"Oh, come on Lance," Becky said, as Lance sat in his hospital bed with his arms crossed, pouting. "It's not that bad."
"Not that bad?" Lance asked. "Becky, I got gored in the ass by an ibex. What can be worse than that?"
"The ibex's horn could have went up your asshole," Johnny said, looking over at the porcupines.
"I didn't ask you," Lance snapped.
"Well then next time, don't piss off an ibex that can easily take down a hippo," Lance's sister Astrid said, as she came into the room with a bag of donuts. "Here, I got you a raspberry cream."
"Thanks," he said, taking the bag from her. "Hey, can you do me a favor and close the curtain? I don't want to look at that gorilla's ugly mug."
"I think you'd be doing me a bigger favor in not letting me see yours," Johnny said.
"Hey!" Lance yelled, as Astrid closed the curtain that separated their beds. A rhino police officer coming in to speak with Johnny.
"Hello Johnny," he said. "My name's Ross. I work with the local police department."
"It's nice to meet you," Johnny said, reaching out to shake the police officer's hand. "What can I help you with?"
"I'm here to get your statement on what happened last night. We already have your friend Mike's, but we need yours so we can have more evidence against the bears."
"Okay," he said.
Giving Ross his statement, Johnny tried to piece together what had happened since he was having a bit of trouble wrapping his brain around the fact that he nearly died. And Ross was patient with him, which he was thankful for since while he was trying to wrap his brain around that he got shot, he had almost had a stress induced breakdown twice, and Ross would gently tell him it was okay, and to take his time.
"Okay, I should have enough evidence," he said once Johnny finished giving his statement, and standing up to leave.
"Um, Officer Ross..." Johnny said, stopping the rhinoceros from leaving. "If it's not too much trouble. Would you mind talking to the warden at the corrections facility? I'd like to see my dad."
Looking down at Johnny, and seeing the anxious look in his eyes; Ross sighed, and sat back down to talk to him.
"Johnny," he said. "I'm sorry, but...when your dad found out you were hurt, he broke out again. And they extended his sentence."
"What?" Johnny asked. "By how long?"
"At least ten years," he said. "And I tried to persuade them into reducing it; but they're refusing, and it's starting to sound like they aren't going to let you two see each other anytime soon either."
"That's bullshit," Lance said from the other side of the curtain.
"Lance, shut up," Astrid said.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Ross said, as he stood back up. "I'll tell him you're okay, and see if I can get them to lessen the sentence. But I doubt I'll be able to do anything."
"Okay," Johnny said, trying to hold back his tears, as Ross left; Lance peeking his head around the curtain to look at Johnny.
"You okay?" he asked, seeing Johnny's eyes fill with tears.
"Leave me alone," he said, his voice breaking before he just broke down completely.
~Meanwhile~
"Mr. Moon, don't you think you should lay down for a while?" Ms. Crawly asked, as Buster looked through the papers on his desk. "You've had a long night."
"I'll sleep when I find out a way to pay for Johnny's hospital bills," Buster said, rubbing his eyes.
"I think Eddie has it covered," Ms. Crawly said.
"I got it," Buster said, snapping his fingers, as his phone rang. "A charity concert. Hello?...He is?...Oh, thank god. I was so worried. Hey, how do you feel about a charity concert to help pay for his hospital bills?...But Rosita, you know what he'll say if we wait...Okay, fine. Thanks for the call."
"Is Johnny okay?" Ms. Crawly asked.
"Yeah, he woke up," Buster said, hanging up the phone, and dialing another number. "Hey Ash, I know you're probably trying to sleep. But-"
"Mr. Moon, go to bed before I put you in the hospital with Johnny," Ash said before hanging up on him.
"Next contestant," he said, dialing Gunter's number since Gunter couldn't say no.
~Meanwhile~
"Nana please," Eddie begged. "You have to do something. Johnny was already pushing himself to get his dad and uncles out before he got shot, when he finds out their sentence was extended, he'll push himself harder and get himself sick, or worse."
"Edward, you have to try harder than that to convince me to get those three out of jail," Nana said, as she adjusted her headband with her hoof. "Give me another reason."
"You'll be spending less than what you did on the theatre," Eddie said.
"Not good enough," Nana said, making Eddie groan, and pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Nana, come on," he said. "You know my parents aren't going to post their bail. And Johnny works for us on Saturdays."
"I heard," Nana said. "And what's this I hear about him stealing money from you guys?"
"I slipped him an extra ten and dad freaked out," he said, shaking his head to get back on topic. "But that's not the point. The point is-"
"Don't go repeating yourself Edward," she said, cutting him off.
"Look," Eddie said, taking a deep breath to keep from snapping. "His family is the one thing that keeps him going. If he finds out that their sentences were extended, he's just going to blame himself, and push himself harder. Or come to you like I am now."
Sighing, Nana looked at her grandson's reflection in the mirror, and stared for a good two minutes; pondering whether or not to post Big Daddy's bail. Because on one hand, she wouldn't gain anything from it; and there were no promises that Big Daddy wouldn't revert to his old criminal ways. But on the other hand, she couldn't let someone like Johnny push himself just to fix what he felt he did wrong when in reality he did nothing wrong at all. Because Eddie was right, Johnny had been pushing himself to post his father's bail: working two jobs; his dad's auto shop, and cleaning Eddie's pool on weekends, and juggling school, rehearsals, and piano lessons on top of that. And she didn't want Johnny pushing himself like that, because it would put him right back in the hospital.
"Okay," she sighed. "I'll think about it."