Something Wrong With Bee

Something was wrong with Bee. Buu knew that there was something wrong with Bee but he didn’t know what it was. One minute they were living happily, just like they had always done, and then, all of a sudden, Bee had started to act very strangely.

   Buu had noticed that, over the weeks, Bee had been getting fat. Hercule had told him, rather sternly like he always would when telling him something important, that Buu shouldn’t be giving the dog any cakes, as he would do sometimes.

   Not wanting Bee to get any fatter, Buu had stopped giving him cake. Buu didn’t mind, it meant that there was more for him.

   But Bee didn’t stop getting fat.

   Then Bee stopped wanting to play. Buu would throw the ball, just like he always would, but Bee wouldn’t chase it. He would just look at Buu and then go to lie down instead.

   Buu had tried to take Bee down to the park in Satan City. Bee liked it there because there were always other dog friends to play with.

   But Bee hadn’t wanted to play with the other dogs either. When they tried to approach him, Bee would just growl at them until they went away. Bee didn’t want to chase his favourite ball at the park either.

   Now Buu was starting to get very worried. First Bee had started to get very fat. Then Bee had stopped playing. Now this morning Bee had vanished altogether. Buu had looked in all of Bee’s usual spots; his favourite rug, his food bowl, under the table and even in Bee’s little bedroom. Buu had looked in all the places where his dog could normally be found twice over but still there was no sign of Bee.

   Not knowing what else to do, Buu went to find Hercule to ask for help. Hercule knew a lot about how to look after Bee. He had taught Buu all about the foods that Bee liked to eat, that Bee should be walked twice a day where he could go and play and all sorts of other things.

   Hercule seemed to understand Buu’s concern about his dog and agreed to stop his training to help look for Bee. It seemed like very strange training to Buu, Hercule would mostly just sit all day and shout things at other people. Meanwhile the other people would kick and punch and shout and do things that looked like the sort of training that Buu preferred to do.

   Again, now with Hercule’s help, all of Bee’s usual spots were searched again but again he was nowhere to be found.

   “Are you sure you searched everywhere before?” Hercule asked him as he straightened up from checking around the couch.

   “Yes, Buu look in all of Bee’s places,” Buu nodded, chewing the end of one of the fingers on his gloves. Then he added, in a rather sad tone, “Bee gone.”

   “Come on now,” Hercule patted him on the arm. “Bee must be somewhere. Try looking in some different places.”

   Buu decided to look in the bathroom while Hercule went to search outside. Bee didn’t go into the bathroom much so it seemed to be the best place to look if he was meant to be looking in places where Bee wouldn’t normally be. Buu searched the bathroom twice over but still Bee was nowhere to be found.

   Then Buu looked in the large living room where sometimes they would sit and Hercule would read them stories all about war and fighting. Buu liked those stories but usually Bee would lie down beside him and just go to sleep.

   Again, he searched the room twice over but there was still no sign of Bee.

   Then Buu decided to try looking in his bedroom. It was a place where Bee would sometimes go but not as much as other places. Besides, he hadn’t searched in there at all yet.

   As Buu went in, he heard a strange, small noise. When he listened carefully, it sounded like a soft whimpering; like the noise that Bee had made when he had first found him.

   Whatever was making the noise sounded like it was under the bed. Curious as to what it was, Buu went and lifted up the overhanging sheet so that he could find out.

   There, lying in a messy pile of old clothes, was Bee. But Bee wasn’t making the soft noise, it was coming from the four small furry lumps that lay beside him.

   Wondering what they were, Buu reached out to touch them but, all of a sudden, Bee let out a low, threatening growl.

   Buu withdrew his hand quickly, wondering why his beloved pet would suddenly be acting so strangely. He decided to ask Hercule, he knew quite a lot about Bee so he might be able to figure it out.

   Running to his bedroom door, Buu sucked in lung-fulls of air so that Hercule could hear him from outside when he shouted.

   “Hercule! Hercule! Buu find Bee!”

   As he shouted loudly down the hallway, some of the pictures swayed back and fourth and there was a crash from somewhere around the corner. Within a minute or so, Hercule appeared with a large smile on his face.

   “Great job Buu. Where was he?”

   “Bee under Buu’s bed,” Buu pointed into his bedroom. “But Bee have strange furry things. They make small noise, like Bee make when Bee was puppy.”

   “Furry things?” Hercule’s large brow wrinkled as he frowned. “Let me take a look.”

   Leading Hercule inside, Buu lifted up the overhanging sheet again to reveal Bee and the mysterious lumps of moving fur. Again, just to show Hercule, Buu reached out and again Bee growled fiercely until he withdrew his hand.

   “See?” Buu pointed, noticing the shocked look on Hercule’s face. “Buu reach for furry things, Bee growl. Why Bee growl?”

   “Buu…” Hercule spoke slowly as he looked from Bee, to the furry things and back to Bee again. Still, the shocked look on his face remained. “Buu… Bee isn’t… a boy dog.”

   “Bee not boy?”

   “No Buu,” all of a sudden, a wide grin broke across Hercule’s face. “Bee’s a girl dog. Those furry things are her puppies.”

   “Bee’s puppies!” Buu’s face lit up as he remembered all the fun that he’s had when Bee had been a puppy. He heard Hercule mutter something about never checking Bee but that didn’t matter to Buu. If Bee was a girl and now she had puppies then that meant that there would be more dogs to play with. “More puppy to play with Buu!”

   “Yes Buu, but not yet,” Hercule’s voice took on that stern tone again, which meant that Buu should pay attention because it was something important. “They’re too young to play right now; they need to stay with their mother. That’s why Bee growled at you, because they’re not ready yet. Just wait until they’re older and stronger and she’ll let you play with them. Just remember to be very, very gentle with them. Understand?”

   “Buu do! Buu do!” Buu clapped his hands and feet together with excitement. He heard Hercule mutter something else. Something about getting Bee fixed. That didn’t matter to Buu either, whatever it was. Soon Buu would have some new puppies to play with as well as Bee.