Disaster! Suddenly, there was someone at the door, talking into a phone.
Instantly, they panicked. They could explain being there well enough. But being in Kelly's room, holding her dress? Not so much. Amy grabbed Chris' hand and ran him out of the room to the back door. He opened it, and they ran as fast as they could.
Little did they know two things. One, the person at the door was only there to make a delivery and two, they left the back door wide open, and Misty got out.
An hour later, a panicked call was made to the house, about their back door being open, and the location of the dog. Aunt Elise was stricken. As the key was used, it was only ever going to have been them who used it, so their mother got them both together angrily and asked what happened. She was getting quite fed up of the increasingly embarrassing phone calls regarding their pranks, but Misty going missing was a new experience.
They did not mention the dress at first, but they did admit to being in the house, and a search was put out. Their Mother, Anna, sent them to their rooms, and went to help search. It took three long hours before Misty was found, playfully unaware of any hullabaloo, in a dirty stream at the back of the park. Both children were a little bit more concerned than usual. Their pranks didn't usually have big consequences.
Chris of course, had his computer to play with, to keep his mind off it, and try to not concentrate on the forthcoming punishment. The more he thought about it, the more he assumed Amy was probably cooking up some excuse. He heard some foot stomps up the stairs.
"You two, on the landing, now!"
He had never heard his Mother booming so loudly.
They both made their way to the landing, and looked guiltily at each other.
"I have NEVER been so embarrassed. To think that anything could happen to that poor dog. And my sister, my poor sister and her family. You have both gone too far this time. Go back to your rooms, I'm going to get the whole truth out of both of you." They looked distressed at each other. and stepped back into their rooms.
Anna followed Amy in to hers.
Amy would fess up, right? She said she would...She did...Of course there was always the possibility she might lay the blame on him. Would Mum believe that? Maybe, but in his word against hers, she might believe him. Wait, Amy was going to lay all the blame onto him wasn't she? Two can play at that game!
As he was playing this mental game, Amy was doing nothing of the sort. She told her mother calmly what happened, that it was all a joke, and a mistake. She took responsibility for what she had done, and left her Mother in no doubt they were both to blame. She was very sorry, and cried at the news the dog was safe and well. Chris did not know this.