"Poppa?"

The giant fox froze and turned around,"What are you doing here?" he growled.  It was Poppa.

He looked the same as he did the last time I saw him, except, crazier.  His fur was tousled and his shirt was ripped in about seven placed.  His jeans were stained with a substance Neil called,'beer'.  His words were slurred and he seemed much angrier.

"What are you doing here?!  Get out!  Get out!" he growled harsher, lifting up a bottle of 'beer' and started to bring it down.

Neil tugged my shirt,"Nick, we need to leave.  Now!"

We turned and ran, Neil's fists hard around our little cart, and my paws clutching the $20 bill.  We ran two blocks down, till Neil said it was okay to stop.

"Neil, what's wrong with him?" I asked my older and much wiser than me, brother.  I knelt onto the ground and leaned against the wall,"He was scary!"

Neil looked at me sadly, it had obviously been 2 months since Poppa had left us, and we were living on the streets, but Neil seemed to take it pretty hard,"I think Nick," he paused, as if he was thinking hard,"I think, that Poppa is drunk.  Shh.. don't ask and I'll explain for you.  It means that he is crazy and has drank a little to much."

"Should we go back and get him?"  I ask.

"No."  Neil's decision seems definite,"No, and don't even think about worrying our mother.  She'll be heart-broken.  Look Nick, I know this is hard to swallow, but when Poppa left, it meant he didn't want to be part of out life anymore, okay?"

I clutched the $20 bill hard and bit back tears,"Okay."