{"sf1_id":823863,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray chapter 7: A Stroll in Central Park","author":"Domus Vocis","words":3627,"posted_at":"2015-02-25T23:26:00.000Z","tags":["Adolescent","Adventure","Anthro","Anthropomorphic","Bible","Brooklyn","Canine","Central Park","Character Development","City","Drama","Emotion","Feline","First Person","Fox","High Class","Humans","Hybrid","Kid Blink","Mammal","Manhattan","Mild Drama","Multiple Species","New York City","Newsies","No-Yiff","Non-anthro","Plot Development","Raccoon","Raccoon/Fox","Series","Short","Short Story","SoFurry","Story Series","Various Species","Wolf","alternate reality","grinning","hotel","innocence","newspaper","statue","street","teen","urchin"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/823863-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-7-a-stroll-in-central-park","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/823863","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=823863\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter\n7\nA\nStroll in Central Park\n \n          I was dreaming again, this time of\nbeing back at the orphanage. Me life there was good, almost perfect. I was\nsitting cross-legged among other kits, listening to a nun named Sister Susan.\nShe was an elderly wolf, but seemed young for her age, and fur as black as her\npersonality. She was stern to me and the kits, but she was a calmer version of\nthe Presser Lesser. \n \n          Ya see, instead of putting on a fit of\nrage and shouting, she had me stand in front of a cold window for the day\nwhenever me voice defied her. And if I didn't follow the correct order of\nthings, Sister Susan gave me hindquarters the beating of a lifetime with a\nyardstick. But the strangest thing of all was that her 'smile' never stopped\nsmiling. \n \n          And just as the yardstick hit me tail,\nI woke up.\n \n          I opened me eyes and sighed of relief.\n\"Thank the Lord in Heaven me dreams aren't forever...\" I mumbled to meself. \n \n          I sat up from the milky grass and\nshook me muzzle until I could see more around. I was resting under a stone\nbridge, and the river greeted me by damping me footpaws in the mud. I groaned\nat meself and wiped them on the grass as I smiled at the light of Central Park.\n \n          Central Park. I coulda been richer\nthan a king, Joseph Kinnick coulda given me a pawful of bread or even cleared\nme debt like a dirty plate and traded it for a new one. Or heck, New York could\nfreeze over like Alaska, but nothing coulda\nbeen traded for a night in the walkways of Central Park. Lancie and James'\nmothers wouldn't even let them near the place, claiming it was considered 'too\nfar' and was a 'dangerous place full of hooligans worse than that Peter boy you\nplay with'. \n \n          So, I decided to do something new and\ntravel to the place, maybe even sleep the night there. I did when I got there\nat sunset. And after spending the night under a bridge by the lake and\nlistening to nature sleep in our city, I wished Lance and James came.\n \n          Cause the moment I emerged from the\nempty archway, me breath was taken away like an angel's hug on a sinner. It...It\nwas beautiful.\n \n          As I strolled down a nearby walkway, a\ndozen smells filled me muzzle and washed over me bristling fur in the wind. The\ntrees were pink and green as the ground under me footpaws, and the birds\nchirping. The cobblestone paths were both fine and smooth on me pads, not to\nmention the smells of nearby food vendors that made me belly growl like a lion.\n\n \n          \"Hey young boy! You there! Care for\nsome spectacles for those eyes of yers? I bet ya they'll fits ya perfectly!\" \n \n          The Park was notorious for having some\nshady sellers and vendor ready to make a quick coin and dollar. Some were\nraccoons from Five Points, mice with food stored in crates by the flowers,\nimmigrants playing instruments in a different language from across ocean, and\neven rich canines with enough in their pockets to not use their own coat to\nstore their selling products.  \n \n          For me own sake of not becoming the\nthinnest wolf in New York, I bought some bread and a cup of water for only\ntwenty-three cents from an opposom who spoke only French. And once I bit into\nthe bread, the bread bit back with its dang staleness and decay. When me paws\ngrabbed the cup of water, I drank it to realize it wasn't clean water!\n          \n          As the French opossum giggled wryly in\nthe background, I ran and dunked me muzzle into the nearest fountain I saw. And\nwhile submerged in it, all I could think was, What. A. Rip-off. Maybe I should try a scam like that sometime in the\nfuture?\n \n          I pulled me head outta the water,\nshook me fur, and walked away after reaching into the fountain to grab some\ncoins for me money back.\n \nA while later into the day, I came across a\nclearing nearby, where fursons walked along the paths with wonder and pride.\nForeign gents played instruments that made me wanna dance to their tune,\ndelicate ladies watched their young ones giggle and run in Sheep Meadow nearby,\nand the richer ones just smiled at the excitement or walked by with their\nsnooty muzzles in the air like their pedigrees were gold. \n \nFrom here, me eyes could spot a tall building\nacross the blue lake, one that jutted out more than a thorn on a rose bush. I\nbelieve it was called either the 'Dakota' or 'Nevada', but I whistled to meself\nat how big it looked from here. Looking like a castle for kings, the towering\nthing looked quite a place to live and die in, whether me coins came from work,\nrummaging, or even music. I could see meself resting in the beds right now, and\nordering food like a crowd  praying to a\nsoup kitchen.\n \nMe daze was shaken away from a small\ncommotion near me. \n \n          A human male walked nearby, and I saw\nthe rich gents slightly sneer outta sight. Others turned their clean backs as\nthe human, a man in his twenties and wore a pair of very muddy pants and a worn\nvest, shyly turned down another walk. The canines in fancy pants weren't too\nkeen with me appearance as well, some not knowing I dressed better than a foul\ndrunk by the Hudson. \n \n          \"Oh Lord in heaven, does he need to\nhave that bushy of a tail?\" some feline in a dressed commented to her husband.\nShe didn't even try to whisper. \"Georgie, come over here, please.\" As I passed\na couple 'o feet by some cubs, they came to her in a ruckus and I groaned. \n \n          Hmmm I wonder if she's got a dime to\nspare,\nI considered the idea in me head. Or\nmaybe her whole purse? I shook off the idea since I promised meself to not\nsteal for revenge. And the last thing I needed was some coppers on me arse\nagain. \n \n          I went down a nearby drive that\nbrought me to the 'Mall' of Central Park, a connection of paths and drives\nunderneath the blue and golden sun. I marveled like a newborn cub at the\nsights, the bronze statue kits played on, and felt the breath of spring wash\nover me muzzle in a cool breeze. \n \n          That is until me ears caught wind of\nsome shouting a couple of stone's throws away. I turned to see two young\nfursons in a courtyard, yelling their heads off about the latest news. \n \n          \"Extra! Extra! Read de news! Extra!\"\n \n          Newsies. One was a German Shepherd\nunder then and the other was a mixed breed, shouting to buy newspapers on top\nof wooden boxes, with their caps barely staying atop their headfur. And one of\nthem was no other eight year-old cub than...\n \n          \"Peter? Is that you?\"\n \n          A grin formed across me muzzle. \"Bromley!\"\nI laugh while strolling up to the young German Shepherd. He wore his newsie\nclothes, and looked as exhausted as any newsie could be. \"So how are ya doing,\nlad? Selling that many papers?\" \n \n          The young cub nodded giddily, then widened\nhis eyes a second. \"Oh yeah. Peter, it is my pleasure for you to meet...'Louis'\nis it?\" Bromley turned his muzzle to the mixed one.\n \n          The newsie that turned around to me definitely\nwasn't a wee lad. He was a mixed breed of raccoon and fox, maybe some wolfish\nblood. He was older than me, maybe a couple of years or so. The fur on his arms\nwere tan and black, with white patches on his paws. \n \n          But most of all, the mixed breed wore\na pirate's patch on his left eye, and his right looked to he brightly with his\ngrin. \"Louis Ballatt,\" the boy's accent was thick\nBrooklyn. He extended a paw to be after setting down a paper beside his ankles.\n\"But me friens call me 'Kid Blink' in de neighborhood.\"\n \n          I wanted to laugh until the moon fell,\nbut I kept a smile on me face and shook his paw eagerly. \"Nice to meet ya, Mr. Blink,\"\nI greeted with a grin. \"Me name's Peter Gray.\" Me eyes saw he wore the standard\nnewsie's brown cap, and wore a blue necktie and a tan vest over his white\nshirt, the smell of sweat clearly present under his arms. \"So ya working hard\nor hardy working?\" \n \n          \"Blink!\" someone shouted. Before he\ncould answer, another newsie as old as Blink ran past me and to the mixed\nbreed. \"I gots me some coin!\" I saw the teen was a raccoon similar to that of\nLance, but had whiter fur and a stockier build. \"One dollar and thirty cents\nfer sixty papers!\"\n \n          Kid Blink's laughed and flicked his\nshaggy while stepping closer to the fellow newsie. \"Well it pleases me ta sees\nya-\" he suddenly stepped back and gave a foul cough. \"Jesus, Marty, whats yer\ntail been sleeping in? Now Joisey?\" The teen shook his muzzle and coughed out a\npant, his voice crackling and piping more deeply and high. \"Congradts on yer\nmoney, but...please goes and gits us some more!\" The white raccoon tipped his cap\nand bolted giddily, then Blink turned to me. \n \n          I blinked meself and chuckled, a\nlittle nervous to ask the hybrid about something particular. \"So uh...what's with\nthe...\" I pointed to me left muzzle. \"...the eye? Ya lose it in Brooklyn?\" I\nchuckled, and to me surprise, Blink and Bromley joined in the laughter. \n \n          \"How's ya knows I'm frem Brooklyn,\nPeter?\" he asked, raising his only eyebrow. \"Is id 'cause of me accent?\" He\ngave a wry smile and picked up a newspaper while Bromley got back to work. \n \n          I chuckled nervously while leaning\nmeself against a nearby railing. \"Well, I've been to Brooklyn a couple o'\ntimes, and me ears have spotted your name across town,\" I whispered wryly back,\n\"and it is cause of your accent, to\nbe honest.\" Blink laughed shortly.\n \n          \"Bromley's teld me about yerself too\nkid,\" after he quickly sold a paper to a passing gentlewolf, he dramatically\nstepped onto the crate of newspapers like an announcer at a boxing match on\nCross Street. \"Peter Gray: the Street Urchin of Five Points! De most sly and\nwickedly witty wolf boy all 'round!\" The one-eyed hybrid giggled and shook me\npaw again, but with more firmness. \"It's great ta meets yer face-ta-face, Peter\nGray.\" \n \n          In between Bromley and Blink selling\npapers and taking coins and money, (with Bromley making sure me paws were where\nthey were. That's rude.) me and Blink compared our lives and each other's\ninterests like bread and butter. \n \n          Blink was named Louis after his\nfather, and tragically lost them a while back from illness. Not long after, the\nraccoon/fox newsie became one at age eight. He knew how to work the machines\nthat made the papers, where the best selling spots were, and knew the city more\nthan me, which stunned me more than seeing me human friend James for the first\ntime all those months ago. \n \nAs his accent dictated, Blink was from\nBrooklyn, but near the bridge and in the Newsie's Boarding House next door. He\ngot the eye patch when a machine accident cut his left eye open. Blink kept telling\nme to never listen to mechanics when they was 'busy to a bottle' the night\nbefore. I didn't get it at first, but laughed with the newsie. \n \n\"Still, id does nut hurt dat much...\" he spoke\nproudly with perked ears. \"In facts, me eyes is de best now den it'z ever\nbeen.\" \n \nFor some reason, me eyes were glued to the\nboy's mannerisms. He seemed so confident, telling me about life in the Boarding\nHouse, how everyone shared a bathroom, and the ridiculous selling they had to\ndo. Comparing me life to that was pretty hard, but Blink was eager to know all\nabout me as well. I told him about me life after the orphanage.\n \n\"So lemme git dis straight: ya once got Miss\nLesser ta chasing ya 'round the school...\" Blink tried to keep himself from looking\ndumbstruck, but it wasn't working. \"and youse didn't stop until she did?\" The\nhybrid shook his muzzle and gave me a playful sneer from his box-stand. \n \nI shrugged. \"We call her the 'Presser Lesser',\nand she isn't exactly an athletic woman, but she can be a wolf when she wants\nto be,\" I sighed with contempt in me dry voice. \"In fact, she once-\"\n \nBlink suddenly stopped me and held his paw\nup. \"Hey Peter, can youse do me a faver, ands send dis,\" His paw reached into\nhis pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, maybe a folded letter, \"and give it\nta me friens on de odder side of da Park? Just by de Art Museum, 'kay?\" He held\nit out to me.\n \nI widened me eyes and chuckled with folded\nears. \"Sorry, but am I a messenger boy?\" I shook me muzzle and leaned further on\nthe bush fence next to me. \"If ya want me to break me bone for nothing, then\nyou're more crazy than a-\" The hybrid suddenly pulled out a pouch and shook it,\nthe music of coins ringing in me ears. \"-a fine gent with a fine deal indeed.\nOn it!\"\n \nI swiped the letter and ran like a hyena in\nAfrica, past the lavish gents and fine-furred ladies. I pounded me footpaws at\nthe cobblestone and ran to me destination. As the cool breeze ran through me\nfur and I clutched the letter, I searched for the direction toward the Museum. \n \nCentral Park was now more alive and living\nwith more people, ranging from canines to feline, all of them either dressed\ntoo well to even walk or decent enough to be near and not stink. When a\ncarriage came through the bridge ahead of me, I jumped down and under it with\nease. \n \nThough I may have startled the horse pulling\nit. Still, nothing in me way was gonna keep me paws offa that pouch of money!\n \nAt last, I spotted the Museum beyond the\nbright trees, and it was an intimidating creation; almost as old as the city itself\nand as gray as the ground under me tail. I saw gents and regular fursons\nwalking in and out.\n \n\"Mommy! I wanna go play!\" one fox younger\nthan me pleaded to his lavish mother. \n \nI spotted the vixen holding his paw and\nwhispering, \"Jacob, calm yourself, or we won't go to the Meadow at all young man!\" They went with her\nhusband down the steps while I passed. \n \nAnother was a young wolf girl giggling and\nbeing piggybacked on an older gentlewolf, maybe her father or uncle. Cubs played\nwith rolling hoops on the ground and chasing them like they were rats. I\ncouldn't stop smiling, but I smiled more when I heard the familiar voices not\nfar. \n \n\"Extra! Extra!\" A grin formed widely.\nJackpot!\n \nI jogged around the left entrance to see two newsies\nstanding in front of a stack of newspapers. I stepped closer and past the line\nof buyers to see them being a cute little black cat no older than probably\nJames' sister, and that raccoon from before. \n \n\"Excuse me?\" lifted the note up to the\nraccoon named Marty. \"Kid Blink said to give this to ya?\" The newsie looked at\nme and quickly smiled before grabbing the note. I turned, mumbling, \"'Thank ya\nfor the note, kid'. 'Oh no problem; take care of yerself.'\" Oh well, I still\nhad the strength to get back and get me money. \n \nBy the time I got back to Bromley and Blink, they\nwere halfway through selling their own papers, and I proudly strode up to Blink\nwith an  open paw. \n \nThe hybrid sighed. \"Fine, 'ere ya go...\" he\ngrabbed the pouch and tossed it to me with a grin. And by the time I opened it,\nexpecting to see pennies and nickels, I left me ears lower at what I saw.\n \nNothing but soda pop bottle caps. All of it. \n \nBromley and Kid Blink chuckled while I\nfrowned at the newsies. \"W-What?\" Kid asked, giggling like a loon with his tail\nwagging. \"You said yerself dat ya wanted dis? Little tip, Peter Gray: nedder\nlet yer eyes be youse emeny!\" The fox/raccoon howled with laughter while he\nslapped his knee and took the bag from me. \n \nI wanted to be angry at them, but I couldn't\nhelp but giggle as well. He got me good.\n \nBut all of a sudden, me eyes stopped to see\nsome white and black figures walking behind the two. With them was a wooden\ncart of smells that rumbled me stomach a second time that morning. I widened me\neyes when I realized they were nuns, a couple of them canines and the other two\na raccoon and a smaller mouse about me height, and they were walking over to us\nwhen one of them smiled at me.\n \nBlink and the German Shepherd spotted them\ntoo, and our tails wagged at the smell of bread and water that came from their\ncarts. As I was about to ask, Blink smiled and whispered, \"Shhhhh.\"\n \nTo be honest, I was terrified of them. All\nnuns, whether young or old, reminded me of the ones at the orphanage I grew up\nin. They were all mean, always scowled at you like a criminal, and I could\nstill remember the pain in me fingers from their rulers and slaps. Their voices\nsaying we weren't worthy of God or Heaven. The thought of being back there made\nme wanna bury meself in the Park.\n \nThat all changed the night I ran away, the\nnight I went with Hansel and Edward across the Hudson and into the shores of\nManhattan. That was the night me life changed for better.  \n \nFrom the group of nuns, a she-wolf walked\nover to us and beamed a smile across her muzzle. For a second, I saw Sister\nSusan's eyes in her, but the nun's smile mad me theory crumble.\n \n\"Children, the Lord is your Shepherd,\" her\nvoice was so soft. \"And as a reward for your generosity and an amazing job, the\nLord gives you thanks.\" She turned to the cart and we saw the nuns handing out\nsome food to others. Me eyes even spotted the human from before being offered a\nroll of vegetables and water. \"You look depraved, both spiritually and physically,\nbut His Grace love you.\"\n \nMe tail uncurled from anxiety and I stared\ndumbfounded. One second, me eyes met Blink's and Bromley's, the next, we ran\nover and thanked the nuns like they saved our lives from the pits of Hell. They\nhanded us the food like flowers. \n \n\"Mmmmm,\" I moaned from the taste of actual\nfood in me mouth. \"This is the life, Bromley,\" I saw the young dog was too busy\ndrinking a pitcher of water while the nun that handed it to him smiled,\n\"Blink?\" \n \n\"Yer voice said it,\" Kid Blink giggled while\nlicking his lips and being handed a glass of water. \"I wouldn't trade dis life\nfor anudder.\" He turned his muzzle to the she-wolf and nodded. \"Thank youse, so\nmuch, Sisters.\" \n \n\"No problem,\" her eyes shined with her personality,\nand I couldn't help but smile back. \"It is the Lord's will and His Son's Grace\nthat gives you the strength.\" I spotted her tail wagging under her dress and\nshe gave us a cross on her chest. \"May God be with you three.\"\n \nI blinked and handed out a paw, which she\nshook. \"Thank you...\" I said, me tongue panting happily while she strode off with\nher friends. Soon as they turned a corner with their cart, I looked back to\nBlink and Bromley as they resumed their newsie tirade. \n \n\"Extra! Extra! Read all about dit!\" Kid Blink\nshouted while smiling to me and to the people starting to gather.\n\"Spanish-American War Continues! Read all about dit! Extra! Extra!\" \n \nI tipped me cap to Bromley and waved to\nBlink, then strolled off as the food in me stomach rested like a sleeping\ngiant. \n \n\"Hey, Peter!\" I turned to see something being\ntossed to me from Blink. I caught it in me paw, and was amazed\nto see it being a silvery quarter, one with Washington's smug muzzle shining in\nthe cloudy sunlight. \"Dis is one time, ya hear?\" I looked in shock at the\none-eyed hybrid and a grin formed on his muzzle as he got back to work selling\npapers. \n \nAs I walked merrily down a walk that led to\nthe filthy and crowding streets of the city, me nose smelled the nature that\ncircled me senses. I was definitely gonna miss me time in Central Park, and me\nthoughts turned to what I was gonna do with the quarter.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/812450-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-6-one-cup-o-whiskey.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/827975-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-8-alleyway-chase.json"}