By the time he reached the door, Jared's pain had subsided and he was once again fully human. He opened the door, only to find his brother, Kevin, looking like he had seen a ghost. "What did you do with Shaggy?!", Kevin demanded. "Like I told you before, I was Shaggy", Jared replied evenly. Kevin just stood in the doorway looking bewildered as Jared went over and sat on the end of the bed. He was tired from his busy afternoon, but he figured an explanation was in order.
Look, I found this medallion and when I held the collar in my hand with the medallion, I turned into a dog. Kevin still stared in disbelief.
"That's got to be the coolest thing that's ever happened! I can't wait to tell my friends about it! Nobody else in my class has a brother that can turn into a dog!", Kevin exclaimed.
"Woah, now. Hold on there. Nobody can know about this. It's our secret, okay? Look, I'll even be your 'best friend' instead of your best bro whenever you want, so long as you keep this just between the two of us, okay?" Jared made this offer partly just to get Kevin to keep the secret, but he also enjoyed his time as a dog and secretly wanted to feel those care-free, happy feelings again.
Kevin jumped at this offer and wanted Jared to turn back into Shaggy right away, but Jared convinced him that with their parents coming home any minute, it would probably be better if they didn't find an unknown dog in the house. Knowing his luck, Jared would probably get sent off to the pound! Kevin knew it was for the best, but he was still a little upset about it. The gears were turning, though, and he had a plan for getting to spend a lot of time with his new playmate.
Minutes later their parents walked in the door, and the evening progressed just like any other night. Each of them doing their own thing, followed by going to bed. Jared had all but forgotten about what happened earlier that day, but Kevin hadn't stopped thinking about it for one minute.
The next day...