The light rattle of the dog door concerned him for only a moment. When no one came out to confront him, the gray-brown dog lifted a hind leg. He pushed his paw against the collar again and again until it slid over his ears. It hit the porch with a thump and a faint jingle from the "badge of respectability".
More like a badge of dishonor, he thought as he slipped out the fence through the loose board. The man of the house never inspected the barrier, and the dog had never seen a reason to draw attention to it. He sighed. If there's even a chance... I gotta take it.
The familiar streets were quiet. His paws knew the way even if his mind was elsewhere. How soon would the family look for him? Would they see the collar and realize he had chosen this path? Or would they think he had been stolen?
Doesn't really matter. He climbed up into the pipe and crawled through. His heart thumped in his chest as he let himself fall to the ground, the old pallet rattling as he did so.
"You come to gloat some more?" The rough voice would have sounded cold to anyone else. "Shouldn't you'd be curled up with your prissy powder-puff instead of slummin' it?"
The gray-brown dog crossed the distance, no sign of fear in his posture or expression. Without a word, he began to clear away the debris that held the other dog captive. Once the last board was shoved away, he sat down and gave his own neck a good scratch. His ears slapped against his head as he shook it. "Buster's trouble is the Tramp's trouble."
"Excuse me?" The words were met with shock from the black and tan dog. His eyes traveled up and down Tramp's frame before stopping on his throat. "Wait one minute. What you doin' without your collar, house pet?"
"That's not important." There was the barest hint of a growl in his voice. "Look. I..." His ears pulled back against his skull and he hung his head. "There's something I need to... I just wanted to ask if -"
"Save it." Buster turned his attention to chewing at an errant flea. "You can't be King of the Streets and the Kennel Club Set."
"I don't want to be either. There's only one thing I wanna be king of." Tramp took a deep breath, eyes on the stars. "Look. There's a train leaving town in an hour."
"So?"
"I want us to be on it."