feet as small paper bags and napkins slid off of my back. I started to walk fore ward. I was a little woozy at first, but I got the hang of it. I turned the corner of the alley and took a left. I trotted on as I saw rats scampering from dumpster to dumpster, the only thing I can really see in the darkness. I started to see the street lights at the end of the alley. When I got to the end, I didn’t see any people walking on the side walks. I remembered this street. It was always dead at night. I looked both ways just to make sure no bums were walking on the side walks. Then I turned a left out of the alley and crossed the street to the right side. I saw another alley at the corner. I started to run a little to get to the alley.

            When I got to the corner, I saw a few trucks down the alley. It was a loading dock. This could be my chance. I thought. Hopefully, it was going to some place far, far away. I saw some smoke coming from the exhaust pipes. They were leaving tonight. Thankfully, I saw one open. I hurried down the alley to get to the dock. I slowed as I got to the end to see what the side of the loading dock said. It said “Cross-Country.” That was good. It was definitely going out of the state.

            I looked around the corner to see if any one was there. I only saw the driver through the window, adjusting his side view mirror on the passenger side. So, I hurried to the back of the truck, and hopped on. It was a little crowded with boxes on the inside, marked with the words, “Yellowstone Rangers” on them. It looked like I was heading for Yellowstone Park. That was perfect.

            I was wondering around the stacks of boxes and found a good looking hiding spot. I turned a corner to the left into a little enclosed space. I slowly walked over, circled the area, and plopped down onto the hard, plywood covered floor. It wasn’t comfortable at all, but it would have to do. I was so tired, I wanted nothing else but to just fall asleep, and not wake up for a few days.

            I heard the man in the overalls walk over.

“Alright, Bob. Let’s do this.” He said.

“You got it, Frank” said the driver.

            I laughed at the humans. Bob and Frank. Huh. Such typical human names. I thought. I heard him close the heavy iron door, making the room pitch black. That was just fine. That was what I needed.

“Fifty cargo boxes headed strait for Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.”

“That’s right.” I said quietly to myself.

            I waited until I heard the passenger door slam and until the truck started to move. I was moved a bit to the side by the movement of the truck backing out from the dock. I would have never been so glad to feel that truck move. I was heading for Yellowstone National Park; far away enough from Chicago. That was exactly where I needed to be… away.

Chapter 3

            Needless to say, I had a good sleep that night, despite all the rumbling and bumps from the ride. And it wasn’t even that cold in the back of the moving truck. I thank God for the thick coat or fur. You could have guessed that any dreams I would have had wouldn’t be happy ones. I know they wouldn’t be pleasant after what I was forced to watch that night. As much as I tried to keep the images of Stacey’s death out of my head, they just kept coming back. But I couldn’t let them get to me. That’s how I got a surprisingly good sleep… while it lasted.

            I did wake once in the middle of the night. I couldn’t really tell if my eyes were closed or not, with it being as dark as it was inside of the moving truck. As expected as it was for me, my recently dismantled demons returned to me, along with a splitting head ache. The horrifying image of Stacy’s terrified expression was all I could see in the dark. I was shivering only from the fear of seeing the last face my recently deceased lover ever made. And to know that it was done by the paws of the ones that I once called my companions, it killed me. I felt as if I was an empty shell again. But this time, it felt like there was no hope for me to be picked up and kept, or even thrown the slightest distance. Just left to be washed up on shore and brought back in by the sea. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to love again. I even doubted any female would even love me. I figured that this was the end of me. As I sat in the corner of the moving truck, in pitch blackness, I started to cry. I started to wonder that if I had never met Randy, Dan or Tom at the pound, anything would be any different. I thought that everything would, but I didn’t know that. Maybe I would have met them later in life. Maybe the three of them were just out for a kill that night, and would have murdered Stacy either way. I tried to think that everything would be different, but it didn’t matter. What had happened, happened. There was nothing I could have done to change it. Though I obviously wished I could have done something to change it. All I could do was wait for me to approach my destination and hope for the best of it.

            I was still very tired. My head ache had worn off in a few minutes. From what I could hear from the humans in the front, we weren’t really anywhere near Wyoming. So I set my head back down on my paws, closed my eyes, and went back to sleep, hoping the next time I woke up, I would be in Yellowstone.

Chapter 4

            Around 9:00 at night, it started to sprinkle a little bit. It was cold and in the mid 30s, so it didn’t feel too good. Steve and Janice tried to cover themselves as best they could with the one umbrella that they had. They bundled them selves up tightly, for they didn’t think it was going to be this cold. They had to walk a few blocks from the taxi cab. They went out to eat for the night at a nice three-star restaurant. Steve could have afforded four-star, but Janice was in the mood for Italian.

            Janice was a German teacher at Young Magnet High School. She had been working here for about 4 years, but had been teaching German since she was 21 years old. She was 28, so she had enough experience. She had also managed to teach her fiancé a little bit of what she knows. He did well enough. He still needed to work a little on the umlauts.

            Steve and Janice had noticed that Stacy, their 3 year old golden lab, had been seeing a European Shepard. He was a very handsome dog, they both thought. She had been leading him through her doggie door once or twice, they noticed and he would still be there when they got home. They both thought they looked cute together. They would always play in the back yard. The Shepard had a collar on him, it said “Jack”. But he never went home. Maybe he had become a stray. And if he was, they would be more than happy to take him in as their new pet.

            Janice had a very wide imagination. So she thought, Hmm. Maybe I should teach him his own language. Instead of using the English language with the Shepard, she used German. And he was doing pretty well at it. She figured she taught him a lot. She’d give him a treat whenever he sat when she said, “Sitzen Sie.” And he’d jump up and down when ever she asked, “Will ein Spaziergang weitergehen?” Which meant, “Wanna go for a walk?” To Steve and Janice, he seemed like a very nice, well mannered dog.

-

            When Steve and Janice reached the front door of the apartment, Steve put the key in the hole and opened the door, while Janice held the umbrella.

            “Damen zuerst.” He said.

            “Wow. Danke Shon. Good job.” She said as she walked through the door.

            “Thanks.”

            When Janice walked in, she was walking backwards as she watched Steve. Steve was staring right at Janice while they walked in to the living room.

            As they both walked in, they held each other and kissed.

            “Thanks for dinner, handsome.”

            “My pleasure, Madame.”

            Janice smiled and kissed him again. As they faced each other, they both walked into the kitchen and made out, but for only a minute or two.

            “We gotta let Stacy out. I’m surprised she’s not barking her head off.”

            “Yeah. Go ahead and go upstairs, get ready for bed. I’ll let her out.”

            “Thank you.”