Within seconds, Smasher was eyeball to eyeball with
Wiley and growled at him. “You're the smart aleck who
ruined my day.”
Wiley stared up at the large black dog and before he
thought things out fired back, “Hey, if you hadn't chased
after my car, we wouldn't be here.”
Smasher moved in closer, towering over Wiley, and
threatened, “I could finish you off right now, but...”
“But what,” said Wiley as he backed away, realizing
that he should keep his mouth shut.
Smasher responded, “You must be crazy to have taken
me on. That showed guts.”
“I got carried away. I shouldn't have given you a hard
time,” said Wiley.
“It doesn’t matter. Our time is up,” said Smasher sadly.
With a frown on his face, Wiley asked, “What do you
mean?”
30
Smasher paused a moment and said, “Do you have
any idea where you are?”
Wiley observed the sad group of dogs in the holding
pen and answered, “Listen, I know we're being held at the
animal control center and this not a good situation. But
we'll be out of here when our owners find us.”
Smasher laughed, “Are you kidding? You don't have
any ID. How is animal control going to know who you
are?”
Wiley tried to look for his collar and then remembered,
“Hey, you ripped my collar off. Anyway, you don’t know
my owners. They will find me. I just know it.”
Smasher laughed again, “You think humans are going
to save us? Give me a break. I know that my owner won’t
pay a dime to spring me. Anyway, we only have a couple
of weeks because you and I are not spring chickens. We're
old with no I.D.'s. We'll go to the top of the list.”
“What list?” Wiley asked.
Smasher looked around the large pen packed with dogs
and whispered, “The list of dogs to be put to sleep.
31
With that news, a totally exhausted Wiley has had it. He
just collapsed on the concrete floor of the holding pen
It was the end of the day at the animal control office
where two officers were in serious discussion. The man
behind the desk was George Barton, the head honcho, and
he was talking with Earl. George said, “I hear you picked
up the dog that everybody thought was a coyote.”
Earl laughed. “The public wouldn't know a coyote if
they saw one. He's just a mix. Actually, he had big ears and
loped along like a darn coyote.”
George glared straight at Earl and said, “I don't have
any room for him or any of the old dogs.” George raised his
voice. “Listen Earl, the new mayor and the press are out to
get me. There is going to be a big investigation. We have to
move the dogs out tonight. Call our friend Doctor Howl
and tell him we have more volunteers.”
“I can’t do it alone. I'll need some help.” said Earl.
“Get rid of all the dogs over 10 years old,” ordered
George. “Take the new guy.”
Wiley was still lying on the concrete floor of the
32
holding pen. He just couldn’t adjust to his bad fortune.
Smasher tried to cheer him up. “Wiley, you look under ten.
That's good. You would qualify for the adoption program,”
said Smasher.
Wiley looked up and shook his heard. “I'm twelve
years old. How do you know this stuff?”
“I've been here before,” said Smasher.
Wiley came to his senses, sat up and asked, “You've
been here?”
Looking down at his new friend, Smasher said, “Hey,
I've been around, passed around and left on my own. I was
here a couple of years ago. My owners couldn't afford me.
So they dropped me off. Believe me, no one wants a big old
black dog that eats a lot.”
“But you must have been adopted,” said Wiley
Smasher bristled and he got a very serious look on his
face. “I wish I had been put away,” said Smasher.
“What happened?” Wiley asked.
“The guy who was chasing you down the center of
the street picked me out,” Smasher said. “All he wanted
33
was a big black dog to terrorize the neighborhood. He was
a vicious person”
“He beat you?” a concerned Wiley asked.
“Man, I've been whacked so many times I don't bat an
eye anymore. I can take anything. No human will hurt me
again.”
“I wouldn’t know what that was like,” said Wiley.
“I've never been hit.”
You know, I was really mad at you at first, but then I
realized I could use you to get away. That's why I chased
you for so long. Boy, you can really run. My owner called
me Smasher. My real name is Buster.”
“You're a good dog, Buster,” said Wiley.
It was the end of the day when John entered the house
and went into the kitchen where Nancy was preparing
dinner. She turned with a hopeful look, even though she
knew John would have called her if he had found Wiley.
“No Wiley?” asked Nancy quietly.
John reached out and put his arms around her, “No
Wiley,” he answered. “That animal control center is
34
chaotic. They're overwhelmed with dogs and cats. The right
hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Wiley may
be there and they would not have a clue.”
“Then we'll have to solve this ourselves,” said Nancy.
“We will never give up on Wiley.”
It was near midnight when Earl, driving a CACC van,
arrived at the rear loading dock at the animal control center.
The other man in the van was Brad, who was wondering
what was happening. “Thanks for helping out tonight,” said
Earl.
“What are we doing?” asked Brad.
Earl responded, “We have to fill a rush request for
some medical volunteers. The county sells older dogs to the
research institute at the university for medical
experiments.”
Brad was becoming concerned about the late night
activities and asked, “Why in the middle of the night?”
Earl, who was getting tired of all the questions,
reluctantly answered, “Listen, the county has too many
dogs and cats. There is an audit tomorrow. If the press
35
found out how over crowded we are, there would be big
problems.”
Brad replied, “I didn't know about this program.”
“Few people do,” said Earl. “Look, it's a win, win for
everybody. No one is going to miss this bunch of old
misfits.”
He got out of the van and came around to the rear
entrance door. Brad quietly followed as Earl opened the
door and turned on his flash light and handed one to Brad.
“I'll tag the dogs I want with a blue collar,” said Earl. “You
take them to the van.” Then he went around the holding pen
and slipped a blue collar on the dogs he wanted, including
Wiley, who was sound asleep, and Buster who was nearby.
Brad followed behind and put a noose over any dog
with a blue collar, woke them up and moved them out
before they realized what has happened. He put a noose
around Wiley and got him to his feet. “Come on, old boy,”
Brad whispered.
Wiley was put in the van. The last dog to be put in the
van was Buster. It took all the strength Brad and Earl could
muster to get him into the van. A worried Wiley caught up
36
“What's happening?”
Buster looked at Wiley with his big whisky-colored
eyes. “I have no idea,” said Buster as the van pulled away
from the loading dock.
37
