done and also came over, his eyes full of concern and hurt from Joey's comment.
  "Joey... I'm sorry..." Will said, anxious. Joey slowly got up and stared at his dad. He was furious, and looked like he was about to say something, but upon seeing his dad's concern and hurt look he kept his mouth shut.
  "... I'm going to bed..." He grumbled, going to the back part of their place. He hung around a bit to listen to his parents.
  "I need to quit the business soon... Its making me turn more violent than usual."
  "Your pushing yourself to hard Will... And that's trickling on to Joey. You guys should talk more, you two are so close."
  "He probably hates me now Melissa." Will sighed. "I hit him badly..."
  "He's your son, he would never hate you."
  "We'll see tomorrow... I'll take him out to his favorite spot, so we can talk." Will sounded so bad that Joey's ears flattened and he went to bed, thinking about how they could talk tomorrow. He was sure to apologize for calling his dad an old mutt.

*

  Both Doberman's were sitting on a hill the next day, having snagged two ice creams for them to eat. It was kinda awkward, Will's eyes glancing over every now and then at Joey. Both were eating their cones slowly, trying to prevent conversation as long as possible. They both finished simultaneously, and they were quiet. Will decided to kick off the conversation that was inevitable.
  "Joey, I-"
  "You don't need to apologize dad." The younger dog said, looking over at his dad. "I heard you last night... I'm sorry I called you an old mutt, I was just... Just..."
  "Frustrated." Will finished, giving a nod. "I understand. Its just that yesterday was just a hard match and well..." He looked at his scarred paws from months of boxing other dogs.
  Joey understood how it was to be fighting, but he didn't know how bad it was for Will. He had been in a few fights on the street, but his dad had to fight every few days, sometimes weeks. He also glanced at the scars.
  "Maybe I should get into the boxing business, it would help you and the family out..." Joey muttered, but Will shook his head.
  "Nah, its a violent business that you wouldn't want any part in."
  "But I can fight, and we need bones." Joey said.
  "Joey... Please..." Will said, putting a paw around his tough son's shoulder. "Its bad enough for one of us to be in the fighting business, let alone two. Let's just enjoy ourselves, huh?"
  Joey looked at his father's paw a moment, thinking. He then looked over at his face and eyes. His eyes were showing how true his words were. His muzzle twitched like he was going to say something else about fighting, but feeling Will's paw tighten slightly in nervousness on his shoulder he gave a nod.
  "Alright. Though you know that if I get in a fight on the street I'm not gonna stop right?" His dad gave a smile.
  "I wouldn't expect any less from a Slumdog. Especially from one who shares my middle name as his first." Joey elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to lose his wind, then took off.
  "Come on old timer, I'll race ya home!"
  "Your gonna pay for that one Joseph!" His dad called as he ran after him, easily catching up until they were side-by-side.
  "Its Joey!" The younger dog barked back, stub wagging as they both ran.

*

  "... So dad was a really nice guy huh?" Zak asked as Joey finished up. The pure-breed nodded.
  "Yeah. Things were a bit on edge, but we always made up in the end." Joey said, putting a paw around his mate Rosa's shoulder. "Though... I had to move away because of how tense things got."
  "You and dad had a fight huh?"
  "When I was equal to his size I remembered when he hit me the first time and that turned into a boxing match. I hated things being on edge all the time, so I left." Joey glanced at everyone. "Dunno if they are alive or dead, so I just try to deal...
  "It was around that time I moved to New Orleans. It was only a month after that I met up with you Zak." The tan Doberman looked surprised. He hadn't known how soon it was that he had run into his brother after running away from home. Joey gave a grin and chuckled.
  "You should have seen me before. I used to wear sunglasses all the time cause they made me look cool."
  "Why'd you stop?" Charlie asked, tilting his head. Joey glanced over.
  "Let me put it this way. You go in so many fights any pair you use gets busted in a day. You kinda lose the habit." He replied, smiling. He glanced around at everyone, wondering who was going to go next in the history.
  "So... Andrew, Charlie? Either of you wanna go?" The two glanced at each other a moment. Andrew looked at Joey and raised his paw.
  "Guess I'll go next." He said. "I'm sure this'll be interesting to some of you. And some," he cast a glance at Zak, "might not care. But here goes..."

*

  "Andrew, get down from there!" Someone called from below. Andrew looked down from the garbage pile at his sister, who was looking anxiously up at him. He gave a daredevil grin and continued climbing. Rosa glanced around, hoping her mother or father would show up soon and stop him.
  "Andrew, come on!" She barked up at him. He rolled his eyes when his face was turned away from her.
  What's she worried about? I got this far fine. He thought, reaching up to a stuck bottle high above his head, when a sudden bark made him stumble.
  "Andrew Scott Barkin, what are you doing up there?!" A gruff voice said, and when Andrew fell backward he felt a pair of rough, long furred paws grab him. "Sheesh kid, I've told you a thousand times not to climb junk piles." The pup glanced up after shaking his hair out of his eyes. He gave a grin into the rough-'n-tumble brown eyes of his father.
  "But a thousand times I've found it to fun to resist." He replied. His grin faded a bit as Charlie's eyes narrowed. But after a few seconds, the mutt started chuckling.
  "Little scamp." He said, setting his son down on his paws carefully. "Your mother wants us home, otherwise she'll skin my tail." He rolled his eyes then spun a furry finger by his head, the usual sign for 'she's crazy' that he did when she made threats like that. This always made his two pups giggle.
  "You're lucky I don't tell mommy, dad." Rosa said, smiling. Charlie got a mock scared look and put a paw over his thick chest.
  "Are you mad girl? She'd throw me out!" Charlie said, shaking his head so fast his erect ears got flopped backward. "I think you would like to keep dear ol' daddy around." He said as he picked her up and she licked his nose.
  The mix gave his head a small tilt as he grinned.
  "Look at that, calling myself old already." He laughed. He watched as Rosa climbed up his muzzle and sat on his head. As he stood up, Andrew jumped up and scrambled onto his back. He looked at his son and gave a small smile.
  "Gonna get your nap in Andrew?" He asked as the pup blinked dozily at him then nodded. Andrew curled up on his back and started to go to sleep. Though rough, he liked the feel of his father's fur, the fur of a big tough guy who could do anything at all on a whim. Charlie shook his head a bit as he started to walk easy so Rosa wouldn't fall backwards into her brother.
  This was a day to day thing: Andrew going to get himself into trouble, Rosa dragged along, and Charlie keeping him okay. They all had a laugh and never told Sasha, always acting like everything went fine.

*

  After awhile, Andrew got to big for Charlie to carry around and stop. And with this growing-up phase, he took all the pleasures with it. Going to the park to pick up a girl or two, going to the local gambling place, doing whatever he liked. And it was one of those days at the casino that he saw something that amazed him: a Doberman who was a pro at any game he was in charge of. Since the place was local, they had loads of dogs who fumbled with other jobs when they were only good at one. But this guy was good at any game he ran.
  One day, Andrew went up to the poker table and sat with the Doberman, who was alone and getting ready for any dog who was up to the game. The red-eyed dog glanced up at him a moment before going back and shuffling the pack of cards he had. The way he did it, it was like he had practised for years.
  "Can I help you?" The question came so suddenly that Andrew jumped slightly. He looked up from the cards back up to the Doberman's face. The bow-tied, red cap and vested dog was watching him carefully, not paying attention to the cards he continually shuffled. He had a look of curiosity in his eye, studying Andrew.
  "I was just wondering, can I play a few rounds?" Andrew asked with a carefree smile. Joey raised an eyebrow then nodded as more dogs came, and he started passing out cards. They played the game for awile, and soon Andrew had them all beat. He had his father's poker face.
  Joey had kept watching Andrew for any kind of reaction, but no matter what he always kept his face cool and collected. He merely blinked in surprise when