CHAPTER ELEVEN

     Back in the wood shed, Buster watched over Wiley,

who had fallen asleep. Buster smiled as he realized he had a

real friend for the first time in his life.

     Early the next morning, Wiley wandered out of the

storage shed and headed for the front of the house. As he

rounded the front corner, he saw Maggie sitting in the sun

on the front porch. “Hi Maggie,” he happily greeted her.

     Maggie looked down at Wiley. “Did you get some

sleep?” she asked.

     “I actually slept for a while,” Wiley answered as he
yawned.

     Maggie was determined to get some information.

“Why do all of you have blue collars?” she inquired.

Before Wiley could answer, Maggie fired another question.

“And where did you and the other dogs come from?”

     Wiley could see that Maggie was very interested and

asked a question of his own while smiling. “Is this an
interrogation? Maggie started to reply, “I was just….”

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     Wiley interrupted, “I'm kidding. All of us were either

picked up off the streets by the county animal control or

left there by our owners. Then in the middle of the night,

blue collars were put on us and we were moved to an

experimental institute for animals and put in a cage.”

     “What kind of experiments?” Maggie asked, her

voice full of concern,

     “I found out from Rollie that all of us blue collar dogs

were going to be Doctor Howl's next guinea pigs,”

responded Wiley.

     Now Maggie was really curious. “Who is Doctor

Howl?”

     “He's the mad scientist who runs the university's

research institute,” Wiley replied.

     “What were his plans for you and your friends?”

Maggie wondered aloud.

     Wiley was uncomfortable telling any more, but knew

that Maggie wouldn’t be satisfied with a half answer. “All I

know is that he is running these horrible experiments on

older dogs in an attempt to extend human lives. Many dogs

have already died.”

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     “Where is this horrible place?” a sober Maggie asked.

     “Right across the railroad tracks,” Wiley answered.

“We may have been the only dogs to have ever escaped.”

He tried to get in a question of his own. “Where am I? I’ve

never been in this part of town before.”

     “You’re in the Canine Triangle,” chuckled Maggie.

     “The what?” Wiley asked.

     Maggie began to speak in an angry tone. “Thanks to

the media, we have people coming from miles around to

abandon their dogs here, believing their pet will be

mysteriously saved.”

     “Saved by who?” asked Wiley.

     “I don’t know,” said Maggie. “Dogs just vanish. I go

out and try to locate stray dogs for Kate. That’s how I

found you and your friends, but Kate can only save a few.”

     Before Maggie could answer another question, Kate

came out the front door and interrupted the conversation.

“Maggie, I was looking for you,” she said with concern.

She noticed Wiley as he quickly disappeared around the

corner of the house.

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     Meanwhile Buster and the rest of the dogs had

gathered in the old storage building and were trying to

figure out their next move. Wiley quietly entered and

listened to the blue collar dogs discussing their dilemma.

     “What are we going to do?” asked Bouncer.

     Astro spoke out. “I guess we go our separate ways.”

     Gibraltar, the smallest of the blue collar dogs, was not

interested in hitting the street on his own and asked. “Break

up? I don’t know how to live on my own, and I bet that I’m

not the only one.”

     “Twelve dogs wandering around wouldn’t last a day

before we’re picked up again,” added Duke.

     “Well, we all can't stay here,” said Astro.

     “Some of you are too weak and old to survive on your

own. You’ll have to stay here. Kate will help you,” directed

Buster. “It's very tough on the street. I've been there. It’s

the only option for me because no human is going to

control me anymore.”

     Gibraltar was very concerned and hoping for a better

option. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wiley calmly

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watching the debate. “What are you going to do, Wiley?”

     “I have some unfinished business.” Wiley stated.

     “What business?” several of he dogs asked.

     Wiley had put two and two together after talking with

Maggie. He now believed that the reason the dogs were

disappearing was because they were victims of Doctor

Howl and the institute. “I really miss my family and believe

I can find my way home, but I’m not going any where until

these dogs abandoned in the Canine Triangle are safe from

Dr. Howl and the institute.”

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