The puppy slept well for several hours until he felt large teeth pick him up by the neck and throw him against the bars again. “Time ta wake up, Tiny! Aah ha ha ha ha ha!” barked Dominic. The puppy yelped as he landed on the floor. He stay still, lying on his side, trying to let the shock of the pain run its course through his still tender, undeveloped body. Dominic walked over to him, bent his face right in front of the puppy’s, then glared and quietly growled. The puppy looked at him from the corners of his eyes. He was filled with fear mixed with a growing anger and hatred of the bully. These were emotions he’d really never experienced before; not like this.
Dominic finally said, “You gawt 2 minutes ta eata ya breakfast!” then turned and walked to his secret spot in the shadows. The puppy hurried to a newly filled bowl and began to eat. Now he was obsessed with wishing the Doberman would stop mistreating him. He thought about it with each bite of food. After five hurried mouthfuls of puppy food had been swallowed Dominic picked him up and threw him against the bars again. The puppy looked up, sighing in frustration as he watched Dominic eat all the remainder of the food. Dominic turned to face the puppy, licking his face, then laughed at him derisively and returned to his shadowy hideout.
Ace cautiously approached the young chihuahua and whispered, “Pssst, you okay, kid?” The puppy looked up, then laid his head back down sighing. “’Ey, come ovah heah. Canyuh get up okay? Ya hoit bad?”
“Nah,” the puppy replied heavily hoisting his little frame off the floor. “I’m getting used to it.” He followed Ace to another corner of the dog jail. It was dark enough for privacy but not quite as dark as Dominic’s. When his eyes adjusted to the surroundings he saw a large bed with 3 other pups in it. Ace grabbed a corner of a blanket to reveal a small stash of food hidden underneath.
“Eat very quietly,” Ace warned. “Don’t cruncha da food or ‘dat fwour-legged calawstomy bag’ll heah ya, and ‘den it’s lwights out fwor awlla us, huh?” The puppy did so, lying down by the few morsels and slowly digesting them, allowing them to get soggy in his mouth before swallowing. “We sneaka some ovah heah evary day bafwor he wakes up,” Ace continued. “It’sa how we suhvive inna heah. So, whawt’sa ya name, kid?”
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| Ace - Scrappy's First Friend |
“My mamma & papa’s Master awlways called me ‘Biscotti’,” he softly replied.
“Biscotti?!” Ace laughed. “You serious? A cookie? Lem’me guess. Bacawza ya face looksa like an Oreo?” Ace very cautiously chuckled not loud enough to bother Dominic. “Kid, meeta ma friends. Mawrco.”
A small brown spaniel puppy nodded saying, “Buongiorno.”
“Delbert”, Ace softly announced.
A beagle puppy bowed his head and said, “Duuuuuh, ‘ey! How yoo doowin?”
“And Zippy, he’s fastah ‘dan awll of us,” Ace concluded.
A young greyhound puppy threw his head upward whispering, “Yo!”
“Hi, guys,” the puppy answered wagging his curly tail. “Ace, where am I?”
“Da Brawnx.”
“Da Brawnx?”
“Yeah. You inna fawstah puppy home; a castaway jail. Da Man cawlls it a kennel. We wait fwor wunna Da Man ta take-a us home an’ hope-a ‘dey love us. We’s inna a big section of Noo Ywoark City.”
“New Ywoark City?!!” the puppy exclaimed.
“Shhhhh!” Ace vigorously waved his paw down. “Nawt so loud!” he hissed. “Why so suhprised, huh? Where ya from?” he asked.
“Palermo, Sicily.”
“I knew it,” Marco said as if to say “I told you so". "I smelled Italia awll ovah ya when ‘dey tawssed ya inna heah last nwight. Saluti, fratello!”
“’Ey! I’ll be yer friend but don’t you ever call me Italian!” the puppy bristled. “My family and our masters may have given our obedience to Italy but not our hearts. We’ll always insist we are Sicilians to the bone! I may not know much but I know that!”
“Will yooze two stifle it, huh?” Ace scolded again. “Iffa yooze don’t keepa it down yooze gwonna end up injured or dead. ‘Den it won’t mattah where yooze froms.” He looked at the puppy and whispered, “We wawnna helpa ya stay safe, huh? But we gawtta wawtch eacha othahs’ backs, you dig?”
“Definitely”, the puppy replied.
“Huddle up, heah. Listen. We been tawlkin’…”
...to be continued...
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