welcome to the fifth chapter of my version of '102 Dalmatians'. this fifth chapter, 'Raymond Millerson and His Dog Shelter', is a whopping total of three-thousand-one-hundred-sixty-five words worth of a complete storyline. of course, the word count for the fifth chapter's storyline exclude this explanatory headnote, right here, the (mandatory) disclaimer that makes up the paragraph following it, and all the comments from yours truly disguised as author's notes marked by the same kind of line after the (mandatory) disclaimer that makes up the paragraph following this headnote. OK, enough of my jawing about! time for the (obligatory) disclaimer.

disclamation: I don't own '102 Dalmatians' in any way, shape, or form. I mean, I own it on DVD, but I was only seven when it first appeared in theaters, at all. so, it wouldn't even be natural for me to have owned '102 Dalmatians', at all. I also don't own either of the '101 Dalmatians' movies. I was but two or three years old when the live action remake came out, and when the original animated classic of '101 Dalmatians' came to theaters, I didn't even exist, yet. all these films are owned by the Walt Disney Movie Productions Company and by Dodie Smith.

Meanwhile at Brad's own workplace at the dog shelter, it had been just another day in 'Give a Dog Another Chance at a Home'. Raymond Millerson, the owner/proprietor/head of the dog shelter, itself, had been playing a game of tug-o-war with one of the dogs, Slobberton, an American bull dog mix. It had always been a ton of fun when dealing with a lot of the stressful pressure of being the owner of a charity in an otherwise profit-based world.

Of course, there had been a ton of barking from the other dogs all around Raymond and Slobberton, particularly that day. Although, it did always manage to get pretty nasty for poor Raymond whenever Spixington, the blue spix macaw at his shelter who thought he was a dog, got drill sergeant competitive about dogs vs. humans at tug-o-war, even if in reality, he was neither one.

Spixington: Oh, for pity's sake, are you two at it, again? Raymond, how many times do I have to tell you that it's pointless for you humans to play tug-o-war against us dogs before you finally get the message?

Raymond was even on all fours as he tried to win against Slobberton. While on his perch, however, Spixington still had the nerve to show favoritism towards Slobberton and his win against Raymond in tug-o-war. From another doghouse, Bitsy, a Yorkshire-Boston-terrier-mix, cheered for her friend, Slobberton, to win at tug-o-war in her own language.

Bitsy: Come on, Slobberton. Show this human what you're made of.

Another doghouse that held a tangled, matted up Italian greyhound with quite a messily maintained coat of fur, Diggit, also cheered his friend, Slobberton, on in his own tongue.

Diggit: You can win this, Slobberton. Just do what you can do best.

Back from atop his own perch, Spixington also cheered Slobberton on. As a blue spix macaw, however, everyone could understand what he had to say to Slobberton about winning tug-o-war against Raymond.

Spixington: Come on, Slobberton! Hit him with both barrels!

That was just what Slobberton did as he hit Raymond with his drool. Spixington also got excited at the thought of a dog even winning against Raymond.

Spixington (continued): Yes! You've got it! He's ours! He's down! He's_

Just as Spixington made such observations abundantly clear to Slobberton about Raymond, the blond in question started to get back up on his real legs.

Spixington (continued): He's getting up!

Of course, the other dogs were concerned by then about the possibility that Raymond might have been able to win the tug-o-war.

Bitsy: Oh no, Spixington. This is terrible.

Diggit: What do we do? What can we do to help Slobberton win this match?

Spixington understood good and well what the two had gotten at with their concern. Of course, the blue spix macaw who thought he was a dog had a plan to help their friend, Slobberton, beat Raymond, even if it were technically an unfair win.

Spixington: Well, I always say that if you can't stand the heat, cheat!

Of course, Bitsy and Diggit did not have much qualms against cheating, even if it were wrong and unfit for dogs. But then again, they were strays and no one really cared for either of them.

Spixington (continued): Hurry, boys! Get in there!

Of course, Bitsy always had a qualm or two with being called a boy by Spixington when she was very clearly a girl. There was a more pressing matter to tend to at the time in helping her friend, Slobberton, win against Raymond. So Bitsy decided to put Spixington once again called her a boy on hold, for the time having been.

Spixington (continued): All right, Bitsy! Sock it to him, girl!

Of course, Bitsy knew exactly what Spixington had meant for her to have done to Raymond. She was also glad that Spixington corrected his mistake of having called her a boy earlier.

Bitsy: Gladly.

She took a big old bite from Raymond's sock and chewed on it like a dog with extra teeth.

Spixington: Can you dig it, Diggit?

Of course, Diggit knew what Spixington meant when the blue spix macaw said what he said to the Italian greyhound. He dug up a whole mess of the coal lumps from their collection to keep warm in the snowiest part of winter. It was so that Raymond would have slipped on them while trying to keep his balance in tact while playing what was supposed to have been a friendly game of tug-o-war with Slobberton. Of course since Spixington was clearly a macaw of foul play, the blue spix macaw who thought he was a dog did not care much for fairness.

Just then, the only other volunteer for his dog shelter, Brad, walked into the place and watched the whole display pan out right in front of him. Poor Raymond was headed for a fall as soon as he got what Spixington and the dogs had in mind for Slobberton to win against him.

Spixington (continued): Let's get ready to tumble!

Raymond then went tumbling down, all right, directly into a trap behind him in the shape of a cat's head. Bitsy, Slobberton, Diggit and all the other dogs even started taunting poor Raymond for his suckered loss at their collective paws once again.

Raymond Millerson: Hey! Hey! That's not fair!

Of course, Spixington, ever the user of Raymond's closet gullibility towards all the dogs at his shelter, had his own argument against what Raymond, himself, had deemed as unfair.

Spixington: Yes, it is! All's fair in tug-o-war!

A/N: isn't that supposed to be 'all's fair in love and war.'?

As Raymond got Slobberton's spit off of his face and made his way out of the cat's head trap, or at least his head, he was prepared to finally show the dogs some discipline with his words.

Raymond Millerson: I took all you misfits in out of the goodness of my heart, and this is how you repay me?

Of course upon having heard what Raymond had to say about them all, the dogs felt deep remorse for what they had all done to the Raymond, the blond owner of the dog shelter which they still called their home. The very same Raymond who had even given them another chance at a home to have begun with. Slobberton was the first to speak up about their horrid mistake in what was supposed to have been a friendly game between him and Raymond in his own tongue first.

Slobberton: Gosh, I didn't mean to make that much of a spectacle out of our tug-o-war game. I just wanted everyone to, you know, see me win.

Bitsy spoke up about their mistake to the others in her own language after Slobberton.

Bitsy: We really should've considered Raymond's feelings about the game as much as our own. It's really no wonder that we can't get even one other human besides him or Brad to care even a little about even just one of us. I guess that we really do need to clean up our acts more than we've put in about it.

Finally, it was Diggit's turn to speak in his own tongue about the way that they had always treated Raymond when it came to tug-o-war against Slobberton.

Diggit: I blame meself and the rest of us for always following Spixington's drill sergeant, win-at-all-costs kind of orders. For a tropical bird, he sure acts a lot more like an insane army corporal.

Of course, the conversation between Bitsy, Slobberton and Diggit did not really go unheard by a certain blue spix macaw who was under the impression, for one reason or another, that he was a dog instead. If they had only just regret the need to win at all costs or called the blue spix macaw in question an army corporal wannabe, it would have been enough for him. It was being called a bird that had really driven Spixington over the edge, even if that was what he was in reality.

Spixington: Might I ask what is so important that you have to whisper amongst yourselves about it, my fellow dogs?!

Then, they all heard a voice coming out from near the front door of their own dog shelter.

Voice: That's pathetic, Ray!

It was then that everyone finally noticed that Brad had made it back to the shelter, with a bag of dog food in his hand.

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone: How many times are ya gonna fall for that one?

On his own way over to the giant cat head trap after he had finished with his question to his boss and friend, Brad actually managed to have pulled the giant fake cat head up and spring Raymond from the trap into which Spixington and the dogs had worked as a team to place him.

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone (continued): I managed to get another week out of my probation officer, boss. Think she quite fancies me.

A/N: yeah, you wish, dude!

Then, Brad started to pull apart at the bad of dog food as Spixington spoke about getting food from the pet store out of the midnight-black-haired man.

A/N: ye-ah! guess I should've told you all what color Brad's hair even was in the human character introduction, huh?

Spixington: Come on, boys. It's grub time.

A/N: if only Spixington knew that such food would not be as appealing to him as he wants it to be.

Of course, all the dogs took Brad having brought them all their kind of food into the shelter as their collective cue to claim their dog food and eat it, too.

A/N: you see what I did there as a pun for the phrase 'have your cake and eat it, too.'? that's how professionals work these days.

They all went for their dog food bowls and started to line up to claim their collective meals. Of course, Ray had a sliver of curiosity towards just where Brad happened upon the dog food he brought back to everyone just for the dogs in the shelter.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: Where'd you get that dog food?

Then, Ray just barely managed to get a little suspicious about his own question to Brad.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson (continued): You didn't pinch it, did you?

It was something which Brad had done in the past when at the pet store, since their dog shelter was not a very successful one. Nevertheless, Brad confessed that he had actually purchased the dog food he brought back to the shelter for the dogs.

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone: No. I'm done with all that.

Then, the dogs all got a first come, first serve type of hand-out from both Brad and Ray as the two handed the dogs their food. As they served all the dogs their food, Brad and Ray started to get closer and closer to the point of which they would have had to feed the stubbornly delusional blue spix macaw, Spixington, the dog food he always tried his hardest to even savor and enjoy. The first dog amongst the crowd who got his dog food was a matted, white rat terrier with blotches of sandy tan in his coat of fur.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: There ya go!

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone: Fill your belly.

Then, came a white border collie with giant splotches of black in her coat pattern and a few friendly black spots on her muzzle.

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone (continued): Good girl.

Then came a golden labrador retriever with a little golden retriever blood in his dog veins.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: Atta boy!

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone: OK, who's next?

The next one was a matted sheep dog who looked as though he would have made the perfect dog for a reggae band's lead singer.

A/N: someone like Bob Marley, if you catch my drift.

After the rasta-haired sheep dog was none other than Slobberton, himself. Of course, it was not as though Slobberton was a very popular dog with the potential owners who would have come to the place in the first place. But he still always tried to get chosen by humans, even with his drooling problem. He even had a regular doggy bowl that really needed to have a handle or something to help him hold its contents in place. Just as it had always happened before then, however, Slobberton's dog food came pouring back out of his doggy bowl the minute he had even tried to pick his dog dish up from where he had set it onto the floor for the dispensing of dog food. Then, came the stubbornly deluded blue spix macaw, himself, Spixington.

Spixington: Fill 'er up, Ray. I'm a very hungry dog.

Of course, Brad and Ray knew and had known ever since he first came to them that Spixington was actually a blue spix macaw and not a dog as the macaw in question thought himself to have been all that time. The two of them knew that Spixington would not find the dog food as appealing as the others had and he had wanted. But they catered to his wishes anyway, but not without a condition from Ray.

Spixington: Thank you. Hey, hey! Oi, come back with my grub!

As Ray brought Spixington's dog food up to his house, the blond in question spoke to the surprisingly and stubbornly delusional blue spix macaw about his condition for feeding him the dog food he never seemed to like very much anyway.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: Come on. Come on, Spixington. Today's the day, Spixington. Fly up to your house, and then I'll feed you. Come on, Spixington. Fly! You can do it!

But the stubbornly deluded blue spix macaw just continued with his own personal belief that he was a dog.

Spixington: No, I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times; we dogs can't fly!

Then to illustrate his deluded, false, and transparently pointless point even further, Spixington actually barked twice in a row as he even attempted, or rather pretended to attempt, to fly.

Spixington (continued): See?! Now, stand aside, feather brain.

Of course, Ray already knew the real feather brain was a certain blue spix macaw who was under the stubbornly deluded impression that he was a dog, for one reason or another. Obviously, however, Ray had a much more pressing thing to tell the rest of the dogs than his concerns about what would have happened to Spixington if he tried to chase a cat.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: Save some for tomorrow. I don't know where our next meal's coming from.

That was when Brad gave some advice to his own employer, Ray.

Bradley 'Brad' Stevenson Cordileone: Me mum always said, 'When the heart hopes, hope comes knocking.'.

Of course, Ray was just confused about what Brad's mother had apparently told him.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: 'Eart 'opes?

Then, there came a knocking on the shelter's front door seemingly out of nowhere.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson (continued): Hope comes knocking.

That was around when Raymond went to get the door for whomever the hope for which he had waited was. He opened the front door, only to find his landlord, Mr. Derek Hansen, knocking on his front door. He was not even knocking, technically. The landlord was actually hammering an eviction notice on the front door. Ray even gasped as Derek almost placed his hammer to his own tenant's poor face. Then, poor Ray looked at the sign on his front door.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson (continued): What? Evicted?! But you said_

Then, Ray was interrupted by Derek Hansen, his own landlord.

Derek Hansen: You shouldn't believe what people say. I don't.

Then, Mr. Hansen started rummaging to put his hammer back in his briefcase just in time to get something of an argument from Ray.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: But you can't turn all these dogs loose in the city. Give us another chance.

It was Ray's classic 'give-me-another-chance-to-turn-things-around' argument against his and the dogs' eviction. Of course, it was not as though Mr. Hansen was willing to give them that 'extra chance' for which Ray had begged.

Derek Hansen: I'm not the one running a charity here. Maybe you can get away with this_

That was when Mr. Hansen suddenly heard something from just at his feet. It was Spixington, growling at the landlord like the dog said blue spix macaw stubbornly thought he was. Mr. Hansen just laughed at Spixington for the blue spix macaw's canid behavior, though.

Of course, the blue spix macaw who stubbornly thought he was a dog had only been trying to stand up for the one who had taken him and his pals in and who he and his pals had admittingly cheated against in tug-o-war. Spixington may have been a 'win-at-all-costs' kind of blue spix macaw who still thought he was a dog, but then and there was the chance for Spixington to have finally proved that he was not the heartless, 'win-at-all-costs' drill sergeant he appeared to have been during the tug-o-war match between both of his friends, Ray and Slobberton.

Granted it was supposed to have been a friendly competition that Spixington messed up when he had to turn it into a 'win-at-all-costs' death match by having Bitsy and Diggit help Slobberton cheat. At least, by then, however, Spixington was planning to do the right thing and help out the one who took even a drill sergeant competition freak like him in out of the goodness of Ray's heart. It had been time to pay back that debt by then, anyway.

Spixington bit at the pants' leg of Mr. Hansen's new slacks, or rather dress trousers. At first, Mr. Hansen thought it hilarious for a blue spix macaw to have been barking at him like a dog. Apparently after that much, however, Spixington proved that unlike a real dog, a macaw's bite was actually worse than its bark instead of the other way around. After biting at the landlord's slacks' leg from very near his socks, Spixington started to claw at Mr. Hansen's shoes as though he were a cat and the shoes were his scratching toy. Then, Mr. Hansen started speaking to Ray again… that time, giving the poor blond man his final warning.

Derek Hansen (continued): You and your mangy pack are outta here tomorrow!

Then on his was out the door and away from the attack macaw, as Mr. Hansen had liked to have termed Spixington, the landlord crashed into something or other.

Derek Hansen (continued): And you'd better not leave any of this junk about!

Then upon having made it all the way to the lowest viewing window at 'Give a Dog Another Chance at a Home', Spixington, himself, started yelling back at Mr. Hansen as the landlord made his own way out of the junkyard obstacle course that was the dog shelter's front yard.

Spixington: Next time I'll bite your bottom, ya smelly little git!

Of course, Ray understood perfectly well that Spixington had only wanted to help him. But Ray, himself, had been trying to go with a calm and peaceful agreement for another chance to collect his rent money for Mr. Hansen. He pounded his fist against the inner side of the front door, having failed to peacefully get an agreement from Mr. Hansen for more time to collect the shelter's rent money.

All of the dogs and Brad looked at Ray as though they had hoped for him to have the solution to their monetary problems with the landlord. Naturally, Ray did not know what to have done about Mr. Hansen's eviction notice. It was not as though he could have let Brad and the dogs know that he did not know what to do about the eviction notice from the landlord.

Raymond 'Ray' Millerson: Don't worry. Everything'll be all right.

The dogs all took that as their cue to have continued eating their dog food. Brad, however, knew better, obviously. He knew that just from the expression decorating his face that Ray knew he needed to fear the worst with the eviction notice over their heads. Brad just smiled anyway, though.