Cunning Pets - 321 W Main St
Pure-bred puppies, parrots and canaries, and tropical fish are for sale; this shop carries all the things one needs for birds, dogs, cats, and dozens of other household creatures. The store has been known to occasionally acquire exotic animals. This enterprise is run by an outsider, Albert Cunningham. Cunningham is quite a collector of uncommon sea creatures, and he has several large tanks in his home above the shop.
Recently Cunningham sold several domestic animals before discovering that they were being used as sacrifices in a fraternity initiation. The rituals were held on Misery Island in the center of the river.
The police were notified, the suspects apprehended, and Cunningham is suing three of the families involved for civil damages under an obscure provision of Massachusetts drayage law intended to protect horses from mistreatment. Two of the defendant families, unnamed by police, are local and influential within the community. The incident has been hushed up so far. Cunningham has been gently warned that he should not broach the offenders' names in public—at least not until after the trial—and how he handles this matter in large part determines whether or not he succeeds or fails in New Jerusalem.
As a rule most of the animals here are sheltered, naïve, and more than a little misinformed as to the hows, whys, and wheres of the world at large. The exception to this rule is Rumpert, an adolescent Pure-bred Beagle who was kidnapped from Boston and ended up here through a series of shady deals, of which Mr. Cunningham had no part. Rumpert is near his wit's end feeling very much like a sane man locked up in a sanitarium by mistake. He is desperate to escape and at least try to get back to his people. Recently he has taken it upon himself to try and educate the innocents in the shop and has begun to plot out a daring escape with them - then, or so he tells himself, it's homeward bound. Unfortunately he is fooling himself; should he ever pull off a break out he will find it impossible to just leave his young friends and wards to the rigors of the wide open world.
Type
Shop, Generic
Parent Location
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