(The Start of Being A Dog)
The animals didn't stop running until they reached the highway, looking at the cars that were passing by them. "We need a ride," Mittens said, watching the speeding cars.
"Ooh, I got a big one!" Rhino exclaimed, seeing an old 18-wheeler coming with half of a house on its trailer. The two dogs and cat look in that direction and see it coming their direction.
"You're welcome," Rhino said with a grin. The two dogs and cat gallop towards the trailer very fast to catch up with it. Lucy was the first to jump inside before Bolt, who had to pick up Rhino, and Mittens.
They slid across the floor and into the kitchen area of the house. Lucy sat down instantly from how tired she felt.
"I can't believe it! My whole life I wanted to see a real life super bark! You! Are! Legendary!" Rhino exclaimed as he rolled away from the group.
Bolt then sat down with a sigh, thinking about his whole life had been a lie up to this point. Lucy and Mittens looked at him in concern.
Lucy perked her ears up and swore she felt her heart beating. He was kinda cute when he didn't have her on the leash. "Bolt? What's wrong?" She asked in concern.
"Mittens? Lucy? If uh… if I don't chase bad guys then-then what am I? I mean…" he stuttered, unsure of what to say.
"Ehh, don't worry about it. Being a regular dog is the greatest gig in the world, okay?" Mittens said with a smile. Lucy hadn't got to be a normal dog for the longest time since she was taken to that dog fighting place.
She then got up and stood in front of Bolt. "Look, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret; A little known cat secret. You know why we hate dogs? Cause we wanna be dogs! We have dog complexes," the cat said.
Bolt looked up for a second before looking back down again. "But… but what do dogs do?" He asked, looking up at Lucy. "Slobber, sleep, chase tails, chew human shoes. You don't need a masters degree to tell you this. I do know most dogs live in a place like this. And they also do things like…" Lucy explained.
They go into the bathroom and take him to where the toilet was. "Most dogs drink from this," Lucy told him, much to his disgust.
"Out of this!?" He exclaimed in disgust, "Don't humans use those things?" "Which is exactly why I never did this," Lucy replied, trotting back to the kitchen area with Bolt and Mittens.
Mittens hopped into the counter. "And this is your dog bowl," Mittens said. Bolt looked around for the dog bowl that she mentioned.
"It's the entire floor, Bolt. Whenever a human drops food, it goes to the hound," Lucy replied, remembering how she used to pick up scraps from the floor of her old home before the dog fights.
They go into the living room where the fireplace was. "And on cold nights. This and a ball of yarn. Oh, it doesn't get any better than that," Mittens said, sitting in front of the fireplace.
Lucy sat down next to Bolt and smiled. "I can't remember the last time I ever was in one of these," the husky said.
"Really? Well, you two seem to know a lot about these places," Bolt said softly, looking at the both of them.
"Yeah, I did my time in one of these. But I'm more of an alley cat at heart, ya know? Sprung out first chance I got, never looked back," Mittens said as she looked at the two dogs.
Bolt hummed in response. "Rhino is awesome. He's so awesome!" Rhino chanted through the ventilation system from the wall. Bolt, Lucy, and Mittens looked over their shoulders to look at the vent. They all smiled at each other before going to find the hamster.
They found Rhino speaking into a vent from the next room over. "He's beyond awesome! He's be-awesome!" He said with a delightful spin and laugh, not noticing the two dogs and cat standing behind him.
He looked back at them for a split second before going to talk back to the vent again. "He's- ahh!" He stopped and stared at them.
"What was it that you said?" Lucy asked, tilting her head in amusement at the silly rodent. "I… I am be-awesome," he chuckled, rolling a bit to let Bolt walk forward.
Bolt walked over to the vent and started to sniff it. It smelled good to him and he sighed happily with his eyes closed. "Lucy, you have to try this," Bolt said, sounding relaxed.
Lucy was hesitant at first but slowly approached the vent and gave it a few sniffs.
Right away, she felt relaxed for the first time in a long time. It smelled super sweet to her.
"Hmm. I think it's time to teach you the regular dog piece de resistance," Mittens said with a smile.
They walked over to one of the windows and Mittens opened it.
"Go ahead, stick your head out," Mittens said, sitting next to the open window. Bolt tilted his head at this. "Why?" He asked.
"Just do it, Bolt. You'll see what we're talking about," Lucy said, jumping on the window seat. Bolt jumped up too and stuck his head out, feeling the breeze on his white fur.
He started to laugh from the excitement. "Whoa, this is awesome!" He cheered. "And stick your tongue out. Like this," Lucy said, sticking her head out with him and letting her tongue fly on the side of her mouth. Bolt does it too and laughs amusingly.
He was loving every second of this. "Why don't you try it, Mittens?" Bolt asked. "Nah, it's more of a dog thing," Mittens said, grooming herself.
Lucy looked over at Bolt, seeing how he was enjoying this. She had to admit, she hadn't felt this excited in so long and it gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling.
During this time, they traveled through the country for the next few months. During that time, Lucy and Mittens were teaching Bolt how to be a normal dog.