Clive figured this was his lucky day; first a kindly stranger felt sorry for him and his plea of destitution and gave him a five dollar bill.  He high tailed it to a local convenience store and bought five lottery tickets, and proceeded to win one hundred dollars.  He smirked as the foreign born clerk pealed five fresh twenty dollar bills into his grimy out stretched palm. 

“Zippy do dah, zippy do day!” He sang as he pranced into the wooded area that was next to the small town library.  Deep within the forest was a homeless community comprised of a number of tents and make shift lean-tos.

Within the largest tent were his good friends Clem and his old lady Molly.  She had just given birth to a baby girl a few weeks earlier and feeling a little peeked.  Clive was certain he knew just the thing to raise her spirits.

“Howdy, Y’all,” he called out as he brushed the tent flap aside.  Molly was nursing the baby and Clem sat next to her.  He was a tall, imposing looking dude with big hands and one eye that was swollen shut.  This was his first time with an infant so he was overly protective at times. 

“I guess when you live on the streets long enough manners, like announcing your presence go out the window.”  Clem tried to sound perturbed, but he and Clive went back a long ways.  “You sure look like you’re in a good mood, score some weed?”

“Better!” Clive slapped the twenties in Clem’s face.  “All three of us are going to hit the town, it’ll be like the old times bro.”

“We cain’t,” interjected Molly.  “No one around here is responsible enough to watch the baby.”

“She’s got a point; I wouldn’t trust no one to watch a puppy, much less a human child.”

Not one to take no for an answer Clive thought for a minute.  “Now hold on just a dog done minute, who says we have to leave your darling chil’ with some low life?  I just happen to know that the house on the old Miller property has been abandoned for some time.  It’s far enough from beaten path to be safe from the dalliances of the local scum, yet close enough to the Capri Lounge that we can check on her if need be.”