Granny’s Remedy
Commissioned by: theSparksbro
Written by: Danni Lynn
Date: January 6th, 2025
Word Count: 5,000 words
Synopsis: A continuation of theSparksbro’s story about Shep, a grumpy mountain goat, who is on a journey to take the wolf pup, Silo, to his mother. Sick after a run in with goblins, they need help and find it in an unlikely place.
CW: Fart Jokes
INSERT LINK TO HIS OTHER STORIES?
Deep in a swath of forested foothills was a crooked, hollowed-out tree. The base of the tree widened into a hollow, as if the tree had reached out its roots to embrace the earth around it. The base of the tree was covered with thick, curling ferns and strips of moss. From above, the morning sun leaked through the thick emerald canopy, scattering the ground with patterned pinpoints of light. Birds chirped nearby and a soft wind wove through the trees.
Snuggled up inside the tree, Shep and Silo attempted to sleep despite worrisome grumbles echoing through their pained bellies.
Shep, a large bighorn ram, slept with his back to the tree’s opening. He was a bulky, muscular creature. His black, ridged horns extended from his head and curled back around until the points ran upward and parallel to his cheeks. White fur highlighted his expressive eyebrows, under his eyes, and along his muzzle in contrast to the dark, shaggy mane around his collar and across his back. Tawny-gray short fur covered the rest of his body, but his belly was white, and his legs were the same dark shades as his mane and horns. The color scheme helped him blend in with the varied rocks and shales of his natural home but here in the forest, the bright white of his underside and rear proved to be troublesome, especially when there were goblins lurking around the woods.
Curled up in the corner of the tree, the little two-month-old wolf pup, Silo, slept tangled up in pain. Silo’s little face was basked in dark black fur, spreading to his ears and chest. He had black socks and a black-dipped tail. His little ears were pressed tightly to the light-gray back of his head as he slept in a contorted position. The rest of his light gray body stood out against the grayish brown of Shep, so he was luckily tucked away out of sight, and hidden inside the tree with the grumpy Shep as his protector.
Beginning to stir, Shep groaned and kicked out his feet. His cloven hooves pounded the inside of the tree as a great gurgle filled his stomach. Struggling, Shep dragged himself out of the tree’s hollow and stumbled onto his feet outside. His mouth opened like a donkey mid-bray and he let out a terrible—
BrrrrruuuuUUUPPpppp!
Shep recoiled, the stink of his morning breath poisoning the body-shaking burp. Gathering himself, his horned head whipped around to the tree where Silo was bunched up in pain. Next to the little pup, a puddle of vomit stained the ground with little bits of the poisoned turkey leg he had eaten yesterday.
“You stupid little pup,” Shep growled. He bared his teeth, his upper lip rolling in distaste. “Wake up! We need to keep going.” It was his duty to get Shep to his mother in the mountains, so he wasn’t going to waste a single moment. No matter how terrible he felt.
Little Silo slowly rolled over, his big blue eyes opening up to look balefully at Shep. He whined, his little voice high-pitched in desperation.
“I don’t care if you don’t feel good,” Shep snapped. “Do you know how I feel? It’s all your fault we got sick! You had to be a glutton and bite that obvious trap, didn’t you? If you hadn’t wandered off… we wouldn’t have been captured by those goblin bandits!”
Silo slipped out of the tree, his chin and belly scraping the ground. He whined.
“You’re lucky we were able to escape at all.” Shep had bitten one of the goblins to get away but now his rumbling stomach was a direct result of tasting the poisonous slime on their skin. If he had known that was a thing at all, he would have rather rammed the creature but there hadn’t been enough time to think about a plan back then.
Silo whined again. He slipped over to Shep’s side and looked up at him with his big eyes.
“Don’t do that,” Shep said. “You know that doesn’t work on me.” The wolf pup continued to whine and looked back at the tree, wanting to stay and rest a little while longer. His eyes began to glisten, desperate for remorse. His little body trembled.
“Let’s get going!” Shep pushed Silo aside and turned to go but Silo slumped to the ground.
“Yip!” Silo complained. He whined more, the sound whistling out of his nose. He collapsed, too weak to carry on.
Shep shook his head in an attempt to fight back his growing rage.
He is just a pup, he tried to remind himself. Weak, problematic… slowing me down! He whipped back around and stomped over Silo, startling the little one onto his back. From above, Shep leaned down, looming over Silo with a snarl.
“Silo, you need to suck it up. I know you are in pain, but you need to deal with it, or we are never going to get you back home in time. There is nothing I can do to make you feel better right now!”
Silo crumpled. Tears flooded his eyes, sparkling like a bubbling creek shimmering in the sunlight. His bottom lip jutted out and his paws shook, struggling to hold himself up as Shep’s presence overpowered him. He didn’t know what to do. He was too little, too small to even fathom his experiences and the world around him yet.
“Get it together. I am not putting up with any of this,” Shep grumbled. He stomped his hooves impatiently and made to walk away. Silo started to peel himself up from off the ground and rose on shaky legs. The little creature was barely the height of Shep’s hooves and ankles. To keep up with him alone when he was feeling well was a feat all in itself.
But now?
“I’m tired of you holding up this journey,” Shep said. He started off into the woods. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Oh my, leave him be!” an elderly voice croaked onto the scene. Shep stopped his departure and turned around as an old dog hobbled through the ferns. She was hunched, unsteady on her thin legs. She was a small mutt, only half the size of towering Shep. She wore a purplish-burgundy shawl around her shoulders and a bandana around her head, covering her ears, and neatly tied under her chin. Her coat was a fluffy graying-tan with a bushy tail, light stomach, and a fluffy face. Her chin had long fur, making it look like a doggy-style beard and her squinting eyes were underneath fluffy brows and a cowlick of fur sticking out from under her bandana.
The old, mysterious mutt squinted down at Silo who quickly slumped back onto the ground with a whine. Shep took a step back, startled at her sudden appearance.
“What? Who are you?” he asked.
She ignored him and knelt down by Silo instead. Silo doubled over in pain.
“Hiiiiinnn,” Silo cried.
She pressed a paw to Silo’s forehead. “This poor little one has a fever! He is burning up,” she said.
Shep readied himself to argue and chase her away, but his gut gurgled again.
“Oooohhhgg,” he moaned. He gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut but his stomach was determined.
GGrrggglll! His tummy rumbled and the roiling poison pervaded his senses. He really didn’t like being slowed down by this!
At the sudden noise, the old dog leapt back, scrambling to her feet and clapping her front paws as if coming to a sudden revelation.
“Ohh, you’re the ones who escaped those goblin bandits! Nasty creatures are they not?” she exclaimed.
“How—Have you been following us?” Shep snapped. He recovered from his pinching stomach and came to stand over Silo. The pup annoyed him, but he wasn’t about to let some weirdo in the woods get anywhere near him.
“News travels fast around these parts. The goblins have been terrorizing these slopes for the last couple of months so hearing that they were outsmarted was an absolute delight.” She looked back down at Silo, a grin baring her yellowed teeth. “And you must be Silo!” She reached before Shep could stop her and patted the now wiggling pup between Shep’s front legs. The sudden kindness filled Silo with a little bit of pep, despite his sickness.
“Yip!” Silo yapped.
“So, you know this major pain in the ass,” Shep muttered.
“And that means you must be Shep,” she concluded. Unimpressed. “Everyone wasn’t kidding when they said what a real jerk you are.”
If Shep was a wolf, his hackles would have raised. Instead, his nose flared, and he lowered his head, more frustrated than protective. “And who are you, anyway?”
The old dog took a few steps back, waving as if to dispel the tension out of the air.
“I am Granny Rose.”
“Well, Granny Rose. If you have nothing better to say to us, we will be on our way. As I’m sure you’ve heard, I need to get this nuisance home and I don’t have much time to lose,” Shep explained. Underneath him, Silo wilted at the mention of continuing. His stomach roiled.
Granny Rose bounced up. “But how can you travel when you both are sick?”
“I’ve been through worse and the pup needs to learn from his mistakes,” Shep answered. “The illness will go away on its own.”
“But that’s not the case,” Granny Rose urged. “Contact with a goblin causes a sickness that can take weeks to clear away. You can’t continue like this; it’s too dangerous. Let me heal you. I can help you both feel better in no time.”
Shep stalled. “And why should I trust you?” We need to get going, he thought. He didn’t want to chance being around this crazy mutt and her so called “healing” abilities.
Silo stepped out from Shep’s large frame and stood defiantly with his four paws planted in front of him. He tilted his little head back, his ears perked and stood Shep down.
“Yap! Yip, yip, bark!” Silo snarled and barked, suddenly energetic. He was a mini-David to Shep’s Goliath. It was as if he was trying to say, Hey, she’s offering to help us. Just shut up and let her already! “Ruff, ruff, yap!”
Shep reared up and stomped his hooves, shaking the ground.
“Don’t talk back!”
Granny Rose hurried forward and looped a paw over Silo, pulling him close to her. Silo snuggled up to her and looked at her with big, sad eyes. His ears drooped and his tail stretched out flat and defeated on the ground.
Shep snorted. This is ridiculous! Who is this old hag? He fumed. He stomped around, kicking out in anger at the stubborn old mutt. Was there really no way for them to continue on? As if to answer, his stomach clenched, reminding him of just how miserable he felt.
And maybe, Silo was feeling even worse than he was.
“Ugh, fine. If you have a remedy, I suppose we can give it a try…”
Granny Rose broke into a big smile. She looked down her snout at little Silo and nuzzled his fluffy head.
“Right away!” she agreed. She whispered into Silo’s ear as she eyed the grumpy ram, “Don’t you worry little fella, Granny’s got a good remedy for an old grouch like him!”
Silo giggled; his own little snout wrinkled in delight.
***
Granny Rose led Shep and Silo deeper into the woods. Carrying Silo by the scruff of his neck with her teeth, she led the way down a worn forest trail. Shep followed behind, eyeing the surrounding area as the woods darkened into a deep, mysterious blue. The sky above stayed bright, as it was daytime, but everything was stained in a foggy blue light. Various trees had glowing hollows up in their trunks, as if they were stationed along the paths like lamps to light the way. The path before them glowed yellow as well, as if lined with thousands of little fireflies.
It was quite… mystical. Shep wasn’t sure what to make of it but as his stomach continued to burn, he stayed close to the old mutt, determined to keep her in sight.
As they continued down the path, Shep closely tailing the old mutt, Granny Rose slipped past a bush when the greenery gently snagged and held onto her side for a moment. It was enough for the branch to bend cartoonishly backward as if it was ready to launch itself right out of the shrubbery.
Shep, more frustrated than aware, dipped his head as he avoided a low-hanging branch from above. Just as he did so, the branch clinging to Granny Rose slipped loose and whistled right toward him.
SMACK!
Shep shuddered as the foliage smacked right into his face, filling his startled mouth with leaves. Grunting, he rolled his eyes and spit out the leaves one by one, muttering curses all the way.
It was going to be a long day…
Eventually, the forest lightened, and the greenery began to take over once again as a great yellow light filled the air and lit up a cottage home at the base of a gigantic tree. A path of paved stones led up to the front door. Little fences lined the grassy lawn, and the home was a collection of homely doors and shuttered windows peaking out of the natural bark. One side was draped in emerald-moss and the front door took up the front-and-center with a stone archway around the elegantly carved wooden doors.
If he wasn’t so moody, Shep might have said it was nice. He knew his love, Alma, would have adored the place. She would have been delighted at the way the light danced off the natural building. She would have touched the soft moss and sniffed the tiny flowers lining the walkways.
His heart panged. It was still hard to think about her after all this time.
“Eep! Yip!” Silo clamored. He began to wriggle and wave his paws at the glowing home. Granny Rose set him down and he scampered up to the front door.
“Go on, make yourself at home!” Granny Rose said. She opened the door and Silo, without hesitating, lunged inside and out of sight.
“Hey—” Shep began.
“Don’t worry, you can come in too but um… bigger animals must take the side door. I’m afraid you won’t fit this way,” she explained. Granny Rose pointed with her nose to a stone archway set at the side of the home, under the mossy wall. Shep looked at it skeptically. Walking up the entry, he sized it up.
“Alright,” he said. He lowered his headfirst and stepped through, shimmying his shoulders to fit. Slipping inside, he tried to walk through all the way, but his wide set hips got caught and his butt was stuck.
“Agh!” Shep yelped. He struggled, trying to walk through but his hooves only slipped and tore at the forest floor behind him as his giant, white rear stuck out the door. He strained and struggled as his little black tail waved and wagged desperately.
“Oh dear, it looks like the door is not big enough!” Granny Rose exclaimed. Amidst the excitement, Silo hurried back outside to see the commotion as Shep’s round butt filled the entire doorway.
“Yip! Yip!” Silo laughed. He rolled over and giggled.
“Hold on, let me push,” Granny Rose suggested. She came over and put her paws on Shep’s rear.
“Hey!” Shep yelped. “Get your paws off me!”
Granny Rose ignored him and started pushing. “Geez buddy,” she yelped. “Have you ever thought about laying off the pawpaws and lingonberries?”
Shep yelled back, unintelligible, as Granny Rose pushed her bony shoulder into him and with one last heave, shoved him all the way through the door. Shep, now in a brief freefall, fully faceplanted into the entry room’s wall with a boom.
“There ya go!” Granny Rose cheered.
Inside, Shep got up and shook his head. He found himself in a tiny, yet cozy home. There was a little dining area to the left with a sheet-covered dining table, two little chairs, and a small tea-set. A collection of plates and teacups filled a shelf under a window and the back of the room had a comfy sitting area with a great pink chair and a warm hearth. Stairs went up to a private area up higher in the tree—presumably Granny Rose’ bedroom—and on the right was a set of drawers and storage pots. Everything was colored in gentle pastels and natural hues. Silo, having reentered from the front door, was making a b-line for the room upstairs.
“Good pup,” Granny Rose said. “Go make yourself at home while I take real good care of Shep.”
Silo yipped and disappeared.
Shep, nervous and feeling like a bull in a China shop, tried to stay as still as possible.
What an ugly little place, he thought. Side-stepping toward the middle of the room, Shep moved past a large potted plant that suddenly shifted. Startling, Shep leapt forward, but his hoof landed right on the upturned head of a garden hoe. The wooden handle whooshed up and smacked him right in the face.
“Ack!” Shep yelped. He stumbled back, careening toward the plant that was now a round green head lifting excitedly from the bed of leaves with a large, carnivorous smile.
CRUNCH!
“Aaagh!” Shep yelled. He whipped around to find a monstrous venus fly trap chomping down on his round tail. “Get off!” He stepped forward, careful not to run into anything as he tried to tug his tail free. Shaking his rump, Shep finally shook loose and hurriedly stumbled away from the plant and into the dining table.
Granny Rose chuckled. “Good boy,” she said, stopping to pat the plant on the head. She opened up a box on the floor, pulled out a dead rat, and held it over the plant. The plant trembled and opened its maw, greedily snapping up the rat.
“Eugh!” Shep shuddered. What is going on here? he thought, in disgust. Had he made a mistake letting her take them here?
“Uh, so what are you planning to do to help us feel better? What is your—”
Granny Rose suddenly leapt forward, and karate chopped the left side of Shep’s neck. The old mutt moved as if she was suddenly decades younger and poor Shep couldn’t do anything as his body suddenly seized up and he found himself unable to move. He tried to step or shake—even kick! —but he was horrifically unable to do so.
“What have you done to me?!” he yelled. What was going on?!
“I’ve hit a pressure point to keep your body still,” Granny Rose said.
“What the hell? You better have not! You old bitch, I want you to put me back to normal right this minute!” Shep trembled, his entire body vibrating with hate, but he truly could not do a single thing about it. He was only a statue. An angry, fuming statue!
Granny Rose ignored his profanity. She tapped her chin. “Hmm, it seems you have some tension in your neck.” She came close and grasped his horns. She violently yanked Shep’s head all the way to the side and a massive CRACK! sounded. Shep’s head was now turned back to look toward his left side, over his shoulder.
“Agh!” Shep screamed. “What is wrong with you?!” His eyes bugged.
Granny Rose grabbed Shep’s horns one more time and then yanked his head back and into the opposite direction.
Pa-POP!
“Stop!”
“One more, hold still!” Granny Rose tightened her grip and then brought his head back around and pushed his head upward, so he looked toward the ceiling. Shep’s neck hesitated, his horns smashed back against his back and then the loudest crack of all echoed throughout the room.
“YOOOOWWOOooooohhhh?” Shep’s initial scream disintegrated into a confused moan. “Hey? That feels pretty good!” His eyes widened in surprise.
“Do you trust me now?” Granny Rose dug around in one of her cabinets then returned with a collection of acupuncture needles. Nervous, Shep kept his eyes forward as she methodically stuck twenty-five needles all around Shep’s butt. When she was done, she busied herself mixing something on a small stove and once a strange medicinal scent began to fill the air, she presented him with a mini cauldron-shaped black bowl filled with a strange, bubbling green-liquid.
“What is that?” he asked.
“It’s a kind of… medicine. It’ll help you feel better.”
“Tell me what’s in it,” Shep demanded. “Don’t trick me again.”
Granny Rose set down the bowl. She karate chopped Shep’s neck again but this time on the right side. Shep’s head shot up and his mouth opened in a panicked yell.
“BLEEEEAAATTTT!”
Granny Rose quickly picked up the bowl and dumped the contents into Shep’s open mouth. She clamped his mouth shut before he could spit it out and then she karate chopped his neck again, forcing him to swallow. Shep’s cheeks bulged out and he shuddered as the horrible medicine went down his throat. A bitter, sour taste filled his mouth, and he fought the urge to barf it all back up.
“What the heck?!” Shep bleated. He tossed his head and stomped on the ground. “That tasted horrendous!”
Granny Rose hopped out of the way. “Why are you always so grouchy?” she exclaimed. “I’m only trying to help you, yet you lash out!”
“I can’t help it,” he said. “After all the crap life throws my way… I’ve already gone through enough heartache.”
“Aha, so that’s why you are so mean to Silo! You’ve obviously lost someone very dear to you so I can only imagine that’s why you are afraid to bond with others. You’re afraid to suffer that kind of loss again, aren’t you?”
“What do you know?” Shep snarled.
“I see it. You care for that little pup, deep down, but you push him away with your temper! You are afraid of losing him on this journey like how you lost your loved one!”
“SHUT UP!” Shep yelled. “Don’t pretend you can get into my head and act like you know anything about me! You don’t know shit. I’m hard on that little brat because he doesn’t listen to me!”
“He’s just a young pup,” Granny Rose argued. “He’s young, rambunctious! That’s how he is supposed to be. There are better ways to discipline him instead of just yelling at him.”
Shep’s throat tightened. His eyes started to burn with tears.
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. He forced himself to swallow around the lump in his throat. There is no way she could know.
Granny Rose sighed. “If you refuse to face your problems and deal with them, you’ll never move past them. You are only hurting yourself and those around you at this point.”
Shep, still frozen in place, tried to control his emotions as Granny Rose disappeared behind him to remove the acupuncture needles. When she finished, she karate chopped his neck one more time and released him from his paralysis.
Surprisingly, Shep almost felt like a new ram. He stumbled, his body less stiff and wow, he hated to admit it, but Granny Rose’s remedies had actually helped.
But his relief lasted only for a moment. Suddenly, Shep’s stomach started to rumble again and before he could do anything about it, a large, massive fart ripped out of his backend.
PPPPppppffffttt!!
Shep’s eyes widened, and he blushed with embarrassment.
“Ah, oh my… was that me?” he asked. His stomach twisted, not yet done.
Pffffbbbbboooootttt!
“Oh goodness, who cut the cheese?” Granny Rose laughed. She waved her paws in front of her nose. “Whoa boy, I forgot about the medicine’s side effects! Stay here, I’m going to go get Silo for his dose.” She left to go upstairs.
Another fart slipped from Shep’s butt—Pffffffttttbbbbbtt!— well beyond his embarrassed control. His little tail billowed in the sour wind. If Alma were with him now, she would be on her back laughing her heart out at the state of him! Shep squeezed his legs together, his face burning bright red.
Hell, I gotta get out of here! he thought. Behind him, the venus fly trap laughed.
“Shut up!” he mumbled.
Upstairs was Granny Rose’s quaint bedroom. A single window with blue and daisy drapes decorated the left wall. A plush pink rug covered the wooden floor, and one side of the room was more storage for her various tinctures, teas, and supplies. On the other, right by the window, was a small, framed bed with a pink comforter.
Silo was curled up in a ball underneath the window. He whined sadly to himself, in too much pain to explore or see what was happening downstairs. He looked up when Granny Rose padded over.
“Hhhmm?” he whined.
“Shep is just fine, little one,” she answered.
Granny Rose helped Silo up and guided him to a little table nearby. She sat him up at the table and presented him with a small bottle of red syrup. She poured some of the tincture into a spoon and held it up to Silo’s nose. Silo winced and turned away from the sour smell.
“I know, I know. It’s not the best but you gotta feel better. Right?” She patted his head and held up the spoon, tempting him to try.
Wrinkling his face, Silo carefully stuck out his tongue and then lapped up the awful medicine in one gulp. He coughed and shook his head, yelping at the bad taste.
“Good boy, it’s okay!” Granny Rose said. She put the medicine away and then went to get a bowl of warm chicken broth from the stove. She fed the pup who was still miserable, yet slowly lapped at each bite.
“What’s wrong, little one?”
Silo whined, looking away.
“You know you can tell me anything, right? I’m here to help.”
Tears began to fill Silo’s eyes. Granny Rose put down the spoon and pulled him close, petting him.
“Yip, yip, yip,” Silo began. He muttered quietly but she understood him.
Why is Shep so mean? Why does he hate me?
“Oh sweetie. I know it’s hard to deal with his temper… he’s definitely not nice but you should know that as mean as he can get, he just wants you to be safe. He is worried too. Way deep down, he truly cares about you, but he just doesn’t know how to show it yet.”
Silo looked up in awe. Then he looked away with a sad whine.
“He does care. Trust me, Silo. You may not believe it now, but he cares about you. The silly ram will come to his senses eventually.” Granny Rose paused to wipe a tear from Silo’s cheek. She tickled his muzzle until he smiled. Silo yipped and then nuzzled Granny Rose. The medicine was already doing its job!
“You’re a good boy, Silo! You’ll make it home soon. I promise.”
***
After plenty of rest and good food at Granny Rose’s home, Shep and Silo needed to return to their journey.
Poor Shep struggled back through the side door, barely squeezing through as Granny Rose and Silo walked out the front door. Silo yipped happily and ran to Shep’s side, ready to go. He excitedly nuzzled and licked Shep’s snout.
“I’m okay, it’s alright,” Shep said, attempting to dodge the sudden bout of affection. He looked up at Granny Rose. “As much as I hate to admit it, I do feel better… and it looks like the pup is better too.”
“I can see that,” Granny Rose said happily. “Safe travels, you two. And Shep, please think about what we discussed!”
Shep snorted and turned away, already ready to leave. Behind him, Silo whined and sat back on the ground, not ready to go.
“It’s okay, little one. It’s time for you to return to your mother now. Don’t worry, I’ll never forget about you.” Granny Rose petted him one last time and then ushered him on his way. Shep, stubborn, looked back over his shoulder to the old mutt.
“Thank you,” he uttered.
Granny Rose smiled.
“Come on Silo!” Shep ordered. Silo rushed over and followed the bighorn ram onto the glowing path in the woods.
“Good luck!” Granny Rose called. She watched their departure until they disappeared in the distant blue haze.
***
Later, Shep and Silo made their way out of the woods and back into the bright sunlight as they entered a small clearing. Happily under the great blue sky, and enjoying the warm sun on their fur, they cut through the tall grasses of the meadow and passed through a collection of woodland creatures.
A moose, bison, and a doe were munching on various leaves, grasses, and plants. A fox groomed its front paws in the sun, and a bobcat sitting next to it scratched its ear with its hind paw. A bunny and a squirrel sat chatting and an owl lazily watched from above on its perch in a tree. At its claws, a chunky chipmunk sat munching cheerily on some nuts.
Halfway through the clearing, Shep’s gut gurgled loudly.
Guurggle!
“Oh no,” Shep moaned.
Clueless, Silo wandered on ahead as Shep came to a sudden halt, gritting his teeth.
Uuurglug! Shep’s stomach soured.
Please, please keep it together! he begged his body. Not again!
UuuurrrGGLE!
“UGH, I CAN’T HOLD IT!” Shep squeezed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and finally leaned to one side to let one final fart rip—
BBBPpppffffftttt!!!
The remaining, horrendous fart cut through the clearing. All the animals startled and instantly fell to the ground, passing out cold due to the horrible smell. The colorful flowers in the field turned brown and wilted. The innocent owl and chipmunk fell from their perch, the owl thumped onto the ground on Shep’s right and the chipmunk landed by his left paw. Shep’s mouth hung open, despite the pervasive smell in the air. His eyes went wider than saucers, absolutely horrified with the plight of the creatures around him.
Up ahead, little Silo was just about to become a spec at the end of the long meadow as he romped along. He turned back to Shep with his nose in the air but quickly retreated with a whine. He backed away and then gave up, scurrying toward the far trees to get away from the powerful smell.
Burning red, Shep stood back upright and raced ahead to catch up with Silo.
Geez, what did she put in that medicine anyway?!