Sometime in late July, it will have been a year since our grand adventure with our cat friend, Oliver. Needless to say, we do visit him every now and then just to check up on him. But we knew he is in good hands with Jenny. It seemed so surreal that our ordeal with Sykes was truly over with. We've been dealing with his shenanigans that he's pulled on us to get money that Fagin owed him. But ever since then, Fagin had gotten the help he needs from the Foxworth's income because of our heroics of saving Jenny. He planned on renting an apartment for all of us to stay in. Don't get me wrong, I love living here but it wouldn't hurt to upgrade a bit. Fagin had no debt to pay so we had nothing to worry about.

But we were back to the way things were before, just relaxing here in the boat house. Dodger had gone out to find us food because it was his turn again. I was curled up on my bean bag chair next to Einstein's makeshift house big enough for him to fit in. Rita was in her confined space asleep. Tito, no surprise, was dancing to soft rock and roll while Francis watched his soap operas.

My pointed ear twitched a little bit as the music was getting on my nerves a bit. I lifted my head and let out a yawn. "Tito, turn that racket off! I'm trying to watch my show, if you don't mind." Francis inquired. Tito looked at the bulldog with anger written all over his face. "Ya know, if you love the tv so much, why not marry it? You seem to love it more than anything else in this big wide world." Tito groaned. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that. He wasn't wrong. "Yeah, Francis, can't you watch something else? It's been the same thing over and over ever since Fagin got that thing." I say, seeing what he was watching. It made me roll my eyes. "It's not my fault you love to sleep almost all day and this show is more better than hearing the little rodent's rubbish music." Francis sneered, getting me to groan.

"I don't sleep all day, Francis." I dejected, feeling offended. I don't do that all the time. I do my daily share of finding us some food for the day. There's almost nothing else to do except wander the city for some more adventure. "You on the other hand are so addicted to that tv that we have to suffer with your stupid reruns. You need to let it go." I say, lowering my German Shepherd head with my ears raised. Francis seemed angered by what I said. But Tito was happy about it. "Alright, Rosie! You, once again, spoke your mind about this tv." Tito chimed, giving me a high five. I happily accepted it and laughed before crossing my forepaws.

"Alright you two, that's enough. Haven't you already learned by now that Rose hates it when you argue about this?" Rita scolded, getting us to look over at her. She seemed annoyed also about this petty argument. I then stand up and jump down onto the old wood flooring. "Yeah. Calm down you two." I said, stretching all four of my legs. Rita came next to me on my right side.

"You were complaining about it too!" Tito exclaimed. I looked over at Rita, who had one of her brows furrowed. We went silent after that and Rita rolled her eyes because we wouldn't get anywhere with it. Just then, the sound of someone's stomach broke the silence, getting us to look behind us to see that Einstein was awake and was holding a tennis racket in his mouth. "Anyone know when Dodger will get here with the food? I'm sooo hungry." he asked, looking up at the doorway then back at us. My eyes darted at each of the gang members. "Yeah, I'm hungry too. Dodger's been gone for a while. And sleeping isn't going to make it go away." I agree, sitting down will scratching my pointed ear.

"Anyone call for dinner, Dodger fans?" Dodger inquired, getting us to look at him with another set of hotdogs around his neck. He was leaning against the edge of the steps to get outside. "Yeah, buddy! Dodger always brings the goods!" Tito exclaimed, bouncing on Einstein's head again in excitement. "Dig in everyone." Dodger inquired, throwing the hot dogs to us. "So tell us, what did this cool dog do to get us food this time?" I ask, taking one of the hot dogs and laying down in front of it to eat it. "Did the kid help ya with it like he did last time?" Rita inquired, starting to eat as well. Dodger quickly sat down in front of us and began to start to tell of how he got it this time.

"It's actually a funny story, Rose and Rita. Picture this, 101st Cross Bay Boulevard, the traffic on the high, the hot dogs sizzling." Dodger laughed. I tilt my head a little to the right because this story sounds familiar somehow. "Enter Dodger, being his usual and smooth self. Then, it happens. A big and scary monster with a big brain that makes him as smart as a scientist, spots covering his whole body, his teeth dripping with blood. He looks at me with big brown eyes and he walked to me and I thought my time had come to an end then suddenly…"

Suddenly, the ceiling above us broke into a million pieces with a loud shatter along with something accompanying it. "Intruder! Intruder!" Tito shouted as we all ran for cover. I fell backwards in shock before skitting across the floor with my tail tucked between my hind legs as I hid behind a leaning board. I soon looked past the board to see what made that sound. When the intruder revealed himself, I instantly began to growl. "Cool it guys. It's just a Dalmatian." I say, walking over to the Dalmatian with my teeth bared. The spotted dog looked over to me with a nervous expression on his face. At this, everyone gasped and gathered around the spotted dog, who was covered in baking flower. I had my fluffy tail raised to show dominance.

When he looked over to Rita, it was as if something struck him. His face turned beat red and he looked nervous. "How'd you find this place?" Rita asked angrily, showing her teeth some as she stood beside me on my right. When he didn't answer, Tito barked at him in a demanding tone.

"Answer us, intruder!" he snapped. The spotted dog's body began to shake as his tail went between his legs. "I-I-I-I… uh… followed this dog. Dodger was his name! He's down here!" he stuttered. At that, I lower my tail and raise my head to look at Dodger. That's when it dawned on me. His story made sense now. He had help from this dog. We all cooled our nerves with this stranger. "Relax Dalmatian." Rita chuckled, giving him a wink. That made his face flush red and she walked over to Dodger. "Heh, you'll be alright. You really gave our main man quite the paw." I agree, giving a friendly gesture before trotting up to Dodger as well.

"Dodge, why do you always have someone help you get the food?" Rita wondered. Dodger shrugged at this. "Well, he did follow me to get a hotdog so here's his reward for the help." Dodger answered as he threw him a hotdog. The spotted dog wolfed it down as if he hadn't eaten in days. "You guys should've seen it. This dog actually catapulted himself into an apartment window to get some pie." Dodger inquired. "Oh really?" I questioned, now curious as to how he pulled that off. "Oh yeah. I did that. I'm a pretty smart dog when it comes to food. One time, I snuck into my owner's kitchen and pulled open the fridge to get a box of Zebra Cakes. Can't tell ya how delicious they were!" the spotted dog said excitedly.

As he was telling us that tale, I happened to catch something around his neck. It was his collar with a license on it. Did he belong to someone? I walked up to him to get a closer inspection. "I got a question for you. Did you run away from your home or something because no stray dog would wear a collar that fancy like that." I asked, lifting my eyes to look at the spotted dog. At my question, he tilted his head and glanced down at his collar. "No! No, you see… I uhh, that's what you get for being a smart dog! It's a reward!" he said, clearly lying to us. Something told me that he was bothered by something. The look in his eyes proved it.

"Are you sure?" Rita said, coming to my right side. He sighed as he looked down at his fore paws. "Okay… I did run away. But for personal reasons…" he admitted. My ears dropped at this as all of our faces dropped in sympathy. Whatever this personal reason was, it seemed to bother him a lot so much that he wants to keep it to himself. He's not ready to say what this reason was.

I can't relate with him about running away from a home because I was abandoned as a pup. It's a personal matter to me. Before we could get deep in thought, the sound of someone walking down the steps grabbed our attention. "That's my bed." Rita mumbled. I look over to Rita with a furrowed brow. "He hiding in there, Rita?" I ask curiously. The saluki shook her head and responded, "Yeah, figured that would be the best hiding spot." I sigh and roll my eyes at that.

"I'm back everyone." Fagin's voice called as he walked down the stairs, looking exhausted. At the sight of him, I began to bark happily as my fluffy tail wagged uncontrollably. We all then began to run towards him excitedly. "Whoa! Whoa! Heal!" he said, holding hands out to us. But I was the first to jump up at him, knocking him down to the floor. Everyone joined in and we all gave him loving and affectionate licks on his face. It's so exciting to see him when he gets back from somewhere. Us tackling him is a daily occurrence for him. You'd think he'd get used to it by now.

Just then, the sound of a single sneeze made Fagin perk up. We all looked over to the spotted dog. He didn't have that collar on him anymore and he was trying to make himself unseen by Fagin's eyes. But he stuck out like a sore thumb so it's kind of hard to camouflage himself in our rubble. "And who's this?" Fagin curiously wondered. None of us had seen a dalmatian before around this part of New York so this is news to us.

The spotted dog was too frightened to even take a step towards Fagin. To encourage him, Dodger and I walked to him. "Settle down, okay? He's not gonna hurt you." I say comfortingly. "Yeah, he's our old man. He's the one who takes care of us." Dodger said, giving the spotted dog a nudge.

The spotted dog cowered down a little bit because of not knowing who Fagin was. He shut his eyes as Fagin started to scratch him behind the ears. At this, he started to pant happily. "I've never seen a dog with black spots before. Do you belong to someone?" Fagin said warmly. The spotted dog shook his head shyly. Fagin didn't see that the spotted dog had a collar on his neck. He did belong to someone at some point. But without it, he's one of us now.

"Hmm… well, until we find what home you live in, you can stay here with us." Fagin smiled. We all gave a welcoming and warm smile at that. We got ourselves a new member.

"Well then, Ryan." Dodger said broadly, "Since you're staying here for who knows how long, we might as well tell you our names. Allow me to introduce you to Einstein the Great Dane, Francis the Bulldog, Miss Rose the German Shepherd mix, the small but sorta tough…"

"Ignacio Alonzo Julio Federico de Tito!" interrupted the chihuahua. "Wow, that's a long name for a chihuahua." Ryan chuckled, surprised by Tito's extended name. "And last but not least, Miss Rita." Dodger gestured to Rita. Ryan stared at Rita awestruck and lovestruck like Tito was with Georgette a while back. "Rita… what a lovely name that matches her beauty and hotness."

Rita and I exchanged glances at what he said. Was he… flirting with her? He just met her though. Needless to say, the way Ryan was looking at Rita weirded her out because that's the kind of look Dodger gives her half the time. He sometimes gives me that look as well. And neither of us mind it. "Are you okay?" Rita asked Ryan.

"Yeah." he nodded. I leaned over to Rita so that I could whisper in her ear. "Look out, Rita, looks like you have a secret admirer." I whispered. She playfully shoved me away. She knows I'm only teasing. "So Ryan, do your parents know that you're out here in this part of the city?" Dodger asked. Ryan's flirtatious expression dropped and he looked down at this paws.

"No. I barely knew where my mother is now. She left me when I was a pup." he answered sadly. That answer made my heart break in two because I know what it feels like to be abandoned. I had no idea where my mother was. My father is a mystery because I don't know if he even lives in New York. So I never knew him…

"What about your father?" I asked, feeling hurt. My ears lowered all the way and I looked down. "Dead." Ryan bluntly responded. I closed my eyes in sadness at that. He knew his father. He's so lucky… "He's been dead since I was 5 months old. How he died was tragic. He was riding in the cab of a locomotive as he worked by the railroads here in NYC, where we all lived in my mother's cab of the steam locomotive's boiler exploded out of the blue. Fortunately, the crew had survived. My father didn't. All the hot steam and coal hit him while he was laying down in pain when the boiler exploded." Ryan explained.

"And your mother left you because she couldn't take care of you by herself?" Francis gulped. Ryan nodded and looked at our faces. I laid down because of the sadness overwhelming me. "Is she okay?" Ryan asked, noticing how I was reacting to his relationship with his parents. Rita nudged me with her nose and Dodger put a paw on me. "Rose's sensitive when it comes to family matters." Dodger answered. He wasn't wrong about that… The talk about family matters like that does get to me on an emotional level.

"Don't worry about me… I'll be fine." I say, standing back up. "Ah okay then. So let's change the subject, tell me what goes on here?" Ryan said, getting us to look up. We tell him about our adventures with Oliver and our debt with Sykes and Roscoe and DeSoto a year prior ago. As this story went on, I could see that Rita was feeling a bit creeped out by the dalmatian's lovey dovey gesture towards her.

"I'm sure you'll warm up soon enough." I say to her. "Don't say that!" she whispered to me. I give a warm chuckle before walking up to my bed and jumping up on the softest part of it. We might as well go to sleep until tomorrow. My ears lower as I close my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. I can tell that this is the start of a new found friendship with our new spotted friend.