"Uptown Girl"
The Foxworths Finally Come Home, Fifth Avenue, 1989
"Mrrrowwwwww!"
"Well now, you hold still, you little tyke!"
Winston was trying very unsuccessfully to bathe Oliver. He'd gotten the orange tub of tur into the big tub of water, and it hadn't gone well from there. Oliver was biting and scratching his way out of the water, while Dodger just sat on the sidelines and laughed about it. The Company had left the other day to return to their Hell's Kitchen apartment, with Dodger promising to visit them soon enough. Dodger rolled on the ground laughing.
"Don't you dare laugh at me, Dodger!" Oliver shrieked.
"Me? I wouldn't dream of it," Dodger chuckled, "besides, you're tha one who got lost in tha city an' had to get all messy an' stuff, right?"
"None of that was my fault!" Oliver hissed, screaming as another splash of water took him. Dodger laughed again, causing Oliver to seethe with fury.
With that, Winston finished up with Oliver. The next one to be bathed was Adena. She didn't look too happy about Winston picking her up. She started to panic as she got closer to the water. And then when he actually put her in the water, she became a demon from underneath the earth, hissing and biting with the fury of a thousand street cats.
By the end of the morning, Winston ended up with several bite and claw marks up and down his arms. One way or another, Winston got them bathed, and just in time for the Foxworth family to arrive home. Winston had to run to the airport to pick them up, driving the Foxworth family limousine to come get them. Dodger was more than ready for them to return.
They came in the front door, proclaiming "We're home, everyone!" to their pets. "Did you miss us? Aww, of course you did, you big babies." Mr. Foxworth bent down to scratch Dodger under the chin. "Hello again, boy. It's great to see you."
Dodger woofed for him. Mr. Foxworth gave him bacon. The man was his favorite.
Mrs. Foxworth came in and went for Adena, while Jenny ran towards Oliver. She picked him up and twirled him around the room, something Oliver would normally object to, but since it was Jenny, he didn't mind so much. "It's great to see you, Oliver! Oh, you smell so fresh!" Oliver was none too pleased about that. He liked his stench. "Wait until you see Georgette. She's not too pleased. You see, she—"
"—Lost my title! Lost my championship title!" Georgette came wailing into the room like a bewitched banshee. She was wearing a new fancy scarf and jacket combo that the Foxworths had no doubt bought her to console her for her big loss. "I lost the National Championship to a riff-raff, inbred little rat of a Maltese! Oh, the humanity!"
"There, there, Georgette," Mrs. Foxworth instantly consoled her. "We've bought you lots of expensive presents to make the pain go away. Do these help?" She snapped her finger and Winston brought in a new statue shaped like Georgette, a box of the finest doggy chocolates, and several new silk pillows embroidered with her name "Georgette" on them.
"Presents do help, I suppose," Georgette sniffed. "Follow me, Winston. Bark, bark, bark." She barked and he followed her up to her room, hauling the presents behind her.
Oliver called out to Georgette from Jenny's arms. "Boy, do I have a story to tell you Georgette! You're never gonna believe what happened to me while you were gone!"
"I think somehow I'll believe it." Georgette rolled her eyes and disappeared into her magnificent bedroom. Winston slammed the door behind her.
"Dodger, who's this?" the Foxworth family followed Dodger into the living room, where Nancy waited with her pregnant stomach. "Is she your girlfriend?" Dodger barked.
"Oh, David, she's just so precious," Mrs. May Foxworth cooed, bending down to scratch Nancy between the ears. "Let's keep her, why don't we? And it looks like she'll be joined by a new family. I assume they're yours, Dodger?" Dodger barked again.
"Well, why not? We can never have too many dogs, I say," Mr. David Foxworth declared, petting Nancy's back. "And Georgette might like having another female dog around the house to keep her company. But a girl this pretty needs a pretty name to boot. How about we name her Goldie, for her golden fur?"
"Goldie's a precious name," Mrs. Foxworth sighed, quite happy to have another dog in the family. The Foxworths would never turn away a dog in need of a good home.
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear you say that," Winston said, coming back down the stairs from having set Georgette's presents in her room. "I did mean to introduce you. This pretty little dog has been staying with us for several weeks now, while she's been pregnant. I'm relieved to hear you want to adopt her. I've grown quite fond of her, truth be told."
"Of course we want to adopt her. I mean, she's having Dodger's pups, for crying out loud!" Mr. Foxworth exclaimed joyfully. He bent down to pet Dodger some more. "It's not every day your dog becomes a father, now is it?"
Dodger barked for the third time. He couldn't be happier. The family had taken in Nancy. She was to be their uptown girl, and everything was going well for them. Oliver was home safe and sound, Adena was on their side again, and he was going to be a father. What more could he possibly ask for?
Rita Reminisces, Central Harlem, 1989
The cool fall breeze blew red and orange leaves down the steps of Charl's abandoned subway station. One of the leaves stuck on the yellow caution tape over the doorway, then flickered down the stairs with his fellows. It fluttered up and hit Rita in the face.
"Ya look festive, babe," Charl laughed, brushing the leaf out of her eye. He laughed again, then licked her cheek. He must've liked the taste, because he licked it again until he was covering her with slobbery dog kisses. "Let me hear ya say it!"
"Get off of me, you wild animal!" Rita giggled, bashing him on the head to make him stop. "I love you, okay? I love you, I love you, I love you."
"That's what I wanted to hear," Charl chuckled, then licked her once more for good measure. He yawned, stretched, and stood to walk around the room a bit. They were seated by the benches, far away from the caution line approaching the drop-off. To Rita' bafflement, Charl immediately went to walk along to drop-off, balancing over the edge.
"Charl, get away from there! You could fall and hurt yourself!"
"Aww, see, you really do care about me."
"I'm not joking. That's just downright dangerous."
Charl sighed and listened to her for a change. He backed off from the edge and came to the safety of the main loading deck area. It wasn't a very large subway station, only extending a couple yards both ways. No wonder it'd been abandoned for years, no one wanted to use it.
Thinking that this used to house Charl's little gang, the Scoundrels, Rita began to think back to her own gang she'd abandoned. She wondered what the Company was doing right now. Rita hated herself for admitting it, but she was starting to miss the gang. She briefly wondered whether or not they missed her, too.
"I know what you're thinking, babe. Ya have that look on your face."
"I doubt you can read my mind, Charl. Go on, what am I thinking?"
"You're thinking of going back to tha Company."
Okay, so maybe he did know her mind.
"I'm sorry. I know how much you enjoy having me around," Rita sighed, playing with the leaf that had blown in her face. "But I was their leader. They depended on me, and they still need me around, whether they like it or not. I know they treated me badly, but one stern lecture will sort that out, I guarantee it."
"Ya sure, babe? They hurt your feelings really bad."
"I know they did. Trust me, I won't let it happen again. Someone's gotta whip that gang into shape, and it might as well be me."
"I wish ya wouldn't go. What ya said is true, I do like having ya around. I don't wanna be without ya, babe. Wherever ya go, I'll go too. That's a Mr. Charl promise."
"Oh, but that's perfect! You can rejoin the Company with me!"
"Come again?"
"You said you'd go wherever I go. And if I'm rejoining the Company, then you can join, too. We could always use the extra muscle in case the Kings show up again. And you'd be a friend for the puppies, and Tito and Francis can get used to you in time. Oh, and old Einstein, too! I know he'll come around to you, I just know it."
"You're getting a little ahead of yourself, babe. What if they don't want me to join?"
"Oh, don't you worry about that. We can all just learn to get along."
Charl knew that once Rita had her mind set on an idea, there was no going against it. He had to admit, it had been nice staying with the Company beforehand. Aside from Tito and Frankie not liking him, it'd been fun to live in a warm building with a roof over his head and feeding time twice a day. Sure, what did he have to lose?
"Alright, babe. Consider me a Company dog!"
"Let's go right now! Oh, but first I want to see Dodger again."
"Dodger? What do we gotta see him for?"
"I feel like I should apologize. For everything."
He nodded his understanding, then he followed her up and out of the old abandoned subway station. Charl realized it might very well be the last time he set foot in the place, given he was looking to join the Company now. His paws crunched over autumn leaves on the way out the door, under the yellow caution tape and out into the city above.
Nancy's Big Day Arrives, Fifth Avenue, 1989
"It's that day."
"That day already?"
"Has she started yet?"
These were the statements and questions flung about the Foxworth mansion on that crisp fall afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Foxworth rushed about the mansion, grabbing towels and basins of water, everything that Winston instructed them to bring. Jenny was cautiously allowed into the room, though they warned her she might not like what she saw.
Dodger, however, kept himself out of the living room during her time. As much as he wanted to be with her to offer his support, Georgette had told him specifically that every father was to wait outside while his children were being born.
He heard his baby's screams from the living room. He heard the shuffle and mutterings of Mr. Foxworth and Winston. The old butler seemed to be the expert on the matter, though it sounded like they were leaving most of the hard work up to Nancy babe. She screamed again, and Dodger only wanted to take the pain away somehow.
But what could he do? This was the way Mother Nature, that cruel woman, had intended it. She clearly spared no sympathy for her fellow women.
The minutes ticked by on the big clock in the hallway, and more screams filled the mansion. Dodger wanted to rush through those living room doors and be by her side, but he feared it was improper. Soon enough, however, the screams died down. There was silence in the mansion. Dodger could hear the faintest huffs and whimpers coming from Nancy, then, incredibly, he heard the sound of little dogs whining for their mother.
Winston came out of the living room, his hands sticky with blood and bodily fluid. He wiped himself clean with a towel, then turned to Dodger with a twinkle in his eyes and said, "Well, boy, aren't you going to go in and greet your children?"
Dodger barked happily and rushed into the room, where he saw the most wonderful sight imaginable—Nancy babe, lying in the doggy bed, with four new puppies at her teats. Four of them, not two or three, but four little ones. "Nancy babe, are ya alright?"
"I'm more than alright, Dodger love," she sighed contently. "Aren't they precious?"
"They sure are, babe. Look at them! Two boys an' two girls it looks like."
"Our perfect little mutt family," Nancy teased with a wide smile.
"I happen to like mutts," Dodger grinned, "more than any other dog in tha world."
The biggest male was colored dark brown with sandy spots. The smaller male was golden-furred with white on his underbelly and around his paws. Of the females, the bigger girl was white with brown spots like her father's, while the smaller girl was a mix of gray and brown and black spots. In Dodger's eyes, they were the perfect little pups.
"Congratulations, Dodger old boy," Mr. Foxworth knelt down to scratch his dog around the ears and under the chin, just the way he liked. Dodger's foot began thumping up and down. "Now, whatever are we going to name them? Jen?"
"Do I get to name them, Daddy? Do I really get to?"
"Yes, honey, of course you do!"
Jenny knelt beside the doggy bed and gently picked up each of the puppies in turn. She started with the biggest male, the brown and sandy one. "This one can be… Boxer! He looks like a little boxer, doesn't he?" Boxer was a perfect name, Dodger thought.
"And then this girl here," Jenny picked up the biggest girl, the white and brown one who looked the most like Dodger, "can be named Barbie because she's so pretty!" She set Barbie down, and Dodger nudged her with his nose. His little Barbie doll.
Jenny then picked up the smaller male, the golden one with the white underbelly. "His name can be Cass. He looks like a big sweetheart, don't you think?" Dodger loved his sweet little Cass more than anything in the whole city.
"And finally…" Jenny chose the last puppy, the smallest female with the spotty brown, gray, and black fur. When she picked her up, the puppy began howling. "You're a singer, aren't you? Well then, why don't I name you after my favorite musical? You can be called… Annie!"
Dodger and Nancy both looked at each other incredulously. They'd so wanted to name a pup Annie after Dodger's mother, and for Jenny to come up with the name all on her own, why, it was practically a miracle! True, Jenny did love watching the 1982 Annie film, so perhaps that was the reason behind it, but still, the coincidence astounded them.
The family spent the next half hour cooing and cuddling with the new puppies, once they were bold enough to venture away from their mother's side. Georgette even stopped by, and though she tried to maintain an air of dignity and disgust with the scene, she couldn't help smiling at the sweetness of the puppies. Oliver and Adena were another story, both eager to play with the little pups. "I wanna play with Boxer!" Oliver whined, jumping around the pup until Boxer, true to his name, stood on his hind legs and decked Oliver in the face.
"You so had that coming, Ollie," Adena teased. Oliver stuck his tongue out at her.
Adena played gently with Barbie, Oliver had another boxing round with Boxer, and Cass stayed by his mother's side, too shy to venture out anywhere else. Dodger had lifted Annie up onto his muzzle and was carrying her around proudly.
"You have a wonderful family, Dodger," Oliver told his big brother.
"It's your family, too. You're their uncle, after all," Dodger informed him.
"Me? An uncle? I can't be an uncle, I'm too young!"
"When your big bro has kids, well, that makes ya an uncle."
"They really are sweet, though. Great kids," Adena complimented them.
"Thank you, Adena. It's nice to hear you say that," Nancy grinned at her. The tired mother let out a yawn, then hobbled to her feet to gather the pups to her side. One by one, she took them back to her stomach to lie down for a rest.
"We'll let ya get some sleep, babe." Dodger ushered everyone else out of the room except for himself. When everyone had gone, even the Foxworth family, Dodger turned back and cuddled up next to Annie and their puppies.
"We've got tha perfect family, don't we, babe?"
"Yes we do, my love. Yes we do."
Dodger and Nancy and their four puppies closed their eyes and slept.
Rita Arrives at the Mansion, Fifth Avenue, 1989
She came in through the back doggy door, the entrance everyone used, looking for Dodger. Rita wandered the twists and turns of the mansion hallways, eventually coming out into the entrance hallway. The mansion seemed surprisingly empty.
"Ya sure Dodger's here, babe?" Charl asked her from behind.
"He's either here or he's with the Company. Let's hope he's here." Rita answered.
They went up the staircase to see if he was maybe in Jenny's room. The door to Georgette's room was unlocked, so Rita and Charl let themselves in. "Ahh! Who goes there?"
"Calm down, girl, it's just us. You remember me." Rita wasn't too thrilled to see the "champ" again, but if Dodger was here, she was bound to know about it.
"I remember you robbing our mansion with your ruffian friends. And with my Alonzo, of course. Have you come back to steal from us a second time?"
"No, no, of course not. We were desperate back then, you know that." Rita was already losing her patience with Georgette. "We've come here looking for Dodger."
"Dodger? Why, he's downstairs, sleeping in the living room."
"Thanks, sister." Rita gave her a curt nod and left the room.
Before she was out of sight, Georgette approached Rita once again. "Oh, and one more thing, sister. You may want to think twice before disturbing him. He's with his family."
"His family?" Rita assumed she meant Oliver, his little bro. What other family did Dodger have, anyways? The Foxworths, maybe. Either way, she'd soon find out.
Rita and Charl went back down the stairs, around the corner and into the living room. There, Rita saw something she most certainly hadn't been expecting to see. It was Dodger, curled up beside a golden-furred girl and what could only be their four puppies. The shock nearly took her breath away. Their entrance woke up Dodger and his happy family.
"Wha? Who's there?" Dodger barked defensively. "What do ya want?"
"Chill out, Dodger, it's only me and Charl." Rita quickly said.
"Rita? Hey, good to see ya!" Dodger's tone became much lighter. "I was actually gonna come looking for ya when I got tha chance. Saves me tha trouble."
"You were gonna come look for me? Why? What did you have to say?"
"I wanted to try to convince ya to rejoin tha Company."
"That's actually what I came here to talk to you about." Rita sighed, then settled down beside Dodger, his golden girl, and their puppies. "I quit recklessly. I shouldn't have done it, but the gang just made me so mad and unwanted. What other choice did I have? But I've thought about it a lot, and I can't just abandon them. No matter how they treat me, I'm their leader and they still need me. But it's not just that. Having quit the gang, I understand better what you've been going through the past year and counting. I know I've not always been there for you like I should've been, and I'm sorry about that. I was kinda hoping we could start over."
"Rita, you're my friend. That's never gonna change, not now, not ever."
"Thank you, Dodger. It makes me so happy to hear that. All I want to do now is rejoin the Company. I have to be the leader they need me to be."
"That's exactly what I was gonna ask of ya," Dodger grinned, "but why's Charl here?"
"He's actually coming with me to join the Company. We're in love, Charl and I. Where he goes, I go, and where I go, he goes." Rita was happy to explain this to him.
"That's great to hear, guys. Congratulations from me." Dodger chuckled and shook his head happily. "Oh, an' I should've introduced ya earlier. Guys, this is my Nancy babe. Nancy, this is Rita an' Charl, two of my oldest friends."
"Pleased to meet you both," Nancy blushed. "I'm happy to be your friend. I… don't know that many dogs." Nancy seemed shy about this, so Rita gave her a confident wink.
"Well then, sister, consider us your new best friends," Rita said with a grin.
"Thanks, you guys. You don't know how happy that makes me."
"Oh, an' I should also introduce ya to tha newest members of our family. Rita, Charl, say hello to Boxer, Cass, Barbie, an' my little Annie." Dodger proudly showed off his new pups.
"They're sweet, Dodger, really they are. I'm so happy for you." Rita started to tear up a little. Dodger couldn't say why exactly. Maybe she was just so happy for him she had to cry? But Charl was consoling her now, and Dodger was left with the distinct impression that there was something he didn't know. But he decided not to press the issue.
Rita quickly dried her tears and said hello to the four puppies. Charl made goo-goo noises over them like the fool he was, the fool Rita loved him for being. Dodger had to admit, it was nice to have two of his oldest friends back with him.
They all decided to pay a visit to the Company first thing tomorrow morning, Dodger and Rita and Charl all together. Then, they would convince them to take Rita back and allow Charl into their gang. Dodger would do the talking if need be. But they were getting ahead of themselves. It was getting late, and Dodger and Nancy needed to go back to bed with their puppies. Rita and Charl stayed overnight at the mansion, sleeping on a guest bed, the Foxworths happy to have friends of Dodger over. Everyone ate plenty of dog food, then it was lights out.
Yes, the day was over, and Dodger couldn't be happier. He and his Nancy babe had brought four beautiful puppies into the world, and there was nothing Dodger wanted more than to lie there in that doggy bed with them. Sure, he'd had a tough life. His mom had left him as a puppy, he'd been betrayed by his friends, attacked by mobsters and their guard dogs, put in the dog fights, heck, he'd even been thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge. But Dodger was a survivor.
Whatever happened next in their lives, whatever trauma this gang war brought, Dodger knew he'd survive it, because that's what survivors did, now that he had something worth fighting for. Now that he had a real family. That was something the Kings could never, ever take away from him.