The Adventures of Peter Gray chapter 8: Alleyway Chase
Chapter 8 Alleyway Chase Many fursons who visited New York forget how dangerous the city was until they got their pockets picked. There had been days when I'd seen rich gents from small towns come and leave their money hanging out like fine tails in expensive trousers. I even remember this one time in my early days that a naïve gentlewolf no more than twenty went down Baker Street and walked out with nothing more than a bruise on his left eye. "Even if ya ain't a tourist, James," I spoke while walking beside him. "Never carry any coin or bills in yer shirt pocket," me paws pointed to me pants and I patted me right leg, "just keep it close enough so that a thief won't grabs it." James passed around a taller feline and looked confused. "But aren't you a thief as well, Peter?" he asked with a raised eyebrow (I hated when he did that). I perked me ears and shook me frowning muzzle. "I only do it when me back is breaking or I starve. Period." I said to him. For being me age, James was a really smart boy with no noggin'. I was surprised he didn't realize this the moment he came here from Buffalo. "Okay, okay then." James held his hands up, then gave a question even a deaf dog could tell was sarcastic. "So what's next, my Teacher? You gonna teach me how to steal from an elderly woman's purse? Tell me how to sleep on a pipe? Or both?" I chuckled and flicked me tail at James' legs. "Nonsense!" I said. "I taught ya all that last week, James." I pointed me finger in the air and turned. "Next, I'm gonna teach ya how to break into a mansion, and steal enough cash to buy the city!" Me through erupted in short laughter and I turned another corner with him toward Lance's door. "I told you I'm fine, Mom!" But the moment me paw touched the door knob, it opened like a curse and Lancie fell on top of me and we tumbled down like Jack and Jill on filthy and dry pavement. "Ow!" "Oh no!" "Me tail! Watch it!" Me ears caught someone carefully tumbling after us down the steps. "Oh honey, you alright there? Lord in heaven, you're dirty now!" Me throat growled softly, so that she wouldn't hear me. "I am not dirty..." I opened me eyes to see Mrs. Turner wiping dirt off of Lance's clothes. And James casually pulled me to me footpaws and asked me if I was alright. "Of course I'm alright," I chuckled lightheartedly, me tail still sore from the fall. I turned to the raccoon and wondered, "but why the 'ell were ya running outta there like a convict?" "Watch your language, boy," Lance's mother whispered while tying his shirt. "The Lord may damn you to Hell for saying such foul language-Lance stop moving please-for your age. And you need to learn respect for whom you're talking to, boy." Tail twitching, I mumbled, "I'm not yer 'boy', woman..." Her eyes glared at me, and I stumbled outta me mouth, "I mean oh boy aren't ya a splendid woman in God's Grace, Mrs. Turner?" I nervously grinned and curled me tail against me left leg, and she went back to tying Lance's shoes with her bushy tail and twitching ears. "Honestly, I don't know why you play with this boy, but please," she tightened the laces with a grunt, "stay out of trouble, and for Heaven's sake, don't let this boy lead you into sin. I'm too busy to choose your friends right now..." Mrs. Turner walked upright and quickly kissed Lance's cheek and patted the raccoon's headfur. "Bless you, pookie..." She turned to the house, and tightening her dirty clothes, closed the door. Lance sighed and turned to James' confused look. "Mum's now a laundry maid, and is too busy to have me read Scripture and make better friends," he confessed. " The human boy in front of me and Lancie pointed to the drying clothes hung from a rope in between the tenant building. "She's doing all of that, Lance?" he asked in wonder. "All of that and she still has time to be your mother?" "One of the laundry maids, James," Lance corrected. "One of them." "Oi, like I said James," I brushed me tail and got most of the dirt offa it, "you've been here for only a few months and ya still don't know New York yet." Laundry maids have been know to make good money in poor neighborhoods for so much work. They were sometimes very dedicated to doing everyone's laundry; I even remember stealing some clothes back in me early days and some of the women chased me with knives and pitchforks for the clothes back. It was probably the only time women ever chased after me. "So what do ya wanna do for the next couple hours?" Lance asked me and James with curiosity in his tail. "Run around a bit? Play 'kick-the-can'?" Lance flicked his tail and peered to me with a wry grin. "Maybe a can of olives, Peter?" I folded me ears but looked to the raccoon with a grin of me own. "Ya sure ya wanna go down that route 'pookie'?" I chuckled, putting me paws in me pockets. "I thought so..." James chuckled with a hand over his mouth and whispered to Lance, "'Pookie'? Really?" Lance's tail curled a bit and I heard Lance's frown turn heavy. "Hey! You both swear not to tell or I'll beat the fur off of you," he said in an attempted voice. When a couple of gents passed by us and a carriage rolled down, he spoke openly, "It's a miracle my mum hasn't called me that in public." The three of us laughed while arriving to an intersection of the street, which was bustling with carriages and fursons talking chirpy and bright like birds in a tree. Some talked in English, Brooklyn, and other languages so thick and weird it made me almost wanna know how languages worked.
I walked in front while Lancie strolled on me right and James on me left, and I made sure not to tickle James' stubby human nose, since the last time he sneezed behind me, I jumped as high as Madam Liberty and had to pick me tail of snot and dirt after falling on me bottom. 'Allergies' he called them. Me thoughts turned to James and how he was doing in the months since he came to Manhattan. From what me ears had gathered from Lance and his twin brothers (I had to pay each two pennies to even lemme talk to them. Dang twins), James was becoming a bit more of a social flower and is making friends while dealing with a coyote we all knew and loved named Gavin Flint. James kept telling me that the 'yote called him 'pinkie' and 'mutt', and once got tripped by the brat. Gavin obviously loved to show himself in the school yard, and I knew him to be more spoiled and mean than even the teacher's pet of the Presser Lesser herself. Plenty of times I'd seen Gavin and his friends treat cubs and kits like dirt in and outta school, including me. He calls me 'mutt' too, 'sissy', and 'poor' like he owns New York City, I thought bitterly at the memories. If he eva does anything to me friends, I'll- "Stop it, Gavin! Leave me alone!" a young voice came to me ears not far from here. Lance beside me stopped and looked to me with perked ears. He heard it too. "Stop it! Give it back!" Speak of the devil... We hurried around a corner and saw small fursons bunched in a corner of the street, coincidentally empty with smaller cubs far away ignoring the scene. I heard a small gasp behind me that came from James and I followed his gaze to see a familiar coyote I knew and loved like an old sock. And that same 'yote was holding a toy figurine over his ears and pushing a fox kit no more than seven to the muddy street, his laugh echoing into me ears. "Give it back, please! It cost me so many cents!" the kit squealed desperately while Gavin's goons, an unnamed pair of tan coyotes with one that owned darker fur, teased and pulled at his tail. "Stop it! Please Gavin! You're so mean!" "Peter," Lance whispered beside me, "don't even think about it..." Without thinking, I casually walked toward them with me black cap close to me muzzle and did me best to not look familiar to them. Me paws trembled like an earthquake and my tail bristled at the kit's cries, reminding me of the time Sister Susan demeaned me friends at the orphanage and screamed like a banshee. And I saw that banshee in Gavin. "Peter, you dumb..." "Hey Gavie!" I forced a smile and stopped several feet away from the coyote's confused look. I waved to him and pretended to wag me tail. "I hope you're having a nice day today?" I saw Gavin stop, and his tail stiffen as he looked at m with a grin. "Well well Ben and Carl. If it isn't the Mutt of Filthy Five Points." He must've been referring to his goons that stopped teasing the crying kit. When I took some steps forward, the coyote flinched. "Keep away from me, Gray. You've got fleas!" No I don't! I wanted to scream at him. However, I just kept it to meself and smiled with perked ears, walking beside him. "Don't worry, Gavin. I just need to get past you." While Gavin laughed and continued, I moved me footpaws and tripped him down on his tail, grabbing the thing from his paws before it smashed at the pavement. The coyote's friends stood stunned as Gavin yelped in pain at him landing on his tail, and I quickly gave the toy to the fox kit and whispered to him, "Hurry on home, kid. Go!" Smiling brightly in joy, the young kit nodded to me and ran off, soon followed by a growling that came from behind me. Smiling nervously, I turned to see Gavin rubbing his tail sorely and giving me the evil eye. "You're dead, mutt!" Narrowly avoiding one of his friend's attempts to grab me ears, I bolted toward an equally stunned James and Lance and grabbed them by the paws, running with me. "W-Wait, why do we have to run w-with you?!" Me ears caught a loud 'pinkie' comment and I answered with, "That's why!" I heard footpaws running behind us, and I giggled out, "Run fer it!" "Come back here, Peter! You too pinkie!" We shot down the street and laughed in gasps while running for our lives. I could hear the shuffling of Gavin and his friends after us. The three of us dove into a crowd of peds and I did me best to pardon them. "Excuse me! Pardon me! Oof! Sorry ma'am!" The street was busy with carriages and workers jogging to work and women out to get the evening's food. "Hey!" I brushed against a young she-wolf in rags. I swiped past a worker, and he growled. "Watchit, kid!" "Peter!" I jumped outta the crowd, and turned to me right to see James and Lance running to me. And three fursons running after them. I waved with a slight growl in me voice. "Dis way! Hurry!" I pointed to a familiar alley ad recognized it by the entrance. "Ugh!" And the smell. "Peter! Tell me ya know where this goes!" Lance asked in between breaths. I grabbed both his and James' hand before pulling them into the alley. I gasped out, "Henry Street!" I threw us in the alley, past raccoons and other musky fursons buried in ragged clothes, women showing off their 'goods', gents trading away things, and I even once spotted a fox in a long-coat trading some stolen necklaces and rich gent's wallets and canes. "Watch out!" I swiped past a vixen with a dotted dress on, and I grinned an innocent smile before remembering why I was running. "Come on!" Lance pulled me. Foul smells and dusty crates littered our way, yet Gavin's shouting and shuffling didn't stop one bit. We took a right under some clothes lines, and narrowly missed a ragged vixen tossing dirty water from a bucket down at us. Gavin's buddies slipped on the slippery pavement, and I giggled when I turned to see them slipping like fish near a brook. Carl even knocked heads into Ben and they groaned in yelps. Unfortunately, the 'yote ignored them and ran at me like a lunatic. Something told me I didn't wanna know what was in the bucket. "Gray!" We turned a left down the maze of stone buildings, and Gavin was only a stone's throw behind us with his stumbling goons. I spotted a ladder, and pointed to it with giddiness. "Up this way!" James reached his hand for the railing, and started to climb frantically, and Lance's tail barely touched me nose by the time the familiar young musk of coyote caught me nose. Frozen in the alleyway while me two friends climbed to the roof, I nervously chuckled with folded ears while turning around to the trio. They were beyond mad, and the smell of dirty water was seen in their fur. I tried to sound friendly. "Y-Ya know...w-whatever that lady t-threw down on ya..." I scratched me shoulder with a twitching tail, "...it...it smells n-nice on ya three. Ya eve consider making it a perfume?" Gavin's fist narrowly missed the right side of me muzzle, and I tossed me cap up to James and Lance at the top of the roof. "Run, Peter!" The darker coyote named Carl tried to deck me, but I ducked behind the 'yote and pulled his tail in a yelp. He growled and Gavin threw his fist at me like a bullet. "Stay still ya mutt!" he growled with a grin of tainted canines. "Lemme give you a good blinker!" Gavin growled and tossed his claws at me, but he only nicked me shoulder. "Give it to them, Peter!" James happily shouted above while punching air in front of him. "Give that 'yote a good licking! Beat him on his tail!" "Careful there, Peter!" Lance shouted too. As I listened to the human sitting on his arse while I fought, I missed a punch in the chest by Ben. "Not helpful now!" I shouted. Gavin's trademark growl introduced a barrage of punches and a crazed look in his eyes. The 'yote grinned as I stumbled on the pavement. "Not so tough now, are you, poor boy-" his words were cut off as a yelp from behind him made Gavin jump, and I looked to see a stocky wolf in a baker's attire, holding the two coyote's by their collars. "What the hell is all of this?!" Joseph Kinnick demanded with a hint of annoyance. Gavin next to me froze in place, and the duo tried to pry outta the wolf's grasp. "There's no fighting near me establishment!" His gaze turned to me by the ladder, and up to me friends up on top. From the ground, I didn't know if he was made, annoyed, or relieved. Then he turned to Gavin and made a hardened frown. "You're Gavin Flint, right?" he asked. The coyote stumbled a bit, probably terrified like I was, but more. "Right? Tell me you are, 'cause I know this kind coyote fellow named Francis Flint, and he's a mean old furson that would hate to know his son got in a fight with-" "Please don't! We'll g-go now!" Gavin suddenly pleaded with closed paws and folded ears. It looked like he really didn't wanna talk to his dad. "J-Just don't talk to my dad! Please!" The tall wolf sighed and let the two 'yotes go, who scrambled on their footpaws frantically. "Get outta here you brats," Joseph said once, then lean forward and growled, "Go!" And with that, Gavin and his mates ran like 'hell outta the alley, giving me one more evil eye before looking up to see it in Joseph's. "Peter, I'm losing me patient with you..." the old wolf sighed and pulled me up from me tail. His eyes looked up the ladder. "Now both of you please come down before you two get yourselves hurt." When James started coming down, I noticed his eyes slightly widen in surprise. Oh yeah, he was one of those wolves still uneasy with humans. "Joseph!" I smiled as the wolf pulled me to me footpaws, causing me tail to wag happily. "Ya came at the squick o' time for me, ya know that?" I nervously chuckled with folded ears at Joseph's demeanor. "We need to talk yes?" He nodded his muzzle and pointed around the corner to his shop. "You too, Lance," he turned to James and nodded firmly. "You also." With four folded ears, several bruises and a flushed human face of pink, me, Lance the raccoon, and James the human straightened our clothes and trousers from the ordeal and prepared ourselves for another one in Joseph Kinnick's Bakery.