Grace and Phoebe! Book 5: Phoebe and Cooper!

The Decision

       Cooper decided he looked and sounded stupid.  He had given up his gang life years ago.  He went to a bathroom and stripped himself of his gangster clothes.  He had brought a spare outfit in case this happened.  He had a Cincinnati High t-shirt on, along with the cap, still turned backward because that was just how he pulled off a baseball cap.  He also had a pair of denim jeans, ripped, and with chains.  He borrowed his shades from the original outfit, and he was redressed.  He took a piece of paper out of his back pocket of his jeans.

       It read: Application Form for Cincinnati University.  Cooper had the form completely filled out and was ready to ship it to C.U., but he just couldn't.  He was afraid to tell Phoebe she would have to live alone for 4 years when he was staying at the C.U. campus dorms and would only visit a couple times a year.  He knew that it was his dream to go to college and get a job working as a Cop Dog.  He decided to stop thinking about it and do what he came here to do: Visit Tolf.

       Cooper strutted down the streets, head held high as he made his way to his well-known alley.  He could see that the restaurant that bordered the alley now had bacon on their menu, he was a bit jealous of Tolf.  Still, with his head high, he managed to crawl through the hole he dug under the fence, though Tolf had personalized it to himself, so it wasn't perfectly Cooper-sized.  Cooper padded over to the abandoned dumpster and pounded on it politely, barking, as a way to knock on "the door".

       Cooper heard vicious snarling, something was terribly wrong, Tolf would never act like this.  It has to be another, more dangerous creature that took over the alley, yes, Tolf is fine, he probably just found another alley to live in, he told himself.  All of a sudden, the snarling stopped, and a carved-out peephole was opened by whatever was inside the dumpster.  Yellow eyes reflected from inside the dark dumpster.  They flashed with rage and aggression, but then the mood lifted and the eyes brightened with realization.

       "Cooper, is that you?" said a voice that was so clearly Tolf's from the dumpster.  "It is you!  It really is you!" he exclaimed.  "Come on in, long time no see!"  the dumpster that was once locked was now opened completely, and Cooper was invited inside.  

       Cooper walked into the dumpster and noticed that nothing had changed inside the dumpster except for Tolf's fur on the cushion, and a bowl filled with water.