Chapter 9: A Day To Remember
"Aaaah! Is this the human little brother you were talking about?!" A Rottweiler, evidently taller than me in a simple pink shirt and denim shorts with a German accent gushed in awe at me before picking me up and hugging me very tightly, but thankfully not tight enough to suppress my breathing. "Eeeee, he is so cute I could just keep him forever!" Dolly stood by, laughing at the little bonding moment I was having with said Rottweiler. "Yep, that's Cody for ya, Roxy! Cute, cool and heroic."
Dolly's idea of celebrating me saving Dimitri 2 from Brian the previous night was to spend the day out in the city with me and my other brothers and sisters to do whatever I pleased. And how could I say "No" to that? We stopped at Regent's Park since it seemed like the perfect place for my siblings to play in whilst I could look around for some potential sketching. Fortunately, Clarissa wasn't here today. That was when Dolly and I came across her best friend whom I now knew as Roxy. The dog in question still had her arms around me, I just managed to return the embrace with a blush on my face before she finally let me go. "So Cody, what do you like to do in your spare time?" Roxy asked me, panting happily, her expression making it obvious that she was still infatuated with me. "Well, I do like to sketch from time to-" My answer was cut off when I heard a distant yet audible thud on the ground accompanied by a grunt. Me and the two dogs turned around to see Dizzy on the ground, whimpering as she clutched one of her arms, tears threatening to leave her face. The three of us instantly knew something was wrong as we rushed over to her aid as did Dee Dee.
"Dizzy, what happened?!" I asked her worriedly as she struggled to get up. "Ow… Ow… Ow…!" She cried out as she lifted her fingers up as slowly as possible to show us her injury whilst causing as little pain as possible. I didn't hesitate to pull out a small medical kit from my pocket which Dylan had given to me before we left for Regent's Park as a precaution upon seeing the cut on Dizzy's arm. I had Dizzy sit on the ground with me as I took out a cotton ball from the kit to clean the wound, eliciting a suppressed cry of agony from the Dalmatian. With the cut as clean as possible, I then took out a roll of gauze and wrapped some of it around her arm. "It'll be okay, Dizzy." I tried to reassure her to lift her spirits as I started to tie a knot on the gauze to keep it wrapped securely on her wound. "I-It hurrrts!" Dizzy sobbed, finally letting the tears run down her cheeks as Dee Dee rubbed her back to comfort her. After completing the gauze, I remembered a little trick my mom used to do whenever she found me injured. I leaned over and gently kissed Dizzy's bandaged wound to ease the stinging pain. And it seemed to work as she wiped her eyes before hugging me with a small smile. "Thanks, Cody." She sniffled a little as I patted her back.
"Awww, you're so good with them!" Roxy said, fawning over me again as Dizzy ran off with Dee Dee, now seemingly already in better spirits. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head in response. "Oh, Dolly! I just remembered something. Something about that Hansel guy you li-" Roxy was suddenly cut off as Dolly shoved a hand over her mouth. "U-Uhhh what, what are you talking about? I don't know anyone called 'Hansel' that I'm interested in, ahahahaha…!" Dolly laughed nervously with a very embarrassed look on her face. "I-I mean uhh… I just remembered they added something cool to the park that I gotta show you like uhhh… really urgently! I'll be right back, Cody!" Dolly glanced at me as she said the last sentence before ushering Roxy with her. I was pretty confused on who Roxy was talking about with this person called Hansel, but judging by how Dolly reacted, this was definitely something she wasn't comfortable with so I shrugged and decided to forget about it. I think Dolly would most appreciate it if I never brought up this Hansel person with her.
"Hey. Human boy." A heavy female Russian accent snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked around for the source of the voice until I looked behind me to see a Pomeranian in a black and white striped shirt and grey pants under a black skirt. "Word has got around about your fight with a human bullying one of yous brothers. You is becoming quite the talk in Dalmatian Street" Even with her broken English, I could tell what she was talking about. Had someone really been watching what had happened the other night? "All I say is, jus' watch yourself for sake of your family. Ya never know when it may get out to the wrong people." Did she mean the police? Or maybe an older sibling whom was protective of Brian? A chill ran down my spine from the thoughts. I really hoped Brian would never tell anyone about what I had to do to help Dimitri 2 and possibly twist the story to make me look like I was in the wrong. "Ah! I'm sorry! I'd not meant to make you panic!" The Pomeranian sensed my overgrowing concern and knelt down and held her hands out to calm me down. Maybe I was overreacting. Besides, if such a thing did happen then Dimitri and his brothers would back me up, so I eased up a little.
"It's alright, I just panicked. I'm Cody, by the way." I answered before introducing myself. "Name's Snowball. Can not believe Dolly didn't say you was with her." Snowball frowned upon mentioning Dolly, she must've been a good friend of hers as well. "So… Cody. Pardon me being nosey, but how you end up living with Dolly and her family?" I looked down, rather hesitant to tell Snowball what happened to lead me becoming a part of the Dalmatian family, but I didn't want to be rude, so I tried to say as less as possible to avoid causing a major stir. "L-Let's just say my dad wasn't the best. He uhh… Just didn't want me around and…" My words stopped as I was unable to think what to say next. I glanced up at Snowball who only looked at me with sympathy. "I understand. It never a good thing to be left alone by own father but least now you have a better family- Ack!" Snowball was suddenly briefly pulled back away from me. I looked behind her to see a leash being held by a husky looking man using his phone on the other hand. The collar that should be attached to said leash was impossible to see, possibly being hidden under Snowball's neck fur. If this was a regular dog I was talking to, I wouldn't be as confused. Was it even legal to have leashes on anthros? "What is with you always doing that when I making conversations, Stanislav?!" Snowball growled at the man holding the leash who just made said leash pull her back to him a little more as the Pomeranian faced me once more. "R-Remember Cody! Life can be cruel but do not give it satisfaction from you struggling!" She called out to me before disappearing with her supposed owner. All I could do was wave bye to her awkwardly.
Dolly's POV
Woo! Another Indy Backflip done awesomely! Roxy applauded me as I rolled along one of the park's walkways before stopping. My skateboarding hasn't gotten rusty even once, in fact maybe I could even teach Cody how to skateboard when he's a little older if he'd like that! "Nice one, Dolly!" Roxy praised as I grinned at her. "What can I say? I aim to have the maddest skills." I pointed at myself with a thumb smugly. "Say, have you seen Snowball anywhere?" I suddenly remembered, realising our other BFF wasn't around. "Oh, I think I saw her talking to Cody not too long ago." She said, looking at my human bro who looked like he was now sketching something. "...You know, talking about Cody… I have to ask. How did you and him meet anyway?" Hoo boy, a part of me was honestly hoping that Roxy wouldn't ask that question. I really didn't like talking about what happened with Cody before we found him for his own sake. But then again, Roxy was my best friend so I could trust her to keep a secret. "Well… Two of my little sisters found him out cold on the side of a bridge. In pretty bad shape too. It… wasn't until he finally told mom that it was his dad who… threw him over the bridge." I explained, my mood sinking as I recalled that eventful day. "And his mom..." I added before looking around to see if no one was listening in before leaning in closer to Roxy and whispering to her. "I don't think his mom is around anymore." Roxy looked just as sad as I did, though it looked more like she was on the verge of tears. "T-That poor kid. Thrown away like garbage!" She said as she looked at Cody, almost looking like she wanted to hug him again, though if I let her do that, she might end up crushing the little dude's spine. "But at least he's with us now. No need to worry about that jerk and especially the other jerk I saw the other day." I assured as Roxy lit back up and panted happily at me. I bent down to pick up my skateboard and when I went back up, I noticed something at the corner of my eye.
Looking through a part of the fence that bordered the park, I saw the silhouette of some human guy just standing there. I couldn't make anything out of him other than short unkempt hair and the fact that he seemed to be maybe about as old as dad. He stood there for a few more seconds until he seemed to realise that I was watching him and ran. I quickly rushed to the fenced and called out to him.
"Hey! Who are you?! Get back here!" There was no sign of him even after I yelled that out. It was like he just vanished. "Who was that?" Roxy asked, looking in the same direction as I was. "I don't know… But something about him gives me a really bad feeling." I muttered, hoping that I would never see that weird guy again.
Cody's POV
I smiled at my recently finished sketch on my sketchbook. It was a drawing of Da Vinci painting one of her masterpieces on a canvas whilst standing on a balcony that overlooked the nightly city of London. My attention was diverted from the drawing to DJ whom had looked over my shoulder at the drawing. "Yooo, neat pencilwork, Cody!" He commented with an impressed smile. I returned a smile to him and even fist bumped with him before standing up, perhaps I should do a sketch of him next. "By the way, I remembered back when we talked a bit about David Bowie and then an idea just came to my head!" He said as he gestured me to follow him, leading me to another area in the park which had a rounded stage and many rows of audience seats. "Regent's Park's own amphitheatre and it isn't reserved yet!" DJ pointed out with a growing grin on his face as he pulled out a portable DJ turntable and set it down. "Thank you, Dawkins for adding a mic jack to this thing!" He pulled out a microphone and connecting it to said turntable before holding the mic out to me. "What do you say, Cody? Wanna do a little tribute to the Starman?" I fell silent as he asked that, feeling very nervous about the idea of singing in front of a crowd, something I've never done before. I was even really nervous when my class first had me introduce myself back at school, but not wanting to disappoint DJ, I nodded as he patted my back. "That's the spirit, bro! And don't worry, I think you'll be great!" He comforted me, somehow having sensed me getting nervous. "Go ahead and take a breather whilst I gather the others here." He told me before holding the mic to his face and yelling into it!
"GROUP HUG!" The ground briefly rumbled as our brothers and sisters suddenly appeared in a flash and tackled DJ in a huge hug, a few other dogs including Roxy having joined in as well. He then ushered them all to take a seat before clearing his throat. "Alright, dudes and dudettes! Me and Cody have decided to do a little number for you all in sweet memory of one of our most greatest people of all time! Go on ahead, Cody." He then held out the mic to me again, this time I accepted it and held it to my face and saw the many brothers and sisters of mine all watching me eagerly, my anxiety being washed away and replaced with confidence just in time as DJ began the song and I heard the familiar guitar strums of the Bowie song I heard enough to luckily remember the lyrics. I took a deep breath to compose myself as the instrumental track started before I finally began.
Didn't know what time it was, the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down some rock n' roll
"Lotta soul", she said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
I had to phone someone so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out, so you heard him too
Switch on the TV, we may pick him up on channel two
Look out your window, I can see his light
If we can sparkle, he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
Starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
As the music died down, the next thing I heard was applause from everyone in the audience. Even the dogs not related to us were enthralled by our performance. I noticed Dolly within the crowd with a big grin on her face before she turned to one of said unrelated dogs. "That's my bro! That's my little human bro!" She exclaimed to the dog with a smile whilst pointing at me which seemed to make them applaud louder. I looked back at DJ who walked over and pulled me into a hug with one arm. "That was amazing, bro." Was all he said as he waved to the crowd and all I could do was wave to them as well, the smile never leaving my face.
In loving memory of David 'Bowie' Robert Jones ~ 1947 – 2016
"'It has been my doorway of perception and the house that I live in. '"