{"sf1_id":861739,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray chapter 12: Hansel and Edward","author":"Domus Vocis","words":3624,"posted_at":"2015-05-15T22:18:00.000Z","tags":["1899","Anthropomorphic","Back","City","Couple","Fox","Furson","Gay","Humor","Manhattan","Mouse","New","Points","Tenement","Wolf","York","adorable","boy","bullies","chase","five","story","street","urchin"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/861739-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-12-hansel-and-edward","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/861739","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=861739\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter 12\nHansel and Edward\n          When I was at the orphanage, I remember this one cub that\nliked to push me buttons. His name was Franklin, a clean and stuck-up for being\na big raccoon. He kept saying his breed was so great and all, which turned me\nscrews whenever he said wolves were more terrible than even humans.\n          Compared to the brat, Gavin was a tyrant!\n          For more than a week, I've been hiding me tail from him and\nhis 'yote friends ever since me little practical joke on Easter. Gavin was\nfast, but I managed to escape his claws through an alleyway, but not before\nhearing him scream that, \"this is war, Peter!\"\n          And boy had the 'yote made it one. Not two minutes on foot\nof the school yard, were the kits and cubs cheering for me, grimacing, and the\naging Presser Lesser running down the school entrance with a yard stick\nclutched in her paws. \n          \"You scoundrel! Fiend! Y-You get over here!\" she lowly\ngrowled. Behind her, I saw Gavin with his arms crossed, leaning against the\ndoor and shortly grinning at me like a gentlewolf who struck an oil field.\n\"Devil cub! I told you to stay away from here, and you go around attacking my\nstudents with your fleas!\"\n          \"I don't have fleas, ya fennec!\" I barked, suddenly\nregretting it. \"Uh oh.\" The fennec school teacher was charging at me like a\nbull, yardstick in her paw like a sword.\n          Tail curled and jaw dropped in horror, I managed to evade\nher and ducked and twirled through the crowd of cubs until I ran outta the yard\nand away from her shrills. I kept hearing her shout bollock things like\n'ungrateful brat' and 'sniveling street rat.' \n          I went to James after school, and he explained that the\n'yote ranted at school how I supposedly threw rocks at him and his friends, and\ntried stealing some pennies from their pockets. And now he was recruiting\nschool mates for a 'Peter Gray hunt', with the Presser Lesser's turning away\nlike a blind woman.\n          All that was a fortnight ago. Ever since that incident too,\nI've had to lay low like a thief, occasionally popping by the Lawtons for further\nnews on what's been happening. I couldn't go to Lance's place nearby, since his\nmother would deck me like a stack of cards the moment she saw me tail wagging\nat her door step.\n          There were several moments that the 'Peter Gray hunters'\n(or as I liked to call them: Gavin's Goons) caught me off me guard after their\nschool days. I was once walking down Pearl Street to buy an apple when I\nstopped in me tracks, seeing Gavin and his Goons strolling down the street.\nThey eyed me amid the bootblacks and moving carts of vegetables, and I had to\nrun like a deer in the open field. I had to run for several minutes before they\nlost me.\n          And just last Tuesday, I was finding a place to do me\nbusiness when I turned a corner of an alley and saw Gavin searching for me.\nLuckily, I hid that time, but strolled right into a Goon and earned meself a\nbruise on the shoulder before escaping.\n          Don't even get me started on the weekends. For being the\nBig Apple, there were very few places\nto hide as a street urchin in New York. \n          Now, a whole fortnight later, I was sitting against a brick\nwall along the bustling Mulberry Street while the sky went cloudy and the air\nstale of liquor mule. It was getting busy lately, and it wouldn't be long until\nGavin's Goons came out to play.\n          Where to hide? I\nthought to meself. I couldn't go to Joseph's, since he said he'd double me tab\nif I brought fights to his establishment again, and Lord knew how much I owed\nhim.\n          I walked down the street and up at the sky, a low breeze\nflowing through my ears like a river and the sun barely peeking out like a\nnewborn cub's eyes. Gavin was really determined to make me life a living 'ell. I'd\nseen the 'yote angry before in school yards, but Gavin was as determined as the\nformer Confederacy from forty years ago. And they nearly won.\n          I stopped in me tracks and sniffed the air. Aside from\nnearby smock stacks down the neighborhood and terrible musks in the street,\nMulberry felt...wrong somehow.\n          \"...\"\n          \"..quiet, Carl.\"\n          I widened me eyes and ran down the street, just as pebbles\nstarted shooting down behind me. A nearby gentlewolf and lady gasped as I ran\npast them, and the gentlewolf cursed at the furson standing on the nearby fire\nescape. Must've accidentally hit him.\n          \"You little brat! Watch where you're shooting!\"\n          I didn't hear the rest, and didn't care as I dodged more\npebbles, and cringed as me ears caught the sound of ruffling footsteps and\nshouts to \"get the Gray! Get the Gray!\"\n          I turned quickly and glanced to see Gavin in front of\nseveral Goons, slingshots in their paws and running through the crowds on the\nstreet. I craned me neck back in front and spotted a wooden ladder at the foot\nof an alleyway. And it went up a story of the building, just a mere two dozen\nfeet high. Scrambling up, I barely felt Gavin's claws grab me tail, and heard\nhim climbing up the ladder, that I pushed it down.\n          \"Ow! Peter!\" Gavin yelped while pushing it aside.\n          I mustered up enough breath for me to blow a raspberry at\nhis sorry tail flat on the alleyway, and giggled at his Goons aimlessly looking\nat me like ants.\n          Me tail uncurled and I smiled while ignoring the bystanders\nlooking at me curiously from below. \"Well, well, Gavie,\" I inhaled, then\nexhaled amused. \"I must say...ya know how to...\" Good Lord, how far were we running? \"...how to track me\ndown.\" I gulped, and shook me tail.  \n          Gavin smirked at me in the alley and swished his tail\nconfidently. \"Ya make it hard, Peter,\" he spoke oddly calm. What was he up to?\n\"Ya know that ya can't stay up there forever! I can wait!\"\n          I began pacing along the stone roof. \"Awww, you'd do that for little old me?\" I chuckled,\nstill eyeing the 'yote. \"Still, ya hafta admit you've always looked up to me,\nGavin.\" I grinned and cupped me muzzle.\" Even now, you're looking up to me!\" A\ncouple of Gavin's Goons chuckled at me joke, and the 'yote gave him a sharp\nlook. \"Just face it, Gavie, yer a wolf-wannabe that can't let things go!\"\n          \"Ditto to ya!\" Gavin shot back, showing his canines. \"But\nat least I ain't a flea-ridden mongrel that pretends to be high and mighty, but\nis nothing 'cept an orphan whose parents left him on the street!\" He laughed,\nand his Goons followed like a chorus.\n          I balled me fists and bristled me fur, wanting nothing more\nthan to punch that smug 'yote in the muzzle. But before me anger could unleash\nitself, I froze and the fur on me back stood up. \n          Someone was behind me; I could smell the coyote musk\nanywhere. \n          \"Get him Ben!\" Gavin shouted below. \n          I dropped meself and felt a pang as me muzzle bumped onto\nthe roof. I glanced up, and the world slowed down as I saw Ben begin to fall\ndown the edge. Instinctively, I grabbed his right leg and missed his screaming\nand writhing as he dangled on the ledge. \n          \"Help me!\" the 'yote writhed. \"Help me! Help me!\" \nI\ncarefully bent down and lowered him on the ground, then jumped back as Gavin\ntried grabbing at me throat. Luckily, I heard Ben land himself on a pile of\ngarbage under him, and I ran for it as pebbled began flying themselves at me\nlike alleyway vixens.\n          After an hour or two of running, hiding, and taunting the\n'yote and his 'friends' all around the city, I found meself slumped up against\na tenement house's brick wall, clothes soaked in sweat, and blood pumping like\na factory machine while the city went to sleep. According to me pocket watch,\nthe time was 7:34 pm, and it had to be time for Gavin and his Goons to head\nhome for New York's bloody curfew. \n          As if today's misadventure weren't enough, God decided to\nbe a saint and make it rain. The clouds were gathering, and an echo of thunder\nwent across the sky. I looked up as it began to sprinkle in misty drops, and\nstarted to note what time it was when rain came down in buckets. I picked\nmeself up from the dirty sludge on the street and jogged toward the place. Not\nthat many people were out, other than couples with umbrellas, carriages\nstreaking through walls of water, and small cubs at the doorways begging their mothers\nto let them go out and play in the rain.\n          I was alongside a street beside the Hudson, not far from\nFive Points but too far from the Lawtons or Turners for me to walk through the\nrain. Even the horses in nearby carriages and wagons got spooked by lightning\nbolts shooting across the sky. \n          \"Ya better get home, kid!\" a raccoon on horseback shouted\nto me, even over the wind. \"Wind is picking up!\" He heeled his horse and was\ncourteous to have his hooves splash through a puddle and wash me legs.\n          The raccoon was right though. \n          But as I went to a nearby alleyway, I bumped into something\nand fell on the sidewalk, hitting me ankles and side first. \"Ow!\" I muffled,\nsitting up as more water poured onto me. \"Watch it, ya dumb-\"\n          I inhaled a familiar musk, and looked up to see a mouse\nlooming over me, wearing a look of surprise across his muzzle. \"Peter?!\" he\nbent over and quickly picked me up. \"What are you doing here? Don't you know\nyou can get a cold out here?\" Before I had the slightest chance to answer,\nHansel grabbed me paw and we scurried away from the street. \n          We went round a corner when I spotted a familiar tenement\nacross the road. It was a brown building a couple of stories high, almost as\nhigh as the one Ben nearly fell offa. Except instead of being a stone block, it\nhad more Victorian features to it, yet still held that wonderful, dull color of\nrainy New York City. And the door smelled like deep mahogany from a rich gent's\nhome (don't ask how I know).\n          Flicking me tail, Hansel let go of me paw and pounded at\nthe door two times, the third leading to a crack appearing. \"Name?\" came a\nvoice, and it took me a moment to realize the voice was German. \"Your name\nplease?\"\n          \"Hansel Beltz, room is on the third floor, please let us in\nbefore we freeze to death!\" Hansel gasped, keeping a paw up from droplets of\nrain. \n          The door widened, and the older mouse in front of me nodded\nto a bony mixed breed of dog hunched over, looking at me with a glass eye and\nmissing ear. From what I guessed, he was the grouchy landlord the mouse often\ntalked about, and it surprised me that he was older than I pictured.\n          \"Try not to stay out late in a storm like dis Hansel. And\ndon't bring too much water in with ya,\" the old dog pointed a finger at me,\n\"and who is dis?\"\n          \"Peter is a friend, Mr. Habicht,\" Hansel stated. From how\nthere weren't that many candles nearby, I couldn't tell what expression he had,\nand it made me tail curl slightly when 'Habicht' looked at me again with his\ncandle in paw. \n          \"A 'friend' you say?\" he perked his ears, sounding\nskeptical. \"Hmmm, just like that Edward fellow of yours up there, right?\" I\nnoticed Hansel shaking his muzzle, and the mixed breed smirked at us, slowly\nturning down an adjacent hallway toward a door. The last thing he called out\nwas, \"Good night.\"\n          \"Good night, Mr. Habicht,\" the mouse said. As soon as the\nmixed breed closed it, Hansel looked down at me. \"Follow me, Peter.\"  \n          Hansel silently led me up some dark stairs, even with the\nsmells of other musks in other apartments making me nose numb. We passed by a\nvixen opening a door to her apartment, and she gave me a smile, which I paused\nfor a moment before Hansel pulled me again. We stopped at the third level for\nHansel to stop at a door, this time smelling like stale timber instead of\nmahogany. The smell made me tail twitch slightly. \nThe\nmouse softly knocked and whispered, \"Listig?\nListig?\" As I shook some water offa me, the door opened slightly, and a red\nfox appeared in the frame, gazing at me and Hansel with a grin as wide as a\ncrescent moon. \n          The fox and mouse happily hugged, and I followed inside their\nsmall tenement apartment. The tenement was small, with only two rooms connected\nand barely enough room for the three of us to pass each other. The air held\nthat distinct smell of mouse and fox musk, along with the welcoming scent that\nwas cooking on the small stove in the far corner. \n          I sat down on a chair beside the other room's open\nentrance, and while Edward spoke to Hansel in deep German about something, either\nof the thunder outside or me, I stood up and turned into the other room with a\nflicking tail. \n          The room was smaller, with only one bed in the far corner\nand small shelves facing the door frame. I curiously knelt down on the wooden\nboards under me and saw a few things, like clothes, rags, and even a few books.\nI gently picked up one and tried to pronounce the author.\n          \"'Os...Oscar...Wilde...'\" \n          I opened a page and tried reading the first page, but I\nfroze in place after hearing moment behind me, \"Curious are you, lil' scamp?\"\nHansel chuckled. I placed the book back and looked back at him, perking me ears.\n\"I thought you didn't read?\"\n          I folded them, and slightly frowned. \"I know how to read,\nHansel,\" I sighed to him. \"I just haven't read in a while, that's all...\" We\nwalked into the main room while I glanced at Edward wagging his tail whilst\ncooking some gruel. \"I also wanted to know how ya'll been doing since...\" I\nshrugged. \"...that day.\"\n          Edward stiffened at the stove, and Hansel flicked his coil\ntail nervously. \"That day?\" he asked, sounding confused. \"Oh yeah, it has been\nabout five years now, hasn't it, Peter?\" He smiled and sat down. \"Five years\ntoday, the three of us lived here, right Listig?\"\n          Edward craned his neck at us and nodded shyly, turning back\nto the food in his pot. The fox spoke something in German to Hansel, sounding\nalmost frantic and terrified at the same time. \n          \"Now, now, Edward,\" Hansel held his paws up. \"If that were\ntrue, then we'd be homeless, wouldn't we?\" Edward spoke again, and remained\nquiet, but turned to me with a wag of his reddish tail. \n          I kicked back in the wooden chair and smiled at the smell\nin the gruel. It reminded me of me days at the orphanage. I thought back five\nyears ago, the day when me life changed for better. \n          To be honest, I never grew up in New York City, but in an\norphanage across the Hudson in the neighboring state of New Jersey (or what\nmany New Yorkers call 'Noo Joisey'). I was only eight then, and a black sheep\nof the place, being a wolf among hybrids and other species.\n          One day, Sister Susan told all the boys and girls that we\nwere going on a train ride across the country. We were surprised and excited,\nbut we soon realized were being placed on orphans trains. They were trains that\nheld orphans and homeless youth, and we'd be brought to the Midwest and be\nadopted. I wanted to be happy and excited, but I was terrified.\n          Me and the orphans were placed in a big wagon, and rode to\nthe local train station, which was also neighboring to the Hudson River, just a\nmere trip away from a place known as the Sandy Hook Bay. Before we were gonna\nbe placed on the next train, Sister Susan gave us a play break. \nWhile\nthe other cubs and kits were playing together, I sat all alone by meself,\nlooking at the railways and back to the ferry docks. They were loading up\nfursons heading toward the city deeper in the river, and it finally hit me that\nI wasn't gonna see the East Coast again. I knew no parent would want an older\nwolf to adopt; they'd be looking for babies and younger kits instead like they\nalways did at the orphanage. I didn't even get to say good-bye to Hansel and\nEdward.\nBut\nthen, right outta the blue, God decided to be me best friend again as soon as I\nspotted them heading toward the ferry. They were in a hurry, and carried a few\nbags under their arms. I...I didn't know what came over me. I was running to\nthem, got on the boat, found them shocked to see me, and a gentle nudge as the\nboat left. \nAfter\nthat, I stumbled offa the ferry and felt the cobblestone of the city under me\nfootpaws, as did a disgruntled Hansel beside Edward. While we were on the\nferry, Hansel scolded me at first for running off, but the mouse didn't report\nme to a policeman after I told him about the trains. At Edward's insistence,\nthey wanted me to live with them, but I didn't want to be a burden then, and\nnot now. So instead, they agreed to keep me secret safe and let me roam free on\ntwo promises. One, I didn't steal (only if desperate), and I keep their own\nsecrets safe.\nI\nsighed and looked to the mouse, who was now serving a bowl of the gruel to\nEdward. When Edward quietly yipped that the gruel got on his thumb, Hansel\nchuckled and petted the fox's headfur lightly. \n\"Our\noffer is still open, Peter,\" Hansel simply said.\nI\nperked me ears and turned to him. \"Thanks, but I still think that it'd be best\nfor both of ya,\" I said, tasting the gruel again. \"Besides, I can take care of\nmeself.\" I took another sip, and admired the aftertaste. It reminded me of\nhome. \nAs\nthe thundering and rain went on outside like a war battle, the three of us\ntalked and did idle chit-chat like the good days. Hansel told me about how he\nand his foxy friend were doing decently as street sweepers, even with the\nlittle pay compared to other jobs. Edward had fully healed from his factory\naccident five years ago, and could walk properly again, and made some few\nfriends in their tenement building. \nWe\nsoon got to me life, and I told the two about Gavin, his Goon, and the\nfortnight I spent being a bull's eye. \"All that for throwing bird seeds at\n'em?\" Hansel smirked. \"Ya really know how to make friends, don't ya, lil'\nscamp?\"\nI\nshook me muzzle and flicked me tail. \"I ain't a little scamp anymore,\" I\npressed. \"How long until ya gonna stop calling me that?\"\nHansel\ngrinned and whispered, \"When we can fly to the moon, lil' scamp.\"\nA\ncrack of thunder above made me jump from the seat, along with Edward. Hansel\nwhispered comfort to him, and it made me tail wag at how very close they were.\n\"Me\nand dear Edward are gonna go to bed, lil' scamp, so you can take this room to\nsleep for the night if you want?\" he said. Edward got up and smiled his silent\nsmile before heading to the bedroom.\n\"Good\nnight, Edward,\" I said. I hoped to have him speak in English, but he just\nnodded like a mime. \"You too.\" I sighed silently, but flinched when I felt the\nfox lean forward and surprise me by kissing between me twitching ears. When\nHansel wiped a wet napkin on me cheek, I flinched. \"Hey! Hey! Hey! Who are ya,\nme mother?\"\nHansel\nchuckled and tossed his bowl in the sink. \"Sorry lil' scamp,\" he said grinning.\n\"You had some of that food on your cheek there.\" \nI sat\ndown and inhaled the last of the gruel, happy to know the rumbling in me\nstomach stopped. \"When you're done with the gruel, dear, please put it in the\nsink,\" Hansel closed the door behind him and the fox, \"the place is dirty\nenough as it is.\"\nI\nfolded me ears and got up to do that before relaxing on the chair. \"Says the\nguys who sweep other people's messes on the street?\" I grumbled softly.\n\"I\nheard that.\" Hansel said through the door. Chuckling, I ignored the tapping\nabove me ears and fell asleep, thinking of what to do with Gavin. Then it hit\nme like a train in the plains. I knew just what to do to the Napoleon 'yote,\nand it made a devilish grin form on me muzzle.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/852444-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-11-ah-easter.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/865561-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-13-sticky-situation-part-1.json"}