi."
Eliza looked at me and became terrified.
"Mom, Bambi's hurt! Oh, help her Mom, help her! Don't let her die!"
The lady picked up her daughter and set her down in the hall. Then she bent over and lifted me from the floor, holding me away from her shirt. She carried me down the hall, through a few rooms, and set me on her kitchen counter.
"Liza, get daddy. Tell him Bambi's got one more ouchy."
Eliza turned around and ran out of the room. I heard a door slam shut as she went to get her dad. The lady pulled my neck fur away and took a look at how bad the wound was.
"What's wrong, hon?"
"Oh, we missed a spot. Get me some bandages and water, could you? Oh, and I need a washcloth. Hurry!"
The man hurried off to get all of the necessary things. I did not make a sound. I knew it would only be a cause for more panic if I made any noise. The man came back and took a look at the wound while handing the lady bandages.
After bandaging me up, Eliza took me outside. I laughed silently as she tried to get me to run around the yard with her. I could barely walk, what with my bandaged paw and all. We romped as much as we could until dinner was ready. Eliza showed me the way back to the door and opened it for me. Once inside, I limped around the table begging for scraps. Everyone shared. I knew I had food sitting around somewhere, but I didn't feel like dog food just then. I stood on my hind legs to snatch Eliza's biscuit off the table. Accidentally bumping my nose against her hand. I had perfect balance and everything. But as soon as I had the biscuit in my mouth, I collapsed. I just ell backward. Everyone at the table stood up. I felt a weird sensation go through my body. My nose didn't sting. My ear felt totally better. My paws was fine. My neck? It felt great! I rolled over and ripped at the bandage on my paw. The lady at the table stood and walked over to stop me. I had the bandage off before she could do anything. I suppose she saw my paw, because she stopped dead in her tracks. I looked at it and found it to be totally fine. My side was all better. Everything was great! The woman reached down and unwound the bandage around my neck. She gasped.
"Bambi's all better?!"
Everyone at the table hurried over to me. They looked me up and down, commenting on how much better I looked and wondering how it had happened so fast.
"Okay, let's finish dinner first, everybody. We have a lot left to eat. We'll worry about Bambi later," said the man.
"John, have you seen this? It's a miracle!"
I guessed that John was the one who had called everyone back to dinner.
"Jan, dear, let's finish dinner first. Let's let miracles be miracles, because I sure don't want my food getting cold."
Everyone laughed and sat back down at the table. I walked off to a corner to study the members of the family. I already knew the man and woman, named John and Jan. I knew the smallest, named Eliza. I noticed three other kids at the table. As I listened in on some of their conversations, I learned that the oldest was a boy named Tom. Second oldest was a girl named Lucy, and third was a boy named Paul. They all laughed and chatted about many different things. I sighed and felt happy to just rest. It was nice to be in the presence of normal human beings.
"Bambi!"
I looked over to the table. Eliza was instantly out of her chair and running towards me. I barked and hopped up.
She wrapped her arms around me and exclaimed,"I'm so glad you're all better! Good Bambi, good girl!"
The older kids stood and helped their parents load the dishes into the dishwasher. Eliza ran to her mom and stood on her tiptoes trying to whisper something to her. I stayed where I was but lifted my ears, trying to hear what she said. Eliza finished talking to her mom, then jumped up and down squealing. She raced to her room. Out of curiosity, I trotted down to her room. Eliza was throwing things out of her closet. She pawed through every box she could find. I came up beside her, sniffing the contents of one box. I didn't understand what she was doing. I could only see dolls and stuffed animals. Of course, there were the usual little figurines and toys, but nothing seemed very special. Eliza continued pulling out box after box, looking through each one carefully. I barked and jumped back, wagging my tail. I was starting to get excited. Whatever she wanted had to be good for her to look for so long. Fifteen minutes went y before she'd found the object of her search. Little Eliza pulled out an older leather leash and collar. I sniffed them, wondering what was the reason for these.
"Eliza, do you need help?" called her older sister.
"No, I found them!" yelled Eliza.
I jumped out of the way and let Eliza get up. She put the collar on and snapped the least to it.
"Come on, Bambi! Follow me!" she squealed.
I trotted after her, trying to keep the leash slack. Eliza ran around the corner, practically dragging me into the wall. I rounded it perfectly, but it could have been a disaster. Eliza raced down the hall. I picked up speed, catching up to her. Out of nowhere, Eliza's oldest brother Tom appeared. We collided. I was going too fast. My legs slid on the wood floor. My claws scrabbled against the wood, but I could not get a grip. Eliza let go of my leash and slammed to the floor. Tom spread his legs so that I went sliding under them. I headed straight for the counter.
"Iiiiieeeey!" I yipped, hitting the counter.
My vision blurred as I crumpled to the floor.
"Bambi!!" screamed Eliza.
I vaguely saw the little girl running to me. She touched my fur and... I was better! I stood up and shook myself. Eliza slid closer and kissed my face. I got a few licks in before her mom came into the room.
"Eliza, what happened?!"
"Mommy, Tom got in our way. But it wasn't his fault. I was running with Bambi, and I know we shouldn't have. And I fell and hit my head and Bambi slid into the counter and I'm sorry!" wailed Eliza.
"Liza, dear, I'm not mad. Just don't run in the house anymore. Now you know what will happen if you run indoors. Is Bambi okay?"
"Mom, she's fine."
Eliza's mother nodded and took a look at me anyway. I wagged my tail and trotted off to find my food dish. I was a little hungry.
"Which one do you like?" asked Eliza's mom around seven o'clock that night.
We were in a pet store. I had my collar and leash on. Eliza was holding onto the leash while trying to pick out a new collar and leash for me. I didn't want them to spend any money on me, because I knew I would have to get my daughter soon. I had no way of telling them this, unless I changed. No way was I going to change in front of them. Eliza picked out a purple collar and leash. She bought me a rubber dog bone. We walked to the counter and paid for the things. I yelped when we walked out of the store, because the door had closed on my tail. Eliza giggled and opened it for me. I tucked my tail between my legs and hopped after her. It hurt badly. We got in the car and rode home.
I opened my eyes and looked around. Everyone had gone straight to bed after geting home. I had to go to the bathroom badly. I also needed to save my daughter. I looked at Eliza's quilts. They went up and down rhythmically. I sighed and yawned. Stretching and hopping out of my basket, I let my eyes get adjusted to the dark. I trotted out of the room and down the hall. I looked at the clock. It was four in the morning. No one appeared to be up yet. I walked to the door and look up. It was locked. There was no doggy door, and it was the kind of lock you need ed a key for.
[Mom, I'm in big trouble. You better be on your way!] yelled Topaz.
[Topaz, what's going on?!] I asked.
[They're taking me to a dense part of the woods. They say they're providing proof to dad that they've got me. I don't know what this is all about, but this could be your chance to rescue me!]
[I'm coming] I answered.
There were no ways out. I didn't want to wake anyone. I didn't want to be locked in Eliza's room or anything like that. The window! I ran to the window and looked through it. The window looked promising. I lay down and thought of my old body. I covered my nose with my paws and waited. I was soon human again. My hands were over my head, and I was kneeling. I opened my eyes. Everything was a lot, lot darker. The window wasn't as high anymore. I stood and let my navy blue cloak flow around me. My navy blue dress made no sound as I stood. I tried opening the window. It wouldn't budge! It was stuck! I looked around. Eliza had left her window open a crack. Of course, there was still a screen to get through, but I knew I could manage that. I ran to the kitchen and searched for a knife. It only took me a minute to find one.
"Bambi?"
I flattened against the wall and slowly lowered, letting the counter hide me.
"Bambi, is that you?"
I heard little footsteps padding into the living room. I looked around, wondering how I could hide.
"Bambi, so that's where you went! How did you get that knife?"
I was dog again. Eliza picked up the knife and stood on her tiptoes to set it on the counter. I sighed and followed her back to her bedroom. She climbed in bed and told me to lay in my basket. I tried faking sleep, but it did no good. Eliza kept shifting and turning. I stood up and walked back to the kitchen. I changed to human, hoping Eliza would be asleep by the time I got back to the room. I grabbed the knife from the counter and turned around. Standing in the hallway staring at me was Eliza. I whipped my hand behind my back, hiding the knife.
"Baammbi?" whispered Eliza.
I nodded slowly and stared at Eliza. She stepped forward and continued staring.
"But what?" asked Eliza.
I had no answer for her. After a minute of staring at each other, I set the knife on the counter. I took a step to the right, coming out from behind the counter, and kneeled. Opening my arms wide, I waited. Eliza ran to me and gave me a big hug. I smiled. She pulled away and looked at me.
"How are you a dog?" she asked.
"I have special abilities. But you mustn't tell anyone of me, alright? I'm known to you and your family as Bambi the dog. Is that clear?"
Eliza nodded and pulled me into another hug. I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair.
"You're leaving, but why?"
I swallowed and asked,"How did you know what?"
"Because I can feel it. You're sad and leaving. You're going to save your daughter. Please be careful, Bambi. I love you."
I felt tears well up in my eyes as I replied,"I love you too, Eliza."
"Will you come back?"
I don't know. I'll try. Be a good girl while I'm gone, okay Eliza? And keep this a secret."
"Only if you keep my abilitablies a secret too," said Eliza.
"Haha, okay, secret it is. Shall we shake on it?"
Eliza held out her hand and said,"Shake, bake, secret never break."
I chuckled quietly and kissed her on the cheek. Eliza looked up and noticed the knife.
"What's that for?"
"I didn't want to open the door, because I was afraid it would cause a lot of noise and I don't know where the key is. I was going to open your window and cut through the screen."
Eliza frowned, then smiled brightly, saying,"I know! You open the door, go out, and I'll close it. If Mom or Dad comes out, I'll just tell them that I let you out to go potty. Then pretend that you ran away. What do you think?"
"You're a life saver, Eliza. Now I have to go. Goodbye dear! And thank you!"
Eliza hurried to her parents room and rummaged through the desk drawer for the key. She opened the door, I walked out, and she shut the door. I hurried across the road and turned around. A light came on in the house, and I guessed that Eliza was telling the cover story she'd come up with for me. I smiled and turned around, disappearing into the night.
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