It was mid-day and John was driving down the
freeway with Nancy. Both seemed to be in deep thought as
the car speed up. Nancy noticed that they were
about to fly and shouted, "John, slow down." John checked
the speedometer and took his foot off the gas, recalling a
wild ride with Wiley that nearly killed them both.
He and Wiley were coming back from an appraisal
assignment and were entering the freeway. The
windows were down and Wiley had his head out the
passenger window when a driver in a large Ford
pickup truck barreled in front of them, forcing John
to hit the brakes or hit the truck. It almost sent
Wiley out the window, but John grabbed his collar
and pulled him back in the car. “You idiot,”
shouted John to the truck driver. John floored his
car, chasing the pickup yelling, “We'll get him,
Wiley.”
Both drivers were weaving through traffic,
changing lanes, cutting in front of cars. Wiley
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glanced at John and saw an obsessed man behind
the wheel and began barking. But nothing happened
and they continued to gain speed. Wiley then turned
and put his paw on John's leg and barked in his
right ear. Finally, John realized what Wiley wanted
and slowed down. He looked at Wiley, shaking in
his seat, and said, "Thanks Wiley. You have always
protected me."
Back at the institute, Wiley and Buster had gathered all
the blue collar dogs together, explaining an escape plan. “I
have told you all I know. If you stay,” said Wiley, “you
will become medical guinea pigs and then discarded. If you
want to take your chances on escaping, you’re welcome to
join Buster and me. You have to decide before we go to the
baths.”
“Look around,” said Buster. “None of us belong here.
I know some of you are older and have serious medical
problems, but I believe we can all break out of here.”
“No one is going to shave me down to my skin,” said
Astro, shaking his beautiful red and white coat.
Bouncer, a muscular dog about the size of a Boxer,
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with short black hair and white chest agreed. “Hey, let's
get the heck out of here.”
Gibraltar added his two cents. “No one is sticking any
needles in me.”
Duke, a Springer and Cocker mix, joined in, “This is
a no brainer.”
“It is check out time,” shouted the rest of the blue
collar dogs.
“We will leave no one behind,” assured Buster.
Meanwhile, George was having a serious discussion
with Earl. “Any problems last night?” he asked.
“Nope,” said Earl.
“Good. Doctor Howl just called me,” said George.
“The doctor is stepping up his research program and he
needs more dogs. So you and Brad are going to be very
busy.”
“I can use the money,” replied Earl.
“Did you pay Brad?” asked George.
“Yea, but he asks too many questions,” snarled Earl.
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“Earl, you take young Brad aside and explain to him
how involved he is,” said George gravely.
It was mid afternoon and the bathers and trimmers at
the research institute had herded all the blue collar dogs
into the bathing area. There were four technicians working
on the dogs. The head technician was ordering them
around. “All right,” said the head technician. “Everybody
knows the routine. Let's get going.”
At that moment, the escape plan began. Wiley nodded
to Buster to see if gate nine was open. Inching over to gate
nine, Buster saw the gate was unlocked and gave Wiley the
“go” sign. On cue, Wiley collapsed on the concrete floor
and began making an unbelievable series of moans and
human like groans, all the while shaking from head to toe.
As the technicians began hurrying over to check on
Wiley, the head technician tried to regain order. “Back to
your posts. Everything is under control,” he said.
Buster immediately pushed open gate nine and
hollered, “Let’s get out of here.”
The head technician realized that this was a breakout
and screamed, “Shut all the gates."
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But it was too late. The technicians had left their dogs
unattended and now all chaos was breaking out. The head
technician tried to get to a general alarm switch but
Bouncer and Astro blocked his path. “Not so fast dude,”
said Astro.
The technicians checking on Wiley left, so Wiley
jumped up and cried out, “Clear out.”
Duke and Gibraltar herded the older dogs through
gate nine and instructed them, “Down the corridor, go, go.”
All the dogs had made it out gate nine except Wiley,
Buster, Astro, Duke, Bouncer and Gibraltar. One of the
technicians had managed to drop a holding cage over
Gibraltar, trapping him. When Buster saw this, he ran over,
and slammed against the cage, knocking it over so Gibraltar
could escape.
Just then another technician tried to catch Gibraltar,
but Bouncer charged to the rescue. “No way, Jose,” Buster
yelled.
“This can’t be happening,” said the demoralized head
technician.
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Gibraltar, Duke, Bouncer, and Astro were out, and
Wiley and Buster reached gate nine together. Just as Wiley
shot through, Buster turned and let out a tremendous deepthroated
roar which froze all the technicians in their tracks.
He caught up to Wiley and both followed the other dogs
across the exercise field toward the railroad tracks. Wiley
looked back and saw a flock of white coated technicians,
attack dogs and security guards in pursuit. “I hope the train
is on time,” said Wiley, as he tried to get his breath.
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