DestinyCity was one very beautiful place. The first time the explorers put their feet in that land, they saw a very beautiful place, some place that seemed to welcome them in all of it’s glory. It was almost like Destiny had kept that place only for them to find.
It was almost two hundred years ago, now, there was a huge city in the place that once was the lusty green valley. Several buildings into the center, with many smaller edifications all around, from offices to houses, with some sectors richer and other more poor. DestinyCity was a very interesting place.
All kind of anthropomorphic beings lived in this city, from mices and squirrels to great elephants and bulls, and the great predators like jaguars and crocodiles. All of them walked into the street, taking care of their daily lives, work and recreation, what was able to find all of it in this great city.
But we are going to see it more later. Now, our attention must focus in a very specific place in here.
An old building, more like a house, was an orphanage. St. Hound Orphanage, for homeless children. A place founded almost fifty years ago by a very kind German Sherped, who wanted to give every single kid a home to stay and a family.
The place was big, and even now, more than 10 years after his death, the place was still working at full force. There was more than 20 rooms for all the kids, and a big inyard for them to play, as well as some classrooms to keep them educated.
In the inyard, in the time to play, all children were out, of many species and sizes they played together. Laughing and cheering fun. All save one.
In the corner of the yard, was a small dog child, creamy white fur with a wide snort and a slender muzzle, a long busy tail and big ears and big eyes, which were hazelnut colored. The dog boy was now sitting into a tree stump, looking at the ground with a sad expression, away from the kids.
Not that the kids were bad to him, he just wanted to be alone. That day was just not a good day.
The dog boy was there, just sitting in the stump, when a pair of feet came into view. Surprised, the child looked up, and saw a person he had never seen before. It was a cat, a black cat girl, around his age, with black fur all over her body, with white in her hands and paws and in her muzzle, as well as the tip of her tail. She was wearing a pink colored dress and should be around his age. She looked at him with her green eyes.
For a long moment they just stared at each other, until the cat girl said “Hi.”
The dog boy looked away, but she shifted her position so she was still facing him. “I’m Penny, who are you?” she asked, her innocent eyes looking at him with true interest.
The dog boy eyed her, and said “My name is Bernie.”
Penny looked at him and said “Bernie… that’s a nice name.” she concluded with a smile. Bernie looked at her for a few moments, and said “I never seen you before, are you new here?”
“I’m here with my parents.” She said to him “They are helping the orphanage and brought me here.”
Bernie looked down “Okay.” He said without much of a good mood. He didn’t seemed angry, just sad.
Penny noticed it, and said “What is the problem?”
“Nothing.” Bernie said bluntly “There is nothing wrong.”
“Then why are you so sad?”
“I’m okay.”
Penny looked at him, and then she said “I don’t think you are.” She sat in front of him, and looked in his eyes “What is the problem?”
Bernie could only look at her. This should be the first time in a while that someone really cared this much about him. He looked to the ground again, one single tear ran down his face “My parents died.”
Penny gasped when she heard that. “Oh my god!” she said, getting up and hugging him “I’m so sorry!”
This was Bernie’s turn to get surprised. Did this strange cat girl was really being so nice to him they have just meet? She broke the hug and looked him in the eyes “I’m truly sorry. I think everybody deserves to have parents. What happened?”
Bernie’s ears flowered in his head as he looked to the ground again “It was a car accident.” He said “They were going to pick me up in school, when the car crashed.” He looked up again “It makes two years now.”
Penny looked down too “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay…” Bernie said, but then she said “No, it is not!” it startled Bernie but she continued “It is horrible to lose someone like this! Everyone deserves to have their parents around!”
Bernie looked at her, as she seemed to care about his suffering with all of her heart, even if they have never meet before in their lives. Another tear escaped his eye “Thank you.” He said to her “Thank you for caring.”
She was able to smile, and then she said “Wanna play?” her tone was innocent, she was noticing that he was thinking about it and it is getting him sad, so she wanted to cheer him up. Bernie looked at her for a few moments, and then he said “Okay.”
Penny smiled, and touched his snout gently and said “Tag, you’re in!” and she ran off giggling. Bernie took a few moments, before he got up and ran after her “Hey, not fair!” he said, but he ran after her the same way.
She ran and he went after, chasing her as she giggled and swiftly jumped over every rock in the way, while Bernie had to make the turn around to go after her. Soon, he too was starting to laugh with her.
As they ran, the other children noticed their laughing, and soon, they too joined. Soon they all were in a big game of tag. Bernie got a rhino boy, who got a cougar girl, who got a croc boy, who got Penny again, who got a mouse boy, who was now trying to get everyone around.
¬“We are very thankful for your kind donation, Mr. Speckman” said Sister Regina, an elderly sheep to an adult cat who was now in front of her. He should be around 5,5 feet tall, with black fur all over his body and yellow colored eyes. He was wearing social white shirt and jeans pants.
By his side, was another cat, this one with yellow fur stripped of brown, she was only one or two inches shorter than him, and her eyes were green. She wore a plain green shirt with a long yellow skirt. She was Roseline Speckman, and she was the black cat’s wife.
“You’re quite welcome, sister.” Said the black cat. Dr. Speckman was a very respected scientist around the town, working for a very important industry: Davidson’s Enterprise. They were very respected and made a lot of great creations, besides supplying technologies to half of the country. Their values were around the greatest.
And that day, Jefferson Speckman, the most respected scientist of the D.E., made one of his donations to the orphanage. These donations were made at least two times a year, always for beneficent places, like hospitals and orphanages. It was a particular way of Dr. Speckman help the world on his own. This was good, and made him feel good in the inside, to know he was making the difference and helping others out.
“You are or greatest contributor.” Said Sister Regina “We own you very much!”
Speckman scratched the back of his head, it was quite embarrassing when people kept complimenting him. He just wanted to help. “It was nothing, I just make my best.”
Once again, sister Regina thanked him in the name of all the orphanage. And then, Roseline noticed something: “Wait, where is Penny?”
Speckman and Regina noticed that penny, the cat girl that was daughter of the couple, was no longer there. She was by their side when they started talking, but must have walked away when they took to long talking. Penny didn’t liked those long adult things.
“Penny?” called Speckman, and Regina said “She must have went to play with the kids. They are in the courtyard.”
She guided then to the place, and indeed, they found penny in there. She was playing with a great group of children in a game of tag. And right now, she and a cream colored dog were running form a rhinoceros boy.
They looked at it, and smiled as they saw their little girl having fun with other children. Yeah, penny always had her way with others, and she had a particular way of quickly making friends with anyone she meets, due to her personality and her good behavior.
They watched as she and a dog boy ran form the rhino, laughing together, they seemed to have known each other quite for quite some time, instead of having meet a few minutes ago. Penny was really very quick to make friends, and her parents knew it very well.
The rhino boy now went after a few other kids, while Penny and the dog boy laughed togheter, they were having quite some fun. Then there was the voice of an adult behind them “Having fun, darling?”
They turned around, to meet a tall black cat. Penny smiled as she said “Daddy!” she hugged him, and the black cat returned the hug to her.
“Daddy, this is Bernie, he is my new friend! He is so much cool!” she said, gesturing to the dog boy, who smiled shyly and waved his hand “Hi, mister.”
“Nice to meet you” Jeff said to the young dog, giving a smile. He then turned back to his daughter “Penny, is time for we to go home.”
“Okay, daddy.” Said Penny, and she turned to Bernie “Bye, Bernie.”
The dog’s ears flattened in his head, and his look saddened “Bye…” he said, and he turned around, walking slowly. The adults and Penny looked at him as he walked, and Rose said “He seems so sad. What is wrong?”
Sister Regina was the one who answered “Bernie is rather new in here.” The eyes turned to her “And he becomes quite sad in this time of the year.”
“Why?” asked Penny, and Sister Regina said “Well, today is the second birthday of the day his parents… Passed.”
The adults understood it, and sister Regina continued “They were going to some celebration, for what I remember. Seemed that the road was slippery due to the rain. The car crashed. Bernie went to the hospital with a few cuts, but his parents didn’t had the same luck. He was only six.”
“Oh, poor boy.” Said Rose, and Speckman said “He has some other relative? An uncle, a cousin?”
“Not that I have heard in the last two years.” Said Sister Regina. Penny then said “This is so sad!” The adults looked at her “I wish he could be of our family…”
There was a moment of silence in which Speckman thought, and he said “Maybe he can.”
Bernie was back at his stock, sitting and looking down. It had been fun having the cat girl around, but now she was gone. Maybe it was like that. Maybe everyone had to go.
Like her.
Like his parents.
Then he felt a touch in his shoulder, he looked up to see the face of Sister Regina, and she was smiling.
“Bernie, darling.” She said sweetly “I have a surprise for you. Come with me.”
The young dog was a bit confused, but he followed her. They went inside, and passed by a few hallways, and finally they arrived in an office. In there, was Penny, along with her dad and mom, they all looked at Bernie smiling.
Bernie looked at them for a few moments, wondering what was the deal “W-what is going on? I did something wrong?”
“Not at all.” Said Mr. Speckman “Actually, we have talked for a bit after meeting you, and we came to a decision. We want to make a proposition to you.”
Bernie looked at him confused, and the black cat said “Bernie, what would you think of being part of our family?”
The dog surely got taken back by this. “W-what?”
“We talked about this.” Said Rose “And we decided that, if you want, we may adopt you.”
Bernie could barely believe what he was hearing. Did they really wanted him? It was for real? But, they were all cats.
“B-but… I’m a dog… and you are cats…”
“You have a problem with it?” asked Speckman, and Bernie quickly said “N-no! Is just… p-people say cats and dogs don’t fit together… people aren’t going to look strange at us?”
Speckman smiled again “You didn’t seemed to mind when you were playing with Penny.” And the small black cat smiled at him “And I’m sure we don’t mind having a dog as a family member.”
“B-but…” Bernie said “…won’t they look strange at us?”
Speckman looked at him for a moments, and raised form his chair. He walked to Bernie, and knelt in front of him.
“Bernie, let me tell you one thing my father told me when I was your age.” He said “People have their own opinions, they might see different things as strange, and they might think you are strange just because you are different.”
Bernie looked to the ground, and he felt the cats hand in his shoulder, and he looked up to meet his kind smile as he kept talking “But, you must not take very seriously their opinion, or try to change who you are just because of them. As long you are a good person and happy with yourself, their opinion is not really that important. The important is the opinion of yourself, and of the people who love and care about you.”
Bernie looked at him in the eyes, and the cat asked “So, Bernie, do you want to be part of our family?”
Bernie looked at him, and at Rose and Penny. The adult cat woman was smiling softly, and Penny seemed anxious with his answer. They really wanted him. It did not mattered that he was a dog, they were still wanting him. They wanted him as part of the family, and Bernie, for the first time in a while, felt like he could have a family again. There was just one answer he could give.
“Yes.” He said “I want to be part of your family.”
“Yay!” exclaimed Penny as she jumped out of the chair and hugged Bernie tight “I have a new brother!”
Speckman chuckled at his daughter, and turned to Sister Regina “Well, guess now we just have to put on all the legal stuff.”
“Yeah, is a formality.” Said Regina to the black cat, who once more proved to be one of the kindest men she had ever met in her life.
And so, Dr. Speckman and Rose put down some papers, the basics for an adoption process, and Penny was talking very much with Bernie, telling about the things that they could do as brothers, and how they house was. After signed the papers, the rest would be solved in a few weeks.
“So, Bernie, ready to know your new home?” asked Rose, and the dog says “Yes, please.”
And so, after Bernie had packed his most important stuff, they entered the car of the family, it was a sportive car of silver color, good for travels with family. As soon as all of them were inside, the vehicle was started and Speckman started driving into the street, in direction of their house.
Bernie looked at the window as the world passed by them. He looked as the orphanage stayed behind, Sister Regina waving goodbye at him with a smile, Bernie waved back.
The city passed by them, as they got away from the orphanage, and got more inside the city. They passed by the districts, until arriving into one of the richest parts of the city. They stopped in front of a big house, and finally they came out of the car.
Bernie could stare in awe of the house of the Speckman family, it was big, around two stores, and very fancy decorated. Bernie was invited inside, and he could see a big and finally decorated living room, with a big sofa, a big tv that seemed wider than Bernie’s height. Bernie could do nothing more than stare at it in awe.
“Like what you see?’ asked Jefferson, snapping Bernie out of his trance, and the dog said “Your house is beautiful.”
“Is OUR house now, Bernie.” Said Speckman, offering him a smile. “Want to see the bedroom?” and Bernie could only nod.
“We have two guests bedrooms, but I guess we can change one of them in a bedroom only for you.” Said Speckman as he guided Bernie upstairs “Tonight you can sleep into Penny’s bedroom. You will have to sleep in a sleeping bag, since it only has one bed, hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, Mr. Speckman.” Said Bernie, and Jefferson looked at him with a smile.
They quickly arrived in Penny’s bedroom; the walls were painted pink with posters of many singers in it, and many dolls into several places, as well as a big closet. The whole bedroom was wide, and the bed seemed to be very comfortable, and the mattress had stamps of butterflies.
After knowing the house whole, soon it was dinnertime, and they all ate together, they had a chicken for dinner, and it was one of the best things Bernie had eat. After that, he and Penny went to the living room and where allowed to watch cartoons in the tv, and after that, they played a few games.
Before they noticed, it was time for sleep, and soon, Penny was in her bed, while Bernie laid into the sleeping bag, and Rose and Jeff looked at them “Goodnight, Penny.”
“Goodnight mon, goodnight dad.”
“Goodnight, Bernie.”
“Goodnight.”
And before switching off the lights, they said “Bernie…”
“Huh?”
“Welcome home.” Jeff said, as they switched off the lights, and Bernie was left alone with Penny, at the light of the night lamp. “Good night, Penny” said Bernie, and Penny smiled to him “Good night, Bernie. I’m really glad you’re my brother now.” And she went to sleep.
Bernie got comfortable in his sleeping bag, and wondered about all this day, that more seemed like a dream to him. He was part of a new family now, and they seemed to care about him. After a long time, having a family felt great. He closed his eyes, and smiled into his sleep, as his life seemed to be changing for the better.
