The Runaway Adventures

Chapter 6:The Rescue Begins

Lady and Tramp hurried through the neighborhood streets, and gradually, the soothing, contented atmosphere of Park Avenue vanished. The affluent, neatly kept houses became less and less prim and proper. Lady noticed the streets were becoming rugged and dingy as she followed Tramp towards town, and she was growing increasingly nervous as the comfortable Park Avenue atmosphere that she loved diminished before their eyes. "Tramp, we're not going... well, we're safe from the dogcatcher, aren't we?"

"Oh, of course!" Tramp confidently told Lady, with a lot of energy radiating from his voice. In contrast to Lady, Tramp knew these streets down pat, even though it had been months since he lived there. "We have licenses, remember Pidge?"

Lady nodded, but she told Tramp, "But that didn't matter last time."

"Don't worry Pidge, I'll get you out of trouble," Tramp told Lady reassuringly.

"But you didn't last time," Lady continued worriedly.

"Yeah Pidge, but I'll be more careful this time, promise," Tramp told Lady comfortingly. "Now come on, let's go find our kids."

Lady and Tramp headed into town, but even though they continued to draw further and further away from the nice houses and darkness was beginning to set in, Lady began to regain her confidence with each step. Part of her new confidence was that she had not run into trouble yet, but she was also encouraged by Tramp's buoyant energy and reassuring words. At last, they reached the main street of town.

"Well, here we are Pidge," Tramp told Lady. The main street was relatively quiet, shops were shutting down for the night, and they couldn't see Scamp and Angel anywhere.

"Maybe Scamp and Angel will be in the pet shop," Lady suggested. "They might be interested in sneaking some dog treats."

"Good idea," Tramp replied, and the two of them walked up to the pet shop window. Lady shivered with the sight of it.

"What's the matter Pidge?" Tramp asked her worriedly.

"Oh, nothing," Lady told Tramp. "Just... well, I was muzzled there once, and I won't ever forget it," Lady told Tramp, referring to her incident.

"Aww, you poor pidge," Tramp told her. "Let's not stay here for long. We'll take a quick look."

Lady looked nervously through the pet shop window and scanned the shop, but to her dismay there was only the pet storekeeper, yawning, and some birds chirping in their cages and fish swimming in a large glass tank. "Not here," she told Tramp sadly, dejectedly shaking her head.

"Let's see if we can cover more ground if we separate," Tramp suggested to Lady. "Pidge, you keep looking in the shop windows, while I explore the street hideouts. I know the hideouts in town pretty well, so I'll be able to see if they're hiding in any of them."

Lady agreed, and Tramp left her side while she continued to look through windows. She checked all sorts of shops especially butcher shops where she thought Scamp might like to stop for an afternoon snack, and also schools, thinking that Angel might want to find a child to latch onto for a new family. Yet not only could Lady not find Scamp and Angel, there was no trace of them anywhere she looked. There were none of their loose furs or their muddy tracks, or any other sign of them at all.

Lady, walking sluggishly and with the occasional tear in her eye, sighed with her failure to find her children. She looked up in the pink-tinged sky and hoped with all her heart that wherever they were, they were safe. She couldn't help but to worry what might be happening to them now. Maybe they were stuck in the dogcatcher's truck or even worse, maybe they were being chased and attacked by mean street dogs like the ones who chased her. Shuddering with these worries, Lady rounded the corner of the street and went to return to Tramp. She immediately noticed some trash cans lying on the ground. Then she noticed that Tramp was busy knocking down the trash cans, watching the trash fly out, and grabbing bones out of the cans. She noticed that incredibly, he seemed to be somewhat enjoying himself.