Chapter 2: Meet the Family
I had only seen the first floor so far, but the house was pretty quite big. Dog toys were strewn around the floors of some of the rooms, I think I also noticed some comic books with pictures of what I could assume was a German Shepherd. That was when I felt the warmth of the sunlight on my skin which made me realise I was now outside. I blinked before looking back to what was in front of me and my eyes instantly widened.
In front of me was like a whole army of Dalmatian puppies, there had to be at least more than thirty or maybe seventy and like the pictures in the living room, they all varied in appearance.
"Hey everyone! We want you to meet Cody!" Dizzy called out to the crowd of white and black spots whom all stopped what they were doing and turned to towards me and gasped in astonishment. What happened next was a blur as I was suddenly bombarded by the puppies who quickly fawned over me as I managed to hear some of them clearly.
"It's a little human boy!"
"He's so cute!"
"Where's he from?"
I was blushing like crazy from all the compliments they were giving me, you swear you could see the pink on my face when Dylan quickly intervened.
"Okay okay, please give him some space!" Dylan urged, managing to get some of his siblings to back up a little as I finally found my voice.
"S-So are all these your brothers and sister?" I asked, Dee Dee being the quickest to answer.
"Yep! All ninety-nine of us!"
Ninety-nine?! I mean I've heard about dogs having a few kids, maybe around four or seven, but ninety-nine? No wonder there was so much furniture and stuff in their house.
"Okay, Dylan. I'll bite. What's going on?" That older female voice again from before. I instinctively turned to see a Dalmatian girl approaching us with a confused look on her face. She appeared to be the same height as Dylan and was probably around the same age as him. Her ears hanged from the sides of her head and reached below her shoulders. Her clothes consisted of a blue t-shirt with darker blue sleeves and grey shorts, I seemed to also notice that her forearms and forelegs were coloured black like she was wearing fingerless and toe-less socks.
"Dolly, this is Cody Wester. Dizzy and Dee Dee found him unconscious by a bridge not far from here and took him in." Dylan introduced me to the girl, whom I now knew as Dolly. She blinked before looking down at me, her look turning into a friendly smirk.
"Hey there, little dude. How are ya holding up?" She gently ruffled my hair, making me blush and smile again.
"I'm alright, thanks, miss Dolly." Dolly stifled a little at this.
"Hey, no need for formalities, kid. Just Dolly is cool with me." Dolly winked at me with that response which made me smile even more.
"But uhhh… Why was he out cold by the bridge?" Dolly's confused look returned as she then faced Dizzy and Dee Dee who just shrugged.
"I think we'll only find out when he's recovered and we take him home." Dylan guessed, Dolly shrugged with her shoulders before taking my hand. Have to admit, her hand was pretty soft given it was covered in fur.
"Come on, you! If you're staying then you need someone to give you the grand tour!" I couldn't argue as I was lead back inside, though I could hear many of the puppies including Dizzy and Dee Dee groan in disappointment as Dolly faced them.
"Don't worry, you'll get to play with him before you know it." She reassured, I could just notice their faces lit back up before coming back inside.
To say that the house was big was rather an understatement, three floors and an attic, then again such a house that big would definitely be needed if you have ninety-nine kids. The house itself was rather luxurious which was possibly the benefit of living in London, most of the rooms had beds for the pups with the exception of Dolly, Dylan and their parents whom all had a room of her room. One of the ninety-nine puppies had her own room. Well when I saw it, it was more of an art studio.
"Hey Da Vinci, you in here?" Dolly knocked on one of the doors before opening it, this one in particular having splats of paint of different colours on it. I was quite amazed not just at the walls covered in many nicely shapes of paint but also the large amount of canvas paintings hung around the room. In the middle of the room was a young Dalmatian puppy around my age at a paint canvas. Her fur pattern had to be the most unique of the puppies I had met, instead of the common black, her spots ranged in black, blue and orange. She wore a purple shirt and denim jeans and a blue apron to cover her shirt, complete with a pink bandanna around her neck. I could also see a belt bag on her, possibly to carry art supplies.
"Yo, Da Vinci, want ya to meet a new friend of mine, Cody." Dolly patted my shoulder as Da Vinci shyly looked over to me with a small smile.
"Hi there." I waved to her in response before looking at her paintings. "Your paintings are really nice, miss Da Vinci." I complimented. And it was true, her art was really good. It's no wonder her parents named her after a famous artist. Not only that, but art was always my favourite subject in school, especially when I got to paint.
"T-Thank you." I looked back to see Da Vinci rubbing her arm with a blush on her face.
"Actually… I like to paint at my school a lot." I admitted, Da Vinci's face lit up a little as she looked at me with a more endearing smile.
"Well look at you both becoming best friends already!" Dolly joked with a laugh, making Da Vinci glance aside with a redder blush whilst I let out a little laugh of my own, scratching the back of my head. I then shared my goodbyes with Da Vinci before resuming the tour, soon stopping at a tree house back outside. Me and Dolly were sat at the floor overlooking out the window at the many streets when Dolly piped up.
"Not gonna lie. Dylan may be a bit of a dork, but his tree house has a cool view of the streets." I nodded in agreement to that. "So how was the tour? Liked what you saw?" I nodded again.
"You have a really nice family, Dolly. And a really nice home." Dolly ruffled my hair again after hearing that with a giggle.
"Aww, thanks kid! You could say we were the lucky ones!" I smiled at that, but my smile didn't last long as I thought back to my old house. With dad caring more about his beer than the house, let alone me, the place was always messy and dark, even lonely at times especially when dad went to a bar and left me alone. My life back in Yateley was a serious contrast to how Dolly lived: a warm comforting house, enough food and more importantly, a loving family.
"...You okay?" My train of thought was lost when I heard Dolly. Not wanting to worry her, I quickly turned to her with a fake smile.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Dolly looked unsure at first but she thankfully shrugged it off and helped me back down into the garden. "Okay kid, if you need me, just holler!" Dolly then patted my back before heading off. I then saw Dizzy and Dee Dee in the distance chasing each other around the garden, possibly playing tag. I was about to join them until yet another Dalmatian stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. Unlike the others of the Dalmatian family I had met, the look he was giving me was anything but friendly. I think the fact that he was definitely older than me like Dolly and Dylan were thus letting him tower over me only added to my anxiety. His attire being a varsity jacket with a black torso, white sleeves and orange zipper outline with the number "1" on the chest area and grey jeans with a tear hole at one of the knees. He didn't have any spots besides the single white one on his right ear, the other having a notch on it like someone had scratched it and his forehead had two streaks of black that almost looked like hair.
"Listen here, shrimp. You may be the talk of the family now, but don't forget, you're not gonna be here forever. This is our turf and our family, and we'll be more than glad when you're gone. So stay the hell out of our way while you're here because no one messes with me and my bros for a reason, and we won't be afraid to make some human trash boy know who they're dealing with. Got it?" He snarled very threateningly. I was in no position to argue nor did I have the courage to ask who he meant by "our" so I could only nod as sweat ran down my face. He then spat at the ground before walking away.
...I should've known there was going to be a catch if I were to end up living with Dolly and Dylan's family.
...No, what am I saying? What makes me think they'll take me in? I didn't see no evidence of them having kept a human in their family, but this family besides that Dalmatian and his brothers all seem nice, it's the kind of home and family any kid would want in a situation like mine.
My thoughts were quickly halted when I just barely heard several voices no doubt belonging to most of the pups.
"Yay, dad's home!" I was nearly left staggering as I was spun around by the blanket of a million spots zooming past me to the front door. Shaking off the dizziness, I headed for the front door. Would be rude to not introduce myself to the parents after having met their ninety-nine children.
Peeking over at the front door from one of the neighbouring room doorways gave me the sight of the puppies having all piled up on what I could guess what their aforementioned dad. There was another Dalmatian standing next to the literal dog pile, smiling at the moment. One good look at her and I could tell she was the mom. Her ears were kinda like Dolly's if only a little wider, her outfit made of a blue work shirt and a pin badge, a coat and navy blue pants. My best guess was that her job was medical-related. The dad then got back up on his legs with some of the puppies still clinging onto him and I saw the badged and yellow striped coat of a fireman and some black striped work pants.
"Oh? Now who's this little one?" My attention was drawn back to the mother of the family who seemed to have noticed me and walked over before kneeling down to my level.
"Ah! Mom, dad! We want you to meet Cody!" One of the puppies ran over to me, or should I rather say wheeled over to me, since unlike every other puppy, this one was in a wheelchair, one of his ears beared a notch that wasn't as bad looking as the one I had come across in the garden.
"Hm? Well, hey there, Cody!" The father walked over and offered a hand out which I gladly shook. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs…?"
"Delilah, honey. Just call me Delilah." The mother nodded at me. "The loveable oaf of my husband here is Doug." She glanced at the dad who smirked in response. "So what brings you here, Cody?" Doug inquired.
"Dizzy and Dee Dee said they found him unconscious by a bridge not too far from here!" Another of the puppies responded, getting a gasp from Delilah. "Oh my goodness, are you alright, dear?" She reached over and gently felt around me for any bruises or injuries. "Um… Just a bump on my head, I think." I reassured as Delilah found the band-aid on my forehead. "Oh dear, your parents must be worried about you! Do you know where you live?" My face fell again, one of the few things I didn't like was being reminded about my old home and my only parent who didn't even care about me but before I could even respond, I felt the arms of Dizzy and Dee Dee wrap around me.
"Awww mom, can't he at least stay for dinner?" Dee Dee pleaded, giving Delilah one of the biggest puppy dog eyes I've seen in a lifetime with Dizzy following suit.
"Well..." Delilah hesitantly glanced over at Doug before looking back at the two. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep him around for a little longer, but we will be returning him to his own family afterwards." She said firmly, Dizzy and Dee Dee cheered before hugging me tightly.
"Well, this is more of a special occasion than I had planned." Doug spoke out. "Because I got a pretty good pay today and it is Friday so…" He anticipated before finally finishing with…
"Who's up for takeout?" He called out, getting an outcry of joy from all the kids. Only I wasn't cheering. I was happy that Doug was treating us to takeout.
...But I was dreading the moment they'd take me back to my dad. Lord can only imagine what my dad would do if he ever saw me and realised that I was still alive and standing.