Lady and the Tramp

chapter 3

That afternoon, Aunt Sarah took Cherry with her to drag Lady to the pet store. Cherry was hoping Aunt Sarah was going to try to return Lady and make up something so Jim and Elizabeth wouldn't worry about her, but Aunt Sarah had a much worse punishment. Aunt Saran placed the cocker spaniel on the desk as the clerk came to see them.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," the clerk greeted, plainly. "What can I do for you?"

"I want a muzzle," Aunt Sarah demanded. "A good, strong muzzle!"

"Lady doesn't need a muzzle!" Cherry protested.

"Silence!" Aunt Sarah hissed at her, then held Lady tight to keep her from running away.

"Yes ma'am," the clerk took out a red muzzle. "Here's our latest combination: leash and muzzle, we'll just slip it on like this, and-" the clerk tried to put the muzzle on Lady, but she kept trying to break away and fight against him. "And, oh, no, no!"

"Lady!" Aunt Sarah snapped.

"Nice doggy," the clerk sounded nervous as Lady kept shaking. "No, no. Don't wiggle, steady, now! Now, now, now, careful you little-"

"I told you, she doesn't need a muzzle!" Cherry cried.

Lady struggled and got out of his grip, but wound up crashing against a parrot cage. Lady looked back to the clerk and Aunt Sarah, then Cherry grabbed the leash handle and ran with Lady to get away. Cherry and Lady weren't sure where they were going, but anywhere was better than with Aunt Sarah.

"Come back!" Aunt Sarah's calls still haunted inside Cherry's mind. "Come back here, I say! Cherry! Lady! Both of you come back here!"

Cherry and Lady kept running together. Cherry looked around anxiously as Lady tried to block out Aunt Sarah. Cherry then screamed as she was roughed up against cars, bicycles, carriages and they were in a dark alley. Cherry knew from watching intense movies that a dark alley was a bad place to hide of all places in a city like this.

Cherry grew even more terrified once Lady collected tin cans on the leash. Cherry saw sleeping alley dogs as they grew into the deeper, darker part of the alley. This seemed more frightening due to her young age and she wished her parents or brother could be there to comfort her. The cans rattled and clanked with each step from Lady, drawing attention to her and her human friend.

Cherry and Lady backed up against the wall, fearing for their lives as the alley dogs woke up and came toward them. They looked very mangly and aggressive. Cherry felt sweat beat down her face and her face turned deathly pale as the dogs came closer, her palms sweated, and her heart pounded through her chest. This was like some horrid nightmare she couldn't wake up from, it looked as though no one could save them now.

That is, until, as if on cue, another alley dog sprung into the scene in front of the more aggressive dogs. The wild dogs tried to come at the courageous mutt, but he showed a lot more bravery and fought back at them. Cherry got on her knees and held Lady as they watched, feeling scared, but safe as the mutt was saving them. The mutt bucked two of the dogs like a goat into trash cans and tossed the other dog into a barrel showing them not to mess with him or the girls.

The mutt growled to make sure they wouldn't come back. It looked as though they wouldn't. Cherry couldn't believe it and wasn't sure. He was an alley dog too, why would he save them? Lady looked a little more calm around the mutt, so Cherry faced a possible conclusion. The mutt was the Tramp that Lady had told her about earlier.

"Hey, Pidge," the mutt said, walking toward Lady strapped down in her muzzle leash prison. The mutt then looked at Cherry. "Are you Jim Dear or Darling, Pidge has told me about?"

Cherry shook her head. "I'm Cherry, Elizabeth's my mom's cousin, I'm dog sitting Lady, but we got into trouble." she explained, showing the trap Lady had been stuck into.

"Oh, you poor kid," Tramp frowned. "Oh, we've gotta get this off. Say Cherry, you got a knife or something sharp?"

Cherry dug into her pockets and took out some lint, a moth, an old piece of candy and a house-key. "No, sorry, Tramp."

"That's okay, how'd you know my name?"

"Lady's told me about you, I can talk to and understand animals."

"That's an interesting story, come on, we have to get Pidge out of this, I've seen this before, I know the very place to get this off." Tramp led them out of the alley. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Cherry asked, following Tramp with Lady's leash handle in her hand.

"You'll see." Tramp assured her.