Train Dogs
It was the following day, Scamp and Colette sat chatting to Orfeo, Cosma and Rohan were in the station.
"Tramp will be proud when he hears about yesterday" Cosma said.
"He will be, you have certainly proved that you are his son Scamp!" Rohan said with a grin.
"I agree I am not sure even Tramp and Buster could have done better given the circumstances" said Orfeo as Bernie, Frank and Ilar walked up to them.
"Well now so this is young Scamp, nice to meet you at last" Ilar said as Frank stroked them both.
"Nice to meet you to, Pirate told us you lived here" Scamp replied.
"I do Scamp, Ilar adopted me when I was just a pup, it's a great life I get to meet interesting people and animal. I've met Jim a few times when he's been off on a business trip. Well I have to be off to the platform got the ten fifty to Boston due in five" Ilar said leaving.
"Say have pair ever left town?" asked Cosma as they followed Ilar onto the platform.
"Never" both pups replied.
"How about a train ride then, its only morning, could go to one of the villages" Orfeo said.
"Could we?" Colette asked.
"Course we could, we could go and visit Lulu's nieces" replied Roahn.
"Then lets be off then, third class seems quiet" Orfeo said as the train pulled in.
"On you get" Roah said jumping on board and leading them into a compartment.
As the train set off the pups gazed out of the window, gazing at the scenery as it flew by. Watching the pair Cosma smiled at Rohan who licked her as the door opened and the ticket collector looked in. Seeing the group he smiled before leaving them in peace. Watching the fields go by Scamp and Colette were entranced happy, excited at the fact they were leaving town for the first time. A while later as the train stopped and the pups looked round at Orfeo, Cosma and Rohan.
"This is us, off you get" Rohan said leading the group out onto a small quiet village platform.
Entering the village the pups gasped at how small and beautiful it was, passing the village green they saw a group of young mothers sat playing wit their children. As the group passed, the mothers smiled, with one or two walking up to stroke them.
"Cosma" looking towards the post office they saw a beautiful collie waking towards them wearing a pink collar.
"Candy it is nice to see you, these are Tramp's pups Scamp and Colette" Cosma replied as the collie sat down.
"Hi I'm Candy your Father helped me find a home."
"We know that story, how is life here?" asked Colette.
"Wonderful I know everyone and they know me, I got out every day with my owners Father on his deliveries."
"How did you get your name?" asked Scamp.
"My owners Grandparents own the sweetshop and I knocked over a jar of candy a few days after I was adopted."
"That's nice, so you are happy here" Orfeo said.
"Of course I am, I would never go back to town, when you see my Aunt give her my best" Candy said as the group left.
Walking out of the village the pups and Rohan ran on ahead barking loudly as they did. Passing the stables a golden retriever barked an hello as her pups played with three young foals. Reaching the hills Cosma led them up a dirt road into a sheep farm where they watched a young collie doing her job.
"Ivy" looking round the dog barked before walking over to them.
"Hi Cosma and that looks like Tramp" Ivy replied running over.
"His son and daughter"
"I cannot stay to chat I've got to train for the trials, bye" she called running back into the farm as the group left.
"Where
to now?" Scamp asked as they walked past a duck pond where four
swans were swimming.
"Next village by bus, three other pups
live there" Rohan replied.
"I think some lunch is in order when we get there, I am starving" Cosma said as they sat waiting.
"Sorry Cosma I forget you need more food then the rest of us" Orfeo said.
"Here one comes now, Scamp Colette top deck at the back" Rohan said as a bright red double bus pulled up in front of them.
Jumping on the group went to the top deck and found that it was more crowded then they expected.
"Would you look at that."
"Odd having dogs without owners."
"Must be paying calls."
Were the comments passed by the other passengers as the group settled down on the back seats. Setting off the bus rumbled through the winding country roads, passing fields of sheep, cows, corn and horses. From their seats the group looked out as the bus passed three people on horses. Getting off in the next village the dogs skilfully stole two strings of sausages from the butchers. Running as his apprentice chased after them with a meat cleaver in hand.
"You bloody terrors, come back again an you'll be made into sausages" he called waving the meat cleaver at them.
Hiding outside the village pub they ate their sausages and chatting to the landlords dog before walking up to the doctors come village hospital. Outside they saw a collie looking dog lying on the grass.
"Cosma, Rohan this is a surprise" she said as they walked up.
"Good afternoon Amber, these are Tramps pups" Cosma replied laying down next to her.
"A pleasure to meet you all" she said as man passed by with his left arm in a sling and two black eyes.
"So Amber how are things here, been busy and what happened to him?" Orfeo asked watching the man.
"Got into a fight in the Sheep and Collie on Saturday, something to do with a woman, the man he was fighting is in a similar state. Been very busy, three broken bones, one knee kicked by a horse, four cases laryngitis and one window cleaner fell off a ladder, and that's just this morning!"
"Wow you have been busy, how's life with your owners?" asked Cosma.
"Wonderful they are both such nice people, they have a baby girl now, over a year old."
"I'm glad you are happy, your humans sound like ours" Colette as a man walked by on crutches
"I am happy I often go into surgery when Walter is seeing young children, he says I help them to relax and not to be scared."
"That is nice, do you go out on call with him?"
"On every call, on dry days I rub alongside his bicycle when its wet we go by car. All the patients like me and I get to meet their dogs, it is a nice life I have here."
"AMBER" looking round they saw Walter and Nurse Mary walking out of the door.
"We have several home visits to make, are you coming with us?" he asked.
"I have to go, we will be seeing some children, it has been nice seeing you all" Amber replied as she got into Walters car.
"Come on then, let's go and see Faith up at the church" Rohan said as they left the hospital.
Walking up through the village they passed stopped to let a herd of goats pass by, and the line of traffic that was following slowly behind. Passing the school they barked at the headmasters Saint Bernard who was playing football with a group of boys and calling an hello to the caretakers tabby cat who was sat on a wall sunbathing ands being stroked by two girls. Walking up a hill they passed the undertakers where pair of black cats were sat on the wall and a three ravens perched on the roof, all calling out greetings as the dogs passed by.
Arriving at the church they found a group of builders busy fixing the roof and a collie playing fetch with a blond haired teenage girl. Seeing the group the pair walked over, both wearing pink ribbons.
"Orfeo, Cosma it is a pleasure to see you all. I trust you are keeping well Cosma, you certainly look healthy."
"I am Faith my pups are growing well, this is Scamp and Colette two of Tramps pups."
"I am pleased to meet you, welcome to my home" Faith replied as the girl bent down to stroke the pups.
"My name is Hope, I am the vicar's daughter."
"This place seems nice Faith, what's with the workman?" Orfeo.
"The summer storms we had three weeks past blew half the tiles off into the cemetery, sent the drainpipes into Vicarage garden and sent a tree through a stained glass window."
"That sounds expensive" Scamp replied.
"It was, we have been having services in the village hall for the past three weeks, lucky there are plenty of funds for the work to be done".
"FAITH HOPE" looking round they saw the Vicar walking out of the church pushing a cart.
"We have to be going, it is the village fait tomorrow and we have much to do" Faith said as they walked out the gate.
"Be seeing you" Orfeo called as they walked on past the church.
Continuing up the road the group chatted then jumped like lighting as a car went speeding down it. Then there was a screech of tyres and a load crash as the car crashed into an on coming van, sending the car behind it into a ditch. Looking back the dogs watched as the passers by rushed to help the divers, with the driver of the second car yelling abuse.
"We'd best not linger here" Rohan said.
"Best not this could turn nasty" Orfeo replied.
Carrying on up the road till they reached a blacksmiths the group found five horses and a pony tied up to a wooden fence. Sitting next to the horses was a collie looking dog wearing green collar with a flower shaped tag.
"Afternoon Daisy, your owner looks busy" Cosma said.
"He his, these six plus other jobs been a busy week" Daisy replied.
"I can imagine" Rohan replied as one of the horses looked up at them.
"Not seen you around here before" he said.
"We're town dogs here on a daytrip" Rohan replied as a human walked towards them.
"Friends of yours Daisy?" he asked fitting a shoe to the pony.
"This is my owner, he's a blacksmith like his Father" Daisy told the group as he patted them.
"He's a good one at that, known him since I was a foal" a large shire horse said.
"Wow your big" Scamp said walking up to him.
"I am a Shire Horse young pup, my job to pull carts for my owner" the horse replied.
"I'd love to see the view from your back" Scamp replied.
"Not a chance pup" came the reply as the church clock struck half three.
"Yikes is that the time?" Rohan said looking at the old alarm clock on a shelf inside the forge.
"It is to, we had best be making a move, got to get back to our stop" Orfeo said.
"We've got to go Daisy it's later then we though" Cosma said leaving.
"See you again" she called as they walked away.
A bus ride later the group arrived back at the station where they boarded a train home, sharing a carriage with two carriage horses. The horse proved very good company as they were interest to here what town life was like. It turned out they were headed for work at a mansion, in an area called Golden Flower. Arriving at the station the dogs headed to Orfeo's carriage.
"So then fancy hearing more about what your Father got up to as a pup?" Cosma asked as they ate.
"Love to" both pups replied grinning.
"Dad will you be alright with them, Rohan and I are tired and want to go back to yours."
"Course I will be love, you get to bed" Orfeo replied seeing the pair out.
"Well then lets see now, your Father got up to a fair bit as a pup, usually having Buster or Tara with him, on many occasions all three were together."
"Did Dad and Buster get on well then?" asked Scamp.
"We practically brothers, Buster was born in the next carriage grew up together."
"That's not what I heard."
"Don't believe everything you here, half of it will be misinformation, awful lot of half truths about your Father."
"What kind of things did he do Grandpa?" Colette asked.
"Well at school one day a boy a couple of years older then Frank gave him a beating, after Frank had accidently knocked him over after tripping over the caretakers broom. Frank apologised strait away but this boy still was not happy. Frank came home with a black eye, cut lip, other bruises and a sprained wrist."
"Bernie and Sandy must have been angry" Colette said.
"That's putting it milady, they were fuming as were the teachers for that matter. Frank didn't get punished as three teachers had seen the incident through the staffroom window. Also the lad in question was two years older and had a reputation for causing trouble. Now as it happened Buster and Tramp knew this lad and his family have a farm about half a mile away."
"I bet Dad wasn't happy when he saw Frank" Scamp said.
"Not in the slightest, both vowed to pay the lad back double for what he did. So about a week later at the farmers market the pair decided to let the goat herd out. Lad's father had brought about twenty to market. Well then Buster and your Dad decided to let the other goats out, figured they could cause mischief."
"They did that, how many goats were there in all, did they cause trouble?" both pups asked grinning form ear to ear.
"Understatement of the century, must have been hundred in number, pair even led half of them to some selected locations. Let's see we had thirteen in here, another ten in the hospital gardens, sixteen were in the school grounds, four outside the police station, fifteen caused chose at the Pound and allowed all dogs to escape and the rest cussed mayhem in the gardens."
"How long did it take to round them all up?" asked Colette.
"Let's see they did in mid day and it was midnight by the time all were back with their owners. It caused one hell of a commotion. It took fifteen police men, the farmers and their men, the fire brigade, a vet, four porters, two teachers, the caretaker, thirty privates, three shopkeepers, two delivery drivers and five civil servants to round them up."
"Wow that's amazing, how much trouble did they cause?" Scamp asked.
"A ton of it, firstly they caused fifteen sprained wrists, ten sprained ankles, ten broken bones and three cases of concussion. Then there were fifty broken fences, one hundred and twenty gates off hinges, ruined about two hundred lawns, they ate fifty lines of washing, five bags of shopping, and somehow got into a bakers back room and ate half the days stock."
"That is so funny, Dad sure does know how to cause trouble" Scamp replied laughing.
"He does, four days later he and Tara stole two bags of warm pasties from right under the nose of the police force. They were overseeing a football came and the pair stole them right out from under their seats."
"I wish I could have seen that" Colette said as they fell to sleep.
The following day they were awoken the following day by the smell of croissants and cinnamon. Waking up they saw Tara standing in front of them with a paper from the bakery.
"Morning all, thought though I'd bring you breakfast" she said.
"Thanks Tara" Orfeo said smiling as she opened the bag.
"Dig in guys this is curtsy of smart and filthy rich lawyer who seems to hate street dogs, he put these down on a bench while he chatted friend. Next thing he knows I'm running off with these, seemed pretty annoyed." She said as they ate their croissants and beagles.
"So then you guys fancy heading to the Zoo?" Tara asked.
"Love to, Mum told us all about going there with Dad" Colette said.
"Well then let's being going, as it's a Friday it should be fairly quiet so we will have plenty of time to look round."
Leaving the station the group passed a string of passengers and cargo all walking into the station. Jumping on a tram the group sat with the morning commuters, watching people make their way to work. As they passed the shops and restaurants they saw the morning deliveries being unloaded. As they passed the police station they watched as three men were being unloaded from a wagon. Arriving at the Zoo the group slipped in with a school party, watching as a ginger haired policeman gave directions to a lost milkman.
Entering the Zoo the pups gasped as they saw all the animals, immediately running over to the alligator pond.
"Wow you have big jaws!" Scamp said as a one surfaced.
"I have care to see how big?" the gator asked opening his jaws widely.
"Come on Scamp away from here that one nearly had your Mothers head off" Orfeo called leading him over to the buffalo field.
"Now then little pups, how are you finding your trip?" asked as large bull.
"Fun, we've never been here before" answered Colette smiling as a calf walked up to them.
Leaving the buffalo the group saw giraffe, elephants, cougars, then jumped out of the way as a tree came down.
"What the heck? Hay guys its that beaver" Tara said as they group walked into and found large male beaver gnawing at a tree.
"Let's see if we put this one the left, then the boys take that onto the left bank" the beaver said.
"Morning friend" Orfeo called causing the beaver to look, a look of shock coming over his face when he saw Scamp and Colette.
"Would you believe it you look pair look just like two dogs I met last year" he said.
"Those dogs you met were our parents" Scamp replied as the beaver put the end of a muzzle over the log.
"Well I'll be, well I'm grateful for them, helped me and the Miss get this place finished" replied the beaver as a female and three youngsters walked up to meet them.
"Willow my flower this pair are the pups of those dogs I met last year" the beaver said.
"Nice to meet you, come on then lets get these branches in" Willow replied as the dogs left.
"Tara" looking round they saw a female dog walking towards them with six pups.
"Well well look who we have here, long time no see Trixie" Tara replied as she stared at the pups.
"That pup looks just like Tramp" she said.
"Well of course he does, he is Tramps son and the girl pup is his sister."
"Son, so that means there Mother is."
"Oh yeh Tramp has a home now, and a girl who really loves him."
"I though that was Fifi, so how is he?"
"I've heard of you, Dads fine as is Mum" Scamp replied.
"Just goes to show Trix, so these are yours then" Tara said looking at the pups.
"Yeh"
"No Father?"
"Shut it Tara you know"
"Yeh I do know Trix, all the scandals details."
"Shut it I know all about you and" she replied snarling.
"A lie that is all that is, besides I didn't do what you did. So tell me, where are their brothers and sisters?"
"A little bit busy today this trip was short notice."
"Tara come on lets leave Trixie and the pups, we've wasted enough time with this shameless" Orfeo replied leading the group away.
"What happened there?" Colette asked as they walked a flock of flamingos.
"Trixie back there once dated your Dad when he was younger and she and I do not get on" Tara replied.
Continuing on through the Zoo the group watched with aw as a fair of majestic bald eagles swoop through a large aviary. At a large pool they laughed as a group of sleek sea lions played as game of tag, with the pups pressing their noses up against the glass. Putting her paw against the glass Colette smiled as a pup placed his flipper up against the glass on his side. Arriving at the panda enclosure they watched as the pandas sat eating bamboo with many raising a paw in greeting at the dogs. Entering the walk through aviary all laughed as three kingfishers flew down, with a youngster landing on Colette's head. At flowers brightly coloured humming birds' sucked nectar out, flitting from one flower to another. Walking out they arrived at the wolf enclosure there they saw a pack of six adults and three pups playing, all walking over when they saw the dogs.
"Well this is odd you do not often get dog in" said a large male.
"No they are not allowed in" said a female.
"Wow I've never a wolf before, you look sort of like dogs" Scamp said.
"We are in some ways" said another.
"What's life like outside?" asked a young male.
"Fun, its great" Scamp replied.
"You are so lucky to be free" the wolf replied smiling sadly.
"Were
you ever free?"
"I was this place is not my home, but it is
for a few months, my home was badly damaged by fire."
"Where is your home?"
"A large park, that runs for hundreds of miles, a place where you can truly be free. It was fire and being caught in a hunters trap and poison, I was brought here to recover, that I have, soon I will rejoin my tribe" the wolf replied.
"It sounds an amazing place."
"Oh it is, two of my friends here will join me, new blood for my pack" the wolf said lifting his proud heading a letting out a howl.
Leaving the Zoo a while later the group chatted, then stopped as they saw Buster walking out of the station. Seeing Scamp Buster looked away as the group entered the station, sitting on the platform watching the trains.