THUD! Connie and Darcy tumbled onto a washer that was humming along in the process of cleaning what was presumably a batch of clothes. Darcy jumped down and assisted Constance as she followed suit. They scanned the spacious basement. It was dark and dreary despite the white Berber carpeting beneath their feet.
"Seems like the coast is clear," observed the old woman. Darcy made certain the basement window was closed behind them. Then she led Connie across the floor towards a comfortable leather sectional and HD home theatre unit. The stairs were at the end of the room.
"Hey-ho!! F-f-fa-fancy seeing y-y-you here, Darce.. And C-c-on-constance?? Well I'll be!" shouted Freedom from out of nowhere.
Darcy lurched back! She was scared stiff but the Wise Old Woman didn't even flinch.
"Freedom!! Are you kidding me? Why would you do that??"
Freedom cowered in response. "My a-a-apologies. D-d-darcy, I didn't mean to.. I mean I just came down to ch-check on my collars."
"You gave me a heart attack! Wait, your collars? I thought there were clothes in the washer.." Darcy raised an eyebrow.
Freedom pointed at the washer, "Why yes, I'm w-w-w-wash-washing them in there. I take pride in h-having cl-cl-c-clean collars."
Darcy calmed down. "Okay, okay, as weird as that may be, we need to be extra quiet. We just escaped out of the backyard shed. They will be looking for us."
Connie added, "Yes. We can't afford to get captured again. We must be smart and silent if we want to put an end to this nonsense."
Freedom scratched his belly with confusion. "S-s-sounds v-very fascinating.. I-i don't have the f-f-faintest clue what you're g-go-going on about.."
Darcy grabbed Freedom's head and pulled him close. "Don't worry about the details. Pull yourself together, Freedom! We are going to need your help."
Freedom nodded and nuzzled his head into Darcy's arms.
Constance motioned for them to travel upstairs. Darcy stopped at the base of the stairs and looked up. Light trickled down from the open door at the top. She heard nothing but silence. Connie tapped her on the shoulder and pointed towards Freedom. Darcy shook her head.
Freedom struggled to retrieve his collars from the washer. His canine body wriggled and writhed as only his lower half was visible. Darcy tried her best to stifle a laugh. The Wise Old Woman smiled really wide as the comical scene unfolded. Finally, Freedom popped his head up with several collars swinging around his paw. He flopped down and waddled over to the dryer.
"This won't take long," he stated, looking back over his shoulder.
Darcy and Connie both shrugged.
Freedom pried the dryer door open with his free paw. Then he slung the collars inside. He slammed the door closed and leapt on top of the machine. He switched the dryer on and jumped off. The slow rumbling of the drying process began, but this time a random pinging could be heard because the collars were being tossed in a thousand different directions.
"I'm certain that those collars don't belong in the dryer," chimed Constance as Freedom caught up with them.
"Eh, who cares," sighed Freedom.
The three of them shared a chuckle. Then they made the trek upstairs, ready to take on this bizarre world.
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