Chapter 16- Diner For Forgiveness

    Lady, Tramp, Pongo, and Perdita approached the top of the hill, and then, Tramp stated, “Come on… follow me.”
    “Do you see them on your side?” Pongo asked Perdita, who shook her head as they crossed a bridge over a peaceful river.
    “They couldn’t have gotten that far away, could they?” Lady asked nervously.
    “I don’t know Lady, I don’t know,” Pongo answered.
    “Nah, of course not!” Tramp stated as they turned a corner on a sidewalk path with a fountain on it.
    Lady, seeing the fountain, gasped. Looking down on the sidewalk she was on, she saw a familiar heart with two pawprints on it.
    “What is it?” Pongo asked.
    “This… this is where Tramp and I had our first date,” Lady whispered quietly.
    “Oh, how sweet,” Perdita commented. Tramp pretended to ignore Lady and Perdita’s discussion, saying “Hey, are you coming?”
    The four of them walked through sidewalks of a couple of streets, but Tramp seemed to have another intention on his mind as he forged ahead and didn’t bother to look in the windows, unlike Lady, Pongo and Perdita.
    “Are there… any of our puppies in those windows?” Perdita asked.
    “Hey, let’s go on,” Tramp stated firmly.
“But…” Perdita stated, but Pongo nodded his head and whispered something in Perdita’s ear, Perdita nodded afterward. Lady reluctantly decided to follow Tramp, as did Pongo and Perdita. Eventually, the four of them got to a part of the town that was almost familiar to Lady…
    Tramp winked at Lady and stated, “Remember this place, Pidge?” he asked.
    Lady gasped. There was a familiar sound of accordions and guitars. “Tramp, we can’t! We have puppies to look for… and… we must get back…”
    “Relax,” Tramp told her. “We can always look better on a full stomach.”
    “No, we’ve got to get going and look,” Lady told Tramp firmly.
    “Well, if you wish,” Tramp stated, but as they drew nearer, Lady, having not eaten in a couple days, couldn’t resist the smell of steaming spaghetti and meatballs.
    “Oh, all right,” Lady reluctantly stated. “I guess you talked me into it.” Tramp looked delighted, and he told Pongo and Perdita, “I know of this special place where we can eat.”
    “But how are we supposed to pay?” Perdita asked.
    “We don’t need to,” Tramp explained. “They’ll serve us for free.”
    “Well, I suppose we can’t refuse his offer,” Pongo told Perdita, who nodded.
    Tramp slowly strutted his way down the street, and then, saw a familiar sign saying, “Tony’s Restaurant.”
    “Shh… let’s go in,” Tramp stated. “Pidge, stick by me,” Tramp told her.
    Lady saw the familiar path behind the crates and then looked up to find the familiar empty clearing with the clotheslines hanging high above her head. But before she could say anything to Tramp…
“Hey Joe!” Tony exclaimed, opening his back gate. “Look! It’s a Butch and his sweet kiddo!”
“Oh!” Joe stated from the kitchen. “What’cha say, Tony?”
“The Butch and his girl have gone back to Tony’s,” Tony stated proudly. “Ah, it seems as though he found a girl who he settled down with.”
Lady looked up at Tramp, unbelieving, and Tramp winked. Tony continued, “We will cook up more spaghetti. Joe!”
“Tony, this is the third spaghetti dish we made for dogs!” Joe cried.
“I’m the boss, remember,” Tony told Joe. “We haff a fourth to do too!” Tony declared. Joe dropped a plate in surprise. “We haff another couple to serve,” Tony stated, as suddenly, Pongo and Perdita appeared around the corner, looking at one another happily. “What a beautiful night, eesn’t eet?”
Tony and Joe went into the kitchen, and after the sizzling smell of spaghetti wafted through the windows, they re-emerged with two spaghetti bowls. Then they brought two tables out, and Pongo and Perdita took one table. This left Lady with Tramp.
“Here you are! Enjoy your dinner,” Tony exclaimed. He and Joe come out with their accordion and ukulele, and sang Bella Notte once again. The two of them smiled, and Lady looked into Tramp’s eyes and remembered how she felt once upon a time… As Tony and Joe finished, they walked into the kitchen, to watch the couples finish their spaghetti. As they finished their bowl, Lady looked particularly happy seeing Perdita happily eat with Pongo and she was also pleased that Tramp remained looking at her the whole time.
Following the spaghetti, both couples went to sleep on the stone outside of Tony’s. Lady looked up at the moon, and then at the clotheslines. Pongo and Perdita happily yawned together, but Lady couldn’t sleep. She sat up, continuing to look at the moon. Then she looked at Tramp, who Lady knew was pretending to sleep. Smiling to herself, she realized that perhaps he just had too much pent-up energy after all.
Lady then decided to walk up to Tramp, and at once, Tramp opened his eyes. She whispered to Tramp, “I’m so sorry… I have been too worried about you… why would you ever leave me?”
“Pidge, we are a couple now,” Tramp reminded her. “Just… well you know, I haven’t enough time to be a tramp.”
“I… I… don’t understand why I acted like that,” Lady whispered.
“It’s okay,” Tramp told Lady. “And I suppose… I was being a bit too flirty.”
“Tramp, I love you,” Lady told him, but before he could reply, Peg came rushing in to Tony’s. She looked thoroughly frazzled and out of breath. “Tramp… there you are,” she panted.
“You!” Lady told Peg, alarmed. “But… what are you here for?”
    “I have bad news,” Peg stated, alarmed. She had a look of horror on her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Miss?” Pongo asked.
“It’s my daughter,” Peg stated, alarmed. “She was kidnapped by this woman with a long cigarette.”
Perdita gasped. “Oh no! Cruella!”
Pongo stated, “We’ve got to find her!”
Lady, Tramp, and Peg looked confused. “Who’s Cruella?” Tramp asked.
Pongo answered, “She’s a devil woman… she skins puppies.”
“No!” Lady gasped.
“You mean…” Peg added, sadly. “She’s going to kill all of them?”
“All of them?” Perdita asked fearfully. “What do you mean?”
“She kidnapped Angel’s boyfriend and some spotted puppies like yourselves,” Peg added.
“Oh no!” Perdita gasped. “What do we do?”
“We have to stop her,” Pongo stated. “Come on!”
The couples instantly stood up, and left Tony’s restaurant. As they looked behind, they noticed Peg was running after them.
“I’ve got to save my kid,” Peg told them firmly. “I’m the only blood family she has left. Can I join you? I won’t flirt with Tramp, I promise,” she told Lady.
Lady hesitated, but she remembered that Tramp was not interested in anyone else other than her. With a sigh in her voice, Lady muttered to Peg, “All right, then.”