(The passage is from a poem titled Auguries of Innocence)

"To see a world in a grain of sand,

and a heaven in a wild flower,

hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

and eternity in an hour."

Baily chanted this to himself as he shuffled the deck. Once he was finished shuffling, he started to lay out the cards. He was in a back alley, using a relatively clean cardboard box as a table for his cards. It was almost midnight, and the left side of his face still felt sore. His upper lip had stopped bleeding, but it definitely felt swollen. He finished laying out the cards, and started to read the spread.

"Nothing new in the past.......happy days are behind me...........once more I am the fool............the chariot? Again?...........So I'm about to start a new journey....." Baily mumbled to himself. Most of the time Baily had no one else to talk to, so he just talked to himself. Other times, when people would take the time to speak to him, they would either tell him to get a job, or tell him to get lost.

"Perhaps I just need to move on to somewhere else.....?"

CRASH!!!!!

Baily jumped slightly as he looked back where he had heard the noise come from. Quickly he gathered up all of the cards into the cigar box he kept them in, which he then stuffed into his backpack and started to make his way away from the sound.

He was quickly limping down an alley when he heard another loud crash, followed by moans.

"Where do you think you're going? Huh?!" he heard a familiar voice shout. Then he started to hear loud thudding sounds, followed by hoots and cheers almost drowning out moans of pain and pleas to stop. Baily started to pick up the pace, trying to get further away from the sounds of violence. He felt a pang of guilt for not trying to help the unfortunate person being beaten right now, but Baily had already had a run in with these punks earlier tonight.

He turned a corner and quickly hid back behind the way he had come. Around the corner were just the people he was trying to avoid. There was a moaning figure on the ground in a tattered series of jackets and a beanie, that they had surrounded and were kicking and beating with bats.

"It's time to clean these streets of all the trash littering it!" the punk leader yelled gleefully as they beat yet another homeless man tonight. Eventually the moaning stopped, and the thuds started to die down.

"That's three down already! Soon the rest of these filthy bums will figure out that we don't want them hanging around here anymore!" the rest of the "pack" laughed loudly at that.

Baily silently started to move slowly back, looking for another alley to duck down as he heard them coming his way. Then he found a narrow space between two buildings, which he quickly took. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but he was so thin that he managed to barely fit through in just enough time. Baily stopped and stayed motionless while he held his breath when the group of thugs passed by the narrow alley. They didn't seem to notice it as they walked on by. Baily breathed a sigh of relief as he continued down the dark alley. After a few more minutes, he came out onto a street he didn't recognize. A few cars passed, but otherwise it was deserted. Baily hung his head and hoped that the man who had been beaten was okay before he started to limp away.

Eventually he was able to find an oddly clean alley between a bakery and an ice cream shop. Hoping to beg for some day old anything to eat, Baily eased himself down behind a dumpster, pulling a newspaper he had seen peeking out of it out to use as a blanket. He was mindful of his injured leg, and hoped that it would feel at least a little better when he woke up. He used his backpack as a pillow, and was soon snoring. Had he taken the time to try and read the front page of the newspaper, he would have seen New Species Discovered! as the headline.

The next day, back at the hospital.........

Eli was sitting up in bed, playing a game of poker with Robbie and Nick, and currently winning.

"Um....is this good?" Eli said as he laid down his cards, showing four aces.

"Come on!" Nick said as he showed his full house, and Robbie a three of a kind. He started to shove the cookies, that they were using as betting chips, towards Eli, who giggled a little at Nick's display.

"So....is that a yes?" Eli asked, smiling a little as he looked at his large stack of cookies.

"Okay, I'm dealing this time." Nick said while pointedly looking at Robbie.

"Hey don't look at me, this kid's just really lucky!" he said while holding up his paws in surrender.

While Nick grumbled as he started to deal out the cards, there was a quick and excited knock at the door before Judy entered.

"Hey guys! What are you three up to?" she asked.

"Just teaching Eli here how to play poker. Can you believe that he's never played before?" Nick said as he started to deal out the cards.

"Did they have poker on your people's world Eli?" Robbie asked as he pushed a stack of cookies towards the center of the bed.

"Yes, but I never got the chance to play it before." he said as he pushed a stack the same size as Robbie's forward.

"So what's up carrots? You decide to just stop by to check up on Eli here?" Nick asked before he started to mumble under his breath a few choice words about the pair of 2's he had dealt himself.

"Um......well.....I actually have some news.......something very important that Eli needs to hear..............." she trailed off. The three males looked up at that, and Nick and Robbie took the hint.

"You know I got some rounds I gotta be doing real quick." Robbie said as he hurried himself out the door. Nick looked at Judy, then sighed as he went over and told Eli he would be right outside. He closed the door behind him, leaving Eli and Judy alone together. Judy sat on the edge of the bed, and took a moment to find the right words about what she was going to say.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Am I in trouble?" Eli asked, catching Judy by surprise as she looked up to see worry in the boy's face.

"Of course not sweetie." she said with a smile while mentally she chastised herself for not thinking out what she had to tell him on the way over.

"There's just something that's really important that we need to talk about. It's about your living arrangements, for when you can leave the hospital in a few days."

"Oh.......so....am I going to an orphanage?" he asked a little dejectedly. Hearing the sadness in his voice almost broke Judy's heart.

"Not...if you don't want to...." she said slightly nervously, her ears drooping a little.

"What do you mean?" Eli asked confusedly.

Judy steeled herself, and then spoke. "I have filled out all of the proper paperwork to become your legal guardian." she let what she just said sink in.

"You mean......I could go and stay with you?" he asked, not sure he had heard her correctly.

"Yes....if you would want to. I don't want you to feel pressured to jus-" she was cut off as Eli suddenly hugged her. Surprised, she looked up to see him smiling with tears coming down his eyes, his shoulders shaking as he let out a sob. Judy smiled as just hugged him back.

"I told you things were going to be different sweetie, and I meant it." she said as they continued to hug, Eli's tears slowing as he got his breathing under control.

"I really don't have to go to another orphanage or foster home?" he asked, a little fear creeping into his voice.

"Nope!" Judy said perking up immediately. "You're going to be coming home with me!"

"But, Nick said that your apartment was really tiny. Won't I take up a lot of space?" he asked.

"I'm gonna kill Nick." she mumbled under her breath. "Of course not! I actually moved into a much bigger place about a week ago, and I haven't told him yet. And even if I was still living in that apartment with the really thin walls, there would always have been room for you!" she said firmly, making Eli smile.

"Thank you Judy......thank you." he said, wiping his eyes.

"Now, let's call Nick back in here and see how he reacts. I'll bet you that he's going to be so surprised his tail is going to bush out!"

"Really?" Eli said giggling a little at the thought.

"Oh yeah, I'll go call him back in."

Back in the alley.......

Baily had been sleeping for most of the day so far. But now he couldn't sleep through the sounds of traffic and crowds of people any longer. He yawned as she stretched, immediately recoiling in on himself when he felt a sharp pain come from his leg. Inspecting it, he found a series of dark bruises all along it.

At least it's not broken he thought.

Cautiously, he stood up, limping along to the sidewalk. He hadn't taken three steps when he heard a scream. He turned quickly to see a blonde haired pig woman drop a brown paper bag of groceries as she pointed a hoof at him. Baily was stunned by what he was seeing, and assumed that he was hallucinating from the several head injuries he had sustained last night.

"They're real! The creatures are real!" she screeched as she ran down the street, pointing back at him as she ran.

"What?" he asked himself. Then nervously, he started to quickly limp down in the opposite direction. He was going as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast at all. Soon he heard a siren, and started to search frantically for the small alley he had come out of last night.

"Where is it?! I could've sworn that this is where it was?!" he said to himself as a cruiser pulled up. Baily turned to see a rhino and a wolf of some kind step out.

"They weren't lying Rams." said the wolf to the rhino, a look of amazement on his face. "It really is another one."

"He looks pretty hurt Packer." the rhino said a little troubled. Then he took a step closer, both massive hands extended forward, in a peaceful manner.

"Hey there, can you understand me?" Officer Rams said in a calm and steady voice.

"Yeah........wh-wh-what's going on." Baily said, trying not to panic.

"Well......we're not sure.......but I promise you that you're not in any danger. You look like you could use some help. How's about we take you to the hospital, and then we move on from there? Sound good buddy?" the rhino asked, retaining the calm and composed voice.

"Uh.....um.....okay.....I....uh....guess so." Baily said, starting to relax a little.

Rams and Packer both smiled at that, until the sound of screeching tires could be heard. All three looked to see several news vans turn a corner and head straight for them.

"Uh-oh!" Packer said, quickly turning back to Baily. "Look, I know that you're freaked out right now, but we really need to get you to a hospital before those media hounds get here and start to film ya. Come on!" he said jumping into the driver's seat and starting the engine. The rhino sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Please forgive my partner, but he does have a point. Unless you like the idea of getting plastered all over ZNN." he said as he opened a door to the back seat. Baily mulled it over for a bit.

"This is probably just a hallucination.......but just in case, I'll go with you guys." he said. He quickly limped over to the open door and climbed in, buckling his seat-belt as Rams got in.

"Let's get outta here!" he said to the wolf, who nodded before peeling out. The cruiser lurched forward as they took off, lights flashing and siren blaring.

"Still think that this is just in your head?" Rams asked while looking back at Baily, who just shrugged.

"By the way, did all of that happen here?" he asked while still looking at him.

"All what?" Baily asked confused.

The rhino just motioned to the left side of Baily's face through the plexiglas divider. It suddenly dawned on him what the officer was asking him.

"Oh no, this happened........back where I came from." he said simply.

"Accident?" Rams asked.

"Nope. Just a group of guys who didn't like to see homeless people in their neighborhood." he said simply. The rhino's massive brow furrowed at that.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Don't worry though, you'll get the help you need here." he said.

"Umm......thanks, sir." Baily said now put off by the treatment he was receiving from this cop. That was something he wasn't used to, the current species of said cop notwithstanding.

"You can call me Arnie, and this is Chaz." he said motioning to the wolf who was too busy weaving through traffic to respond.

"I'm Baily......Baily Longmire......" he said, finding it hard to remember the last time he had told someone his full name. As he was thinking, he remembered what Chaz had said earlier.

"Are there more humans here?" he asked, curious.

"Humans? Is that what species you are?" Arnie asked.

"Y-yes." Baily said.

"There's one......he was found a few days ago. A kid. He was in pretty bad shape. But he's doing much better now, I think."

"Really? Huh." Baily said as he sat back. Soon, a giant white building loomed ahead.

"That must be the hospital." Baily said to himself.

"You betcha!" Chaz said as he spun the car in a full 180 before smoothly parking. Arnie was gripping the dashboard so tightly that his hands left impressions in it.

"How many times have I told you not to do that!" he snapped once the engine had been turned off.

"Sorry, force of habit." Chaz said with a casual shrug. Baily had been too distracted by his thoughts to pay any attention to the wolf's driving. He thanked Chaz who held his door open as he limped up the steps towards the front entrance. The two cops escorted him inside, where a panda doctor was about to walk by when he took one look at Baily and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Nurse! I need a wheelchair here!" he called as he went to Baily without any hesitation. Robbie came jogging around the corner, pushing a wheelchair.

"Alright where's the fire.....another one?" he said as he took one look at the beaten and bruised face of the second, and much taller, human. The much smaller mammal quickly got over it and moved the chair over for him to sit down in, which he nervously complied.

That's two of these humans now.......what's going on? he wondered as he quickly pushed the new patient down the halls.

In Eli's room.......

Judy had left to go speak with Eli's doctors, while Nick stayed behind with him. He was still looking a little sour, what with how amusing Eli and Judy had found his reaction to the news, especially when Judy had pointed to his tail and said "See?! I told you it bushes out when he's surprised."

"Are you mad at me Nick?" Eli asked after a moment. Nick whipped around to look at the boy.

"What makes you think that?"

Eli looked away before answering.

"You just seemed mad, and I thought that maybe I had done something."

Nick smiled at the kid, and rested a paw on his shoulder again.

"Of course you didn't do anything. I was just feeling a little self conscious is all." he explained, hoping Eli would perk up. The boy quickly complied with a smile. Just then, Judy walked in excited.

"Guess what!" she said, barely containing her energy.

"What?" Nick and Eli both asked.

"I just spoke with the doctors, who just submitted their official report. ZPD now has it, and I just spoke with the Chief as well, so everything's squared away! Eli, we can go home together as soon as the doctors examine you one more time tomorrow!" she said before she quickly ran up and hugged Eli, and then Nick.

"Wow! Really?" Eli asked, excited.

"Yup!"

Just then Robbie quickly came in.

"You guys aren't gonna believe what just happened!" he said.