Revelations and Reparations
It was February 14th on Dearly Farm, the day of the first annual Valentine's Day barnyard dance, an event cooked up by Mayor Ed Pig to impress potential voters. The whole farm was abuzz with excitement, with nervous guys and girls asking their crushes if they would like to go with them, and gossip over who would be going with who was spreading like wildfire.
One place, however, was not so full of excitement. Mooch's little covered-wagon hideout, not exactly a lively place at any time, was even drearier then usual. Inside, the mixed-breed pup, Mooch, was curled up, totally despondant, and his two Dalmatian pup cronies, Dipstick and Whizzer, were trying to cheer him up.
"Hey Mooch," said Dipstick, "You wanna go down to the cornfield and shoot some spitwads at the crows?"
"No." Mooch replied testily.
"How about we go sneak some food outta the pantry?" offered Whizzer.
"Not now." growled Mooch, his voice rising in volume.
"You're not still down about what Cadpig did to you, are ya, boss?" asked Whizzer.
"No I'm not," Mooch snarled, "And I thought I told you not to mention her name around me!"
"Golly, Mooch." Dipstick cringed. "We're just trying to help."
"You can 'help' me by buzzin' off!" Mooch yelled at the top of his voice, prompting the two Dalmatian pups to make a hasty exit.
Meanwhile, inside the barn, Cadpig was busy getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day. The young Dalmatian had found a giant, homemade, heavily decorated Valentine's card addressed to her outside the barn earlier that morning, and was currently marvelling over it.
"What a wonderful design." she trilled, "And I can see all the hallmarks of a boy who is in touch with his sensitive side in every brush stroke. What a incredible monument to love!"
"Love?" her big brother, Rolly, exclaimed from across the barn. "I thought you didn't believe in that stuff!"
"Nonsense." Cadpig responded. "Above all, I believe in the power of love. How it can bring two people together, against all odds, and unite them for all eternity!"
"Funny," said Rolly, "I wouldn't expect to hear something like that from a girl who took a certain pup, by the name of Mooch, used his love for her to force him to change to fit her standards, and then just dumped him right afterward."
"Yeah," their older sibling Lucky chimed in, "You really hurt him. I don't even like the guy, and I feel sorry for him."
"I was just doing what I had to do to help Mooch become a better person." said Cadpig. "And if I had to pretend to be in love with him to do it, so be it."
"Yeah, but in 'helping' him, you were also hurting him." said Lucky. "Do you have any idea what it does to a guy when he finds out his girlfriend was just pretending to like him?"
"I stand by my reasons" said Cadpig, her voice wavering slightly. "A little pretense is fine, when used in the name of the greater good."
"So it was all a big act?" asked Rolly. "Funny, when you two accidentally kissed over your spaghetti, all that blushing you did didn't look that fake to me."
Suddenly very flustered, Cadpig was spared having to answer that question by the arrival of Spot.
"Hey guys, how about that b-b-b-big dance tonight?" inquired the Chicken, in her distinctive clucking voice. "You gonna ask anybody to go with you?"
"Two-Tone, natch." Lucky quickly answered.
"I was sorta thinking I might ask Dumpling." Rolly muttered, with a low head, and hot cheeks.
"What about you, Cadpig?" Spot inquired. "You got anyone special in mind?"
"Not especially." replied Cadpig.
"Yeah, right." smirked Lucky. "If she did take somebody, she'd probably wind up dumpin' him before nine o'clock."
"What?!" Cadpig screeched indignantly. "That's crazy!"
"Yeah," agreed Rolly, "No way he'd last that long!"
This prompted a good laugh from the Chicken and two male pups, but Cadpig was quite hurt.
"If you comedians don't mind," she said, eyes starting to water, "I think I'll take my soul-strengthening constitutional now!"
Cadpig ran out of the barn door, before anyone could see her tears.
Sometime later, at the swamp, Cadpig was still walking, completely lost in thought. She couldn't really be as heartless as her brothers thought she was, could she? She was just trying to help Mooch, after all.... So lost was she in thought, Cadpig was paying no attention to where she was going, and soon bumped into something gray and furry.
"Oh," said Mooch, looking down. "It's you."
"What are you doing here, Mooch?" asked Cadpig.
"Oh, like you care!" Mooch said harsly, then relented: "If you really have to know, I was just sitting here thinking about my life, my entire cruddy life."
Cadpig stood stock still. Now that it came to her, she didn't really know that much about Mooch's past. Even during the time when they were 'together', it had not occurred to her to ask.
"What was your life like?" Cadpig tentatively asked.
Mooch gave a great, world-weary sigh, and started talking. "The earliest memory I have, is being in a steel cage in the pound. I never knew who my parents were. I was just some orphan pup the humans picked up off the streets. I was totally alone, and whenever it seemed like I was starting to make a friend in that dump, some human came in and adopted them away. Lots of dogs got adopted by humans and their families, but not me. Not until the day that old lady came, the one who used to own the farm. She brought me here, gave me a home, and fed me three times a day. For the first time in my life, I was happy. I shoulda known it was too good to last. All too soon, the old lady sold the farm to your pets, and went off to some retirement home that doesn't allow dogs, leaving me here. Then, you and your family of a hundred and one came along."
Cadpig nodded, silently urging Mooch to continue.
"Part of me was angry, what with all of you comin on' to my turf, and everything, but another part of me was jealous. You were all one big happy family, with a mom, a dad, and all the other things I never had. There was even a tiny part of me that wanted to be friends with you, but I figured 'What's the point? Friends just leave me in the end, anyway!' I decided I didn't need nothin' or nobody, especially friends. It was then that I started that whole bullyin' gig. Suckerin' in some of your dumbest and meanest family members. I decided to be as mean an' nasty to you guys as I possibly could."
Cadpig nodded once again, slowly starting to understand Mooch's mindset.
"And then," Mooch continued, "You pulled your little trick on me. Makin' me think you actually liked me, when all the while, you was just stringin' me along, and then BAM! You ditched me, just like everybody else in my stinkin' life. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't see it comin'."
"Mooch," Cadpig uttered. "I had no idea."
"Yeah, well, now you do." Mooch retorted, bowing his head low.
The two sat in silence, completely unaware that Steven the Alligator was sneaking up on them.
"Yum-yum-yum." Steven quietly slobbered. "A free two-course dinner!"
Mooch, his head still low, was able to see Steven's oncoming reflection in the water.
"Look out!!" he screamed, pulling himself and Cadpig out of the path of Steven's jaws just in time. The two pups ran, with Steven right behind them. Reaching a fork in the road, Mooch went one way, and Cadpig went another. Unfortunately for Cadpig, her way lead to a dead end.
"That was some good exercise." Steven smirked evilly, as he closed in on Cadpig. "And now, it's time for my reward." he said, opening his jaws wide.
Trembling, Cadpig closed her eyes, expecting the end. Then, from out of nowhere, Mooch jumped in, pushing her out of the path of Steven's jaws, just in time. The same could not be said for Mooch, however, as one of Steven's teeth had cut right into one of the pup's back ankles as he flew past them, leaving him sprawled on the ground in agony.
"Mooch!" cried Cadpig, with a look of horror that sooned turned into a look of anger. Bolstered by rage, Cadpig keen mind was able to find the perfect weapon to deal with Steven: swamp weeds. Gathering the weeds, Cadpig jumped on top of the 'gator's head, and started to wrap the weeds around his mouth, tying them into a perfect knot. While Steven was struggling with the weeds, Cadpig lifted Mooch over her shoulders, and together they hightailed it out of the swamp.
The two made it safely back to Mooch's wagon, where Cadpig set about finding something to bandage his ankle with.
"Thanks for saving me back there." Mooch said gratefully.
"Save you? You saved me!" exclaimed Cadpig. "I would have been a Steven snack if you hadn't come along!" She paused for a moment. "Why did you come back for me, anyway? You had reason enough to just let me be eaten."
"Nah," replied Mooch. "I was mad at you, but not enough to just sit there and let you be alligator chow."
"Thanks, anyway." said Cadpig, who had found a suitable material, and was starting to wrap it around his leg. "I had no idea you could be so selfless."
"Me neither." chuckled Mooch. "Ouch!" he suddenly cried out, as Cadpig had tied the makeshift bandage a little too tight. "Easy with that stuff!"
"Sorry." murmered Cadpig, as she started looking for an extra, protective layer for the bandage. In her search, she found a large piece of card, and several tubes of paint that matched the colors in the Valentine's card she'd gotten that very morning. Stopping for a moment, and looking around the wagon interior, Cadpig noticed that many of the changes she had made to the wagon, not too long ago, were still intact.
"There you go." Cadpig said, finally finishing the bandage. "You should be as good as new in a couple of days."
"Thanks." Mooch said gratefully. "Not just for the bandage, but for listening while I was goin' on about my crummy life. It can't have been much fun."
"On the contrary," countered Cadpig. "It was most enlightening. And thank you for saving me out there."
"Awww, it was nuthin', really." Mooch muttered.
"Not to me." Cadpig replied, wrapping her front paws around Mooch, and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Mooch's eyes widened, and he stared at Cadpig, as if he had imagined what had just happened. Cadpig herself started to blush, not quite sure if she should have done that.
At that point, the setting sun shined it's light into the wagon, covering both pups with an orange glow. Under the shining light, the two looked into each other eyes, their faces moving closer and closer, until their lips met, and eventually parted again.
"Whoa." murmured Mooch.
"Yeah," agreed Cadpig. "Whoa."
Neither of them said anything for several moments, until Mooch stammered "S-so, this barnyard Valentine dance thingy... you wouldn't be going with anyone, by any chance?"
"No." replied Cadpig.
"Would you consider... going? W-with me, that is?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" smiled Cadpig.
A short time later, the barnyard dance was in full swing. Lucky and Two-Tone were doing the carumbah like there was no tomorrow, Rolly and Dumpling were busy demolishing the refreshments together, and even the stiff, stern Tripod had gotten himself a date, with Jewel, no less. (Although he would insist to anyone who asked that he was "merely escorting her, as any respectable Bark Brigade officer and gentledog would.")
It was then that a most unexpected couple entered the barn. Cadpig and Mooch walked through the doorway, paw in paw, with big smiles on their faces.
"Hey, Cadpig." said Lucky, as he and Two-Tone briefly took a break from dancing, "What's all this? You pulled another mindbender trick on Mooch?"
"On the contrary, dear brother." said Cadpig, in an almost superior tone, "It was Mooch who asked me out."
"Yeah, right!" sniggered Rolly, who had wandered over from the snack table.
"Lucky, Rolly, can I have a word with you?" asked Mooch politely.
Lucky and Rolly looked at each other, unsure, then both guardedly answered "Sure."
"I wanna apologise for the way I've been treating you guys. Truth is, I only did it cuz I was jealous of you. Can you ever forgive me?"
"Geez, Mooch." said Rolly, after a long silence. "Cadpig must've really scrambled your brains this time!"
"I didn't do anything, actually." said Cadpig. "It was all Mooch. He made me realise the error of my ways. I didn't have to manipulate him into being a nice guy, because there was a nice guy inside him all along, just waiting to come out."
"And now, that guy is out, and ready to make a fresh start!" declared Mooch. Spotting Dipstick and Whizzer, he yelled out "Hey, guys!", and moved over to them, with Cadpig in tow.
"I think I'm going to like the new Mooch." chipped in Two-Tone. "Then again, I did kinda like the old Mooch. Then again, they say change is good. Then again,..."
As the pup who had been so mean to them just that very morning wrapped his front legs around both of them in a bear hug, Dipstick and Whizzer were, understandably, very confused.
"What's up, Mooch?" Dipstick asked.
"Yeah, you feeling okay?" Whizzer inquired.
"I feel great!" exclaimed Mooch. "Hey, have I ever told you guys what great pals you are?"
"Ummm..." struggled Dipstick. "Uh, don't tell me, I know this one..."
"Aw, just shaddup and hug me!" said Mooch gleefully. Dipstick and Whizzer, although confused by Mooch's sudden change in personality, complied with his request, and for a moment, the three were frozen in their hug, until the sound of dripping water caused Mooch to let go.
"Ah, Whizzer!" he groaned.
"Sorry, boss." whined Whizzer. "You want we should give it another go?"
"Forget it, the moment's passed!" said Mooch, in a grimace that quickly turned into a smile. "But I still think you guys are great, though!"
"So," said Cadpig, beaming, "Are you going to talk to your buddies all night, or are you going to dance with me?"
"Do you really have to ask?" Mooch beamed back.
In spite of Mooch's hurt ankle, the two danced longer then any other couple, eventually falling asleep together under a beam of moonlight cascading in through the barn window. They would later be woken up together by the light of dawn shining through the very same window, which would signal the beginning of a brand new day, in every sense of the words.
The End
(101 Dalmatians and all related characters are the property of Dodie Smith and the Disney company)