Chapter 3—Hotel Disaster

    In a fairly nearby hotel, there was another family that was also having problems. The famed Dalmatian Plantation owners in Britain, Roger and Anita Radcliffe, were also planning on sending some of their many puppies to the dog show in New England. Crossing the Atlantic, Roger and Anita brought along their adults Pongo and Perdita, and five of their puppies, now in their adolescence aboard the ship for a week. Their cook, Nanny, stayed at home to take care of their others.
    When the five of them got to America, Roger and Anita were seasick, and so were Pongo and Perdita. But their puppies, led by the rambunctious Patch, were high-spirited and scurried through the hotel lobby while their parents checked into the hotel room.
    After a short check-in, Roger and Anita opened the hotel room , and allowed their pets to settle in. Pongo immediately raced up to check on Perdita, asking, “Perdy, are you all right?”
Perdita jumped up on one of the beds, sighing, “Oh Pongo, this was such a long journey. I hope the kids are all right,” looking concerned at them.
Roger was very happy in the hotel room, since it had a large piano in it. He smiled at Anita, saying, “Look! They even put a piano in here!”
“This is like a dream come true,” Anita stated happily, as Roger twirled her in the air.
    Pongo looked at his puppies, and noticed that they were not so happy. Once living in a bachelor flat, Pongo knew how they felt, and turned on the television to try to distract the kids. It worked, at least for the short term. His puppies, Rolly, Freckles, Patch, Penny, and Lucky all scampered over to the television, and wagged their tails at it as they watched Thunderbolt The Wonder Dog, their long time hero, on television yet again.
    While they watched television, Roger walked over to the piano, beginning to sing, and Anita walked over to sit on the bed nearby, petting Perdita’s head, and laughing whenever Roger began to play “Cruella De Vil”.
    With Thunderbolt now off the television, the puppies instantly became restless right away. Rolly told Perdita pleadingly, “I’m hungry!”
    Perdita told Rolly, “Now, now, there’s no food here,” as Anita scratched her head again.
    Rolly insisted, “I don’t care… I’m still hungry! I’ll eat the rug if you don’t feed me soon!”
    He continued to complain slightly about food and his tummy growled until dinner time. After eating twice the portion that the other puppies received, Rolly was satisfied, but some of the other puppies were having problems. As Roger played the piano again, singing “Cruella De Vil” merrily while he played, Patch weighed in on Cruella.
    “She’s such a dirty…” Patch stated venomously. “A …”
    Perdita gasped in alarm. “Now Patch, you shouldn’t be saying things like that.”
    Patch turned to Pongo for support, but he added, “Better do what your mother says.”
    Patch blurted out, “But she is!”
Penny added, “He’s quite right, Mother. You didn’t have to deal with that mad old lady.”
    But Perdita stated firmly, “I know very well that she was extremely cruel to you, and believe me, I felt emotional pain about losing you more than you could imagine. But you could express your discontent without swearing, I wonder where you’ve learned all those words,” looking at Pongo suspiciously.
    Rolly, Penny and Freckles nodded with their mother, but Patch and Lucky didn’t look convinced.
    “You don’t expect us to just treat her politely,” Patch stated.
    “But there are other ways to express your feelings,” Perdita told Patch pointedly, looking at Pongo for support.
    Roger and Anita continued to play at the piano in a relaxed way, and Patch looked increasingly angry at Pongo and Perdita.
    After an hour or so of playing, Roger asked, “Why don’t we go on a walk?”
    Anita nodded, and instantly, they leashed up Pongo and Perdita, then they leashed up the five puppies, who were now old enough to go on walks with them.
    As they walked outside, the five puppies were clearly enjoying themselves, finally being able to walk after being cooped up in a hotel room and a ship. Freckles tried to grab at some butterflies, Rolly found a half-eaten hot dog on the ground and quickly ate it, and Lucky was fascinated with observing a hot air balloon. Only Penny and Patch seemed somewhat bored with the walk. Patch complained, “How come we can’t do something like Thunderbolt for a change?”
    Penny was silent, for she liked Patch a lot but didn’t feel as adventurous as he did. Meanwhile, Pongo and Perdita were happily talking above, oblivious to Patch’s grumbling.
    “Oh Pongo, this must’ve been about one year now since we met,” Perdita stated, happily. “Remember that day?”
    “Of course, I tried to get Anita’s and your attention,” Pongo told Perdita, “I was sick of that bachelor life,” and they laughed.
    “And look at our children,” Perdita told Pongo happily, watching Patch whispering something to Penny. “They’re growing up! I’m so glad we saved them!”
    Pongo added, “And we found our others,” Pongo stated happily. “You know Perdy, life has just been working out so well since we arrived home.”
    Perdita nodded, and Pongo continued, “Just look at our children right here… they all look really happy…hold on…”
    Roger stopped walking, and Anita hurriedly asked, “How many dogs did we take along on the walk?”
Roger stood still, thinking. “Well, let’s see… we took Pongo and Perdita, and all five of our puppies…”
“Are you sure?” Anita asked.
But then he noticed he had three empty leashes. “Hold on… where are Patch, Penny, and Lucky?”
“I saw Lucky earlier on the walk,” commented, and then they both gasped.
Rolly and Freckles looked at the empty leashes, and looked confused themselves. Then they realized what must have happened.
Pongo and Perdita were both grief-stricken. “Oh, Pongo!” Perdita gasped in horror.