Lose of Innocence
By: K9: The First
Disclaimer: Lady and The Tramp is copyright and owned by the Great Late Walt Disney and his little company.
It was December twenty-fourth at the Darling house, the three-hundred fifty-eighth day of the year, Christmas Eve. And the lovely young Cocker Spaniel sat at the window sill staring out at the falling snow, a single mother, alone, and disgraced.
Time had past between now and that fateful night with that dreadful rat, Aunt Sarah, and Tramp, that vulgar, ragged, wonderful, kind-hearted cur Tramp. After she had been so cold and unkind when it was obvious that the poor dog was trying to apologize for leaving her to the Dog Catcher, Tramp came back to see what was wrong when he heard her barking, then heroically running in to fight, and kill, the offending rat, the saving the baby. He didn't have to do it, he could have simply walked on, never looking back. But he didn't, he threw himself into harms way, wounding his paw in the process. And Aunt Sarah, biased, quick-judging calloused Aunt Sarah, once again misjudged what she saw and called the Pound, who then promptly took him away. It was interesting how images tell stories, a tick in time captured for all eternity, but an unclear picture, with missing pieces, could mean as many things as the words they tell, all depending on what the viewer is told, or thought to have been told.
Lady tried to show Aunt Sarah the truth, but the old woman just couldn't see past the edge of her nose, then when Jim Dear and Darling came home and released her from the basement, Lady showed all the fresh carouse of the rat, all was clear, and upon hearing the truth, Jock the Scottish Terrier and Trusty the Bloodhound ran off into the night, searching for the Buggy that Tramp was in. As it had turned out, Trusties sense of smell was not as far gone as Jock had thought, still sharp, though not in the prime. And because of that, Trusty couldn't tell the difference of the Dog Catcher buggy he was after, or the scent of another buggy that crossed the trail seconds after the first had past, and because of that, Jock and Trusty weren't able to stall Tramp's Buggy, and thus when herself and Jim Dear got to the Pound, Tramp had already past through that One Way Door, and was dead.
When she and Jim Dear returned later that night, Lady seemed to be the only one there who was truly heart broken, Jim Dear and Darling, while a little sad at not being able to reward the savior of their infant, they were more happy that the little one was safe. Aunt Sarah still didn't care for Tramp, but at least she was not of overbearing for the rest of the night and was leaving the next mourning. And of all, Jock and Trusty were more guilty then mournful. And aside from the great sadness Lady was feeling, she felt the burning need to be mad at someone, and those some ones wound up being Jock and Trusty. It was an irrational lashing out she knew, and they knew, but Lady just needed to vent.
Days later she was starting to feel sick, so much so that Jim Dear took her to her vet for an early check up, and it was there that she learned she was pregnant, pregnant with Tramp's puppies. At first, she felt something like joy, an emotion she'd not felt since she learned the cold truth about Tramp, and then it sank in, and it felt as though her blood had turned to ice. She was pregnant, she had slept with a male, a male she had barely known, and was not in an establish relationship with in the Victorian-Era. Scandal, pure scandal. When word of this got out, and it would get out, the gossip and rumors would spread to no end, followed quickly by labels and disapproving glares. 'Loose', she would be called from behind, 'Tramp' would be another. Her reputation was no more.
When she returned home, Lady crawled into her doghouse and sulked, barely nibbling at the food Jim Dear, or maybe it was Darling, would give her.
Days later, Jock and Trusty called on her to apologize, and it was there that she told them the news, expecting that somehow they would turn on her…
But they didn't, they did the opposite.
They stayed by her side through the whole ordeal, through the outbreak of the news, came to her defense when the pressure was over baring, at the risk of their own reputations for merely associating with her, let alone defending her. And they were there the day her four darling puppies came into the world. The three girls looking just like her mother, and one and singular boy of the litter a spitting image of his father, in both appearance and personality, as his future actions would show.
The sound of Darling's voice calling Lady snapped her out of her out of her slump, beckoning for a family photo. Lady obligingly stepped down from the window to join her pups and the baby. Jim Dear was so excited about the camera his father mailed him for Christmas and was always looking for an excuse to use it. As usual, Jim used to much powder and thus blinded everyone who was the subject. As everyone waited for their sense of sight to return, Jim Dear opened a window to let the smoke out the house, and soon announced that Jock and Trusty had arrived, and quickly left to let them in.
At the announcement that 'Uncle' Jock and 'Uncle' Trusty had come all four pups dashed to the door to great them.
"Why look, you little girls have you mother's eyes." the old hound complimented her daughters, who smiled daintily as their mother taught them and curtsied.
"'Ello there Lassie." Jock greeted, noticing the faint shine of unshedable tears in her eyes, "How are ye doin' this ev'nin'?"
Lady sighed, "I'll be fine Jock, it's just…hard. That's all."
"An' what is that Lass?"
The young Cocker Spaniel waited a moment to get a grip on what she wanted to say, and when she had it, she motioned Jock to distance himself with her from the pups that Trusty was entertaining with stories of him and his Grand Pappy Ol' Reliable, so they wouldn't hear the shameful dark secret their mommy hid from them.
"It's single mother-hood Jock, I can't even go to the front windows anymore with out seeing someone outside whispering to someone else and knowing I am the one they're talking about." a sob. "And I can't help but wonder about Tramp, and what he would have thought about moments like this: did he enjoy the Christmas Season? What did he do on the first snow of winter? All those little things that made Tramp, my Tramp, all those things a mate should know." another sob, followed by more, and more, and more. It was a painful sight for the old Scottie to behold.
"Oh Lass, there there, 'tis no' yuir fault, or the fault of anyone else, 'tis just one of those things that happens. I'm so sorry 'bout this lass, no girl like you should bear this.
Through the tears, Lady leaned against her oldest friend, in both time of acquaintance and difference of age, a canine version of an embrace, and bawled as controlled as she could, as not to let the puppies on to what was going on around them.
Jock let her lean on his shoulder, let her cry. It was what she should let herself do more often. It was an understood action. It was natural. And as the young canine cried on the old canines shoulder, he quietly let a tear form and fall, as he examined his actions toward the lad, and realized that he was quite cruel when the strong young male was only trying to be helpful, or apologetic. However, it was milk spilt, and water under the bridge, nothing to be done but learn and move on. The old Terrier then looked heavenward, and silently sent a prayer for forgiveness for his actions.
While Trusty heard every word of the conversation, and shared every emotion involved, he didn't let on in the slightest that he knew, for then the awed pups might suspect, and a whole keg of powder would be lit. No, he didn't let on. Old Trusty kept his thoughts on the matter to himself, until later that night when the pups were sent to bed, and Lady, Trusty and Jock could discuss this matter more proper-like, and help heal each others individual wounds.
A/N: I should probably explain myself, so put those torches and pitchforks away for a moment and let me explain: I had finally gotten around to watching the Lady and the Tramp DVD I got on the eighteenth today, along with the extra features that with it. And in the part of the Documentary about the story, one of the people being interviewed mentioned how adult the underlying subtext of the movie actually was, particularly the part where Lady and Tramp wake up together. Now personally I liked this angle, because if people at Disney were willing to accept the possibility of a duel-layered story such as this and enjoy it, it meant I could too. And really, putting that little bit of implied Ret-Con in there, it made other actions later in the movie even more then what a child would get, should one have proper foreknowledge of the time the film takes place in. An example:
Say you're a modern day child of about five, six, or even seven depending on how sheltered your upbringing is, or a Pre-Teen at the theatrical release in 1955 and have no knowledge of the Birds and Bees and you watch Lady and the Tramp, when you get to the part where Lady and Tramp wake up the morning after the Belle Note sequence, you think nothing of it. Fast forward about thirty minutes at most to the part before Tramp shows up to apologize where Jock and Trusty are talking with Lady about their homes, you probably think 'Oh! They're gonna let Lady live with them because they think Aunt Sarah will kick Lady out, how nice'.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that thought of the movie, that's the joy of suggestion. But now let's add some knowledge of the time period Lady and the Tramp takes place in:
As we can guess from clues such as the fashion styles and the emerging and subtle presence of in-home Telephones and automobiles, we can infer that LatT takes place between 1890, to1905, which would hurl the characters in the Gilded Age, sort of the fade out of the Victorian-Era, and in this time, gossip and reputations were highly cherished by the Upper-Middle and Upper classes, and few examples are more plane then in the realm of dating, for example, should an unmarried woman even so much as to spend the night with a man not of immediate family, everyone would assume that they…well…commenced in activities only married people should take part in weather or not they actually did, and would be shunned from all, and be labeled worse then a slut which would then be passed on to the rest of the family simply because they are related. So to prevent this, should it happen, the family would then married the woman off to an unmarried male friend of the family, or any man they know that would be willing to, if not the other man involved, before the incident became public knowledge.
So now, let's run the example again, same time periods, different ages, you're a modern day Preteen of about twelve with an exceptional knowledge of this time period, or you're and elderly adult at the theatrical release in 1955 who LIVED in that era:
You watch Lady and the Tramp and you come to the part where Lady and Tramp wake up after the Belle Note sequence and you probably think: 'Oh snap! They SLEPT together!' And I don't mean the 'Sleep-Over' slept together, I mean the hard core Romance Novel I'm to embarrassed to let my parents see me read slept together buster! Fast forward to the second scene mentioned earlier: You hear the word Matrimony and you know exactly what they're talking about, and it's not charity, it's a duel proposal for mate ship. Heck, it could be an animated scene from Jean Austin's Pride & Prejudice!
Now, neither of these views are anymore right or wrong then the other, it's simply a matter of your state-of-mind, previous knowledge, and preference. Now, I'm not one of those whiny, annoying, attention-grabbing losers who are always looking for a way to get Disney sued for something a five-year old allegedly 'saw' in one of their movies. Far from it, I'm just saying that one of the genius things about the Disney films is their ability to appeal to everyone from preschool to senior citizens, often by using plotlines or elements that could easily be interpreted and enjoyed differently by different people. Mr. Disney? We miss you.
Written 3-20-06