Dodger was bored. Sure, Fagin had money and wealth and a good financial investor who dealt with money and business Fagin had inherited after his loan shark's empire had fallen. When Dodger was frank, he thought that Fagin was not a smart man; but Dodger wasn't very smart himself and loved Fagin all the same. Dodger was thinking of this solely because Fagin was feeding his dogs then. Five bowls were filled to the brim with the usual dry dog food. Once Dodger had guzzled his food, he gently nudged Fagin and politely tilted his head and asked for more food. Although Fagin usually resisted at first, he quickly succumbed to Dodger's begging.
Initially, all of Fagin's dogs gained a bit of sleek fat; but Dodger gained more weight faster than any other dog of Fagin's, a fact to which Fagin was oblivious. Francis was the first to notice, "Erm, Dodger," the erudite bull-dog quavered, "Do you think that you've, um, increased your waist-line a bit quickly?" Although Dodger had known what Francis met, he enjoyed playing dumb and pressing on to the most extreme bluntness, "What? Are you saying that I'm fat, Frankie?" Dodger asked in genuine defensiveness.
"Francis," Francis snapped, "When will you ever learn that my name is Francis?" But in a more quiet, but more eerily intense tone, he responded, "Precisely, Dodger." Dodger chuckled, "Frankie, have you looked lately at yourself?" Francis looked stupefied and immediately muttered something incoherent and stormed off. Meanwhile, Fagin had walked into the kitchen to rinse his dishes. Dodger ambled up to Fagin and nudged him again. When Fagin looked down, Dodger walked to his bowl, grabbed it, and held it.
Fagin got the message, but chuckled and shook his head. Dodger repeated his action, to the same avail. Dodger waited a couple of minutes and repeated the action and was surprised when he was still met with a no. Dodger waited until Fagin was done and did something which he hadn't done since he was a puppy and was ashamed to use such a tactic on Fagin: he used his puppy eyes. That finally broke Fagin.
Dodger managed to wheedle out three bowls of food a night from Fagin slowly, but increasingly constantly. Moreover, although Fagin found an apartment in a rich neighborhood, Dodger found himself surrounded with working-class neighborhoods. Most notably to Dodger, there was a meat-packing plant with an employee which gave any edible refuse and any salvageable scraps from the factory to Dodger whenever the dog scratched at the back door where the man worked.
Dodger had known the man since he was a puppy because the man had given him scraps from the factory which had kept Dodger alive. This was also the man whom Dodger had first used his puppy-eyes on. When Dodger scratched on the door, he saw the familiar face of the man who had saved him. Immediately, the man went inside and brought out…
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
