approached they hissed and jumped out of the way. Apparently they didn’t recognize me. “No matter,” I thought. For some reason what they thought about me no longer made a difference. As I approached the bowl my mouth watered. Even though it did not have my name in capital letters this looked like the best meal I had ever seen. I buried my face in the food and swallowed it down barely taking time to chew. I could feel Josie and Vincent as they cautiously sniffed me while my back was turned. After I had my fill, I turned around banging the contraption covering my head into the leg of a chair. Again I heard loud hissing from Vincent and Josie as I headed under the desk to rest my tired miserable bones. They both ran to the opposite corner of the room. “Whatever.” I thought, and quickly went to sleep. As the weeks went by I began feeling less pain and more energy. After much whining and complaining from yours truly, Jeffery Chambers decided that it was finally time to take off the horrible contraption surrounding my head which made it difficult to see and also made me unrecognizable to my siblings. As he removed the device I could feel the cold air encircling the moist fur of my neck. I could finally examine my body and the first thing I did was to begin examining the area on my abdomen where the terrorists were conducting dreadful experiments on me. The fur had grown back over the patch but you could still see some evidence of the crime. As soon as my disguise was removed Josie and Vincent ran up to me and began sniffing me. “Christopher where have you been?” exclaimed Vincent. “It’s so good to see you. We thought you were dead brother,” said Josie excitedly. She continued, “So much has happened since you were gone. They temporarily replaced you with another beast that smelled just like you but he didn’t look anything like you. It was hideous.” I just stared at them in disbelief.
As the weeks passed I got stronger and stronger. One day as we were trying to figure out what was next on the agenda, I suggested a game of king of the jungle. Both Vincent and Josie looked very surprised. "Are you sure? Don't you remember what happened the last time we played?" said Josie. Vincent added, "Wouldn't it be safer for you to play chase and run or some other game." Vincent said this with a sneer that hinted at a veiled threat. I used my surprised voice. "Oh! I'm sorry. If you're not up to it we can play a more..." I paused briefly to choose the appropriate word. "delicate game." That did the trick. The smug expression on Vincent's face turned to one of embarrassment then anger. He quickly attempted to conceal his feelings. "Look!" he said in a stern voice. "If you want to play then we'll play. Just be warned. I'm not going to take it easy on you." I said, "Message received." and with that I lunged at him this time catching him off guard. He didn't topple over though and the game had begun. We began with a match of strength as we wrestled each other to the ground. He was attempting to dominate me landing blow after blow and threatening to swallow me up by opening his jaw wide enough to encompass my face. Ordinarily I would have been intimidated but considering all I'd been through in the last couple of months Vincent's threats had no impact on me. He put me in a headlock and shouted, "This is not going to end well for you. Submit!" Panting heavily I wriggled free of his hold and leapt to my feet. Again I was on the attack leaping with renewed vigor on top of him. He caught me with his large paws extended and using my momentum against me flipped me over and my body came crashing to the floor with a loud thud. Josie was observing all of this, sitting comfortably at a safe distance. In the corner of my eye I could see her flinch as my body hit the ground. Again we embraced in a death lock each of us refusing to give in. This went on for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Vincent leaped to his feet and