of green broken beer bottles, banana peels, newspaper bit, and a rag. A small rag that was a bit damp. It looked fairly clean so I snatched it and brought it back to the shelter, placing it where I had slept. I hurried back to the alley and searched through another trash can. Once again, I dunked my head in the waste bin to find scraps of turkey, ham and veal! I carried them back to the shelter, as my mouth watered. I tried not eating them but, I accidently gulped one. I then placed two of the skins in front of Ryan and two in front of Sarge, and one for me, because I had eaten one already. 

“That should be enough. I contributed already, they should get more food if they’re still hungry.” I said to myself as I started to lie down, and hopefully fall asleep. But the hunger kept me awake. My eyes were wide open, never closing, not once. I tried to cope, but I couldn’t. I waited and waited to fall asleep, I didn’t. The minutes passed and then sun started its arrival. 

Chapter 2: Breakfast at Tony’s

As Sarge stared to slowly awake, I shut my eyes tight. He walked over to me, slowly, ignoring the meat skin I left for him.

“Y’didn’t fall asleep last night, I can tell, Kali.” He said to me, noticing the wrinkly bags under my eyes.

I opened me eyes and looked at him.

“No. The hunger kept me awake. All I could find were scraps of meat and a small rag.” I responded, sleepily.

Sarge turned back to where he slept, and examined the skin.

“Oh, that’s why the skins were there. Thanks.” Sarge said, and then smiled at me. 

“No problem.” I replied. I paused for about a moment or two then realized something. 

“Sarge! It’s Monday! The shops are opened! I’ll go down to Tony’s and- wait, we’ll all go to Tony’s! We’ll get more food! Yes! Sarge, go awake Ryan and we’ll head off!” I exclaimed.

“Right away!” Sarge answered as he walked over to Ryan.

“Hey Biscuit Fur, get up we’re heading to Tony’s for breakfast.” Sarge said to Ryan. 

Immediately, Ryan awoke and leaped to his four paws.

“Tony’s?! Oh boy! Let’s go!” Ryan yipped.

“C’mon guys!” I said as I headed out of our “tent”. 

Ryan started to bolt, far ahead of me.

“Hey Speedy slow down. Y’don’t even know where Tony’s is!” I said to him. He paused and turned at me.

“Yeah, you’re right, I just DESPERATELY want food!” he barked.

“Calm down m’kay? We’ll be there any sec-“ I smelt an aroma of something, Italian. My mouth watered, Ryan and Sarge did the same, drool trickled down Ryan’s paws.

It was spaghetti and meatballs and perhaps some pizza! I started to sprint faster than I ever had before, but I stopped before I entered Tony’s. 

“Okay guys if we go in all at once, we will probably get more food. Now, c’mon.” I whispered to Ryan and Sarge. I walked through a small old passage way Tramp used to lead me through. I sat down at the jade colored door. I pawed at it and barked.

Tony looked down at me. At once, he recognized my furry mutt face.

“Joe! It’s the poochy girl!” Tony called.

Joe rushed over to the olive green door.

“It IS the poochy girl! And she brought some friends! What should I get them?” Joe asked his boss.

“Get bones, and a lot of ‘em. Get some plates and give them to the pooches..” answered Tony.

“Okay Tony, you the boss.” Joe said as he grabbed a few silver dishes full of bones. He handed them to Tony who placed them on the asphalt ground. 

At once, I started to gnaw on one, taking my time, biting it at a moderate pace, while Ryan stuffed all of his bones in his mouth, drooling on all of them. 

“Ryan, c’mon slow down, stop being a pig.” I said to him.

Ryan spit out two of his bones, and continued drooling on one bone.

Sarge poked me with one of his bones. I turned to him. He had his bone in his mouth, partially sticking out of his mouth, resembling a large cigar. I chuckled a bit, and made my bone look identical, the bone half way out my mouth. Sarge smirked, and continued gnawing his bone. 

“Guys, at the most, only eat two, save one for later incase we can’t find food another time.” I told Ryan and Sarge. They nodded at me.

“Good idea.” Ryan said.

I lay down, put the bottom of the bone between my paws and started to bite at the top of it. 

Ryan had already finished two of his bones and impatiently waited for Sarge and I to finish up our bones.

“Guys c’mon hurry up!” Ryan tbarked.

“Ryan, it’s not a race, we got lots of time to spare. We’ll be done in about five minutes or so.” I responded as I finished my first bone.

Sarge had just finished eating his second bone. 

“C’mon guys, take your bones and let’s go back to our ‘tent’.” I said to Sarge and Ryan. We collected our bones, and proceeded to our shelter. 

“What should we do?” Ryan said, a bit bored out of his mind, even though we just got back to our home and were just preoccupied when we were eating our bones and walking here.

“We could go to the park.” Sarge suggested. 

“Guys, we need to think ahead of time, what should we get for lunch and supper?” I asked. 

“Maybe we could go on a walk around a neighborhood and collect small feasts from door to door.” Ryan said. 

“We’ll do that for dinner.” I informed Ryan. He nodded his head in agreement. 

“Can we go to the park now?” Ryan asked.

“Alright, fine.” I responded as we headed out of the “cave”, making our way to the park. I checked both ways for tnraffic, amaking sure the dog catcher wasn’t around. I quickly crossed the road with Ryan and Sarge following me, ljike small ducks, cars cautioned, traffic stopping immediately.

       Chapter 3: Muffin 

We made our way to Veteran’s Park and walked across a small bridge. Ryan noticed a lake  and he decided to wade in it. He rolled around in it, getting his auburn colored fur soaked. 

“Hey Ryan, how’s the water?” Kali asked her friend.

“I can’t hear you! There’s water in my ears!” Ryan howled as he paddled through out the lake. He sat up and pawed at his ears and water was released.

“Can you hear me now?” I barked loudly.

“Yep!” he answered.

“How’s the water Shaggy Ears?” I asked.

“A little cold but if you get some sun, it gets warmer.” He responded.

Sarge was busy looking at something else, perhaps gazing upon the trees or staring at squirrels, looking at the pathways in they were going, maybe food was there.

Sneakily, I pushed Sarge in the water. He made a massive splash and it drenched him, and me. He growled at me and I just chuckled, and leaped in the water, getting him even more wet. Sarge got out of the lake, and shook off the water. He sat down underneath an oak tree and enjoyed the shade. He realized the sun would get him dry so he moved near a bench, the golden sun shined on his dark back and he was scorching. He then decided to go back underneath the oak tree were he would be at a fairly medium temperature. 

Suddenly, my nose caught a familiar aroma. And surprisingly it wasn’t food. I got out of the lake, shook the water off and kept my nose close to the ground.

“What’re you doing?” Ryan asked. 

“I smell something, I’m tracking down the scent.” I answered, not looking at him, my nose still on the ground.

“What is it? Food?” He questioned.

“I don’t think so, Ryan. It smells like a home and soap.” I responded.

“You look like a bloodhound trying to track down a criminal.” Sarge teased. I looked up at him.

“That’s because I AM part bloodhound!” I barked. I put my nose back to the ground and continued tracking down this familiar scent.

Ryan continued splashing around in the water while I tracked down the scent. 

I soon bumped into a small bichon, a house dog, with a maroon colored collar and white, fluffy fur. He had a white tuft of fur on the top of his head and his ears and tail were shaggy, just like mine.

“Hiya, whatcha doing?” he asked.

“I smell something, and it’s not food this time.” I told him, chuckling a bit.

“What does it smell like?” he asked.

“It smells like a house and soap.” I told him.

“Maybe it’s me. I just had a bath and I’m a house dog.” He explained.

I thought about what he had said so I sniffed his coat a few times. The scent seemed familiar, very familiar.

“M-muffin? Is that you?” I asked the bichon.

“Yep, do I know you?” he responded.

“Yeah! Don’t’cha remember? It’s me, Kali! We knew each other as pups! Don’t’cha remember Sarge and Ryan?” I said trying to refresh his memory.

“Oh yeah! We met when you were walking the streets with Sarge and Ryan! You guys were sneaking up behind a meat stand!” Muffin said, happy that he’d remember old friends. “Do you remember Fatshack and Chloe?” 

“I remember meeting them a few times.” I responded.

“Fatshack is being so