DISCLAIMER: Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, and their worlds belong to Disney.
Ch. 12- Fenced In
The parents passed through the maze of garbage cans and trees in the park, and eventually they returned to the road to search for their puppies.
"Oh, it's good to see you back," Pongo told Lady warmly, smiling at her. "You're a wonderful parent to have such determination."
Lady nodded and gently told him, "Thanks." Then she sighed, "We do need to find our children… and I want to be with Jim Dear and Darling again… and Junior… what if he's lonely? What will he do without me at home? I… I…"
"Aww, easy, Pidge, they'll do all right," Tramp told her gently, caressing her. Pongo and Perdita gave Tramp an approving nod.
"Do you know of any places where our children might be?" Pongo asked hopefully.
"Hmm… well, I know one good hideout is the junkyard…" Tramp told them.
Lady frowned. "We already checked there, remember?" Lady reminded him.
"Yeah, but it can't hurt to check there again," Tramp told them. "Where else do we have to look?"
They rushed over to the junkyard, which was still desolate and empty. When they went inside, Lady, Tramp, and Perdita went to look through the newly restored pile of junk. But Pongo decided to ignore the pile of junk and examine the rest of the yard. He scanned the perimeter as the others dug in the main pile, and then he noticed something.
"Perdy! Lady! Tramp!" Pongo shouted as he looked over at the corner. Perdita, Lady, and Tramp rushed over to him, and there, sitting on the side of the barrel, were two collars, one blue and one pink, both with bite marks on them.
"Oh my," Lady gasped, before declaring, "Scamp and Angel must have been here," Lady whispered softly. "I recognize those anywhere… oh, why did we not check the side of the barrel before?"
"Don't take it too hard, pidge," Tramp told Lady caressingly, rubbing against her.
"Oh, but they're in so much danger without collars… what if they're in the pound?" Lady asked, horrified.
Tramp, all of a sudden, looked excited. "Great idea, Pidge! Let's go check it out!"
"The pound? But it's dangerous there...we could get caught and then we'll never find them," Lady told Tramp concernedly.
"Yeah, but it's less dangerous than before," Tramp told them. "I've heard they rarely catch dogs with collars anymore, and they hired a new dogcatcher who doesn't know what he's doing. We can look without being caught, no problem."
"But what if the old one's still there?" Lady asked with horror in her voice.
"Aww Pidge, don't worry," Tramp told her. "Come on. Let's start building some memories."
"Remember when you told me that before?" Lady asked sadly. "And where did that get me?"
"Easy Pidge, I'll make sure we get out," Tramp told her. "And if we find Scamp and Angel, we'll get them out too."
"You really think they could be there?" Lady asked.
"Why else would we look in the pound? It's not exactly fun. Ready, everyone?" Tramp asked.
"Sure, they might just be there," Pongo replied.
"I just hope they're doing all right," Perdita told Pongo.
Tramp then looked at Lady, who reluctantly nodded, and together, the four of them set off to the pound. The pound was still very creepy with its ominous fences looming at its entrance, and parked outside of the pound was the dogcatcher's car, with two men sitting inside of it.
"Remember," came a cold, low, and firm voice. "This is a difficult task. We don't want to keep them locked in here, remember. But it's a job that must be done for the stability of the city."
"Aww, you take things too seriously," replied the other voice, in a much more silly, lighthearted, and immature way. "It's FUN to take 'em all in! Just go drive around in that funny vehicle and WHAM! Go catch' em!"
"Oh dear," Perdita sighed. "I don't understand…"
"Well, he thinks this is fun," Tramp stated. "Don't worry about him. He's just the new dogcatcher. Oh look! The pound is unlocked!"
And sure enough, the gate was not fully shut. Tramp then told Lady, "Look Pidge, I think you should go find the puppies."
Lady nodded. She knew that Scamp and Angel would not be receptive towards Tramp. But with memories of her last visit still haunting her, Lady replied, "But… I don't know if I could do it…"
Perdita saw Lady crying and instantly felt sorry for her fellow mother. She walked over and bent down so her head was next to Lady's, and said, "Lady, how would you feel about going in together? I'll look for my children with you. How does that sound?"
Lady smiled appreciatively at Perdita's offer, and suddenly, she felt a little braver. It was just enough for Lady, still trembling, to tell Perdita, "Okay then."
Pongo told them, "I'll divert the dogcatchers…"
Tramp added, "I will too. Let's start!" and at once, Tramp and Pongo started to run and bark under the dogcatcher's wagon.
"Oy!" the young dogcatcher declared, peering out the window. "It's… Aha! The one that got away!"
"Go through the creak in the fence at the right," Pongo recommended, Lady and Perdita nodded.
"He was adopted already, and they both have licenses," the older dogcatcher responded to his younger counterpart, but by that point, Lady and Perdita already entered the premises.
"This place… makes me so miserable…" Lady told Perdita as she entered. "I remember being here once… and…" her eyes welled up with tears of fear as she entered the hallway, "I'll never forget it."
Lady sat in the middle of the pound hallway, overcome with horrible memories. Perdita decided it would be best for Lady to rest for a little bit. "You said that one of your children looked like Tramp, and the other was blonde with tall ears?" Perdita asked.
Lady nodded, and Perdita decided to scan the cells. After a lap around the pound, Perdita shook her head. "I cannot find mine, or yours. Well, at least they're not locked up..."
"I'll look for mine, just to be sure," Lady told Perdita, still looking teary. "Please excuse me."
Lady examined the cells, but Scamp and Angel were not in any of them. Lady shook her head. "It doesn't look like they're here," she told Perdita sadly.
"Oy, it's Miss Park Avenue!" came a voice from one of the cells. "Look, she's back!"
Lady gasped, and she saw the familiar outline of Toughy in one of the cells, along with Bull, who also shared her cell back when she was in the pound. Along with them were four or so more dogs that Lady didn't recognize. Lady gasped. The last thing she wanted was to meet those pound dogs who made fun of her before. She stuttered to Perdita, "We…we should get out of here."
"Whatcha doing, Miss Park Avenue?" Bull asked.
"Never…never you mind," Lady sighed.
"Put fleas on the butler again, I'd expect," Toughy told Lady, and the two of them laughed.
"Please stop!" Perdita told them, as Lady was shivering in agitation. "Can't you see that she's sad?"
Bull and Toughy continued to laugh, but then Bull asked Lady, "Well, why are you here?"
"To look for our puppies," Lady told them sadly. "They ran away from home."
"May I ask, have you seen any spotted puppies or a grey scruffy puppy or a blonde one with tall ears?" Perdita asked.
"No, ma'am," Bull answered, but then Toughy answered, "Oh-ho! A blonde one with tall ears? Do you mean Angel?"
Lady nodded in surprise. Then she asked, "You mean… you know Angel?"
Toughy nodded. "Oh yeah, we all know her, don't we guys? She's Peg's girl."
Bull and Toughy seemed excited to tell a story and instantly became more friendly. "Sit down girls," Toughy told them.
Lady and Perdita did, and Bull started, "Angel was born here… a bit after the dogcatcher's wagon broke when the Tramp was saved."
"That was you, wasn't it?" Toughy asked. "That's what I heard."
Lady answered, "Yes… Tramp and I are married… I think."
"Yeah… so let's see," Toughy continued, before saying, "Oh yeah… Peg had to deal with the fact that the Tramp was taken. She was furious for a while, but she saw this fella, gee I forgot his name… he came in a bit after you did," he reminisced to Lady.
"Yeah, he thought Peg was a real cute baby," Bull added. "What was his name… I think it's, uh, Spunky or something."
Toughy nodded and told them, "Boy, he was a daring thing, and very crafty too. Second best pound escapee after the Tramp. He quickly met Peg, and they hit it off. They spent their time in the corner… then, Peg realized that she and Spunky were gonna have a puppy, and they plotted to escape and live on their own," Toughy explained. "Between Spunky's cleverness and bravery and Peg's stubborn streak, the two of them seemed like they had a real chance to get out. And then after a while they finally succeeded in digging a hole, and they ran away from the pound."
"Well, Spunky escaped. Peg tried to follow, but she got caught by the dogcatcher. A bit later, we got the buzz that Spunky got run over by a car," Bull explained. "Right after that, Peg gave birth to her little Angel."
"Peg raised Angel all by herself, she was a tiny little thing, but she was tough," Toughy explained. "She got her dad's talent… she had the knack of how to get outta those little jams, and she also had her mom's determination. She had to mature fast. She had no father and her mother was very depressed. But Angel cheered Peg up, and together they decided to dig a hole for all of us to get out."
"But before they could dig their way out, Angel got adopted by some fella," Bull added. "Peg was happy that Angel found a home, but she was sad about not seeing able to see her daughter anymore. She then got adopted herself and was sent off. Then one day early this summer, Peg returned. She told us she left her owner in New York to find Angel, but when she found her, she was with a bunch of shady characters in a junkyard. Peg tried to tell her that they were dangerous, but she got caught again."
"Oh yeah," Bull told her. "Peg was distraught, for now she learned that Angel's family threw her out…"
"You mean… Angel was abandoned?" Lady asked pitifully.
"Yeah," Toughy sighed. "Peg had the blues for days…but she kept on diggin', and then on Independence Day, after a long time of trying, she got out herself."
"But the night that she left, we were surprised…" Bull began.
"Let me tell it! Let me tell it!" came an insistent voice in their cell. "I saw it!"
"Okay, Chatty, we'll let you speak," Bull sighed exasperatedly. "But let Toughy and I set the stage," Bull requested. "We all were sleeping, but we woke up to commotion… there was a fight in the cell two away from ours," Bull explained.
"Yeah," Toughy added. "We were disoriented, but then we heard the dogcatcher after a few minutes, who then got knocked down… and we couldn't believe it…
"YOU'RE TAKING MY LINES!" Chatty complained. A little scrawny pound dog with bulging eyes walked up to them, and shouted, "Well, in that cell, right over there, this was this big vicious bloke named Reggie who scared all of us… I say it's a good thing he took the long walk because he scared us all to death! Anyway, this kid got trapped with him! AAK! He got bad luck! He got bad luck! But then… some other fellow came in and saved him! And they knocked down the dogcatcher, they knocked down the dogcatcher, a-ha-ha, it was so funny! I cheered them on during the whole…"
"Let me finish…" Bull yawned as Lady and Perdita looked confused. "Anyway, Reggie was unconscious and then outside… there was the Tramp, a kid who looked just like him, and…"
"Blimey, that must've been Angel herself," Bull finished.
"Yeah, that was a big excitement," Toughy told them. "Better than the one of the last escapee."
"Oh yeah! I saw him too! I saw him too!" Chatty exclaimed.
"Did he look like Tramp? Or did he have spots?" Perdita asked eagerly.
"Oh no. He was a big black and brown guy with short hair," Bull explained. "He just charged through the bars of that broken cell," Bull nodded towards a cell at the other end of the pound.
"Well, that's all really to say," Toughy yawned,
"Thank you," Perdita told them. But then suddenly…
"Hey look!" declared one of the other pound dogs.
And then suddenly, someone's head appeared through a hole in the cell.
"Blimey, it's the Tramp!" Bull declared happily.
"Hey guys," Tramp told them, climbing out and standing on top of the hole.
"What're you here for?" Toughy asked in surprise.
"I'm off to help find our puppies," Tramp told them. "And I wanted to make sure my wife," he nodded to Lady, "and my friend are safe."
Lady smiled as Tramp mentioned that she was his wife. He continued, "Thanks for telling Pidge and Perdy about Angel," Tramp told them. "I didn't hear much, but I'm sure it was very helpful."
"Wanna hear the story too?" Toughy asked hopefully.
Tramp shook his head. "No, I gotta get going. But hey, since I'm here, I can give you something you'd like, but on one condition," Tramp sternly told Bull and Toughy.
"What's that?" Bull asked.
"Don't ever make fun of Pigeon again," Tramp told them, looking at Bull and Toughy seriously. "Do you understand?"
"Okay," Toughy told him. Then he turned to Lady. "Sorry about that…" as Bull nodded.
"We shouldn't have acted like that," Bull added.
Lady smiled appreciatively. "Thank you for saying that," she told them.
Tramp then stood up and revealed the hole he got in through. "Well…here, you are! Just go through here, and you get your freedom!" Tramp cheerily told them. Toughy and Bull gasped, and the other pound dogs cheered.
"Wow, a hole!" Bull declared happily.
"Come on," Tramp told them, and Toughy and Bull, followed by the other pound dogs, squeezed through the hole.
"He's really nice, isn't he?" Perdita asked Lady gently.
Lady smiled slightly and nodded a little bit. He was nice, and not only for flirtatious reasons.
Perdita saw Lady's slight smile and felt happy for her. "Let's join up with Pongo and Tramp," Perdita suggested, and Lady followed her out of the pound.
The sun was beginning to set as they left the pound and the old dogcatcher was gone with his wagon. The young dogcatcher was slumped on the fence, dazed and unconscious. Tramp just escorted the escaped pound dogs away and rejoined Pongo, Perdita, and Lady.
"Any luck at all?" Pongo asked. Perdita shook her head.
"At least they're not inside that awful place," Lady told them. "But I don't know where else they could be…"
"Pidge, Angel's a street dog," Tramp told her confidently. "There's a whole great world out there, and they could be going anywhere. But we'll find them," Tramp told Lady. "And come on… think of the other places we haven't checked yet! They've got to be around somewhere."
Lady thought to herself, and she realized that Tramp's words, apart from being comforting, actually made some sense. She smiled at Tramp sincerely for the first time in a while, and then softly told him, "Maybe you're right after all."
