Never before had Jergens felt so clean and refreshed (as well as sexually assaulted). Irene had given him a gift of some of her husband’s old clothes. Sure, they literally almost fell off his skin and bones body, but they were clean. Several people that he walked past no longer glared at him, they just gave him odd, awkward glances. It was quite an improvement, really.

As he strolled down the mansion gates he passed by a rather lovely rose bush. Jergens, who was quite impulsive when it came to matters such as these, picked one without even slowing his pace. He glanced over and happened to notice one of the nearby forests’s deer walking along on the other side of the street. Ordinarily, Jergens would have stopped and inspected it, but for this town, visits from the deer seemed pretty normal, and he wanted to blend in.

When he reached the rock wall enveloping the estate’s garden he considered how he would meet Bartleby again and begin phase one of his plan. Hide in the garden? No… he didn’t quite like that, did he? It also made him seem more like a creepy stalker. Go through the front door? He considered this, going through the front door… asking for some employment like a normal person? For shame! That wasn’t the Jergens way, no sir! But it was either that or the garden stalking…

Of course he went with the garden stalking, who wouldn’t?

He climbed over the wall and dropped behind some bushes, only to stiffen himself and bite his lip in fear. Right across the garden path, less than twenty feet away from him, were two black guard dogs. One had the oddity of a white muzzle; the other had dirtied white paws. Both of them were looking at him in curiosity.

Jergens had been terrified of dogs ever since his birth. No, he had no traumatic event that gave birth to his phobia, he was just deathly afraid of them. Even the small, puffy varieties were scary to him! Imagining those little razor sharp fangs hidden under seemingly harmless white fur…. Even the name ‘dog’ made him shudder with revulsion.

Of course Jergens would have turned tail and sprang over the wall screaming like the pansy he was, but Bartleby was there with them, sitting on a cushioned bench reading a paperback. Occasionally he lowered his hand and scratched one of the dogs behind the ears. “Easy Credit…” he murmured as he pet the one with the white muzzle, cooing to him softly. If they were cats, Jergens would have found himself blushing at the sheer cuteness of it, but they were dogs… Horrible… nasty… awful dogs…

Bartleby didn’t even seem to notice that the two dogs were staring at him, he was far too engrossed in his book to notice. Jergens tried to rationally go over his options as he stared into the dog's soulless, black eyes. What was he to do now?

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Pointless 'cameo's are pointless.
Sorry for the delay! I was cramping up a bit from writer's block... I had no idea how to keep this going... I hate this chapter by the way >8C