Chapter 20—Parental Hunt

“I don’t know where they could be,” Perdita sadly stated as she looked down yet another abandoned street. “Do you think… where could Cruella live?”
“I wish I knew, Perdy,” Pongo stated. “But they can’t be too far… can they?”
Perdita didn’t answer, she only looked sadly at Pongo, before Tramp stated, “Hey, we’ll get them back… don’t worry. We’ll find them.”
“But where could they be?” Perdita asked nervously. “I’m so afraid…”
But just as she asked, a loud beeping noise emerged from nowhere, distracting all of the parents.
“What’s that?” Peg asked, batting her hair. “I never heard that before.”
    “Me neither,” Tramp commented as he looked straight ahead.
“You think…” Lady asked. “That that was the police? Did they catch Cruella already?”
“I don’t know,” Pongo stated. “But there’s only one way to find out.”
The parents looked at each other, and in silence, all knew that Pongo was quite right. They charged down streets, with the siren getting progressively louder and louder, and they followed the volume of the siren to get them to Cruella’s mansion.
The parents, all of a sudden, got to a house that looked very uninviting.
“Maybe this is the place,” Tramp suggested.
The siren got louder and louder as they approached the house. Dead, barren trees littered the front yard of the place, and a howling wind blustered about, scattering leaves on the ground. Lady recoiled fearfully due to its frightening appearance.
“She might like a place like this,” Pongo informed the others.
“She does have bad taste,” Peg stated.
“Yeah, I know,” Tramp added.
“But she’s strange as it is,” Pongo stated. “Should we investigate it to see if they’re there?”
Perdita, however, shook her head. The others looked surprisingly at her, before she told them, “Look though, we can’t go inside,” Perdita informed them, reading a sign on the fence. The others read, “Danger: High Voltage.”
“It must be her,” Lady whispered softly. “Who else would have an electric fence?”
“Oh Pongo, what do we do?” Perdita asked. “We can’t get inside…” Perdita added sadly as they reached the center of the fence, where the road was.
“Hey,” Tramp whispered. “Let me try.”
Lady cried, saying, “Tramp, don’t!”
Tramp gently touched the fence, but abruptly… nothing happened.
“Ha!” Tramp stated delightedly. “It didn’t work!”
“You mean…” Lady whispered, and then she noticed it.
“Of course!” Lady stated delightedly. “It’s off!”
“We’re in luck,” Pongo whispered. “Follow me in.”
“But how could we get in?” Perdita asked. “It’s still locked, without a doubt. Wait…” Perdita slowly stated. “I know.”
Perdita whispered quietly, “If it doesn’t work… we can just break through the fence.”
Tramp nodded. “Good idea,” he stated. “Let’s try it… one, two…”
They did it, and they quickly got through the fence.
“Hey,” Pongo whispered. “There’s a car!”
A red, small car quickly made its way into the driveway, and the parents went to hide in the bushes.
Meanwhile, a tall, skinny man and a short, fat man got out of the car and lumbered over to the house.
“Jasper and Horace,” Pongo whispered.
“Who are they?” Lady asked.
“Her henchmen,” Pongo answered back.
“Darn it… that postman hasn’t got it yet,” Jasper complained.
“She’s going to be really mad at us,” Horace explained. “Jasper… Jasper… if she fires us…”
“Aw shut up,” Jasper told Horace, approaching the house.
“You know,” Peg whispered, “I think that’s the car…. Let me check it.”
Carefully, Peg walked behind the back of the car and examined the license plate.
“We’re going in,” Pongo barked to Peg. “Is this the same car?”
“Yes,” Peg answered. “The license plate is 002BADUN, all right. That was the car Cruella was sitting in when she grabbed my poor little Angel…”
“So what are we waiting for?” Tramp asked. “The puppies are waiting for us, and we must take care of them.”
The others nodded, and waited for Horace and Jasper to pass. The two of them knocked at the door, and waited. There was a long pause.
“She must be in her bedroom,” Horace yawned.
At last, the door opened and revealed a furious, skeletally skinny woman.
“Where have you been?” Cruella asked. “And where’s my weapon?”
“It’s not here yet, miss,” Jasper stated.
“You blithering idiots! I bet you just went up to the postman and asked for where it would be, isn’t that right?” Cruella asked.
“Well, what else are we supposed to do?” Horace asked back.
“You fools!” Cruella gasped. “Don’t you realize that they might confiscate it?”
“Well, we told them that we’d just be killing puppies,” Jasper began, causing Cruella to grow even more angry.
“There aren’t a lot of criminals who think of such brilliant schemes as I do! I had to work hard to get out of jail myself! If this was Britain, I would be back in jail by now due to your blunders! It’s only lucky that people here are unfamiliar with my act! Now get going and get me my weapon, and don’t screw this up!”
“Yes Madame,” Horace stated nervously.
Cruella shut the door hard, but Jasper opened it up. “Now, wait a minute, ma’am,” he stated. “We need a pay raise… or else a break now. We won’t be able to work well because we need some rest. We’ll kill the puppies a bit later, can’t we?”
“Very well, very well,” Cruella reluctantly complained. “But go find my weapon in the post office! Search it before it’s too late!”
“But we need time to think of a strategy,” Horace explained.
“Oh, very well,” Cruella explained. “I have to talk to my bookseller. You know, that woman who knows me as Shirley Smith. Now get out of my sight!”
“Hey,” Pongo stated. “The door’s open!”
“Right,” Perdita whispered. “Let’s go.”
“Ready for this, Pidge?” Tramp asked Lady gently.
Lady nodded, and then she, Tramp, Pongo, and Perdita rushed into the house, Peg following slightly in their wake, camouflaging with the gravel outside. The five of them entered the house, and sneaking through the small crack that Horace and Jasper left behind, prepared the search in Cruella’s house.