{"sf1_id":865561,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray: Chapter 13: Sticky Situation Part 1","author":"Domus Vocis","words":3170,"posted_at":"2015-05-24T19:35:00.000Z","tags":["1899","Action","Adolescent","Adventure","Alternate Society","Backfired","Bible","Boy teen","City","Comedy","Coyote","Fantasy","Five Points","Fox","Glued","Historical","Human","Humor","Manhattan","Mild Drama","New York City","No-Yiff","OC","Plot Development","Prank","Short Story","SoFurry","Speciesism","Story Series","Violence (not In Yiff)","Wolf","adorable","black wolf","character","father","kit","plot","practical joke","story","street","suspense","teen","twelve","urchin"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/865561-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-13-sticky-situation-part-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/865561","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=865561\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter 13\nSticky Situation\n          \"I had to hide and run like a cockroach for a while and all\nya can say to me is 'hello'?!\" I ask incredulously with a flicking tail. \n          I was sitting at a table across from James and Lance who\nsmirked at me as I shook me muzzle amused. Me tail flicked at the door as Mr.\nLawton brushed by it chasing Annabelle around the apartment playfully. And as I\nspoke earlier, Laura was busy with tonight's dinner for the Lawtons.\n          James smiled cheekily like a hippo. \"Yes, Peter,\" the human\nboy said, turning to Lance. \"He's told me that you could survive Gavin and his\nGoons, so we didn't worry. Much.\"\nAs I\nignored the duo, me nose smelled the food cooking behind me calming tail,\nturning me neck to spot Mrs. Lawton, Laura, sprinkling a batch of bread with\nfried chicken and jelly made from the market down the street. \"Smells lovely,\nLaura. That dinner for tonight?\"\n          \"Yes it is, Peter,\" the Mrs. wiped her brow of sweat and\nonto her plain clothing, and then placed the uncooked chicken in the oven. A\nsecond later, her hand slipped and touched the metal, her groan mixing in\nrather well with Annabelle's happy shrieks in the other room. \"Oh God, Henry,\ncan you keep it down please before our neighbors complain to the landlord?\"\n          Mr. Lawton emerged from the room with a giggling and squirming\nyoung baby girl wearing a yellow dress. \"Sorry love, but it's my day off,\" he\nleaned forward and smiled as he kissed Laura's pinkish cheek, \"and who knows\nwhen I'll come home without a headache of my own again?\"\n          Laura just simply chuckled and jumped slightly when a\nknocking sound came from the door. \"Oh Lord, who can that be?\" Laura walked\nacross the room \n          I was sitting at a table across from James and Lance who\nsmirked at me as I shook me muzzle amused. Me tail flicked at the door as Mr.\nLawton brushed by it chasing Annabelle around the apartment playfully. And as I\nspoke earlier, Laura was busy with tonight's dinner for the Lawtons. \nNear\nthe end of May did I finally concoct a plan to deal with Gavin. It was\nbrilliant, almost too much for even me mind to comprehend and me tail to nearly\nfall off wagging. I was gonna prove to every furson in Five Points that I\nwasn't a thief, a scoundrel, or a flea-ridden wolf that crawled in the sewers\nlike an alligator.\n          I smelled a whiff of sugar and grinned. But first... \nI\neyed the small jar that was sitting on the counter, and noted that Laura\nborrowed a recipe for cookies from a neighboring tenant (I didn't know the name\nnor species), and cooked a dozen baker's dozen of 'em tasty things for James'\nthirteenth birthday for the street. Sad thing was, that occasion of heaven (and\ngetting meself free meals) was back when Gavin and Friends were after me hide\nlike hunters after deer, and I missed the party. \n          Luckily, I could smell the remaining cookies in that thing\nlike a musk down the street. And as Laura stopped at the door to open them, I\nhad me paw just a mere fur hair in when-\n          \"Hello, Mrs. Turner. What a lovely surprise for you to be\nhere.\"\n          I swiftly hid the cookie in between me knees under the\ntable and smiled heartedly.\n          Raccoon musk filled the apartment as Mrs. Turner, Lance's\nmother, nodded to Laura. \"Of course, Mrs. Lawton,\" she spoke kindly to Mr.\nLawton playing with Annabelle. \"I was just wondering if I could have that\nwonderful recipe I gave you, if I can?\" As she shifted her stance, me tail\nfroze in place when her eyes fell on me. \"What is that thief doing here, may I\nask?\"\n          Lance groaned silently. \"Mum, when will ya stop calling\nPeter a thief?\" he asked with flicking ears. Me fur stood on end as the stolen\ncookie fell from me lap and onto the floor, and Mrs. Turner eyes me wearily.\n\"Uh, that was mine.\"\n          As Laura went back to the kitchen area and rifled through\nthe recipes, I folded me ears as I did me best to hide the frown on me muzzle.\n\"Hello, Mrs. Turner,\" I said to the raccoon giving me a frown. \"I hope yer day\nis going well like the weather?\"\n           Thank the Lord that\nLaura handed her the recipe and Lance's mother left just like she arrived.\nAfter a couple minutes of silence, Laura told me, James, and a smirking Lance\nto go outside and play.\n          \"Try to stay away from trouble, Peter?\" she asked me.\n\"Okay?\"\n          \"Can't promise ya that, ma'am.\"\n          \"Then try to stay out of jail, dear!\" she tossed me the\ncookie from the floor. \"And next time you take something, as permission first,\nor you will end up in a jail cell.\" She chuckled, and I did too before nibbling\non the cookie ravenously.\nAs I\nfinished it off and happily chewed the sweet food down in one gulp, we went\ndown the stairs and out the door onto the smelly, cobblestone street. The\nmoment we were outta earshot, I turned to me friends and grinned wickedly. \"Ya\nwanna help me get back at the 'yote?\"\nI\nalmost expected Lancie to back away and pull James away, saying we shouldn't\n'antagonize Gavin anymore'. But to me surprise, the raccoon grinned back at me\nand asked what I planned to do. As for James, I had to promise the human he'd\nchoose where to go next time we went out to play.\n\"If\nya don't find yourself in a cell first, Peter,\" he mumbled under his breath as\nwe walked to our destination. \nInstead\nof joining Harry the fox in playing a game of kick-the-can or chasing other\nboys free for the afternoon on this marvelous Saturday, I dragged me two best\nfriends through Five Points until we found the Hudson River. As always, the\nriver was busy, and I couldn't stop meself from chuckling at James' awe at\nseeing the vast waters, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge up the river. \n\"It's\nso big, Lance,\"\nLance\nnodded\nSuddenly,\nthe human let go of me paw. \"Whoa, easy there James,\" I grabbed it and pulled\nhim with through the musky crowd of fursons. Some were immigrants, others steel\nworkers on break, and even a couple of gentlewolves in fancy attire. \"Keep\nholding or ya'll be lost.\"\nLance\ngroaned and pulled his paw away from mine in annoyance, and followed me until I\nstopped in front of a shack tucked in between a stove shop and a blacksmith's\nbuilding. It smelled like liquor, rotten tomatoes, and a musky wolf smell as\nold as the bricks and wooden boards held together. \nI\nknocked. \"Old Man Holler?\" I shouted. \"Ya in there?\"\nAs I\nknocked again, the door opened inwardly, and I yelped before falling inside as\na familiar chuckling appeared above me. \"Ah, young Peter!\" he chuckled, pulling\nme up to face me muzzle with a cloud of awful breath and yellow teeth. \"Do ya\nfinallies have de pleasures of taking mes whisky again?\" The old wolf cackled\nand dropped me vest, and I wiped me knees of dirt before clearing me throat.\n          \"Can I have a batch of that glue ya claim 'God' gave ya?\nPlease?\" I asked in a grave voice. \"I'll give ya money for more booze if ya\nwant?\" I reached into me pocket and pulled out a dollar's worth of coin.\n\"Here.\"\n          Old Man Holler took the coin and started counting them with\neach clawed fingernail. But as I started to wag me tail, the old wolf grinned\nat me. \"Yer a dime short, boy,\" Holler said, chuckling. Lowly growling, I\nreached into me pocket and gasped at it all being me last coin. \"We crud, I'm\noutta money, mister.\"\n          Right before Holler was about to close the door (and not\ngimme back me money!), James said, \"Wait! I gotta dime here!\" The young lad\npulled a dime outta his trousers and quickly gave it to the grey wolf. \n          After another counting, Old Man Holler wagged his tail\nafter counting. \"I wanna thanks ya fer the $1.10 ya gave me, boys,\" the old\nwolf choked with laughter and rushed inside his shack while Lancie, me, and\nJames stood there dumbstruck.\n\"Gotta\ngive him credit for being clever,\" I chuckled.\nOld\nMan Holler then came outta his shack and dropped a vial of clear liquid into me\npaws after chugging half a bottle of his shine down. \"Be carefuls with de\nstuff, boy,\" he croaked while drinking the bottle his paws wrapped around.\n\"Water is yer friend with it, but don't gets too cocky with its stickiness.\"\nThe wolf paused a moment and turned right and left before leaning down at the\nthree of us and whispering, \"What are ya's doing with its anyway?\"\n          I chuckled and flicked me tail happily. \"Well...\" I stood up\nand whispered me plan in his overgrown ears before we went on our way with Old\nMan Holler howling with laughter from his prime.\n          \"Uh Peter, why did I have to pay an extra dime for this?\"\nJames asked a moment later. He pointed to the vial in me paws, and I had to\ngrin like a lunatic.\n          \"This,\" I held it out proudly, \"is me plan fer getting back\nat that 'yote, me friends!\" When a gentlewolf passed by us with his lassie wife\nin tow, I lowered me voice. \"This 'ere is a dose of Holler's glue. Personally,\nI don't know how he makes the stuff, but it'll stick to things like Holler on a\nbottle.\" I chuckled softly and grinned. \"It washes off with water, but think of\nthe things we can do with it to a certain 'yote with tan fur and a smug grin as\nbig as his mother?\"\n          James and Lance's eyes turned into a duo of saucer plates,\nand a pair of smug grins formed on their muzzled while mine did too. Wagging me\ntail gleefully, I informed them of what I hoped to do, and the whole idea made\nJames wanna jump up and down like a child and Lance say, \"I gotta see the whole\nthing!\"\n          \"And ya will, but I want ya to be watching from afar,\nplease?\" I asked Lance, then facing Jame's confused blue eyes. \"You too,\nbuddy.\"\n          We eventually stopped beside a cart carrying cabbages, and\nJames asked, \"Why can't we be with ya, Peter?\"\n          \"It's cause ya prefer to be alone, ain't it?\" Lance\nflourished his bushy tail and looked at me skeptically. \"Ya wanna do this on\nyer own and not with yer friends, right? Right?\"\n          I shook me muzzle and smiled. \"Ya both are me friends, but I don't wanna watch ya get in trouble with yer\nfolks fer this,\" I stated, causing the raccoon and human to pause surprised.\n\"And I wanna give ya a show.\" Again, their smiled made me tail wag like a wild\nanimal.\n          After half an hour of laughing and walking, the three of us\nappeared outta an alleyway next door to the 'yote's residence. As always, the\nsmell of rotten fruits and fur burned me nostrils, but I kept meself together\nwhile eyeing for Gavin.\n          Fortunately, the noise of Mrs. Flint's voice found us\nfirst, and I had to throw meself and James behind a barrel as the plump female\n'yote strutted past a smiling Lancie with a waving paw and a nodding innocent\nJames. \n          \"Excuse me boys,\" Mrs. Flint walked past them heaving some\nbags in her large arms. For a wee second, I wondered how she even got fat in\nthe first place while everyone else in Five Points was starving more than me.\n\"Gavin, where are you?!\"\n          I held down a giggle at the look on Lancie's frozen face,\nbut managed to keep it down when I heard the familiar voice I knew and loved,\ncoming a few wooden doors down. \n          \"I'm here, Ma! What is it with all the yelling?!\"\n          James ran beside me with Lance and smiled. \"Good luck,\nwe'll be watching from afar if ya don't mind,\" the human boy spoke quickly and\nhurriedly before me raccoon friend added, \"Don't get pummeled again, honey.\"\n          I folded me ears and turned to them racing across the\nstreet and up a flight of fire escapes. Now, they could see the spectacle I was\nabout to do, and I grinned at them while peering round the corner. \n          \"Will ya shut up, mother? Just do dinner, wench!\" Gavin\ngrunted before closing the door of shouting. \"That little...\" Couple of\nswearwords later, he sat down on the stairs and I grinned at me chance.\n          What could I use along with me glue? I looked around the\nalleyway for anything and everything. The gaps between buildings were great\nplaces for common folk to throw away their garbage, whether it be whole foods\nor even the most useless (and useful) of things. Some sappy fursons were even\ndumb enough once in a while to drop money like a crumb of food.\n          At last, I found the perfect item, and someone was kind\nenough to wrap it in a bag no bigger than me ears and head.\n          Oh ho ho ho, this is\ngonna be me best work yet! I giggled like a cub about to win a round\nof kick-the-can. I might wanna make this me new favorite hobby.\n          Carefully climbing up a nearby ladder, I tried me best to\nbe quiet as a fox and quick as a thief while holding the bag with one paw. By\nthe time I got to the top of the ladder, I climbed up a nearby fire escape and\npretty soon loomed over the 'yote above his head on the rooftops of his own\ntenement!\n          I reached into me pocket for the glue, and set the bag down\naside. I had to wait a bit for the wind to be still as a board, and Mother\nNature became me friend a mere second later. \n          I spotted the two faces of the curious raccoon and human\nboy in the alley across, and smiled. I\ngotta impress meself with this one! I smiled over the unknowing 'yote. Taking\nthe tial of glue, I poured it down over the 'yote!\n          \"Augh! What the 'ell?!\" \n          Quickly, I poured the bag's contents over Gavin, and peered\nover to laugh at me work. The 'yote was now covered in a splattering of watery\nglue and a whole bagful of white and grey pillow feathers, becoming less of a\ntan coyote boy and more like a giant chicken with fangs. Everyone on the street\nnoticed this as well, and a huge circle formed around Gavin while I jumped down\nthe fire escape, almost falling over with laughter before landing on the ground\nlike a giddy cat.\n\"Peter!\"\n           Passing by other\npeople gawking at the sight, I waved at the 'yote with a bigger grin. \"Ya look\ngood Gavin! Did ya get a new coat of fur?\" I called out. \"Or did ya become a\nchicken?\"\n          Laughter filled the crowd of people, and I reached into me\npocket to check the time. According to me pocket watch, it was barely 3:00, and\nI turned to try and find me friends, an unseen force pushed me muzzle into the\nground.\n          \"Chicken, huh?!\" I rolled over to see a feathered Gavin\nsnap, \"Yer dead, mutt!\" I staggered back while onlookers behind us still\nlaughed and gasped at the 'yote's actions. \"Stay still, ya mutt!\"\n          \"Try a new insult and I will!\" I dodged his fist and\ntumbled to me footpaws before running for it. \"Ya'll hafta catch me first,\nchicken-'yote!\" Again, he tackled me, but I staggered like a drunk sailor pushed\nmeself up from his sticky shoulder.\n          I wish I hadn't done that.\n          \"Let go of me, ya mutt!\" Gavin, still feathery as a\nchicken, tried to push me shoulder away.\n          \"Stop!\" I shouted, making the 'yote freeze. \"I'm glued to\nya shoulder, and does ya mother wanna see us stuck together, Gavie?\"\n          His eyes widened with mine, and I tried to pull me paw away\nfrom his soft and sticky shoulder, but all I did was send us tumbling on the\nstreet and other people laughing at us. Luckily, the rest of the glue was dry,\nbut me and Gavin were still in our predicament. I tried to pull and pull and\npull with all me might, did me best to pull away.  \n          After several minutes, me and Gavin laid on the ground,\npanting and beat.\n          \"Somebody slap me for doing this...\" I mumbled. Next thing I\nknew, Gavin's fist hit me cheek, and I grumbled, \"Not like that, ya dumb\n'yote!\" \n          Suddenly... \"What the 'ell is all this?!\" someone snapped. Me\nears perked up, eyes turning to the last person me and Gain wanted to see. \"Son,\nwhat are ya doing with that boy-is he that Gray feller ya been talking about?!\"\nHe trudged toward us.\n          Gavin widened his eyes and pulled himself up along with me,\nme arm still stuck to his shoulder. \"D-Dad...we can e-explain!\" he said\ndesperately. \n          I dropped me gaze and wanted to crawl in a dirt hole deep\nenough for me to forget the look on the coyote's face. Almost as tall as a lamp\npost, Gavin's father was almost skinny and stock as a gorilla too. Today, he\nwore a set of dirty overalls and a pair of dark green eyes, almost like a\nsnake. \n          \"Then explain fast, boy!\" the 'yote grabbed Gavin's\noveralls (luckily the one not covered in drying glue), and glared at me\nstumbling forward. \"Are you glued together?\" I sheepishly nodded and curled me\ntail after smelling alcohol linger in his stench breath.\n          \"Mr. Flint, I can get us outta this, but we're gonna need a\nbucket please,\" I said slowly. The coyote in front of us was known to be angry,\nand the last thing I needed was to get the 'yote a reason to punch me.\n\"P-Please?\"\n          The green eyes stared at me for a moment of a century, and\nleft to come back with a bucket of water (I hope so). After pouring it all over\nme and Gavin, I pulled me paw offa the 'yote and laughed happily at it coming\noff.\n        \"Now, come with me!\" the older 'yote pulled our collars and\ndragged us across the cobblestone ground, ignoring the spectators as me and\nGavin were pulled into the Flint residence of Five\nPoints.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/861739-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-12-hansel-and-edward.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/865946-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-14-sticky-situation-part-2.json"}