(July 1989)

It will have been just under a year since our erratic adventure with Oliver, our cat friend. Ever since then, we have paid our Vice President a visit every single week. We all know he's in good hands with Jenny; who was happy to see us whenever we stopped by.

Because of the rescue of Jenny, her parents were grateful enough to buy Fagin a decent sized apartment for us to live in. It is on Greenwich Avenue. The building was at least six stories tall. We live on the first floor and the interior was pretty decent to say the least.

The houseboat hasn't been abandoned because we moved into an apartment; we still use it as our second home. I was still sleeping on the floor with my blankets. Einstein sleeps on the couch. Dodger takes the bed that Fagin sleeps on. Rita had made a replica of her old bed that was in the boathouse. Francis has found his own bed where him and Tito sleep.

At this time, Fagin wasn't home. Dodger wasn't home either as he was trying to find us food. Francis was, of course, watching his soap opera that was on the tv. I was laying down on my mess of blankets, trying to sleep.

The sound Francis imitating what the tv is saying was getting under my skin and it was keeping me awake. "Ugh, Francis. Can you watch something else? That is getting annoying." I asked, trying to sleep. "Unlike you, I'm actually doing something worth passing the time." Francis sneered, groaning at me.

"Ugh, I don't sleep all the time. At least I don't imitate everything that your show is saying. You've watched it like a thousand times already. If you love something, you learn to let it go, Frankie." I say in a teasing manner. "Rosa at it again with the comebacks!" Tito cheered, agreeing with my statement.

Just then, Rita walked into the room from the bedroom in this apartment. "What're you two arguing about this time?" she asked, still sounding groggy from waking up. I stand up on my dog paws and stretch my limbs. "It's Francis with those shows again. He was keeping me awake with it." I answer, shaking my black and brown fur.

Rita only sighed at this and shakes her head. "Hey, anyone know when Dodger will be back with the food? I'm starving!" Einstein asked, jumping off of the couch. "Hopefully not for long, I'm getting hungry too. Sleeping won't make it go away." I reply, feeling my stomach growling.

"Did anyone call for a delivery boy, Dodger fans?" Dodger inquired, leaning against the front door after coming through the doggy door that would let us in and out when we needed to. He had hotdogs wrapped around his neck yet again. "Alright, my favorite!" Einstein says with excitement.

"Did you get help from the kid again, Dodger?" I asked, taking a couple of hotdogs. "Well, Rose. It's a funny story. Picture this, 101st Cross Bay Boulevard, the traffic running high, the hot dogs sizzling." Dodger said, "Enter Dodger, being the usual bad puppy. Then, it happens. A big, scary monster with a huge brain that only a scientist can create, spots covering his whole body, fangs dripping with blood. He looked at me straight in the eyes and I thought I was done for. Suddenly…"

Then, a loud crash coming from here in the living room caused all of us to run around screaming. "Gang war! Gang war!" Tito screamed, running under the couch. I take off running into the bedroom with Rita behind me. Not long after, only the sound of rustling was the only sound.

"What was that?" I whisper, my hackles raised from anxiousness. "I don't know… we should see who it is." Rita suggested. With a nod, we go back into the living room.

Something was moving under a clothes pile. I raised my ears all the way as I watched this happen. "What is it?" Rita asked. I slowly walked up to it and sniffed the clothes. A single whimper from the clothes pile made me take a few steps back.

Turns out, it was nothing more than a dalmatian with a light blue collar and brown eyes. I instantly growled at the spotted dog. "Cool it, you guys. It's only a dalmatian." I assure, keeping my teeth bared.

The spotted dog was immediately nervous by my first impression of him. Everyone gasped at this and gathered with me to inspect the spotted dog. He was covered in soil from a pot plant that he had knocked over.

Rita stood beside me with her teeth bared. The dalmatian's cheeks instantly turned red at the sight of her. "How'd you find this apartment?" she asked angrily, baring her teeth some.

The dalmatian didn't reply, he remained silent. "Answer us, knave!" Tito barked. The dalmatian shook from slight fear with his skinny tail between his hind legs. "I… I uh… I followed this dog… Dodger was his name. He's in here somewhere." the dalmatian stuttered.

We all then turned to look at Dodger, who was sitting in the recliner and pretended to watch the tv. Then, it soon dawned on us. This dog had helped him just like how Oliver helped him a while back.

"Relax, spotty." Rita said, giving him a wink. His face flushed even more red when she did that. "Heh. Don't be so worried. You gave the Dodge man some help." I assure, giving the dalmatian a friendly gesture.

I trotted over to Dodger, my tail raised a bit. "Dodge, why do you always have a new face to help you get the food?" Rita wondered. "He followed me and helped me with getting the hotdogs. And as a token of my gratitude, here's a small reward." Dodger says, throwing the dalmatian some of the hotdogs.

The dalmatian wolfed the two hotdogs down like he hadn't eaten for weeks. "Man, you guys should've seen his charisma. He actually catapulted himself into another apartment building to get some pie." Dodger inquired. "Really?" I questioned, my ears raising in curiosity.

"Y-Yeah. I did that. I'm a pretty smart dog when it comes to food. I actually snuck into my master's kitchen and opened the fridge to get a box of Zebra Cakes. I can't begin to describe just how good they were." the dalmatian explained, sounding a bit more confident.

While he was talking, my eyes drifted down to his light blue collar. There was a license dangling on it. "Say… did you run away from your master because no street dog wears a collar like that." I asked, looking at the dalmatian's eyes. The change in his demeanor didn't go unnoticed. He looked saddened by my question.

"Actually… it's a reward for being a smart dog!" the dalmatian answered, obviously lying. "You sure? You look upset." Rita asked. This dog looked bothered by something. The look in his eyes made it profound.

"Okay, I did run away. But it's personal." he said, looking at his paws. He then stands up, shakes the soil off of him, causing a big mess on the floor. He then walked by us and went into the next room where Rita's bed was.

Rita went to follow him and said, "That's my bed." "Is he hiding in there, Rita?" I asked her. "Ugh… yeah. He won't come out." she replied, sounding irritated.

Then, we hear the door unlocking it, opening it carefully. "I'm back, you guys." Fagin called, walking through the door. My tail immediately wagged furiously with excitement.

We all then began to run at Fagin happily. "Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy!" Fagin exclaimed, holding his hands out to us. But Einstein was the first to jump on him, his entire weight knocking Fagin down to the floor.

I start to lick him on the face multiple times as well as nuzzle him playfully with my ears lowered all the way. The others start to love on Fagin as well while he laughs hysterically.

Just then, the sound of a loud sneeze made Fagin perk up. "What was that?" Fagin asked, pushing us off of him so that he could investigate. We follow him into the next room over and we see the dalmatian poke his head out from Rita's bed.

He didn't have his collar on this time. Even though he tried to keep himself hidden from Fagin, he stuck out like a sore thumb. "And who's this then?" Fagin asked curiously. I only saw a dalmatian a couple of times during my life before this one.

The spotted dog was too scared to even walk forward. Dodger and I walk to him as a form of comfort. "Take it easy. He won't hurt you." I say. "Yeah, he's our old man. He's the one who takes care of us." Dodger says, his half-floppy ears raised.

He cowered down a bit since he's never met Fagin before. Fagin came up to him and carefully started to scratch him behind the ears. This made the dalmatian tilt his head a bit to the right.

"I've never seen a dalmatian before. Do you belong to anyone?" Fagin warmly said. The spotted dog didn't know that he was a pet. To him, this dalmatian is just another street dog.

"Hmm, well. Until we find who you belong to, you're welcome to stay here with us." Fagin said with a smile. We smiled at this and I barked happily. "What's your name?" Dodger wondered.

"It's Ryan." the dalmatian answered. "Well then, Ryan. Since you're staying with us, let me introduce you to the gang here. You already know me, Dodger, the streetwise Jack Russel, Miss Rose the lovable German Shepherd/Border Collie mix, Einstein the fun-loving Great Dane, Francis the sophisticated bulldog, the small but tough…" Dodger said before being interrupted by Tito.

"Ignacio Alonzo Julio Federico de Tito!" Tito said in a loud and proud voice. "Wow, that's quite a name you got." Ryan chuckled at Tito's long name. "And last but not least, the elegant Miss Rita." Dodger introduced.

Ryan stared at Rita with that same lovestruck demeanor like Tito when he first met Georgette. "Rita… what a lovely name that matches her beauty." he said. Rita and I looked at each other for a moment. It sounded like he was flirting with her.

Ryan gave Rita a look that made her feel weird. Dodger gives the two of us the same look although we don't mind it. "Are you alright?" Rita asked, noticing how red Ryan was getting.

"Look out, Rita. He's got a fancy towards you." I say, whispering in her ear. She playfully shoved me away. Then, Dodger asked him a question that seemed to bother him a little bit more than his ex-pet life.