[pshrynk]

Vivaldi was miserable. He missed Harv terribly. He'd slept in a dumpster, eaten garbage, and drank water from a public toilet. Yet, in spite of all those wonderful things, he had an itch right behind his ears that he couldn't reach and desperately needed a skritch. And while Harv was usually slow on the uptake, even with pointed hints and outright demands, he usually came through with at least a perfunctory skritch.

Right now, he was hot on the scent of what he was assuming was a very willing female dog -- call her a bitch if you must, but Vivaldi was pretty certain she would also turn out to be a great conversationalist. If scent had anything to do with it, at least.

He trotted down the back alleys where he had been hiding for the past twenty four hours, avoiding the stares of human Mexicans as much as possible. He was no stranger to the hostility of humans in these circumstances.

In fact, he'd neglected avoiding notice once way back in his early days and he'd regretted it since then. Of course, how was he to have known that Vera had been on the lookout for a puppy and would find him "adorable, in a horrid little way?" Or that she would have a gambling habit that ended up with him belonging to a bush pilot with a malfunctioning moral compass?

He sniffed at a sign post to check on the latest news. There were a lot of new odors hanging in the forums these days, most of them attracted to the latest chew toy that had recently been released. Vivaldi sniffed disdainfully. It was just a piece of wood! He much preferred his tried and true, genuine, Made in Japan chew toy. He left a scathing comment.

He was aware that there were two small dogs surrepticiously following him in that "we're not really following you" fashion of inept tails everywhere. He sidestepped into an alley off the alley -- this city was made up of alleys as far as he could tell -- and waited.

Two of them. Smaller than him. More teeth, but smaller stopping ratio. It would be an even match in a fair fight. But Vivaldi had learned fighting from Harv, so there would be no contest. He heard them talking as he prepared to jump out at them from cover.

"Let me read what he put down here, Bob!"

"Make it fast! He may have run off, George!"

"We're dogs! We can track him!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot."

"Hmmm... Pedro is complaining of having hard pad again. He'll never learn. That new chew toy sure is getting a lot of questions! Personally, I'm not sure what the hoopla is all about. Here it is. What the He...."

Vivaldi jumped out at the two chihuahuas and pinned them under his front paws. "Any last words?" he snarled in his best Cagney impression.

"Oh, my God!" said George, "You're Vivaldi! Author of the Harv and Vera stories! I love your work, dude!"

"Wait. What?" Vivaldi had expected any number of responses other than this one.

"Dude! We read your stories all the time! I especially love that one where Harv got turned into a squid! Where do you come up with these ideas?"

"You'd be amazed what real life can bring..." said Vivaldi distractedly.