Fang's Story

Chapter 1

A large male Golden Retriever, fully grown, splashed through puddles on his way, rain soaking through his pecan-brown, golden pelt. He panted, steak in his jaws. This would have to be enough until he could get more to eat. He wouldn't be the one eating it tonight--but that was just fine by him. Thunder boomed overhead. Lightning lit up the streets of a certain small town.

BOOM!

Lightning crackled again.

CR-R-AA-A-CKKK!

The flash lit the sign above the Golden Retriever:

"Town Park."

The large dog went on running, and didn't stop until he got to a grove of tick, high bushes, the one place humans never went to in the Park. He scooted underneath the bush in the middle, dripping wet.

"I'm here!" he panted. "I'm here. I got the food."

A tiny, tiny yipping and squeaking came from the shadows in front of him. The Golden Retriever's heart melted.

"Is it...have you...?" he gasped out.

"Yes," came the soft, honey-dipped voice of another dog. "Just one."

"One?" The Golden Retriever set the steak down and padded forward.

A low growl emenated. "Not too close, Chestnut, it's only been in the world a few minutes. Back up, please."

Chestnut, the male Golden Retriever, did as he was told, taking two steps backward, trembling all over with joy. "I can barely see."

As if on cue, lightning lit up the bush as it had the Park's sign and the town's streets.

It showed a gorgeous, creamy-yellow female Golden Retriever, an adult. She lay on her side, just barely panting. At her belly squirmed a tiny, helpless wet puppy, golden and beautiful, with long little ears and a brown nose. Its eyes and ears were, of course, closed. But it was perfect to Chestnut.

"It's so beautiful, Lily," Chestnut rumbled, bursting with pride.

"Mmm," Lily smiled. "It's a boy."

"A boy!" Chestnut almost leapt into the air, but contained himself, satisfied with a shiver of joy down his spine, all the way to his rapidly-wagging, thick-furred tail.

"Yes."

"What shall we name it, dear?" Chestnut dared to move closer, nuzzling his mate.

"We'll know."

"When?"

"When the time comes, we'll know the perfect name."

"But when will that be?" Chestnut begged.

"Patience, my love," Lily replied smoothly. "Why, my mother named me when I was about eight months old."

"Eight months!" Chestnut whined. He paused, cocking his head comically. "What did she call you until then?"

Lily stopped, thinking hard. She finally answered simply, "Puppy."

"Puppy?" moaned Chestnut. "Oh, no! Don't tell me we'll--"

"Yes."

"Ohhh!" groaned her mate.

"Relax, dear. It'll have to be a name we both agree on."

"All right." Chestnut stepped forward and nuzzled her. "But I'll be calling him son until we've figured something out."

Lily nuzzled his back. "I wouldn't have any other way."

Chapter 2

(Four Weeks Later...)

Lily opened her eyes slowly. She yawned. Sunshine streamed through the breaks in the leaves of the bush she called her home in the Park. She tried to sit up, but a yap at her side made her freeze.

Her little son, a month old now, teething, was grunting and making tiny, soft growling noises in his sleep. Lily looked around for Chestnut. He left in the morning. It's the afternoon. He should've been back hours ago.

A puppified yawn sounded below her, and she pressed her nose to her pup's cheek. "Good afternoon, sleepy head. We had a good nap, didn't we?"

The Golden Retriever pup lifted his head, already-long ears dangling at the sides. His eyes squinted shut. "It's dark out," he squeaked.

Lily chuckled. "Open your eyes, puppy."

The pup sat up and blinked open his scarlet-red eyes. They popped open wider. "Hey, it's almost lunchtime!" He sprang to his paws and head-butted her side. "Wake up, wake up, Ma, you've slept in!"

The Golden Retriever puppy's little hind paws scuffed up dirt as he moved them, his head buried in his mother's side-fur.

"Puppy--"

"C'mon, get up!"

"--oof, not so hard, dear." Lily rose to her paws, smiling. The puppy tumbled backward, ears tangling in his paws as he struggled to gain his footing.

The pup entered the sunshine-filled daylight outside the bush, breathing in the fresh spring air.

Then he bolted from his mother's side and began sniffing, nose to the ground. He tripped over his own ears, then stumbled to his paws, yapping at a root with a lady bug on it. The lady bug flew off. The pup grinned, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.

He spied a butterfly and immediately pounced into the air, missing it. The Park was teeming with life, with no humans this far into the woods to disturb the Golden Retriever family.

"Don't go too far, dear," Lily called, flopping down in the sun. The pup had his front paws up against a large oak tree, tongue still hanging out of his jaws, showing his teeth to a squirrel.

"Ah, Mom," the puppy complained, trotting back to her. "I never get to do anything fun."

"You'll have to stay by the den," Lily nodded toward their bush, "until your father returns."

"When's Dad coming back, anyways?" The puppy grunted, sitting down with a thud on the grass.

"Soon, sweetheart. He's bringing lunch with him."

Her son looked so utterly bored she decided to liven things up a bit.

"How about a story?"

The pup was instantly ecstatic. "Yeah yeah yeah!"

Lily chuckled. "Settle down, settle down." She let out a tired breath. "Now, where shall we start? What would you like to hear about?"

The puppy was crossing his eyes--the butterfly had landed on his nose. He took a snap at it, jaws flying through the air. He missed. He sneezed.

He licked his chops. "The Tramp!" he squeaked.

Lily's eyes widened. "Goodness, only your father knows how to tell those kinds of stories." She shook her head hopelessly. "Well," she began, "there was the time The Tramp took off with a bunch of stolen goods."

"Goods?" The pup arched a caramel-colored eyebrow, looking puzzled. He blinked his large red eyes.

"Treats."

"How did get 'em?" The puppy lay down next to his mother, his fur pressed against her side.

"He tricked the driver of the truck that was storing the goods. Do you know what was in that wagon?"

The puppy waited.

"Meat."

He panted, nearly drooling.

"A whole wagon full of it," Lily continued with a wink. "The Tramp swooped in out of nowhere. He pretended the driver had run him over, or at least hit him. The driver jumped out of the truck and tried to wake the unconscious scoundrel. The Tramp waited until the last possible second, then he gave the human a bick lick on the cheek. And he ran to the front of the truck, somehow switching off the brakes and making the truck move without the driver controlling it. Then The Tramp leaped into the back of the truck and had a feast, all to himself."

"Wow!" the puppy exclaimed, chasing his tail. "He did all that--really?"

"Really." Lily smiled.

There was a snapping of a twig. Both Golden Retrievers, mother and pup, whipped their heads in that direction.

The puppy began creeping toward the sound, where a large, wide oak tree was, paw by paw. "Grrr-rrrr-rr!" he growled playfully.

A shadow fell across the pup's form. Lily leaped to her feet. "Sweetheart, get back from there!" she barked, hackles raised.

A head poked out from behind the tree.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Chestnut! Where have you been, it's been hours!"

"That long?" Chestnut joked. But he was gasping for breath. "Listen," he muttered. "We don't have much time."

"No time?" Lily struggled to her feet, padding over to him and sniffing. She drew back, glaring at her mate. "You've been out with Cudgeon again!"

Chestnut's eyes rolled around. "Yes, but that's beside the point. Lily, we have to move. Now."

Their son, the long-eared pup, skipped around his father. "Did you bring him?"

"Cudgeon?" Chestnut barely glanced at him, still out of breath. "Not this time. We have to go. Immediately."

The pup sat down, gazing up at Chestnut. "Now?"

Lily's eyes widened. "Why, what's wrong?"

"It's the dogcatchers. They've found us."

"Those humans with the nets?" The puppy broke in, obviously eavesdropping.

Lily shushed him, looking at her mate. "I've scented them in the area when I go for food at night--you know, after the Park is closed--but never this far in! I thought we'd be safe here. You said the woods were too deep into the Park's borders for us to be found!"

"I know what I said," Chestnut growled impatiently, looking to the left and right. "Listen to what I'm saying now. Can't you see, we're all