{"sf1_id":846676,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray chapter 10: April Fool's Day","author":"Domus Vocis","words":3388,"posted_at":"2015-04-12T00:12:00.000Z","tags":["1899 New York City","Anthropomorphic","Burley","Coyote","Cub","Humiliation","Humor","Raccoon","Series","SoFurry","Teenage","Wolf","honey","joke","lesson","motherly","spring","story","urchin","woman"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/846676-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-10-april-fool-s-day","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/846676","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=846676\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter 10\nApril Fool's Day\n          \"April Fool! April Fool!\" \n          I giggled when I saw the seven year-old raccoon boy pop\naround the corner, scaring either his brother or cousin into jumping like a\ncat. They squealed and laughed while chasing each other across the street in\nbetween carriages. Their muzzles lit up in smiles underneath the warm spring\nsun, and me muzzle grinned as I embraced the wonder of today.\n          It was April Fool's Day, a day of practical jokes and\nteasing anyone and everyone in sight. It was a time to celebrate telling lies\nand scaring little cubs outta their pants. I was a participant regularly in\nthis grand day, but seeing how half of New York knew me as a white liar\n(somehow), I needed to be creative like a swindler in New Orleans. Or heck,\neven me as me.\n          When I was a mere cub around five, I pulled a mean joke on\nSister Susan that earned me a huge spanking. In the orphanage, all the younger male\ncubs lived in one large room toppled with smelly bunk beds and the chattering\nlaughter of orphans. A wooden column as wide as a closet kept the room up, but\nI was the first to know that it was hollow on the inside. After getting meself\nhidden in it from a hole behind me bed, I waited until the nun starting\nscreaming that I popped out and cheered, \"April Fool!\"\n          To this day, me bottom stings from the paddle. Still, I\ncan't stop laughing.\n          \"Attack!\"\n          I turned to catch a glimpse of a tail and wooden swords\nsprinting into an alley between Howard's Shoe Shop and an old building home to\na young dog named Henry selling dusty clothes. With a wagging tail, me\ncuriosity got the best of me and I followed until I heard yipping and the sound\nof wood clanking against wood.\n          \"Surrender!\"\n          A kit (maybe a young fox) yelped followed by laughter.\n          \"Nevva!\"\n          More clanking, and swishes in the air.\n          \"I'll gets yer tail dummy!\"\n          I came to a corner and grinned like a devil by what I saw.\n          It was an open area connecting the alleys, about as big as\nan apartment in the Upper East Side. And scurrying past and in front of me were\nfursons cubs and urchins playing a game of war, with either trashcan bins or\nwooden swords to fight over cobblestone. \n          An eleven year-old raccoon jumped from a barrel that\noverturned. \"Take that Spence!\" one of the urchins (who wore a pair of trousers\ntwo sizes too big for his legs) swished his sword at a feline half me age. \n          \"'ello Peter!\" I turned to see a familiar brown muzzle grin\nat me. It was a young mixed fox who wore cut trousers and a dirty T-shirt.\n\"Whatcha doing here this fine April Fool's Day? Ya play jokes on someone yet?\"\n          If there be any other urchins in New York, then Harry was a\nfine acquaintance for me. He grew up in an orphanage just like me, but ran for\nit when the place burned down from a storm. No one died, but Harry was lost in\nthe storm and ended up in the Big Apple. Now, the little fox worked as a mail\ncarrier and I rarely got to see him, so this was a surprise that made me tail\nwag.\n          \"Nah, I dunno if I'll be doing that this year, Harry,\" I\nsighed with perked ears. \"I hear yer life's been good too, foxy. So how's the\ncarrier business?\" I dodged a cub running past me, and pointed for the ladder.\nNodding, me and Harry scurried up it and hung our footpaws over the war below\nus.\n          Next to me, I glanced to catch the fox rubbing his right\nankle, revealing the metal plate in it. I couldn't remember, but I once\nrecalled him saying he was born with a broken ankle. \"Eh, it's been so tiring,\"\nhe groaned. \"Ya lose one letter and the boss takes a day's worth of pay, ya\nknow? He acts like he owns this\ncity.\" \n          I chuckled and stretched me paws. \"That's the reason I\ndon't have a job, Harry,\" I flicked me tail at him playfully. \"Jobs get in the\nway of the most important things in me life, like...um...\" I folded me ears and\nlaughed nervously while thinking, \"...being handsome and good-looking?\"\n          Harry raised an eyebrow and shortly laughed. \"Yeah, and\nthey say the world is flat as Fine Fiona's chest,\" we both howled with laughter\nat that. A couple of cubs below us cocked their heads in confusion, but\nshrugged it away to continue with their little 'war'. The canine's side was led\nby the little raccoon named Georgie (despite him being, well a raccoon) and the\nfeline's side was led by a tabby cat a few years older called 'Spottie'.\nSpottie's leading was great, but Georgie's army was fast and swift. It made me\nlaugh whenever the scamp jumped and dodged Spottie's ferocity like me from Mrs.\nTurner on a bad day.\n          A cool wind blew over me muzzle and through me fur, and I\npanted happily under the hot sun. It was April, yet the wind was still an ally\nof January's blizzards. But as quick as a ship, me cap flew offa me ears and I\nbarely jumped to catch it. \n          \"Mother Nature must be playing her own joke today, huh?\"\nHarry laughed with perked ears. I mocked laughed and decided to fold me cap\ninto my pocket along with me pocket watch. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he\nducked onto the stone roof before whispering, \"Quiet!\"\n          I raised an eyebrow and turned down toward the alley's\nentrance before ducking meself. In all his cockiness and mean glory was the\ndang Gavin, walking alongside a larger female coyote in a blue dress. It was\nMrs. Flint, a large and burley woman who waddled like a penguin and always\ntalked deep and loud like a drunken policeman in Hell's Kitchen. \n          \"Gavie, do me a favor and carry my purse,\" she spoke down\nto him, and me and Harry inched forward on the roof to see Gavie's reaction.\n          \"But Ma, I don't wanna carry it.\" he whined with a\ntwitching tail like the little girl he was. She gave him a glare and pulled at\nthe coyote's little ears until Gavin yelped, \"Okay, okay, okay!\"\n          I craned me neck to Harry and muffled our chuckles at how\nmuch of a mean woman Mrs. Flint was. I remember hearing stories of how she was\napparently a beautiful creature that gained weight long ago and earned herself\na temper like her husband's. \n          No wonder Gavin's a\nbully like her, I thought bitterly with a low growl.\n          \"Aye, I don't like them either,\" Harry whispered to me\nwhile the larger coyote talked to a vendor about prices. \"That woman and her son. He once pulled one of me\nfriend's trousers down and shoved him into a mud puddle, ya know?\"\n          I turned to Harry once an idea popped into me head. \"What\ndo ya say we give Gavin a good old-fashioned April Fool today?\" I asked slyly.  That caused Harry's ears to perk and mirror me\ngrin.\n          \"You can do that for me, Peter,\" Harry looked up into the\nsky and I saw him wince at the sunshine. \"It's almost noon, so I gotta go.\" The\nperky fox stood up and nodded to me as he climbed the ladder. \"See ya, wolf.\nGet him for me!\"\n          As Harry jumped onto the ground from the ladder and ran\ndown another alley, I stood from the roof and ignored the dying war game below me\nas me footpaws walked along the rooftops to spy on the two coyotes. Gavin was\ntaking more shouting from his mother as he cringed with folded ears. I'd be\ndoing that too if I were in his position; her complains sounded like a yelping\nanimal if it's tail were burned by a candle.\n          A few heads in the street even turned heads in disgust,\nlaughter, or both, and her son wasn't thrilled. \"Gavin,\" she asked in a croak,\n\"are ya even listen to me sonny? Your father and I work our tails and fur off\nfor ya, and all ya do for us is get in trouble at school and talk back to your\nown mother!\" She pulled on the coyote's stringy and hairy ear again, and I\nstruggled not to howl with laughter at Gavin's reaction. \n          The rooftops of New York City were sometimes known to be a\nwonder in Five Points. While climbing buildings no bigger than several stories\nwas as dangerous as walking on a frozen Hudson, but the scenes of below always\nmade me wanna fly like a birdie. It felt like I was on top of the world. \n          As I followed the two coyotes, I smiled at the wind blowing\nin me face and the musky smells of different species across the land. From the\nsmells of below to the sooty smoke from chimneys, I just wanted to wrap meself\nin its embrace. \n          Stop!\nYou've got a job to do!\n          They stopped in a bustling and musky marketplace, and as I\nclimbed down a nearby ladder to get a closer look, an idea popped into me head.\nI noticed Mrs. Flint telling Gavin something, and they parted to look at other\nthings for a while.\n          And one of the vending stands near Gavin was selling some\nhoney. \n          Honey\non fur, I thought wickedly with a wagging\ntail. The perfect revenge.\nAs\nGavin turned his tail to look more in the sea of stands and shops, I sneaked me\nway under wooden tables and folded me ears to stay hidden. As soon as the 'yote\nwasn't looking me way, I reached into me pocket and dropped a few coins onto\nthe vendor's table and snatched the biggest jar of honey me arms could carry. \n\"Honey!\nWhere are ya!? Get yer tail over here!\" Mrs. Flint yelled down the street.\n\"There's a sale here!\"\nI\nfollowed them for another block until the coyotes stopped to sit on a bench. I\npraised the Lord it happened to be above a fire escape, and Mrs. Flint told\nGavie to stay put until she came back for a moment. Seeing me chance, I wagged\nme tail while sneaking up a ladder in an alley nearby and scaling down the fire\nescape until I was a good twenty feet above the 'yote.\nPrepare to be honeyed, 'honey'! I announced in me head. But as I nearly poured it over\nhis head, I widened me eyes as I saw him below carrying a slingshot...pointing at\nme.\nThere\nwas a clank, me vision became golden and sticky, and I fell from the iron\nrailing and onto the ground flat. With me back sore, jar of golden goo all\nover, and that darn 'yote howling with laugher like a lunatic. \n\"April\nFool ya dumb wolf!\"\nGrumbling,\nI slowly got up and tried to shake the honey dripping offa me ears, muzzle, and\nclothes. I now smelled nice, but it was awful! Me heart was thumping against me\nsticky chest, the echoes of laughter made me folded ears turn red, and me back\nwas more sore than a crushed rattlesnake.\n\"April\nFool! April Fool! April Fool!\"\nGrabbing\nme mucky cap, I tried to pounce at the 'yote and hit him with his slingshot,\nbut instead bolted outta the alley and past other people, me eyes burning from\nhoney and something else. \n\"Get\noutta here ya street mutt!\" Gavin shouted. \"Think twice before ya mess with me,\nPeter Gray!\" I glanced back to see a gasping Mrs. Flint, but didn't wanna see\nher (sometimes humorous) expression that got me to laugh most times. \n\"Go\nback into the sewer ya crawled outta!\"\nThat\none came from a different coyote, probably an acquaintance or a rude one.\nEither way, I didn't stop running like a horse and wanted to disappear in me\nhideaway. But I knew that was impossible now, since someone in City Hall waved a bag of cash in front of the rich\ngentlewolves in office and bought the place to be built into a factory. At\nleast I got me papa's pocket watch outta there.\nEventually,\nI stopped in a nearby street, probably close to Park Avenue since the smell of\nit filled me clogged nose of honey. When people stopped staring at me like I\nhad fleas (don't say it!), I fell on me bottom against an alley wall and slowly\nwatched other people walk by and streetcars roll by.\nI\nrun me fingers along me fluffy cheekbones, now as hard as me life.\n\"Peter?!\"\na voice gasped. I craned me neck up to see a familiar woman with bags (from the\nsmell maybe vegetables or powder; I couldn't smell with the dang honey hardened\nall over me!) in her arms. But instead of a vixen, a lioness, or even a\nshe-wolf, it was a human woman with clear skin and a white apron and a grey\ndress. \"Are you alright there, Peter? You look awful.\"\nI\ngot to me footpaws and slowly stood up from the dirty ground before wiping me\ntail, realizing it fell in a puddle and picked up some dirt. \"I-I'm alright,\nMrs. Lawton,\" I mumbled, not looking up at her. Having a human woman,\nespecially the mother of one of me friends, was embarrassing.\nI\nnoticed her finger touching me cheek a moment and her rubbing the leftover\nhoney in her fingers. \"Why in God's name do you have...,\" she gave a slight look\nof repulsion with dirt clogged into me fur, \"...honey? Peter why do you have\nhoney all over you, dear?\"\nI\nlifted me muzzle and formed a cheeky grin. \n\"Because I'm a sweetie for everyone,\" I mocked happily, sighing with a\nflicking and gross tail. \"I was trying to pull a joke on a...certain somebody...and\nit backfired on me.\"\nMrs.\nLawton brought me over to her tenement home a couple of blocks down into Five\nPoints, and I had to consider meself lucky that James and little Annabelle were\nout playing farther away outside, and not cooped up to see me like this.\nUnfortunately,\nLance's idiot twin brothers were there to laugh at me as the kind Mrs. Lawton\nescorted me inside as quickly as her straight legs could.\n\"Did\nyou get April Fooled Peter Gray?\" they asked in cocky unison, their tails\narched like one of them were in a mirror. \"We've gotta get Lance out here to\nsee this!\" One of them turned to the windows and shouted, \"Lance! Peter Gray\nhas honey covered all over him!\"\nI'm gonna turn 'em into Siamese twins! I thought bitterly. \nMrs.\nLawton closed the door and brought me upstairs to her family's rookery apartment,\nwhich hadn't changed since the first time I entered it from the winter and so\nmany times before. The small kitchen had a smell that carried Mrs. Lawton's\nbroccoli soup, hints of pork and...honey.\nTen\nminutes later, the kind human woman got a wet cloth and started doing her best\nto get the honey offa me cheekfur and headfur, as well as me arms and neck. I\ninsisted that she didn't hafta, but Mrs. Lawton was persistent. \n\"Please,\nah!\" a chunk of dried honey was pulled from me neck and took some fur souvenirs\nwith it. \"Y-Ya know that y-you don't-watch it!\" She pulled off another chunk\nfrom me headfur. \n\"Good\nLord, what a waste of honey,\" the Mrs. mumbled while wiping me twitching ears\nwith the wet cloth. Her furless and clawless pands felt soft on me ears, and it\nmade me fur tingle for some reason. \"Honey is expensive, you know.\"\nI\ncouldn't help but raise an eyebrow. \"I fell offa a two-story building and got\nhoney dripped all over me, and yer more concerned with the honey?\" I asked\npuzzled.\n\"Peter\ndarling,\" the human chuckled while pulling her braided hair back, \"I think if\nyou could survive a blizzard, you can survive this...\" She finished wiping me\nears and wiped me other cheek.\nI\nsighed and smiled. \"Good point, ma'am.\"\nOut of\nnowhere, amid the noise of the city outside the thin walls and the steam\nflowing through the pipes, she began chuckling. \"Please Peter,\" James' mother\ncleared her throat. \"Call me Laura. You're making me sound old...\"\nMy\ntail started wagging for some reason. \"But you don't look old, Laura...\" I saw\na hint of a smile from her and my tail wagged against the dusty floor some\nmore. \nSeveral\nminutes later, Laura stopped and said with a sweat that she got everything she\ncould outta me fur, but me shirt and pants were still sappy and sticky with the\ngolden goo. Laura's stubbornness to be a good mother got under me skin, but I\nlet her ramble of what she could do.\nThen,\nthe human clapped her hands like an inventor. \"Here's an idea,\" she grinned,\ntapping her heels at the wooden floor. \"You can have a pair of James' clothes,\nPeter.\"\nI\nraised me paws and shook them. \"Oh no, there's no need to-\"\n\"No\nI insist,\" Laura placed her hands at her waist and went to a nearby bedroom.\n\"Your clothes are torn and filthy anyway; might as well get you some new ones,\ndarling.\"\nWhy does she keep calling me 'darling'? I wondered. And\nI've only had them for...for... When was the\nlast time I wore different clothes?\nAnother\nten minutes went by, and Laura found me a grey pair of trousers with a black\nbutton in front. She showed I to me and I folded me ears as I bluntly showed her\nthe backside and she cut a hole for me tail. Laura then dove into James' old\ndrawers like a pirate digging for gold and pulled out black suspenders, a brown\nvest the perfect size, and a white undershirt that she says looks 'sharp' on\nme.\nThe\nMrs. gave me James' empty room and closed the door so I could change in\nprivate. For a while, as I smelled the cooking pot Laura was making from\nnothing, and the soot and garbage that came from living in a building owned by\nmore families, I smiled down at the clothes laid out by Laura. \nNo one's ever treated me like this before...\nWhen\nI finished buttoning me pants, fastening me suspenders, and tucking in me\nshirt, I looked in a nearby mirror and opened my mouth agape. Aside from the\nfew honey chunks under me fur and ears, I looked like an average boy that went\nto school. If I did go to school.\nI\nwalked out, and perked my ears at a strange sound in the room. Turning to me\nright, I saw Laura standing by a countertop, humming to an object singing the\nmost wonderful music me ears have ever caught in New York. It was a genuine\nmusic box, a toy the kids at the orphanage used to listen to everyday. \n\"Beethoven's\nFifth,\" I spoke up.\nLaura\nturned to me and carefully closed the lid of the blue and gold music box. \"That\nwas my papa's favorite when I was a young girl,\" she said, turning to me with\nher blue eyes widened at me appearance. As she knelt down and refastened me\ncollar, me tail flicked nervously for some reason, and me fur prickled like a\nsub being embarrassed by his mother. \"Oh Peter, you are such a handsome wolf...\"\nShe finished fastening and stood up to straighten her dress. \"I uh...hope you\ndon't mind, but I threw your clothes into the furnace.\"\nI\ngasped in horror. \"Me pocket watch!\" I ran over to the furnace and stopped when\nLaura coughed loudly and I turned to see the human woman holding its chain by\nher delicate fingers.\n\"April\nFool Peter.\"I\nfrowned and folded me ears in shame as I grabbed it back. \"I'm starting to hate\nthis day...\" I mumbled. Luckily, I had Easter Day tomorrow.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/834139-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-9-joseph-s-news.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/852444-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-11-ah-easter.json"}