That evening
Saturday
I could not believe that it had been so easy!
Once I had seen that photo of the young blond-haired girl, I knew that I had seen her before. I had wracked my brains to remember where and when. Then I had it – Glenview! I had walked the streets each afternoon and evening – then all Saturday.
There was something about the two girls with copper red hair. One of them was about the right age and her eyes... They were not the eyes of a normal girl which told me something about her. I had smiled at her as I had walked past – just being friendly, nothing more. It was not until I was a couple of dozen yards beyond her, that my brain added everything together – it had been her, my target!
I had turned back instantly, but the girl had vanished...
Sunday morning
There was an argument going on, up the stairs.
Usually, the arguments ended up getting violent so I thought that I had better intervene. As I got to the top of the stairs I noticed Josh loitering outside the girl's bedroom.
"What are they arguing about this time?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Girly shit."
"Who started it?"
"Err, that would be Chloe!"
"Chloe...! What's the argument over for God's sake?"
It was getting quite heated, too – I left Josh to it, but kept an ear open.
"You are so wrong!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Am not!" A very hyped up Stephanie replied with fire in her eyes.
"You are both wrong!" An indignant Anne-Marie chimed in.
"Not happening – I should kill you all where you stand!" Megan challenged with a smirk.
"Okay – we are at a standoff, so let's sum this up..." Chloe began diplomatically, pointing at each girl in turn.
"Anne-Marie: Pinkie Pie... Stephanie: Rainbow Dash... Megan: Sunset Shimmer... Me: Apple Jack..."
"I preferred Twilight Sparkle..." Mindy mentioned as she walked past the door. "Although Rarity was awesome in her own way..."
"What!" All four girls exclaimed sounding very surprised.
"Hey, I did do things other than killing people when I was younger!" Mindy replied offhandedly.
"To be honest, I fancied Fluttershy; no idea why..." Josh chimed in as he walked away.
Sunday afternoon
"Oh you have to be kidding!" I exclaimed as I passed by the living room.
They were all crying! Mindy, Chloe, Stephanie, Megan and Anne-Marie; they all had tears running down their faces, but they were all smiling.
"It's the movie – it was very moving..." Mindy tried to explain as she wiped away her tears.
I walked in and picked up the DVD case from the table.
"Okay: 'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'?" I enquired.
"Yeah, Dave – it was awesome!" Chloe replied, blushing slightly.
Danny looked appalled and refused to enter the living room; I just shook my head and walked out.
"Come on, Danny – let's go do something manly!"
Two days later
Monday afternoon
Glenview
We had built what could only be described as a 'nest' for our fearless, but very pregnant, canine companion.
She had been living in her 'nest' for the past couple of weeks, down in the basement. All the kids thought it was awesome that there were going to be puppies; I was excited too. Sophia was perfectly healthy and the vet was very pleased with her progress.
Today was the day...
..._...
Sophia was lying on her side and something told me that the puppies were coming, and that was when her waters broke. I felt sorry for Sophia who seemed to be very uncomfortable and she was panting steadily. All three kids were there to watch, plus Megan – poor Sophia, she had no privacy. How would I feel if I had half a dozen people watching me giving birth!
During the wait, Sophia got up and moved around quite a few times and we all kept encouraging the uncomfortable dog. She was much more than family to us, and we hated seeing her in so much discomfort. Then it truly began, as a pained expression passed across Sophia's face and she raised her upper hind leg.
"What's happening?" Anne-Marie demanded, sounding worried.
That was when something dark began to appear from between Sophia's hind legs. I had never seen anything like it before and I was mesmerized as I watched.
"Ewww!" Stephanie exclaimed.
The first pup appeared and it was covered in a thin membrane which Sophia chewed at and then ripped open before she licked the pup clean, eating the membrane as she went. The pup squealed as its fur was rubbed up the wrong way and I saw enormous smiles grow on the kids' faces and I was surprised to feel tears in my eyes. I was so used to taking lives that I was not used to seeing new lives come into the world.
Dave reached over and checked the pup.
"It's a Megan – sorry, a bitch!" Dave chuckled, ignoring Megan's not very amused glance.
Soon after, the next pup appeared – there was some blood too, which Dave cleared up. Sophia got to work on the 'sack' that enclosed the little pup.
"Is she eating the pup?" Anne-Marie asked.
"No, that's the umbilical cord – Sophia's chewing it off. See, she's washing the pup now and the first one is feeding."
"It's so disgusting..."
"You would have been a mess too, soon after you arrived in this world," I reminded Megan who grimaced at the thought.
Five hours later, it was all over.
We had received seven pups in total before Sophia was finished: five females and two males. All seven were healthy and they were happily squeaking and feeding. Sophia was much relieved for it all to be over and she dozed quite a lot, despite the pups pawing incessantly at her underside.
"Well done, girl, well done!" I said, stroking her gently as she rested.
..._...
A little over an hour later, Sophia decided to take herself upstairs and I went with her and then took her outside where she made use of the garden's facilities. After that she seemed to be enjoying the fresh air after all those hours of labour. While that was happening, Dave and Stephanie were taking the opportunity to swap the soiled bedding of the 'nest' for clean stuff.
We returned to the basement to find seven little bundles lying in the 'nest', squealing and cuddling up together; they looked so sweet! Sophia stepped in amongst them and went from pup to pup checking each one out and giving each one a gently lick to reassure them that Mom was back. She laid down on her side, somewhat reluctantly, and the seven squealing bundles quickly dived in for some more of Mom's milk.
Stephanie and I gently stroked Sophia who looked very happy; a new Mom.
The following morning
Tuesday
By the time the kids had left for school, the pups had all gained names.
Once I had returned from dropping the kids off, I explained the names to Sophia. Each pup wore a string collar in a different colour for identification purposes. Dave and I lined up the seven pups before their mother.
"Okay, Sophia, from the left. We have Hercules, he has the blue collar. Then we have Kiara – she has the purple collar. The bitch with the orange collar, is Hope and the pink one is Josie. The brown collared dog is Razor while the remaining two bitches with grey and yellow collars are Layla and Piper."
Sophia barked approvingly at each name.
..._...
Once the pups were around 2 months old, they would begin their training. Each would gain a vigilante name, as well as their normal name. They would be taught to be loyal and to obey without question. In return we would gain their respect and we would take charge – this would involve extra training on our part; humans communicate verbally, dogs do not, they read body language and react accordingly. We would reinforce their acceptance of good behaviour and also punish where necessary – each animal would be very different and would have to be treated accordingly. They would all need a lot of attention and a lot of exercise. As such, once they were old enough to be separated from their mother, we would rotate them through The Farm where there was plenty of space and barking dogs being trained would not upset the neighbours.
Each dog would be trained to be a vigilante, much as their mother was – and yes, they might learn similar skills to 'Schwanz'! The training would take over a year and more likely eighteen months to complete.
..._...
Everybody wanted one!
Not to mention that some had actually laid claim to the pups too. I wanted one, of course – I fancied Kiara, hence the purple collar. Megan also wanted one, as did Anne-Marie, Danny and Stephanie. Marty was considering having one as well. Ultimately, all of the pups would need a home and I didn't mind the idea of keeping one or two with us, maybe a boy and a girl, and finding homes for the other five.
That evening
"How sweet!" Paige squealed on seeing the seven pups lined up as if on parade.
"Cute little buggers," Marcus commented with a smile.
"You two are officially doggy grandparents!" Dave laughed.
"Just what I always wanted!" Marcus growled.
"I have a feeling that Megan is angling for one; she tidied her room before school this morning and emptied the dishwasher without being asked..." Paige commented.
"... She also helped make dinner and offered to take out the garbage!" Marcus added.
I laughed.
..._...
Half an hour after Paige and Marcus had left, we received another pair of visitors.
"I hear that Chicago has a new batch of vigilantes!"
"Vicious they are, too," I replied with a smirk.
"Oh my God, Hank – they are so fucking adorable!" Trudy Platt announced.
"I'm quaking in my boots!" Hank Voight laughed as he gazed down at the seven little squeaking bundles.
"Give 'em time, Hank..."
For now, all the pups were almost completely black, although there were some tan-points on the lower legs, cheeks, eyebrows and under the tail root. We would need to wait for a few months to see how the colour schemes would work out, but both the mother and the father were pure-bred, so we expected the pups to follow suit into the usual Alsatian/German Shepherd colour scheme of black and tan.
I loved them; they were so adorable and they would make awesome vigilantes...