{"sf1_id":871439,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray Chapter 15: A Day with Gavin","author":"Domus Vocis","words":4039,"posted_at":"2015-06-09T22:17:00.000Z","tags":["Abuse","Action","Angst","Anime","Anime and Manga","Anthro","Anthropomorphic","Arctic Fox","Canine","Character Development","City","Clean","Comedy","Compassion","Coyote","Discipline","Emotion","Fighting","Five Points","Fox","Furson","Gay Relationships","Human","Humans","Humiliation","Humor","Hybrid","Illustrated","Mammal","Mouse","Multiple Species","New York","New York City","Newsie","Otter","Plot Development","Raccoon/Fox","Series","Short Story","Shy","Speciesism","Story Series","Tail","Various Species","Violence (not In Yiff)","Wolf","anger","boy","fight","flight","grinning","innocence","laugh","mutt","newspaper","statue","street","teenager","thought provoking","urchin"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/871439-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-15-a-day-with-gavin","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/871439","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=871439\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter 15\nA Day with Gavin\n          One minute, I slept like a cub in a mother arms, the next\nminute I'm sleeping on a broken crate next to a snoring 'yote.\n          \"Ugh...\" I pushed me paws to the wooden bed and lifted me\nmuzzle up in a yawn. I turned to the lump lying beside me on the ground, and\nwrinkled me nose in disgust. \"Never knew how much I missed the sound of snoring\nin the morning.\"\n          I looked up in the sky, and smelled the scent of bread and\nvegetables far away, as well as the woken mule hooked to the wagon me and Gavin\nrested in overnight. It was the first day of Summer, and the rumbling in me\ntummy felt like rocks against a cheese grater. It didn't help me either that we\nwere resting in a wagon full of vegetables in boxes. That was the last thing on\nme noggin' right now when I winced at the loud snoring coming from Gavin's open\nmuzzle on the other end of the wagon.\n          Yeesh, how do his\nparents sleep at night? I asked meself. With a quick shrug, I grabbed a\nhold of the old blanket around the 'yote, and pulled with all me might. \"Rise\nand shine, me friend!\"\n          \"Augh!\" Gavin jumped like a little kitten, and growled.\n\"What the 'ell, mutt?! I was sleeping!\" I turned to me right, and folded me\nears before pulling Gavin up.\n          \"Get outta there ya street brats!\" a stocky and taller\nmouse in overalls snapped at us. Gavin and I jumped offa the wagon and scurried\naway from his growling. \"I don't want yer filthy paws all over me food! Go on!\nGit!\"\n          Gavin faced the mouse several feet away and growled. \"We\nain't filthy ya rat!\" he shouted angrily with a curled tail. \"We ain't street\nbrats either, ya smelly old-\"\n          I clamped a paw over the 'yote's muzzle and grinned.\n\"'-young man with a wonderful smile' he said it, didn't he, kind sir?\" I\nfinished saying to the mouse. I nervously chuckled before pulling me new friend\naway from the alley. \"We gotta go now, but have a wonderful day, sir!\" I waved\nwith me other paw, and sighed with relief when the mouse grunted and went to\nhis mule. \n          Me and the dumb 'yote turned a corner, and I finally let\nhis muzzle go to chuckle. \"That...was too\nclose, Gavie,\" I said with a swishing tail. \"Ya nearly had that mouse there\npummel us all the way to Jersey.\" \n          Gavin groaned and rubbed his back. \"This sucks so much...\" he\ngrowled with each rub. \n\"Ya\nonly been on the streets for two days, me friend...\" I said deadpan as a corpse\nin a graveyard. \"Yer just complaining like a lil' girl.\"\nGavin\neyed me a look of evil, but I smiled back. \"Outta all the punishments me ma and\npa coulda given me, why did they hafta turn me into a homeless mutt today?\" The 'yote stretched his right\npaw in the air and shook his muzzle. \"I feel like absolute manure now.\"\n          I leaned beside him along the brick wall, chuckling\nslightly. Me punishment for Gavin was like I died and went to Heaven. The 'yot\nknew nothing about living on the streets, and his mom and dad said if their son\ncame home and tried to cheat outta living like me, then he'd get the whooping\nof a lifetime. \nThis\nwas funnier. \"It ain't that bad of a life, Gavie,\" I grinned with a wolfish\ngrin. \"Ya don't hafta go to school, there's no worry of taking baths all the\ntime, and best of all...\" I leaned forward into the 'yote's twitching ears and\nwhispered, \"...no parents.\"\n          His ears perked up like a jackrabbit, and almost said\nsomething, but then chuckled slightly before rubbing his stomach. I rubbed mine\ntoo and wagged me tail at the thought of food. \"Let's go eat.\"\n          For breakfast, me and Gavin went through the crowds of\nfurson and a few humans before finding a vendor selling bagels for only a cent\na piece. I got one with no nuts in it, but Gavin did. It didn't help when a\npassing cheetah in worker's clothes bumped into the smaller mammal and dropped\nthe food into a muddy puddle.\n          \"Dang it!\" Gavin bent over to pick it up, and I lurched\nforward to grab one of the 'yote's suspenders when another 'gentlewolf' bumped\nhim. I pulled him up and kept eating me bagel. \n           \"Yer welcome,\" I\nsaid in between bites. \n          Gavin grumbled, \"Shut up, mutt...\"\n          I chuckled and ripped me bagel in half, handing the dang\nthing to him in the open. \"It's 'shut up, mutt please' Gavin.\" Didn't his ma teach him to be polite?\n          Sometime later, after Gavin spent a few minutes punching a random\npile of flour sacks like a madman, me and the 'yote sent through a corridor\nbetween two brick buildings a stone's throw from Mulberry Park. Above us were\nopen windows where the music of whistling women carried as they cleaned\nclothes. It struck me, and before I could warn Gavin, a bucketful of dirty\nwater splashed on us like rain.\n          \"Watch were ya walk, wolf-boys!\" an and darker-skinned\nhuman with mangled hair called down to us. From dozens of feet above, I could\nhear younger kids giggling behind her. \"That's nasty stuff there.\"\n          As I mumbled silently and shook the water offa me muzzle,\nGavin growled and pointed a finger at her. \"Ya pinky wench!\" he shouted. I\nwinced at the 'pinky' comment, and sighed inwardly at the 'yote's mad barrage.\n\"Watch where ya drop that water down on us next time!\"\n          \"Watch out and there won't\nbe a next time, coyote!\" the human smirked at us like a witch and closed the\nwindows before me 'yote friend said anything else. \n          \"This is just so wonderful,\" Gavin half-growled and\nhalf-chuckled. \"Been awake for only a couple hours and I've lost my breakfast,\nnearly fallen over, and got dirty dish water poured on me!\" The 'yote shook at his clothes and wagged the sludge\noutta his tail, but dirt still specked it like chicken pox.\n          I flicked me ears and sniffed me underarms before wincing\nat the scent of man odor and cabbages all over me fur. \"Outta all the street\nboys I've met Gavie,\" I choked at everything all over me, and willed meself to\nkeep me eaten bagel stomached, \"yer the worst I've seen. Stop being a female\ndog fer once and quit complaining.\"\n          I felt the heat and anger of Gavin's angry look even\nwithout glancing. \"Yer not the only one suffering, mutt!\" he whined while\nshaking his footpaws like a dancer. \"I smell awful now, like...that old wolf with\na hairless tail ya hang out with...\"\n          I perked me ears and raised an eyebrow. \"Nah, Old Man\nHoller smells more like a...old man than cabbages and sweaty fur.\" I chuckled and\nsniffed again for the same scent. \n          \"Listen, Gavie, I know a place not too far from here where\nwe can get clean,\" I explained while hurrying outta the range of the other\nalley windows. \"It ain't a bath, but it's better than a mud bath, right?\" I\nwaited for an agreement, but folded me ears and frowned. \n          \"Fine then! Lead the way, mutt,\" Gavin started walking\nbehind me wagging tail, and I heard the 'yote mumble, \"And stop calling me\n'Gavie.\"\n          A smile formed across me muzzle. \"Only when ya stop calling\nme 'mutt'.\"\n          While waltzing toward there, me and Gavin paused our\ngrudging stares a moment to notice kits running beside us. \"No school! No\nschool!\" they chanted and laughed under the thin smog and cloudless sky. \n          \"Hello Peter!\" a young folf from the school waved to me\nwhile rejoining his friends. \"Come here! I'll get ya!\"\n          A human boy no older than seven played with a fallen stick,\npretending he and the younger folf cub were having a sword. Nearby were two\nvixen girls me and ne 'yote's friend's age giggling with rag dolls in their\npaws. When they glanced at us, I nodded to their pretty little muzzles while\nGavin did the manly thing and blushed like a tomato. \n          \"So where are we going, Peter?\" Gavin asked fer the fifth\ntime that day.\n          A grin formed across me muzzle. \"Just wait yer pretty\nlittle tail Gavin,\" I craned m neck to the left of a street and smiled at a\nfamiliar street. Unlike other streets, this one was very dirty, with muddy\nroads, empty of any wagons or carriages or streetcars, the red mortar buildings\nwere boarded and bricked up with dust, and something called 'opium' was whispered\nin a nearby alley. One store down the block caught me sight and I said, \"Over\nthere!\" I grabbed Gavie's smelly paws and pulled him with me sluggishly under\nwe entered the shop.\n          The moment we stepped in, a whiff of heavenly smells\noverwhelmed me nostrils. There were pine needles, flowers, mahogany, baked\nchocolate cookies dipped in sweet, sweet sugar; even Gavin acted like a curious\n'yote and nearly fell over with a twitching tail like I did. \n          The shop itself felt like a giant forest, and smelled of\nthat lovely Native scent I grew to know and love from this place. A mere moment\nGavin closed the door behind our tails, an otter walked outta the backroom. \n          The moment our eyes met, he smiled. \"Peter!\" he chuckled\nwith open arms. \"It has been such a long time!\"\nI happily fell into the larger otter's dark-furred\narms and wagged me tail wildly. \"Otet me friend! \" I laughed. \"How ya been?\"\nOtetiani, or 'Otet' as I liked to call him, was an\nIndian otter that belonged to the Iroquois tribe of New York, and this was his\nhaberdashery of sorts. He usually sold braids, leathers, and whatever things\nmade a furson's nose fall in love with a scent.\nWe let go, and Otet wrinkled his nose with disgust.\n\"You smell like a pile of manure Peter,\" the otter coughed while\nturning to Gavin. \"Him too.\"\n\"Ya think we can borrow some soap from ya, Otet?\nPlease?\" I asked. \"Me and me 'yote friend were walking down an alleyway and got\ndishwater poured on us...\" I cheekily swished me tail and folded me ears as well.\nOtet frowned slightly, and shook his head with a\nsigh of irritation. Was that at me? \"Kits these days want to be filthy and dirty...\" he mumbled under his breath. \"Fine,\"\nhe turned to the counter and pulled outta a drawer a bar of the most\nsweet-scented me and Gavin's nose ever smelled, \"but only cause you said\nplease, young wolf.\"\nThe otter smiled and tossed the bar of soap into me\npaws. \"Gimme that, mutt!\" Gavin begged fer it outta me paws, but I washed the\nbar over me clothes and tail, then gave the soap to the desperate 'yote to wash\nhimself. \nAfter a few minutes, I happily handed the bar to\nOtet, me paws and self smelling like strawberries while Gavin smelled like a\nrich vixen's perfume. \"That will be ten dollars out of you each,\" Otet grinned,\ncausing me and Gavin to drop our jaws and run with the otter howling with\nlaughter behind us.\nMeanwhile, while traveling down Pearl Street, Gavin\ngot himself the shock of his life when we spotted two familiar 'yotes by Alan's\nPlace. It was Ben and Carl, turning to us with eyes as wide as saucers and maws\nhowling like wolves to the moon.\n\"Hey look! It's Peter Gray and Gavin!\" Ben shouted\nincredulously. It was then and there did I spot a couple other fursons in\npedestrian attire, and noticed them carrying slingshots like they were made of\ngold. \nSuddenly, a pebble dodged between me and the 'yote,\ncausing us to stumble while Ben and Car's friends laughed at our expense. \"Forget\nabout them. Just keep walking, Gavie,\" I mumbled under me breath.\nGavin growled. \"Ben, Carl,\" he pointed his muzzle at\nthem while balling a fist. \"What the 'ell is all this? Ya wanna get hurt, ya\ntwo?\" \n\"We ain't yer boss anymore 'Gavie',\" Carl spat with\na few chuckles behind his confident, swishing tail. \"The days of you pushing us\naround are over!\" \nGavin's ears perked as he showed the duo his canines,\nand was about to charge through the street to tackle them (or yell and scream\nlike a banshee), when unexpectedly, three rocks flew from Ben and Carl's group\nand one sent the 'yote back a few feet.\n\"Get them!\"\nI grabbed Gavin's shoulders and tugged the sluggish\n'yote up. \"Run fer it ya fool!\" I cried. \"Run fer it!\" There had to be eight to\nten furson boys, and Lord knew how hurt me and the 'yote would get if we\nstayed. \nEver since me little chat with Gavin's father, word\nwent around about how I supposedly whooped his butt like a schoolteacher with\nglue. Luckily, while every parent found out about Gavin's lying about me\nattacking him (mostly), all the other boys realized that Gavin was a large\ncoyote that could be hurt. Because of that, Ben and Carl formed their own Goons\nto turn on us like a pack of wild animals in the middle of a winter.\nA pebble flew past me right ear, and I turned to see\nthe ten furson boys aiming their slingshots with naïve sureness. I stuck me\ntongue out a moment and pulled Gavin down a street open with automobiles and a\ncouple of noisy streetcars. On top of a crate full of papers stood a newsie I\nknew and loved named Bromely, handing out a few rolls to lovely vixens and nice\ngentlewolves. \nAnother pebble flew past me, this time hitting m\nback knee. It stung, bu me attention went to when another pebble hit a raccoon\nin the shoulder. Five feet away from me. \nThey were aiming blindly, and that gave me an idea!\n\"Bromley!\" I pulled a few coins outta me pocket and\nraised them over me ears. \"Newspaper, please!\" The eight year-old German\nshepherd spotted me and smirked before tossing one over the crowd around him\nand into me right paw. I threw the coin at him, and the cub happily took it in\nhis free paw. \"Thank ya Brom!\"\n\"Don't mention it!\" he shouted back. When the\nshepherd saw the boys passing by him, I saw a smirk on his muzzle as he\nreplied, \"Good luck with 'em Peter!\"\n\"Don't let the street rat get away, guys!\" Ben\nshouted like Gavin. \n\"Try something more imaginative, boys!\" I laughed\nshortly as a pebble hit me mouth. \"That was\nimaginative!\"\nAnother pebble flew past us as Carl laughed. \"Stop\nrunning like cats, Gavin!\" A shout from a gentlewoolf came behind me, and I\nknew they mistakenly hit another furson. \"Mutt!\"\nGavin gasped as the boys behind us didn't stop bundling\nthrough the bustling street. \"What's the plan now, Peter?!\" he choked in\nbreaths. \n          Holding the newspaper roll in me paws,\nI turned a tight right down a street and pulled Gavin's shirt when he almost\nwent the previous direction. Thankfully, it was almost ten minutes past three\no'clock, when the Police Station came into view. And not too far from it were a\ngroup of coppers buying their favorite coffee beans from the vendor owned by\nthe Mad Martin raccoon guy. We didn't have much time!\n          \"Gavin, hold onto me paw if ya wanna\nlose them!\" I didn't wait fer an answer as I pulled the raspy 'yote with me to\nthe right. I jumped to the left, and made meself proud when the corner of me\neye saw a couple of small stones fire from Ben and Carl's slingshots to a wolf\ncopper's muzzle.\n          \"Oof!\" one of the copper's a blue\nuniformed wolf, whirled around to stare at the 'yote's look of terror. \"Yer in\ntrouble ya brats!\" Long story short, me and Gavin ran like 'ell down a nearby\nalley as we left the 'yote's former friends deal with being in trouble with a\nsober copper that shot at.\n          By the time we lost them and found\nourselves in an empty street, the 'yote was wheezing like an old printing\nmachine without a cup of sweet oil. Me, I was laughing so hard that I nearly\ncoughed out me breakfast. \n          \"Oh Lord, Peter...\" Gavin heaved his\nchest up and down, breathing heavily. \"How...how the 'ell...do you stand...all this?\"\n          I blinked and wagged me tail. \"It\nain't nothing, Gavie. I had a great time there!\" I laughed while leaning\nagainst a nearby fire hydrant. \"Ya could've been faster, but that game of tag\nwas still fun.\" I rubbed me belly when it rumbled, and turned to Gavin. \n\"What the 'ell did ya get the newspaper for anyway?\"\nGavin asked. \nAfter reading it over, and seeing nothing\ninteresting save fer an article on Trolley Strikes, I tossed it away. I coulda\ntold him I just wanted to know the news, but I decided to change the\nconversation a wee bit. \"Ya wanna get dinner?\"\n          \"Dinner?!\" the 'yote's eyes widened in\nshock. \"We skipped lunch in all this time?!\" I shrugged, and told the 'yote\nthat we spent a while running and another while walking. In response, Gavin\nmumbled, \"Somebody kill me...\" At least he didn't hafta go back to his parents,\nespecially Mr. Flint. \n          When he was done whining, Gavin and I\ntook a quick trip to Joseph's Bakery a few blocks down. Joseph, being the old\nwolf he was, seemed skeptical as can be when I invited Gavin in. After a bit of\nawkward silence though, I told Joseph that Gavin was me friend now, and that\nwas almost enough for the baker's ears to hear.\n          Surprisingly, when Rosie came down,\nGavin really opened up to her. Being Joseph's wife, I expected the wolf to be\nhesitant about letting the 'yote be near her, especially since she was three\nmonths pregnant with a cub. Instead, the 'yote and Rosie chatted about the\nbaby, and it made me and Joseph smile while we ate our bread pieces and the\nwolf buggered me to pay me tab.\n          Later that night, after wishing\nJoseph, Rosie, and little Johnny upstairs a pleasant evening, me and Gavin were\nwaltzing down Mulberry. Time really went by, and it were sundown. I greeted\nHansel and Edward as they were sweeping the street. \n          \"Evening Peter,\" the mouse said to me\nwith a smile. \nWhen he saw the 'yote standing next to me, he\nflicked his coiled tail. \"Who's yer friend?\" asked Hansel. Edward was still\ncleaning a bit with his broom, but the fox acknowledged the three of us with a\nnod.\n\"This is me friend, Gavin,\" I lifted a paw. \"Gavin,\nthese two are Hansel,\" I pointed to the smiling mouse, \"and Edward.\" Again,\nanother assured nod. \"He's quiet.\"\nHansel checked the time in a pocket watch of his\nown, and smiled. \"We gotta go now, Peter but you and Gavin have a wonderful\nevening,\" he waved to us and turned to Edward. \"Come along now listig.\" Edward smiled his foxish smile\nand waltzed with the mouse as they disappeared with their brooms down an\nadjacent street. I swear I saw the duo offer me a pleased glance before they\nleft. \n          \"Wow, people really know ya, don't they?\"\nGavin said after a moment. \"First a Native, then a baker, and a couple of\nGermans. Who's next? Governor Roosevelt himself?\" That would've been something.\nEventually, we slowed down along a dark street lit\nwith lamps, and I wagged me tail with his. \"Ya don't know half of it, buddy,\" I\ngrinned mischievously. \nThe 'yote raised an eyebrow and cocked his tail away\nfrom me legs. \"When did I become yer, buddy, mutt?\" he spat the question\nrandomly.\nOuch.\nI paused a moment, and turned to the 'yote\nexpressionless. He just loved ruining nice moments. \"Listen, Gavin,\" I spoke\nafter a moment of silence. Folding me ears, I explained, \"Ya should find\nyerself lucky ya ain't beaten up like a doll by yer...'friends', and I got us\noutta there.\"\nThe 'yote crossed his arms, curled his tail, and\nscoffed like a ninny in a novel. \"Ugh...\" he sighed/groaned. \nI sighed/groaned too. \"We haven't been friends fer\nall these years. Ya been seeing me as street trash, I been seeing ya as a\ncoyote acting like a wolf, and it ain't done nothing to us but get us into\ntrouble.\"\n\"Says the wolf who doesn't mind getting into\ntrouble?\" the 'yote asked skeptically. It was then that I noticed how me and\nGavin weren't that different in height. As I looked the 'yote over, he was\nbarely half an inch taller than me, but I was thinner than him and more swift.\nIt made me wonder how long I'd seen him as a large, stocky bully that loved to\ntorment me. \"Uh Peter, ya there?\"\n\"Huh?\" I shook me muzzle and chuckled while\nbeginning to walk and lean against a nearby crate. \"Well, that is true, but...\" I\npaused a moment, \"...but I think we've been getting too outta hand with our\nrevenge schemes.\" I lifted me paw up for a pawshake. \"When I told Joseph and\nHansel that we were now friends, I meant it. Truce Gavin?\"\nGavin frowned lightly, and lowly growled. However, I\nnoticed a hint of a grin in his muzzle too. \"Ugh, what the 'ell?\" he gave into\nthe pawshake and grinned. \"Where to next...Peter?\"\nA crease formed on me muzzle, and I pointed toward the\nharbor. \"This way,\" I happily pulled the 'yote with me (again he didn't know\nthe streets like I did). \nSince\nschool was over, there was a tradition among the urchins and homeless boys of\nNew York City. When it was almost dark, and the sun was dipping down the\nhorizon, a call would be made throughout the city. \nIt\ntook a bit of coaxing, but I convinced Gavin to climb onto the rooftops with me\nwhen we reached the harbor. Among the smoke stacks and the cobblestone roofs of\nthe city stood nothing but a blue sky filled with stars, the only light coming\nfrom a few buildings, tenants, and Lady Liberty herself across the moonlit\nwaters in the distance. Lastly, to me right, Gavin could make out the\nsilhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was then that I heard it. As the last\nsunlight disappeared over the water, and Gavin almost started complaining what\nwe were doing on a stone roof over Five Points, I heard it.\nA\nhowl. \nGavin\nheard it too, and we spotted it coming all the way from Brooklyn Bridge. It was\ndefinitely Kid Blink, since it sounded foxish with a hint of raccoon. I smirked\ndown at the 'yote beside me, and saw him smirk back in the cool air.\n\"Ahhh-woooooooooo!\"\nI waved over Gavin to the edge of the building. \"Ah come on and do it, ya silly\n'yote!\" I laughed at the moonlit sky as another howl  howled around, this time echoing from Central\nPark.\n\"Ahhh-woooooooooo-whooooooooo!\nWoof! Woof! Woof!\" it must've been a cub's first time.\nMore\nand more the howls came, and more and more the complaints were heard. Shouts of\nannoyance, an occasional howl being cut off for it to resume again. With a\nlittle more push, Gavin joined me, and he howled not like a 'yote, but a\ncoyote. \n\"Ahhh-wooooooooooo!\"\n\"Woof!\nWoof!\"\nIt\nwas a sight to behold, almost like an orchestra in the wind. \n\"Ahhh-wooooooooooo!\n\"Woof!\nWoof!\"\n\"Ahhh-wooooooooooo!\"\nBanging\nnoise came from the gutters around the building. \"Shut up, ya street brats!\"\nsomeone shouted at us. \"We're trying to sleep!\"\n The 'yote next to me smirked, and started to\nlaugh, like he were having fun. Frankly, I was too, and we howled like wolves\nand laughed like hyenas throughout the starry night. ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/865946-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-14-sticky-situation-part-2.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/875358-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-16-fun-in-the-sun.json"}