Chapter 4: First Day of a New Life
Cody's POV
The previous night after Delilah and Doug adopted me into their family, the latter had set me a new bed in one of the bedrooms some of their children would sleep in as quietly as possible though to avoid waking them up. The bed itself was probably the nicest feeling bed I've ever felt, especially when all I had for a bed back with my dad was the cold hard floor of my dirty empty bedroom. I still remember the very thing I quietly said to the two as I looked at my new bed.
"It's really nice. I've never had one of these before."
"What, a family to love you?" Doug asked as I got in.
"A bed."
I could feel the warmth of the morning sunlight on my face through the bedroom window but that wasn't all that stirred me awake. I felt a small weight on my blanket as I blinked awake and looked over to see a Dalmatian puppy, much smaller than any of the others I had met. She had a little orange shirt with a bone on the front and a diaper. She was looking at me very curiously with a smile as I could only smile back at the infant.
"Hi there." I reached over with an arm to pet the baby Dalmatian which made her giggle with delight and reach for my wrist with her little hands and gently squeeze it.
"I see you've met Dorothy." I saw Dylan at the bedroom, smiling at the bonding moment I was having with Dorothy who was now nuzzling my hand. "Morning, Dylan!" I sat up on my bed before he came over and picked Dorothy up. "Come on, Dorothy, time for breakfast." Dorothy was quick to protest, reaching her arms out to me with a whimper. I petted her reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to play with you later." This seemed to satisfy her as she smiled again before I got out of bed and changed into the same clothes Dizzy and Dee Dee had found me in since they were the only ones on my back. Following Dylan downstairs, I could pick up a faint yet nice smell that reminded me of a bakery my mom once visited with me back in Yateley as we soon entered the kitchen and found my new mom, Delilah making fresh waffles. I took a seat in between Dizzy and Dee Dee who beamed at me before our waffles were served, mom had this to say when she was done serving.
"Alright, me and dad have to hurry to work. Dylan and Dolly will be here to look out for you and your siblings, Cody." Mom stroked my hair with reassurance before leaving with Doug, but not before the latter patted my head.
With mom and dad now out of the house, Dolly came into the scene while Dylan was occupied with the dishes. "Alright you guys, I've some real cool news for you all!" Everyone's attention was on her, even mine. "Me and Dylan heard mom and dad talk with Cody the other day, and you all love Cody, right?"
"Yeah!" None of the puppies in the area hesitated to answer with that, making Dolly's smile change into a grin. "Well… How would you feel if he stayed with us? As a part of our family?" Out of all the puppies with me, Dizzy and Dee Dee gasped the loudest.
"You mean…?!"
"Yeah! He's living with us now!" Nothing could prepare me for the huge group-hug I got from all my new brothers and sisters until someone suddenly objected.
"Oh no no no! There's like, no way a human is going to be a part of our family!" I turned to the feminine voice and spotted three Dalmatian girls. Body wise, they all looked similar, the only way you could tell them apart was their clothing. One had a pink shirt with hearts on the front, gray-purple shorts and sandals, the second had a pink striped shirt and a rounded skirt with a necklace that had the letter 'X' on the round gem, and the last had an outfit similar to an Elementary school girl with a pink vest that had a small pink gem on the front, a white undershirt and a dark purple frilled skirt with black knee-high socks and maroon shoes. The one in the schoolwear held one of my arms up, looking at my hoodie.
"...Not with these totally nasty garments at least! You, my friend are in need of a new look!" She affirmed as she and the other two ushered me away from the kitchen to their room. Their room having walls of light pink with heart and diamond patterns, in fact there was so much pink in their furniture and room I thought I was visiting some celebrity's daughter. The three lead me to a chair and sat me down, the one in the schoolwear taking out a tape measure and measured my arms and legs, her tongue sticking out in concentration. "Ooookay, I think we have just the things!" She turned to a wardrobe and pulled out some new clothes for me to try on before leading me back to the doorway. "The bathroom's just next to our bathroom, you can change there!" She opened the door for me. "Thanks uhhhh..." I began, still unaware of their names.
"Oh gosh, like, where are my manners? I'm Dallas, and these two are Destiny and Deja Vu!" She gestured to the Dalmatian in the heart shirt and the one in the striped shirt respectively. I gave a grateful nod before coming into the bathroom to change. A few minutes or so, I came back out with my new outfit which consisted of a light blue shirt with white long sleeves and some new jeans and lastly some new white sneakers. "Now, that's totally more like it! You really are one of us, now!" Destiny praised eagerly and I couldn't agree more. The new clothes were really comfortable, so much better than the old damp hoodie and pants I was stuck with for a few years. I just had to return the favour to the three and what better way to do that than to hug Dallas, whom probably wasn't expecting that. "Thanks, you guys!"
"Ah- It was like, no problem." Dallas stammered, I could tell she was blushing as I could faintly feel her cheeks getting warm. "Hey, don't leave us out!" Destiny complained with a giggle before hugging me and Dallas, followed by Deja Vu. I shared my farewells with the trio and headed outside to see some of the puppies playing some sort of game and was about to join them until I noticed something on the other side of the garden.
It was that one Dalmatian that had threatened me yesterday, he looked like he was trying to get up off the ground but seemed to be struggling to do so. Was he hurt? Despite his warnings, I came over to investigate and could just about hear something like he was trying to hold back some faint sniffles.
"Are you okay?" I leaned over him as he only glanced at me with an annoyed glare. "G-Get lost, human, just because mom and dad adopted you doesn't mean I'm gonna treat you differently." He snapped at me but this time, I wasn't going to be fazed. "Then why are you crying?" I had noticed a tear threatening to leave his eyes as he glanced at me. "I'm not crying! I just have dust in my eyes! Now leave me alone!" I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "And dust makes you sad?" I retorted, making it very clear to him that I wasn't going to leave until he told me what's wrong.
"Ugh, fine! All I did was trip on a stupid rock and cut my knee! Satisfied, Sam Spade?!" He finally confessed, wiping his eyes and turning around to sit on the ground, revealing his legs, one of which had a tear at the knee area at his pants. I nearly flinched with shock at the pretty nasty gash he had on his knee, a small yet noticeable drop of blood was running from the open wound before I pointed at the ground. "Wait here." I instructed him before running back inside and into the kitchen as I heard him call out sarcastically: "Oh yeah, it's not like I'm gonna go to Las Vegas and back, am I?!" A few drawers later, I found a pack of band-aids, taking one before finding a kitchen cloth and running the sink tap under it for a few seconds and finally running back to the downed Dalmatian. "Now this may sting a little." I warned before gently dabbing the damp cloth on the gash to clean it off excess blood and any dirt or stones, eliciting a mix between a whine and a growl from the Dalmatian. With the wound clean, I removed the band-aid's adhesive coverings and gently applied it to the wound.
"Okay, are you done playing doctor now? I have things to do." He said impatiently but I held a finger up. "Just one more thing: You might hate me for this, but you should take it easy and relax a little." I suggested before reaching to his head with a hand.
"Hey, what the hell are you-?!" His aggravated protest stopped when he felt my hand gently pet him on the head. He blinked before looking back at me before getting up. "You're a proper weirdo." was all he said before leaving, although I did see that the look he gave me wasn't as aggressive as yesterday. I didn't bother to ask him for his name since it would be a while before he would at least get used to me.
"Oh hey, Co- Woah! Loving the new threads!" The familiar voice of Dolly rang out, making me stand up and turn to face her. "Hey Dolly! And thanks, Dallas, Deja Vu and Destiny helped me into some new clothes!" I greeted as she looked over my new attire. "Haha, well, that's the Triple D for ya! Gotta know everything about fashion especially when it comes to acting." The last word piqued my interest. "They're actresses?"
"Yep! That's where most of the money we get to pay for our expenses comes in, most of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for them!" Dolly remarked. I mean she wasn't wrong, it would definitely be a lot to take care of more than thirty kids. "But anyway, I'm thinking about chilling at the park, wanna come?" The park definitely seemed nice, and like I had mentioned once before, I've always wanted to visit London and see what it was like. "I'd like that!" I answered eagerly, not a second later and I briefly felt the soft fur of Dolly's hand take mine as she lead me onto a skateboard with her in front. "Alright, Codester, hang on tight!" I didn't need to be told twice as I held onto her waist and we were already rolling down the street.
Regent's Park was as amazing as I expected it. Never had I seen such a spacious and open area of grass and trees before, it felt like a real place for someone to be free. Of course there was some graffiti on some of the stone walkways, but I honestly thought it added to the wonderment of the park. Amongst some of the human people within the park were a few anthros as well, the majority of them being dogs of different breeds. One anthro whoever whom leaned over from a nearby tree grinned at Dolly before stepping out was different from what I saw. It was a teenage fox with a grey tank top and camo green ripped shorts, I noticed that one of his fangs was even golden.
"Yo Dolly, about time you got here. Was starting to think Dyl had maybe grounded you over a little mess or something." He joked, earning a laugh from Dolly. "Pfft, nah Fergus. I just had to be a little careful since my new lil bro was tagging along." Dolly patted my head as she responded with that. "You mean this little lad?" Fergus raised an eyebrow at me with a little smirk. "Certainly wasn't expecting ya to take in a human kid, but a relative of Dolly is a friend of mine. So what's yer name, sport?" I could only smile warmly from how friendly he was before answering. "Cody, mister Fergus." The fox chuckled and tussled my hair. "Haha, I like a human with a little formality. So when did he show up at your doorstep?"
"Actually, two of my sister's found him and took him in and well, it's a long story." Dolly explained, most likely not wanting to upset me. "Works for me!" Fergus shrugged before continuing. "Anyway, glad you're here. Little bird told me that your least favourite neighbour was in the area." Dolly rolled her eyes. "I think I got a good clue on who you're talking about. So what did you have in mind?" She asked, showing interest, I meanwhile didn't know whom they were talking about, all I knew was that they were Dolly's neighbour. Fergus leaned over and whispered in Dolly's ear which resulted in her getting a rather mischievous grin on her face. "You know me too well, Fergus." After that, she and the Fox headed to one of the park's ponds with me following behind. Hiding behind a neighbouring tree, we all peeked over to see an older looking dog in some rather elegant looking clothing, being a long cyan dress skirt with a pearl necklace and a hat of a similar colour to her dress. Judging from her appearance, I'm guessing she was a Corgi. That was when Fergus suddenly pulled out a live frog from inside his tank top and handed it to Dolly, who sneaked behind a trashcan much closer to the Corgi and there and then I had a pretty good idea of what she was gonna do.
"U-Uhhh, I don't know, Fergus. What if we get into troubl-" My hushed words fell silent as Fergus wrapped an arm around me and gently squeezed me in a playful manner. "Shhh, chill, Cody. It's all in good fun, besides, Clarissa honestly asks for it. Always thinking she's "sooooo better than Dolly because she's rich, pampered and spoiled"." He remarked reassuringly as I noticed that he was holding a phone up in his other hand, implying that he was more than likely recording it. Not another second passed when Dolly made her move and tossed the frog over the trash can and it landed directly onto the Corgi lady's shoulder, making her glance at it and suddenly scream in panic, thrashing around to get it off of her, only to end up losing her footing and fall backwards and into the pond, resulting in a burst of laughter from Dolly and the fox next to me as the lady stood up, the pond water reaching up to her thighs as he attempted to shake herself dry. "Oogh, never have I ever been so humiliated in all my life! Whoever's responsible for this is never going to hear the end of what I have to say to them!" She ranted in anger as she trudged out of the pond with Dolly quickly rejoining us and we all made a run for it.
"Ahahahahahahahah! Did you see the look on her face when it landed on her?!" Dolly laughed even more as we were leaving the park, Fergus laughing with her.
"Yeah and when she said "Ooh, never have I ever been so humiliated!"!" Fergus mocked, mimicking a snobby feminine voice, making Dolly laugh even more.
Me however, I felt a little bad about what they did to her, even if I have to admit, I kinda thought it was funny too.