Brad was at the rear of the county animal control
building and was just finishing transferring the last dog he
and Earl had captured during the day. It was a small older
dog, very scared and was trembling as Brad set him on the
floor in the large holding pen among the other dogs. He
tried to assure the dog, “You're safe. Your owner will find
you.” But Brad now knew that unless the owner walked
through the door immediately this older dog would be
tagged for a trip to Dr. Howl’s institute.
At that moment, Earl caught up with Brad and
updated him. “There you are. George wants to move these
dogs out tonight.”
Tonight?” questioned Brad.
“Don't you understand?” asked Earl. “These dogs
will be useful to society and the center stays out of trouble.
There's no room here. Dr. Howl wants as many dogs as we
can deliver. I told you this was a win, win program for
everybody”
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Brad pointed out at the dogs in the pen. “Except for
these dogs and their owners,” he said in dejected voice.
Earl tried to keep Brad in line. “Look Brad, don't
flake out on me. You are in to this up to your eye balls. We
have to get the dog population down or we could all be out
of a job.”
It was late afternoon and the blue collar gang had
been doing some cleaning up at their hideout. Buster could
see that Duke, Gibraltar and Wiley had never seen or been
near a pigsty like this. He gave them a bad time as they
tiptoed around the garbage. Buster laughed, “You up town
dogs are just going to have to adjust.”
The three responded, “Don’t worry about us.”
Bouncer entered the room and announced, “I’m
hungry.”
“You and Astro go out and scour around. Keep your
eyes open,” suggested Buster.
Wiley volunteered, “I’ll go with them,” so Astro,
Bouncer and Wiley left the hideout and started down the
back alley. As they walked along, Astro said, “Boy, we’re
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lucky old Buster is with us. He’s seen it all.” The other two
nodded in agreement.
After searching a while, Wiley stopped and told the
other two, “Go ahead without me. I have to go back to
Kate’s.” He trotted at a rapid pace down an alley, around a
corner and then back onto another filthy alley. After a short
distance, he arrived at the rear of Kate’s rescue house and
entered the yard. He quickly hid behind a compost pile and
watched.
The back yard was full on activity. Jan, Kate’s
associate, was busy putting two of the blue collar dogs into
her van and Kate was caring for another of the blue collar
dogs. Wiley scanned the rest of the yard but couldn’t find
Maggie. Jan closed the door to her van with the two dogs
inside and was ready to leave. She caught up with Kate and
said, “I’m ready to roll.”
Kate looked up from the dog she was treating.
“Thanks for taking in two of them. I’m down to four now. I
don’t understand. The other six dogs just took off, but I
have put out some food and water out for them.”
As Wiley intently watched, he failed to notice a dog
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quietly walking through the grass behind him. He was
caught off guard when he head Maggie’s voice. “What are
you doing?” she asked.
Wiley knew he had been spotted and kidded, “Well,
I’m not taking a sun bath.”
Maggie informed Wiley, “For your information, my
job is to guard the back yard and no one gets past me.”
“I believe you,” said Wiley seriously.
“Why are you here?” asked Maggie.
“I was checking on the other blue collar dogs,” said
Wiley.
“They’re well cared for,” responded Maggie proudly.
“You’re right,” agreed Wiley. “Kate is very caring.”
Maggie continued suspiciously, “Is that all you
wanted?”
Wiley stammered, “The dogs are hungry and I …..”
Maggie interrupted, “You heard Kate say she was
going to leave food and water behind the old shed for you
guys.”
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“I did. That’s great,” smiled Wiley, “I’m off to tell the
gang.”
But Maggie still had questions. “Where are you
hiding? What are you up to?” she asked quietly.
As Wiley slipped through a gap in the old fence
leading to the alley, he turned with a kidding look on his
face and said, “You will be the first to know.”
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