Another Chapter complete and this one is mostly thanks to Jinero sorry if it isn't completely what you wanted but I figured I would try to edit your request but I hope you and everyone else enjoys what I have written.
It was just another fine day in the Farmhouse, as Muriel, Gina, Courage, and the girls are in the kitchen making banana cake . As soon as the batter was poured into a loaf pan ,Muriel would then place it in the oven to cook afterwards, Madeline and Courage would look in on the cake in the oven. "Madeline honey ,the cake won't bake if your standing there like that" Gina said, lifting Madeline from the front of the oven much to her dismay. Muriel would then dismiss the girls and Gina, "I'll let you know when the bread will be ready" Muriel said ,to which Gina still carrying the young girl says "come on girls, let's go see what dad and grandpa are doing." Once they left the kitchen ,Muriel would then ask the pink dog "would ya like to help me make the buttercream frosting for the cake Courage" which Courage happily obliged to.
After cleaning the kitchen table Courage went to gather the ingredients needed once all the ingredients are placed in a mixing bowl Muriel she starts to mix the ingredients together. A few minutes when the frosting thickens she says to her dog "alright Courage the frosting is almost ready would you mind going to check on the cake to see if its done?" Courage nods in agreement before making his way to the oven and carefully opening the oven door to take a peek. When he sees that the cake has risen to baked perfection Courage happily puts on oven mitts before he takes out the pan from the oven.
Half a minute passes as we see the family with the exception of Muriel seated in the dining room, as the elderly woman presents to the family the completed banana cake. As Muriel cuts everyone a peace ,Katy would comment "thanks grandma you are awesome" in which the elderly woman handing her a slice of cake, says " honestly I will never understand you young children and how ya talk nowadays." Muriel serves everyone their share of cake, but as she was about to cut a piece for a very excited Courage, she was suddenly stopped by Katy who asks "Grandma, everyone already has a piece who are you cutting that one for?" Muriel simply replies "why for Courage of course, he also helped make it after all."
"Grandma, you know most dogs shouldn't be eating pastries or anything sweet right?" Asks Katy concernedly, in which Muriel obliviously replies "I would assume Courage was a special kind of dog" which Katy would then ask "well, I mean he still could get sick from eating a slice of cake wouldn't he? Also why are you letting him sit at the table?" Eustace steps in to the conversation, replying "I've been askin' her that question ever since she first brought home that lousy dog" hearing all this causes Courage to slightly slump in his chair with a look of concern on his face. Gavin after swallowing a piece of cake ,would say to his eldest daughter "Katy I'm certain this is your grandma of showing how much she cares for Courage" followed by Gina ,who adds in "to your grandma she sees Courage more as part of the family."
Eustace glares at Gina with disbelief, rudely asking "did you suddenly go blind or where ya just raised to be this clueless!?" Gina smirkly replies to her father in law with " No ,but I'm pretty sure you let your mindset wallowing in the nineteen tens, because nowadays people are treated equally" much to Eustace's annoyance, as he returns to eating his slice of cake. Despite what her parents are telling her ,Katy would then reply " look I can buy into the fact that Courage can do alot of cool stuff sure, but I can definitely say with certainty that he is still a dog!" Muriel still unsure of what Katy says, puts the knife down and say in consideration "well ,perhaps I can understand your concern."
Courage in disbelief and dismay tries to counter Katy's argument ,unfortunately all he could blurt out was "But-But-" Before Katy gets up from her seat and lifts Courage off the table and into her arms, taking him to the living room afterwards. Once in the living room ,Katy then sets Courage on the carpet where he would proceed to whine in sadness, wanting to be less harsh ,Katy would say to him "look it's nothing personal, it's just that you're not a person at all your a dog, and dogs don't eat cake you understand don't you?". Courage hangs his head in defeat as Katy goes back in the dining room ,Muriel felt bad for the poor pink dog however, so she approaches him knelt down to his level to give him a small hug ,saying to him "I'm sorry Courage, I know ya worked hard on that cake too ,but Katy's just getting to know ya is all ,I'm sure she will warm up to ya soon." This did not change the poor dog's sadness however, as he starts to lay on the ground in a state of depression.
Not wanting to see him sad anymore ,Muriel after looking at the doorway behind her to see nobody there ,turns to Courage and whispers "I'll tell ya what, why dont I add something special in your dog food tomorrow for breakfast, and if Katy wants to say something about it, I'll make her eat out of your dog bowl would that make ya feel better?" Hearing this Courage chuckles a little, as Muriel pets him on the head before returning back to the family for some cake. Afterwards ,Courage began to notice the T.V. Remote sitting the couch within his reach, taking the remote he flips it on to watch some T.V.
On T.V. appeared the newscaster ,reporting from what appears to be a crashed spaceship surrounded with police tape,as the news caster says "The ship before you now happens to belong to veterinarian Ronald Novator ,whos scheme has just been discovered revolving around the mysterious dog abductions since the mid nineties." We then get a look at Ronald's muggshot, and to Courage's shock it was an image of a man with no hair anywhere on his head, yet his face was completely covered with hair consisting of a full beard and mustache ,as well as bushy eyebrows above his very beady eyes behind a set of circular glasses. Courage was frozen in horror as the news caster continues, "rest assured ,he is now facing ten years behind bars for each and every dog he had stolen." Courage was in relief and joy ,but that soon stopped when he heard what the newsman said next.
"Unfortunately the dogs he sent into space weren't as lucky, apparently time caught up to all of them by the time they reached earth."Courage was in complete fright and pain when he heard this, as the newsmen says "Our little canine friends that where up there will surely be missed." As a list of names that belonged to the dogs scrolls down ,while violin music played in the background ,Courage nervously watched as the names of dogs go by ,when suddenly his heart sank when he saw two names that meant a whole lot to him 'Teresa and Henry' the names that Courage knew two well...The names of his parents.
That night in the girls bedroom, we find Katy getting ready for bed ,Madeline entering the bedroom with her stuffed cat, had a concerned look on her face "Katy?" Asks Madeline in concern ,getting her older sister's attention " do you know where Courage went ? I looked all over for him ,but I can't find him anywhere." Katy simply responds "I'm pretty sure he's already in grandma and grandpa's bed" as she stretches her arms. Madeline then notices the attic door slightly open, directing Katy's attention to it the older sister begins growing suspicious, as she and Madeline decide to investigate.
The girls carefully open the door so as to not cause any disturbance only to then notice inside the attic, there was a large mess of photos scattered all over the floor ,and at the center of the mess was Courage holding in his hands a large leather book that covered his face. The girls look at each other before carefully approaching the mess ,and as they got closer to the pink dog the sound of sobbing can be heard. Courage, unaware of the girls existence was looking at a photo album that contained various pictures of him with Muriel and Eustace and all the good times they had together. The one photo in particular that his attention was on ,was a photo of him as a puppy and by his side where two dogs that look exactly like he does now, however one wore a yellow hat and carried a purse, while the other had a mustache this was the photo that was making him cry this was the photo of his parents.
Within the sad dog's mind as he looks at the picture, a whole flood of memories start to close in on him, more specifically the memories involving how he was separated from his parent's. This continued on for a good four minutes, before his inner thoughts were interrupted when Katy called out "Courage?" This startles him as he drops the photo album to the floor ,sending loose photos flying. As Courage quickly grabs ahold of the papers that float down to the ground, the girls take notice of the album on the floor as well as the photo of his parents ,which brings the girls in awe. "Oh Courage is that your mommy and daddy? they are so cute!" Madeline exclaims with glee, while Katy observes it as well ,before she gushes over how adorable Courage as a puppy was.
Then when Katy was about to ask Courage something ,she begins to notice Courage facing away from them as Madeline and Katy look at him in concern. Madeline looking at Courage with innocence in her eyes, asks "aw Courage your sad are you ok?" Followed by Katy who asks "what's a matter boy, why are you all by yourself here looking at old photos?" Katy as she was about to approach the pink dog ,suddenly notices the computer turned on ,containing an article of some kind this got her curiosity flaring ,as she decides to look into it. Madeline meanwhile decides to sit next to Courage and give him back the photo album, which Courage takes notice of before here older sister calls her saying "hey Maddie ,get a look at this" in which gets the child's attention asking "whats wrong?"
Katy presents to her little sister the article on the computer, which read as follows: Acclaimed veterinarian Ronald Novator ,arrested for the abduction and deaths of over fifty dogs for the sake of an experiment he claimed would advance mankind. Unfortunately ,now his operation was uncovered and was considered animal cruelty. Last seen crashing into earth after an escape from the moon, before authorities arrived and had him taken into custody. The abducted dogs were returned back to earth when discovered, unfortunately due to an expanded time on the moon, each one suffered and died of incurable strange disease.
After reading the article, Katy and Madeline where taken aback by what was read ,neither girl could find the right words for such a travesty. Suddenly the two where in surprise when they hear somebody in the room say" believe me, that's not even the whole story." Quickly they try to search for the source of the voice, before Katy and Madeline start to realise that the source of the voice came from the pink dog himself. "Courage?" Asks Katy, "You can talk?" adds Madeline ,in which the dog replies "I've always been able to talk ,you just never understood me whenever I got scared." Both girls stare in surprise ,as Courage continues to talk saying "you know I'm surprised you even heard me talk at all, I never could the Farmer or Muriel to understand me at all."
Setting aside the fact that the family dog can talk, Katy would then ask "so anyway, what is the whole story your talking about?" Courage taking a deep breath sits in his computer chair ,and starts with "well for one yes I have parents of my own ,life was great it really was ,until that day I was taken to the vet after an accident. Then the vet says that he wanted a moment alone with my parents. What I soon found out was my parents were one of the test subjects in his experiment." Katy in surprise ,says "no way both your parents abducted for an experiment? That is so wrong."
"What was worse, was I couldn't save them in time ,and they went away forever and now..." Said Courage, both girls were in tears . Especially Madeline who hated the thought of a kid being separated from their parents ,especially if it's her own. "I'm really sorry Courage, if I would've known this about you sooner, I would have let grandma cut you a slice of cake and I wouldn't have opened my big mouth" said Katy in shame, which Courage would say "I'm not even mad about that anymore, I mean could've been worse I guess." Then Courage finishes the story ,by telling them how Muriel found him and took him home, which Katy would reply "gee Courage do you still think about them?
Courage replies "only on occasion" Madeline still crying, then runs to Courage to hug him despite the tears and runny nose, Courage hugs her back saying "hey it's ok Maddie, there's no need to be sad for me. I mean you girls are lucky to still have your family whole" that is when Katy approaches the pink cowardly dog, and says "actually we should be calling you lucky." When Courage asks why ,he is suddenly hugged along with Madeline as Katy trying to hold back tears, explains "your lucky to have a family who loves you ,even if some of us don't show it." The hug continued for a good couple of hours ,then after cleaning up the mess of photos, the trio return back to the bedroom to turn in.
As they girls and Courage where about to get into bed ,Courage would then ask them for a favor ,which he would say "can you two promise me that you won't tell anyone anything you heard tonight? Especially the fact that I can talk, I would hate to see how Muriel or the farmer or your parents would act if they knew I was now an orphan." The girls agree to keep it between them as Courage sighs in relief ,before going to bed. Unbeknownst to them however , standing outside their bedroom door was Muriel, who has heard everything and once she was sure that they were asleep ,she started to silently weep with a hand over her mouth.
By the next morning in the kitchen ,everyone was having breakfast except Muriel who was cooking something in a large pot that intrigued most of the family. Katy asks "hey grandma, what are you making?" Which Muriel answers "a special treat just for Courage nothing special." When she finishes ,Muriel approaches Courage with the pot and says "hope ya saved room for your favorite Courage ,chicken dumplings." Hearing this Courage cheers with excitement ,but before serving him his favorite dish, Muriel turns her attention to Katy with a smirk on her face ,asking her "unless my own blood has any more objections?"
Katy ln response replies "oh uh not at all, I mean if he survived eating it for so long without getting sick,I say why not go ahead." Courage joyfully giggles with excitement as he was served his food ,he proceeded to chow down with glee . Muriel shocked would ask "Katy dear ,ya seem to be in a different mood today ,what brought this on?" Katy simply replies "well lets just say Maddie and I got to know Courage a little bit better last night, and I think I understand what makes him special." In which Muriel says "I'm glad to hear it dear" before sitting down to have breakfast. Courage meanwhile ,as he ate began to think about everything he has been through since the day he came to live with the Bagges ,as well as what would come now that he had met Gavin and his family.
Muriel meanwhile ,looks on at the family she had come to love, but her attention was also on Courage ,as he continued to eat his favorite food . She would then remember the very words she said when she first met Courage "What Courage ya have, would ya like to come home with me? I'll call ya Courage, we'll have a grand time" afterwards ,Muriel began to think to herself "and a grand time its been since I found ya Courage ,and I'm happy to know that even with Gavin and his family with us, it brings me joy to see that no dog can ever match up to you, even now with an extended family."
And so ends another chapter and I hope you all enjoy please review if you do and as always I will be sure to update as soon as I can hopefully.