Tramp’s Story from the Beginning Part 2

Hello there! Welcome back to my “short back-story” of Tramp from Disney’s Lady & the Tramp. If you missed Part 1 of my fictional story, click here: Tramp’s Backstory

I’m really enjoying writing this and I’d love it to be shared. So please like, comment & share! Enjoy! 

Tramp’s Story from the Beginning Part 2 

 Tramp had been living with Mark & Honey for three months. He was now 7 months old & the “baby” was coming in 2. He was pretty happy about living here; Tramp had his own bed, food, and a place by the fire. Mark even built him his own dog house. It wasn’t perfect but it was nice on a hot day. Mark was very kind & caring. He loved to toss the blue ball with Tramp almost every day! However, Tramp did not like bath day. He understood the point–to be clean in the house– but it was annoying being scrubbed so much. Also, the soap tasted gross. Bathing was the one thing he didn’t enjoy doing with Mark.

Honey gave Tramp his space, which he didn’t mind. She also let him outside a lot which he loved. His first time in the yard, Honey & Mark laid out the rules: no tracking mud into the house & no running away. The mud part was hard, but during the day if he got dirty, he’d howl at a window or door until Honey saw him. Then, very quickly she would come outside with a towel and wipe his paws & legs down. They were never perfectly clean but they were clean enough to go inside. That was the most that Honey would touch Tramp. She’d give him the occasional pet, but not like Mark did every time he came home. Tramp figured she just wasn’t into animals. Honey had a lot to do in her days at home. She would go to the store, clean house, cook, do dishes & feed Tramp. Although lately, she kept working in the baby’s room. Tramp wasn’t allowed in there, not alone at least. At night, Honey would lock the door so Tramp couldn’t explore. During the day, she’d often let him in with her. Tramp wasn’t allowed to touch anything in there either. He knew to be careful; everything was fragile & lightly colored. He often tip toed through the room. Honey would laugh at seeing him do that. It was cute that he was behaving so well. 

Tramp tried to be as behaved as possible. He knew not to break rules or howl at night too long. However, he was still very curious for a puppy. For example, Tramp wondered why he got yelled at if he tried to chase the boy who brought the newspaper. Was it bad to want to race him? He didn’t think so. Tramp had tons if questions like this that went unanswered. In the end, his biggest question was, what was a “baby”? Was it a thing you put in that special room? It must have been fragile, like the things Honey & Mark bought for it. It bothered Tramp so much that he tried to read a book in the bedroom. This didn’t help much; he couldn’t read the words! Mark stumbled across Tramp “reading” one night. Tramp figured he was in trouble. Instead, Mark sat with him & read a few pages to the pup. Mark didn’t know if it helped or if it was possible for dogs to read. On the other hand, it was fun to do & Tramp seemed to be very excited. At the end of the night, Mark showed Tramp the alphabet and said, “Now Tramp, you can use this to figure out the words. Just sound it out in your head like I’m saying it. If I get a dog that can read, that’ll be a miracle!” Tramp smiled at his human. His human laughed and smiled back. Both the man & the pup were silly, and they were best friends. 

A month went by. Tramp could read a lot amazingly! He even felt like he was speaking at times. There were moments when he’d bark at Mark & Mark would talk back. They could read each other’s mind! Honey thought Mark was crazy, but she let them have fun. Why not? They needed the distraction before the baby.

Tramp could tell how much he’d grown in 4 months. He thought he was fully grown in his body, but he wasn’t certain. Honey would comment on how Tramp liked to stand at the sink with her while she did dishes. A couple months ago, he would’ve never reached it. She wasn’t crazy about it, but Tramp was able to move pots if they were in her way. He wouldn’t even get them wet! All that practice catching his ball on his nose helped him balance as well. It was the one thing him & Honey enjoyed doing together. Besides, Honey needed the help! She was pretty pregnant! 

The baby finally arrived. It came on a stormy Sunday. Tramp didn’t know what month, only the day.  He heard lots of loud noise from his owners’ bedroom that morning. It seemed to go on forever. Then all of the sudden, Mark ran down the hallway and shouted, “It’s a boy! Oh my god I’m a father.” He froze. Tramp walked up to him & Mark smiled at the dog. Mark grabbed Tramp’s paws and started dancing around the hallway. Tramp was barking excitedly; he’d never done this before! He could feel his owner’s happiness. Mark was overjoyed at this fine day. Tramp was starting to feel more happy too! Suddenly, they stopped as the doctor came out of the bedroom. He had a tired look on his face that almost looked too concerned.

“Are they alright?” Mark asked the doctor. “The baby is perfect. But your wife, she seems stressed. More than I’ve seen most new mothers. Keep an eye on her.” he said as he left the house. Mark stared at the front door almost in shock. He turned, quickly walked down the hall and into the bedroom. Tramp saw Mark’s face expression & felt the stress level rising in the house rapidly. Little did he know that it would only get worse.

-~-
It was a bright, sunny day. Tramp couldn’t wait to go outside. Honey and the baby- Mark Jr.- were sleeping in. So Tramp sat by the door, waiting fir them to come out. As he waited, his mind wandered. Baby Mark Jr. was only 4 months old. He was starting to crawl just last night. It was very exciting for everyone to see this baby grow! Jr. was tiny, soft and slept a lot. Tramp had noticed that on days when Mark was working, Honey and the baby would sleep a lot more together. Tramp couldn’t figure out why. All he knew was that it was quieter in the house the more they slept. Everything changed when they’d wake up; everyone’s attention was on the baby, and Tramp was barely noticed. Things were usually much louder too.

Finally, Honey came out of her room. Tramp stood up & wagged his tail. Honey blankly stared at him, then walked into the kitchen. Tramp felt confused. Normally, she would let him outside & let him stay out for most of the morning. Did she forget the routine? Surprisingly, dogs are very into daily routines. Tramp’s family was into them too- or so he thought. He followed Honey to the sink to investigate.

Honey started doing dishes and rinsing bottles again. Tramp stood next to her, ready to help. This wasn’t her normal morning ritual, but he didn’t mind. She handed him his food dish, which he placed on the ground. His food was kept in the kitchen too. Next, Honey handed him a pot which he carefully moved to the other side. He was even trying to be extra quiet. Tramp had assumed that Jr. was asleep– Honey never did dishes when he was awake. 

The next dish was a bottle. Tramp had never done one of these before. Honey held it out, waiting for him to take it. Tramp whined at her, trying to remind her that he didn’t usually help with these. It was too round for his mouth to hold onto without him chocking on it or dropping it. “Hurry up Tramp, I have more!” Honey said through a yawn. Tramp carefully tried putting one end in his mouth. It worked! As he carefully moved it, Tramp put his paw on a wet spot on the counter. He barely started to slip. As he tried to fix his balance, the glass bottle left his mouth & shattered on the floor. Honey jumped as it fell. Tramp was horrified. As he looked at her, she shouted, “Darn you. Stop that racket, you’ll wake the baby!” Tramp sunk his head down on the counter, feeling sad. He even gave Honey his “I’m sorry” look. She ignored him for a minute. Then, she looked at him and said, “Get away from me you dumb dog.” She’d never acted this way before. Was he really a dumb dog? He thought he was pretty smart. Tramp slunked back to the front door and waited to be let outside. He knew he was in trouble this time– he could tell by the way Honey stomped her way over to him. 

Tramp felt a cool breeze in his fur. Finally being let outside, he just stood still, soaking up the sun. This was his calm moment before he would run around in his yard. That’s right, his yard. Tramp was quite content with his life behind a fence. Currently, there were more rules inside the house than ever before. You’d think a dog would go mad from all the changes. However, Tramp kept quiet and made sure to use his time outside as best as possible. For example, he would be running almost constantly. If he saw the newspaper boy, he’d race around the yard. If he had to pee, he’d run to his usual spot instead of walking. The only time he’d stop running in the wide spaces was when he was pooped out. Then Tramp would rest in his little dog house. Today, he even took a nap in the sun. 

Tramp had a long day outside, way longer than normal. He knew Mark would be home soon. Tramp didn’t mind waiting, even if it was starting to get a little cold. After what seemed like hours and hours of waiting, Mark finally pulled up on his bike. Tramp wagged his tail and greeted his human with some licks to the face. “Hi boy!” Mark laughed. “Gee its late. Why aren’t you inside?” Tramp stared at him, trying to show him that he was confused as well. Things hadn’t been normal all day.

Mark & the dog both headed to the door. As Mark opened it, the loudest noise erupted from inside. It was the baby screaming at Honey in the living room. Mark ran over to her, removing the baby. He started to bounce it in his arms, trying to soothe it. As the baby stopped screaming, Honey slumped into the couch & started to cry. She was overwhelmed raising this child. Mark didn’t know what to do. Mark Jr. drifted to sleep in his father’s arms. Honey couldn’t even look at Tramp or the baby. Mark took the child into its room, quietly putting him in the crib to sleep.

“Honey, what’s going on? Why are you so upset?” Mark calmly asked his wife, sitting beside her on the couch. “I’m all alone everyday. This baby wears me out and I have no help at all! I feel sad all the time and I don’t know why,” she sobbed. “Nonsense,” Mark replied. “When I’m home I help. You shouldn’t be sad. We finally have our family together,” he said smiling. “Besides, you have Tramp with you too. So your never alone. He’s–” “I never wanted that damn dog in the first place Mark!” Honey yelled. Mark & Tramp both looked at her with shocked faces. She sounded as selfish as a child. Mark couldn’t understand it. Tramp felt the sorrow in the room and layed flat on his belly. “That was cruel,” Mark said in a harsh but quiet tone. “He’s done nothing but love us darling. Can’t you see that? He’s an amazing pup that helped us become parents. And now you wanna throw him away?” Honey looked up at Mark, “I don’t want to take care of him & Jr. all the time. It’s just too much.” 

Mark tried to convince Honey for hours that she just needed rest. Tramp didn’t need to leave in his eyes. He promised to be home, and many other things that seemed impossible. She agreed but had one demand; that Tramp was to sleep outside every night. Honey mentioned to Mark that she was afraid that Tramp would hurt the baby during the night. Thus, preventing her from sleeping. Tramp would never do such a thing! He thought she was crazy. Mark knew this, didn’t he? Sure enough, Tramp was made to sleep in the dog house. Poor, poor Tramp. 

As Mark chained him up for his first night, he apologized to him. “I’m sorry boy. She’s just not happy. I don’t know why. You’ve done nothing wrong. But let’s keep it that way. Alright?” Tramp barked once, then leaned on Mark, wanting attention. He mainly wanted a hug. Deep down, Mark understood & pet the dog as well as hugging him tight. “If we do good, maybe you can stay,” Mark said as he walked into the warm house. As the door shut, Tramp felt his happiness slipping away. He layed in the dog house, alone. No fireplace, no food, just grass in the cold night. As he felt a tear leave his eye, rain started to pour. Tramp couldn’t tell if the all water was from him or the clouds, and the sad mutt started to howl.
-~-

Weeks went by. It might have even been a month or two. Tramp & Mark had tried to prove Honey wrong multiple times. She wasn’t alone anymore. Tramp was always on his best behavior, but Honey always found something wrong with him. It was always, “He stinks” or “What’s he staring at?” Tramp didn’t know how to please her. He tried cleaning himself, since Mark rarely had time to give him a bath. She didn’t like that. She didn’t like anything he did.

Honey had Mark doing chores all the time. Mark was worn out and had no energy to fight it. Tramp tried to help Mark but always got yelled at. Finally, he started to stop trying. Honey didn’t care for him at all. If she didn’t want him, fine. Maybe he’d leave and find a new family! He’d had enough.

One day, Honey set Jr. on the ground to start crawling around. Soon, baby Mark ran into Tramp, which he liked. Tramp let this baby pull his ears, crawl on him & even pull his fur. There was one moment of pulling that hurt a little. This caused Tramp to almost squeak. Tramp turned to walk away. As he did, the baby got sad. As Jr. started to cry, Tramp came back & sat next to him. He had an itch & started to scratch his ear. Then he nibbled on his back. Honey came over after hearing Jr.’s ounce of a cry. “Hey!” She yelled at Tramp. Tramp was confused, as always. “What’s wrong?” Mark said, walking into the room. Mark was tired of Honey’s orders too. “Put that dog out! He’ll get fleas all over the baby.” Really, Tramp thought. Really?! Mark basically kicked the dog outside. He didn’t even care anymore. He just wanted his wife to stop complaining. She’d been nagging for so long. There was no stopping it. 

Tramp noticed how calisce Mark was to him. Did he love him anymore? Was this his future–more rules & timeouts?! Nobody in this house cared about Tramp anymore. The more he thought about it, the more mad he was. That was the last straw. Tramp ran into the fence, hoping it would break. But no luck. He wanted his soon-to-be-previous owners to see how upset he felt. So, he backed way up- almost bumping into the house. He closed his eyes & pictured himself flying out of the yard; flying to a world without fences, full of excitement. He took a deep breath, and ran as fast as he could. He lept over the fence & felt the rush of freedom. Tramp took one look back at the little house. He didn’t need them. He could take care of himself. With a hardened heart & lots of energy, he ran down the street. This dog was out, for good!  

Yes, there’s more! Stay tuned for Part 3, the final chapter in Tramp’s early life. Thanks for reading!