A Scrappy Tale - Unity

     Scrappy sat in the middle of the floor between Dominic’s corner and his gang’s bed the following morning watching for Dominic to appear. Dominic stalked out with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and stopped to tower over Scrappy. “How did you know?” he grumbled under his breath.

     “I c’n read. Da Twimes ran ya stwory in da Commyoonity section. You made da front page. I saw it ovah there da othah day awn da flwoor. Even had ya picture innit. An’ I whizzed awn it!”

     Dominic could not stop the anger from rising up inside him mutating into a fury. He didn’t speak but he looked at Scrappy in ice-cold blooded hatred.

     “Go ahead,” said a calm and defiant Scrappy. “Kill me and set me free, Dumbinic. My prawblems will awll be ovah. And you’ll still be heah, day afta captive day bacawze nobawdy wawnts to adawpt you!”

     Dominic’s growling stopped when the Woman came in to herd the pups out to the play yard for recreation time. She took him first as usual giving Scrappy the opportunity to turn to the gang and quietly say, “Awlright, bwoys! When we get outswide play crazy, huh? Distract da Woman so I c’n check awn Zippy’s hole.” He walked into Dominic’s corner, got right into Leak’s face and whispered, “Remembah whawt I tolda ya. Choose wisely.”

     Scrappy was satisfied with the hole Zippy had dug behind some very thick, neglected brush leading to freedom on the far side of the alley on the other side of the fence. It was puppy-small so it wasn’t easily visible to an eye not looking for it.

     The afternoon went relatively event-free until time to collect the food stash. Marco insisted on getting food this day. It would be the last opportunity to do something for the little Chihuahua he had come to respect so much and “He’sa like a brothah,” he pleaded with the others. Tomorrow life would be so different. No guards. No walls. No cages. No schedules. Right on schedule Marco mimicked every move he ever saw Zippy make. The other pups were impressed. Marco went back for a second mouthful. Halfway back to the bed he was pounced upon by the dark, diving hulk of Dominic from his corner. He hadn’t been sleeping as always before. Dominic bit the back of Marco’s neck. Marco froze petrified. He could not bark, yelp or cry out for the food stuck in his jaw. Dominic bit on his neck with full force. Marco’s eyes went to a blank stare as dog food fell out of his mouth. Dominic dropped the dog’s body and, piece by piece, picked up the fallen food and ate it. He looked at the puppies and snarled, “Finally I cawght yooze stealin’ mwy food! Never let it happen again!”

     Scrappy was more furious than devastated this time. He walked to the middle of the cell and barked “C’mere, you unwawnted waste of fur! Now!” Ace, Zippy and Delbert instinctively left the bed and formed a perimeter around Dominic as he stopped and sat two feet from Scrappy. Scrappy stared straight into his eyes intently, then made the expression of looking past him in shock yelling, “Delbert, no! Don’t setta his rump fur awn fiyah wit’ ‘dat lighta!”

     Dominic spun around in panic to see Delbert but Delbert wasn’t there. Before he could think another thought he felt needle-sharp chihuahua teeth piercing into his… into his… his… yeah, his doghood! The Doberman howled, writhing from side to side trying to get Scrappy in the clutches of his jaws but could not reach him. Scrappy held on and shook Dominic’s personals violently as if they were a rodent. As Dominic’s agony increased his resistance decreased. That’s when Ace and Delbert each got ahold of one of his hind legs, Zippy grabbed an ear and they chewed with all their might and snarling furiously. After several minutes Scrappy and the gang released him and he crawled back to his corner whining all the way.

     The Woman came to check out the commotion and was angry that another puppy was dead. She carried the body of Marco out of sight, took Dominic to the infirmary, patched him up and returned him to bed. She called for an assistant to come to the shelter. Scrappy pushed a rubber ball across the cell from the gang-bed. As he had expected, he saw Leak race from the dark corner to fetch it. He ran to the center of the cell and released the ball to bounce back to Scrappy but ran back to his hideout. Scrappy had watched him in the play yard everyday. The Woman would throw a ball or stick and Leak would never fail to pursue it. He knew Leak had told Dominic about Zippy sneaking food for him and the others. He knew now that Dominic pretended to be taking his usual daily nap. In Scrappy’s mind Leak was a marked mutt and his days were numbered.

     Scrappy walked right up to Leak’s bed and whispered in his ear, “Remembah whawt I tolda ya. Ya choice will be freedom, or slavuhry, capice?” Then he returned to bed and began his scheduled short sleep.

…to be continued…