05-21-03 @ 7:28 am EDT

Only because it's been so freaking long since I posted the last part...

King Kuts 1: Chapter 1

Remember that notes in bold are original to Writing.com, not to the story itself.

PEDRO LED THE trio, stopping here and there to sniff. They finally stopped at a yellow house on the corner, where Pedro was surprised to see a giant doberman chewing on a rawhide bone. Noticing him, the doberman stopped gnawing.

"Touch my bone and I'll chew on you next," he growled.

"W-what's your name?" Pedro asked.

"Thor's his name, scaring's his game," Fredestaire said boredly, as if he'd heard it a million times.

"Hey, that's my line," Thor said. Pedro noted that he had a slight New York accent, and pronounced his 'th's almost like 'd's. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm Pedro," Pedro said.

"Mm," Thor muttered, and went back to his bone. He started grumbling.

"He's always complaining about something or other," Fredestaire whispered. Pedro nodded.

Thor grumbled louder, and Pedro could catch a few words, such as "...dirt...crud...dog food...can, ugh!..."

"What's wrong now?" he asked the two other dogs.

"Dog food hasn't been very good lately," Fredestaire explained. "Especially canned. It's awful, really."

"Bland," Edmond added.

Fredestaire nodded sadly. "They don't make dog food like they used to."

"I see," Pedro said. "I only eat scraps once in a while."

The other three dogs looked shocked.

"'Once in a while'?" Thor echoed.

Pedro nodded.

"Goodness!" Fredestaire gasped. "A dog should have three square meals a day!"

"A day? I'm usually fed once every other day."

Thor jumped to his feet and snarled. "Boy, if I could get my teeth on that human..."

"No wonder he's so small," Edmond said.

"Helloooooo!" a light, feathery voice called. Pedro turned around and saw a little sable Shetland sheepdog daintily trotting down the road. She turned in at Thor's house.

Thor stopped his growling and stood up straight, his docked tail wagging. "Princess!" he barked, and loped over to greet her. She stopped, turned her head to the side, and held up a tiny paw. Thor licked it and they returned to the other three.

"Weeeellll, I'll be a poodle," she said. "If it isn't Edmond and Fredestaire, and a new friend. Hello, y'all!"

"Princess, this is Pedro," Fredestaire said. "He's from the South, too--Mexico, that is."

"My, my, my," Princess said. "I've heard of the Deep South but I never knew it got that deep." She held out a paw.

Pedro stared at her a moment, not knowing what to do, so he licked her paw.

"My, he's mannerly!" Princess laughed. She turned back and sat down.

"Hola, seņorita," Pedro said, going over and sitting in front of her. "Do you like your dog food?"

"Is this a survey?" Princess asked suspiciously, cocking her head to the side.

"No. Just a question."

"To tell ya the truth, I rather hate my dog food," Princess replied. "In fact--"

Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a jumble of voices. The five dogs yelped, startled. The light brightened and the voices grew louder. There was color everywhere--then, nothing.