Ch. 9— The Car of Disguise

Now together, the runaway puppies decided to walk down a few streets. They smiled at each other for a little bit before Scamp turned to the spotted puppies.

"My name's Scamp, and she's Angel, my girlfriend," Scamp introduced himself and Angel, who nodded friendlily.

"My name's Patch," Patch told them brightly.

"I'm Lucky," the black-eared puppy greeted them.

"And I'm Penny," the spotted eared puppy smiled.

"Do you know where we are?" Scamp asked.

"No," Patch answered. "We're from London and we're on a trip, but well… can you keep a secret?"

"I promise," Scamp told them. Angel looked at him worriedly, remembering the last time Scamp promised to keep a secret.

"Well, we're running away," Penny told Scamp hesitatingly.

"Same with us!" Scamp declared happily. "We're running away because of our bad parents."

Angel looked at Scamp, and shook her head with disgust, before saying, "They're disgusting… at least they're not my parents."

"My parents are bad too," Patch told them, casting a furtive glare at Lucky as he spoke. Lucky didn't seem to react, but Penny gave a soft sigh.

Lucky then told them, "I'm getting pretty hungry."

"I'll get the food," Scamp volunteered eagerly.

"I'll come with you!" Patch told him brightly, and the two puppies bounded down the road together.

"We'll wait back by the lamppost we were at before to look for a family!" Angel told them brightly.

"Okay, see you!" Patch told them. Then Scamp and Patch began to look for a food cart.

"I'm really frustrated with my parents," Patch told Scamp. "They don't care about me at all... I'm just one of ninety-nine to them."

"Mine don't care either," Scamp told Patch commiseratingly. "They just don't let me be myself..." he sighed.

Patch nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean...my parents want to send us to these dog shows. And I'm not interested. But they don't care," Patch told Scamp.

"I see why'd you want to run away. It's a bunch of silly stuff," Scamp spat bitterly. "My sisters are also entering. I'm fed up with them, they're just prissy and whiny and love to boss me around!"

"Yeah, I'm fed up with my siblings too," Patch told Scamp. "I don't know why Lucky's running away. He's everybody's favorite, and we all know it. Even he does. And then there's Rolly who never stops complaining about food, and Cadpig who always talks about this new age philosophy stuff. At least I'm free out here."

"Yeah," Scamp nodded. "Mom always has these stupid rules. She babies us all the time, and Pop always lies about his promises. I'm just fed up!" Scamp shouted, but he couldn't help but smile a bit because at least he now had someone to talk to about his problems.

The two of them continued to talk about their problems, feeling better with each word, and got some bacon strips. Then they ran back to the newly lit lamppost with them. Angel, Penny, and Lucky were waiting for them, and the five puppies then began to eat happily.

"Do you know the streets well?" Patch asked Scamp with great interest as he finished his bacon.

"Well, uh…yeah!" Scamp told Patch happily.

"Yeah right tenderfoot," Angel told Scamp doubtfully. "I do though. I was a former street dog," Angel told them proudly.

Patch, Penny, and Lucky looked impressed. "Do you know of a hiding place?" Patch asked. "I might know of one, Buster mentioned…"

"But Patch, what if Buster goes back to that place?" Penny interrupted.

Patch then sighed, "You're right Penny." Then he turned to Scamp and Angel. "Any other places you can think of?"

"Well, no, not near here," Angel admitted. "And it might not do us any good. His dad was also a street dog, so he can find us quickly."

"Aw shucks," Patch told them sadly.

"I don't want to run away anymore," Lucky told Patch sadly. "I want to go home to watch television!"

"You're already out, so you'd just spill on us," Patch answered mistrustfully, although Penny looked hesitant.

"Patch, are you sure it wouldn't be best for Lucky to go back?" Penny asked him.

Patch nodded, and then told Lucky, "Okay Lucky, if you wanna go back to the dog show, just leave." Lucky looked back, but he didn't move.

"Well, we better get away from here," Patch told Scamp. "We only just escaped… my parents are still nearby."

"Oh, that's bad," Scamp groaned, frustrated. "Mine are looking for us too. We have to hide somewhere."

The puppies stood walked down the streets, not knowing where they were going, still thinking about where they could go. Finally, Scamp cleared his throat before saying, "Hey! I know where we can stay!"

Angel looked curiously at Scamp, and the dalmatian puppies looked excited. Lucky asked, "Well, where?"

"It's a railroad," Scamp explained.

"Oh, cool!" Patch explained. "They have trains all the time on Thunderbolt! It sounds like fun!"

"Yeah!" Scamp exclaimed. "It's abandoned too. We went there to find…"

They began to walk back to the railroad, but Angel raced in front of them and blocked their path. "No, Scamp, we can't!"

"Come on, why not?" Scamp asked.

"The railroad is far away from all the houses, and then we won't be able to find any family," Angel explained stubbornly.

"We don't need a family," Patch told Angel. "We can live on our own, right Scamp?"

Scamp nodded in agreement, but Penny and Lucky's expressions were clearly less receptive to that idea, and Angel sighed.

"Is there any other place?" Lucky asked.

But before Patch or Scamp could reply, a blinding light blinded all of them.

"What's going on?" Penny asked, scared.

"Jim Dear must have gotten a car," Scamp added nervously.

"Maybe it's a new family!" Angel exclaimed happily.

The others were preparing to run away but Angel refused to move. Penny and Lucky soon joined her, leaving a frustrated Patch and Scamp to have no choice than to stay with them.

Scamp was half-right. A small, red car was standing in front of the group of puppies, all huddled together nervously. The car light turned off, and inside, a woman with chubby cheeks, dimples, well-tanned skin, and long red hair stuck her head out of the window.

"Well, well, well!" she smiled happily as she opened the door of the car. "Look at all those puppies! And my, such wonderful coats!" She was wearing a loose pink dress, and was quite rotund.

"Is she a bit familiar?" Penny asked, confused.

"But… no…" Patch told her firmly. "She doesn't look like that…"

Scamp and Angel had no idea of what they were talking about. Angel was looking simply delighted. "This is our chance," Angel declared excitedly. "We can find a family now!"

Angel hurriedly pawed up at the woman, and gave her puppy eyes, as Scamp was biting on her furiously wagging tail and trying and failing to drag her backward.

"Wait a minute!" Scamp shouted. "We don't even know if she has strict rules or not!"

"She can take us into the neighborhoods," Angel told him stubbornly. "And I want a family no matter what, even if they do have rules," she told Scamp bluntly. "I just want to find a caring family and to be with Mama again!"

"Well, fine!" Scamp pouted, bristling. "If you're gonna act like that, I don't want a family!"

"Well," the woman smiled happily in a deep voice. "Such wonderful puppies. All right, I'll take you in," she told them, smiling. She picked up the puppies and threw them into the back seat of the car. She then left to a restroom on the other side of the street.

"Rats," Patch complained. "We've been caught already. She's probably going to take us back to our parents."

"Or the pound!" Penny gasped nervously.

"Don't worry about it," Angel told them, smiling. "She looks nice enough."

The woman ran back in a couple of minutes, looking much skinnier from a distance, and her cheeks, contrary from being chubby, looked almost skeletal, though they couldn't really see her in the dim light that was left, and she was carrying something. When she re-entered the car and locked it up tightly, she threw down a bag of stuffing and a red wig.

"Vengeance is sweet," the woman drawled in a cackle, her deep voice vanished, becoming very harsh. "And with the same tactic you used on me," she declared as she turned on the car and began to drive at breakneck speed.

"What does she mean?" Angel asked.

"I don't know… well, at least it's soft back here," Lucky told the others.

"What's this?" Scamp asked, chewing on something. "It feels like… fur…"

"Fur?" Patch asked, and the puppies looked over the seat. So did Penny and Lucky. Scamp and Angel looked confused. But as the car began to move and passed under a streetlight, they noticed that a large, fur coat was covering the seat. Patch, Penny, and Lucky's eyes widened, and then they gasped in horror.

"What?" Angel asked.

The three of them were quiet for a bit, before Penny stuttered nervously, "It's Cruella!"