{"sf1_id":827975,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray chapter 8: Alleyway Chase","author":"Domus Vocis","words":2948,"posted_at":"2015-03-07T18:28:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adolescent","Adventure","Anime","Anime and Manga","Anthro","Anthropomorphic","Canine","City","Compassion","Cub (clean)","Emotion","Fantasy","Fear","Feline","First Person","Friendship","Hate","Hindpaw","Humiliation","Humor","Multiple Species","New York","New York City","No-Yiff","Non-anthro","Plot Development","Science Fiction","Series","Short","Short Story","SoFurry","Speciesism","Story Progression","Story Series","Trouble","Violence","alternate reality","anger","boy","grinning","innocence","laugh","paw","teen"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/827975-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-8-alleyway-chase","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/827975","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=827975\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter 8\nAlleyway Chase\n          Many fursons who visited New York forget how dangerous the\ncity was until they got their pockets picked. There had been days when I'd seen\nrich gents from small towns come and leave their money hanging out like fine\ntails in expensive trousers. I even remember this one time in my early days\nthat a naïve gentlewolf no more than twenty went down Baker Street and walked\nout with nothing more than a bruise on his left eye.\n          \"Even if ya ain't a tourist, James,\" I spoke while walking\nbeside him. \"Never carry any coin or bills in yer shirt pocket,\" me paws\npointed to me pants and I patted me right leg, \"just keep it close enough so\nthat a thief won't grabs it.\" \n          James passed around a taller feline and looked confused.\n\"But aren't you a thief as well, Peter?\" he asked with a raised eyebrow (I\nhated when he did that).\n          I perked me ears and shook me frowning muzzle. \"I only do\nit when me back is breaking or I starve. Period.\" I said to him. For being me\nage, James was a really smart boy with no noggin'. I was surprised he didn't realize\nthis the moment he came here from Buffalo. \n          \"Okay, okay then.\" James held his hands up, then gave a\nquestion even a deaf dog could tell was sarcastic. \"So what's next, my Teacher?\nYou gonna teach me how to steal from an elderly woman's purse? Tell me how to\nsleep on a pipe? Or both?\"\n          I chuckled and flicked me tail at James' legs. \"Nonsense!\"\nI said. \"I taught ya all that last week, James.\" I pointed me finger in the air\nand turned. \"Next, I'm gonna teach ya how to break into a mansion, and steal\nenough cash to buy the city!\" Me through erupted in short laughter and I turned\nanother corner with him toward Lance's door.\n          \"I told you I'm fine, Mom!\"\n          But the moment me paw touched the door knob, it opened like\na curse and Lancie fell on top of me and we tumbled down like Jack and Jill on filthy\nand dry pavement.\n          \"Ow!\"\n          \"Oh no!\"\n          \"Me tail! Watch it!\" \n          Me ears caught someone carefully tumbling after us down the\nsteps. \"Oh honey, you alright there? Lord in heaven, you're dirty now!\" \n          Me throat growled softly, so that she wouldn't hear me. \"I\nam not dirty...\" I opened me eyes to see Mrs. Turner wiping dirt off of Lance's\nclothes. And James casually pulled me to me footpaws and asked me if I was\nalright.\n          \"Of course I'm alright,\" I chuckled lightheartedly, me tail\nstill sore from the fall. I turned to the raccoon and wondered, \"but why the\n'ell were ya running outta there like a convict?\"\n          \"Watch your language, boy,\" Lance's mother whispered while\ntying his shirt. \"The Lord may damn you to\nHell for saying such foul language-Lance stop moving please-for your age. And\nyou need to learn respect for whom you're talking to, boy.\"\n          Tail twitching, I mumbled, \"I'm not yer 'boy', woman...\" Her\neyes glared at me, and I stumbled outta me mouth, \"I mean oh boy aren't ya a\nsplendid woman in God's Grace, Mrs. Turner?\" I nervously grinned and curled me\ntail against me left leg, and she went back to tying Lance's shoes with her\nbushy tail and twitching ears. \n          \"Honestly, I don't know why you play with this boy, but\nplease,\" she tightened the laces with a grunt, \"stay out of trouble, and for\nHeaven's sake, don't let this boy lead you into sin. I'm too busy to choose\nyour friends right now...\" Mrs. Turner walked upright and quickly kissed Lance's\ncheek and patted the raccoon's headfur. \"Bless you, pookie...\" She turned to the\nhouse, and tightening her dirty clothes, closed the door.\n          Lance sighed and turned to James' confused look. \"Mum's now\na laundry maid, and is too busy to have me read Scripture and make better\nfriends,\" he confessed. \"\n          The human boy in front of me and Lancie pointed to the\ndrying clothes hung from a rope in between the tenant building. \"She's doing\nall of that, Lance?\" he asked in wonder. \"All of that and she still has time to\nbe your mother?\"\n          \"One of the\nlaundry maids, James,\" Lance corrected. \"One\nof them.\"\n          \"Oi, like I said James,\" I brushed me tail and got most of\nthe dirt offa it, \"you've been here for only a few months and ya still don't\nknow New York yet.\" \n          Laundry maids have been know to make good money in poor\nneighborhoods for so much work. They were sometimes very dedicated to doing\neveryone's laundry; I even remember stealing some clothes back in me early days\nand some of the women chased me with knives and pitchforks for the clothes\nback. It was probably the only time women ever chased after me.\n          \"So what do ya wanna do for the next couple hours?\" Lance\nasked me and James with curiosity in his tail. \"Run around a bit?  Play 'kick-the-can'?\" Lance flicked his tail\nand peered to me with a wry grin. \"Maybe a can of olives, Peter?\"\n          I folded me ears but looked to the raccoon with a grin of me\nown. \"Ya sure ya wanna go down that route 'pookie'?\" I chuckled, putting me\npaws in me pockets. \"I thought so...\"\n          James chuckled with a hand over his mouth and whispered to\nLance, \"'Pookie'? Really?\" Lance's tail curled a bit and I heard Lance's frown turn\nheavy. \n          \"Hey! You both swear not to tell or I'll beat the fur off\nof you,\" he said in an attempted voice. When a couple of gents passed by us and\na carriage rolled down, he spoke openly, \"It's a miracle my mum hasn't called\nme that in public.\"\n          The three of us laughed while arriving to an intersection\nof the street, which was bustling with carriages and fursons talking chirpy and\nbright like birds in a tree. Some talked in English, Brooklyn, and other\nlanguages so thick and weird it made me almost wanna know how languages worked.\n\n          I walked in front while Lancie strolled on me right and\nJames on me left, and I made sure not to tickle James' stubby human nose, since\nthe last time he sneezed behind me, I jumped as high as Madam Liberty and had\nto pick me tail of snot and dirt after falling on me bottom. 'Allergies' he\ncalled them.\n          Me thoughts turned to James and how he was doing in the\nmonths since he came to Manhattan. From what me ears had gathered from Lance\nand his twin brothers (I had to pay each two pennies to even lemme talk to\nthem. Dang twins), James was becoming a bit more of a social flower and is\nmaking friends while dealing with a coyote we all knew and loved named Gavin\nFlint. James kept telling me that the 'yote called him 'pinkie' and 'mutt', and\nonce got tripped by the brat.\n          Gavin obviously loved to show himself in the school yard,\nand I knew him to be more spoiled and mean than even the teacher's pet of the\nPresser Lesser herself. Plenty of times I'd seen Gavin and his friends treat\ncubs and kits like dirt in and outta school, including me.\nHe calls me 'mutt' too, 'sissy', and 'poor' like he\nowns New York City, I thought\nbitterly at the memories. If he eva does\nanything to me friends, I'll-\n          \"Stop it, Gavin! Leave me alone!\" a young voice came to me\nears not far from here. Lance beside me stopped and looked to me with perked\nears. He heard it too. \"Stop it! Give it back!\"\n          Speak of the devil...   \n          We hurried around a corner and saw small fursons bunched in\na corner of the street, coincidentally empty with smaller cubs far away\nignoring the scene. I heard a small gasp behind me that came from James and I\nfollowed his gaze to see a familiar coyote I knew and loved like an old sock.\n          And that same 'yote was holding a toy figurine over his\nears and pushing a fox kit no more than seven to the muddy street, his laugh\nechoing into me ears. \n          \"Give it back, please! It cost me so many cents!\" the kit squealed desperately while Gavin's goons,\nan unnamed pair of tan coyotes with one that owned darker fur, teased and\npulled at his tail. \"Stop it! Please Gavin! You're so mean!\"\n          \"Peter,\" Lance whispered beside me, \"don't even think about\nit...\"\n          Without thinking, I casually walked toward them with me\nblack cap close to me muzzle and did me best to not look familiar to them. Me\npaws trembled like an earthquake and my tail bristled at the kit's cries,\nreminding me of the time Sister Susan demeaned me friends at the orphanage and screamed\nlike a banshee. And I saw that banshee in Gavin.\n          \"Peter, you dumb...\"\n          \"Hey Gavie!\" I forced a smile and stopped several feet away\nfrom the coyote's confused look. I waved to him and pretended to wag me tail.\n\"I hope you're having a nice day today?\"\n          I saw Gavin stop, and his tail stiffen as he looked at m\nwith a grin. \"Well well Ben and Carl. If it isn't the Mutt of Filthy Five\nPoints.\" He must've been referring to his goons that stopped teasing the crying\nkit. When I took some steps forward, the coyote flinched. \"Keep away from me,\nGray. You've got fleas!\"\n          No I don't! I wanted to scream at him. However, I just kept\nit to meself and smiled with perked ears, walking beside him. \"Don't worry,\nGavin. I just need to get past you.\"\n          While Gavin laughed and continued, I moved me footpaws and\ntripped him down on his tail, grabbing the thing from his paws before it\nsmashed at the pavement. The coyote's friends stood stunned as Gavin yelped in\npain at him landing on his tail, and I quickly gave the toy to the fox kit and\nwhispered to him, \"Hurry on home, kid. Go!\" \n          Smiling brightly in joy, the young kit nodded to me and ran\noff, soon followed by a growling that came from behind me. Smiling nervously, I\nturned to see Gavin rubbing his tail sorely and giving me the evil eye.\n          \"You're dead, mutt!\"\n          Narrowly avoiding one of his friend's attempts to grab me\nears, I bolted toward an equally stunned James and Lance and grabbed them by\nthe paws, running with me.\n          \"W-Wait, why do we have to run w-with you?!\" \nMe\nears caught a loud 'pinkie' comment and I answered with, \"That's why!\" I heard\nfootpaws running behind us, and I giggled out, \"Run fer it!\" \n\"Come\nback here, Peter! You too pinkie!\"\nWe shot\ndown the street and laughed in gasps while running for our lives. I could hear\nthe shuffling of Gavin and his friends after us. The three of us dove into a\ncrowd of peds and I did me best to pardon them.\n\"Excuse\nme! Pardon me! Oof! Sorry ma'am!\"\nThe\nstreet was busy with carriages and workers jogging to work and women out to get\nthe evening's food. \"Hey!\" I brushed against a young she-wolf in rags. \nI\nswiped past a worker, and he growled. \"Watchit, kid!\" \n\"Peter!\"\nI\njumped outta the crowd, and turned to me right to see James and Lance running\nto me. And three fursons running after them.\nI\nwaved with a slight growl in me voice. \"Dis way! Hurry!\" I pointed to a\nfamiliar alley ad recognized it by the entrance. \"Ugh!\" And the smell.\n\"Peter!\nTell me ya know where this goes!\" Lance asked in between breaths. I grabbed\nboth his and James' hand before pulling them into the alley.\nI\ngasped out, \"Henry Street!\" \nI\nthrew us in the alley, past raccoons and other musky fursons buried in ragged\nclothes, women showing off their 'goods', gents trading away things, and I even\nonce spotted a fox in a long-coat trading some stolen necklaces and rich gent's\nwallets and canes.\n\"Watch\nout!\" \nI\nswiped past a vixen with a dotted dress on, and I grinned an innocent smile\nbefore remembering why I was running. \n\"Come\non!\" Lance pulled me.\nFoul\nsmells and dusty crates littered our way, yet Gavin's shouting and shuffling\ndidn't stop one bit. We took a right under some clothes lines, and narrowly\nmissed a ragged vixen tossing dirty water from a bucket down at us.\nGavin's\nbuddies slipped on the slippery pavement, and I giggled when I turned to see\nthem slipping like fish near a brook. Carl even knocked heads into Ben and they\ngroaned in yelps. Unfortunately, the 'yote ignored them and ran at me like a\nlunatic. Something told me I didn't wanna know what was in the bucket.\n\"Gray!\"\nWe\nturned a left down the maze of stone buildings, and Gavin was only a stone's\nthrow behind us with his stumbling goons. I spotted a ladder, and pointed to it\nwith giddiness. \n\"Up\nthis way!\" \nJames\nreached his hand for the railing, and started to climb frantically, and Lance's\ntail barely touched me nose by the time the familiar young musk of coyote\ncaught me nose. Frozen in the alleyway while me two friends climbed to the\nroof, I nervously chuckled with folded ears while turning around to the trio. \nThey\nwere beyond mad, and the smell of dirty water was seen in their fur.\nI\ntried to sound friendly. \"Y-Ya know...w-whatever that lady t-threw down on ya...\" I\nscratched me shoulder with a twitching tail, \"...it...it smells n-nice on ya three.\nYa eve consider making it a perfume?\"\nGavin's\nfist narrowly missed the right side of me muzzle, and I tossed me cap up to\nJames and Lance at the top of the roof. \"Run, Peter!\"\nThe\ndarker coyote named Carl tried to deck me, but I ducked behind the 'yote and\npulled his tail in a yelp. He growled and Gavin threw his fist at me like a\nbullet. \n\"Stay\nstill ya mutt!\" he growled with a grin of tainted canines. \"Lemme give you a\ngood blinker!\" Gavin growled and tossed his claws at me, but he only nicked me\nshoulder.\n\"Give\nit to them, Peter!\" James happily shouted above while punching air in front of\nhim. \"Give that 'yote a good licking! Beat him on his tail!\"\n\"Careful\nthere, Peter!\" Lance shouted too.\nAs I\nlistened to the human sitting on his arse while I fought, I missed a punch in\nthe chest by Ben. \"Not helpful now!\"\nI shouted. Gavin's trademark growl introduced a barrage of punches and a crazed\nlook in his eyes.\nThe\n'yote grinned as I stumbled on the pavement. \"Not so tough now, are you, poor\nboy-\" his words were cut off as a yelp from behind him made Gavin jump, and I\nlooked to see a stocky wolf in a baker's attire, holding the two coyote's by\ntheir collars.\n\"What\nthe hell is all of this?!\" Joseph Kinnick demanded with a hint of annoyance.\nGavin next to me froze in place, and the duo tried to pry outta the wolf's\ngrasp. \"There's no fighting near me establishment!\"\nHis gaze turned to me by the ladder, and up to me friends up on top. From the\nground, I didn't know if he was made, annoyed, or relieved. \nThen\nhe turned to Gavin and made a hardened frown. \"You're Gavin Flint, right?\" he\nasked. The coyote stumbled a bit, probably terrified like I was, but more. \"Right? Tell me you are, 'cause I know\nthis kind coyote fellow named Francis Flint, and he's a mean old furson that\nwould hate to know his son got in a\nfight with-\"\n\"Please\ndon't! We'll g-go now!\" Gavin suddenly pleaded with closed paws and folded\nears. It looked like he really didn't\nwanna talk to his dad. \"J-Just don't talk to my dad! Please!\"\n          The tall wolf sighed and let the two 'yotes go, who\nscrambled on their footpaws frantically. \"Get outta here you brats,\" Joseph\nsaid once, then lean forward and growled, \"Go!\" And with that, Gavin and his\nmates ran like 'hell outta the alley, giving me one more evil eye before\nlooking up to see it in Joseph's.\n          \"Peter, I'm losing me patient with you...\" the old wolf\nsighed and pulled me up from me tail. His eyes looked up the ladder. \"Now both\nof you please come down before you two get yourselves hurt.\" When James started\ncoming down, I noticed his eyes slightly widen in surprise. \nOh\nyeah, he was one of those wolves still uneasy with humans.\n          \"Joseph!\" I smiled as the wolf pulled me to me footpaws,\ncausing me tail to wag happily. \"Ya came at the squick o' time for me, ya know that?\" I nervously chuckled with\nfolded ears at Joseph's demeanor. \"We need to talk yes?\" He nodded his muzzle\nand pointed around the corner to his shop. \n          \"You too, Lance,\" he turned to James and nodded firmly.\n\"You also.\"\n          With four folded ears, several bruises and a flushed human\nface of pink, me, Lance the raccoon, and James the human straightened our\nclothes and trousers from the ordeal and prepared ourselves for another one in\nJoseph Kinnick's Bakery.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/823863-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-7-a-stroll-in-central-park.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/834139-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-9-joseph-s-news.json"}