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each for Jared and Alexandra, one
each for Bobby and Lisa, and the rest just because, mud caked their
shoes and hands and streaked their faces. Pumpkins loaded into the
SUV they started to leave.
    "I'm hungry. Can I have something to eat
first?" Alexandra asked.
    "There's a concession stand here. How do some
hot dogs and hot apple cider sound?" Jared asked.
    "Great."
    "Are you in a hurry to get home, Maggie?"
    "No. I've got all afternoon." Warmth seeped
into her. He called her Maggie, rather than Ms. McCade.
    "She promised to help us carve our pumpkins.
Oh no. We forgot to get a pumpkin for Maggie." Alexandra looked
devastated. "We have to go get another one for her."
    "You look tired," Jared said.
    "I'm not tired. Just hungry." Alexandra
frowned and her voice rose in a telltale whine.
    "Let's see how you feel after we eat. Don't
worry. We have more than enough pumpkins to share."
    While Jared went to the concession stand to
get the food, Maggie took Alexandra to the restroom to wash up.
Tired and starting to get cranky, Alexandra finished washing her
hands and didn't wait for Maggie. Hands still wet Maggie hurried
out after her. Assured that Alexandra was with her father at a
picnic table, she started to go back into the restroom when a noise
caught her attention.
    Wiping her hands on her jeans she stopped and
listened. Behind the restrooms lay a narrow strip of wooded land.
On the other side was the highway. Below the roar of cars whipping
by, the low, plaintive moan came again.
    Brush and brambles tugged at Maggie as she
followed the faint sound. In the weed filled ditch alongside the
four lane road someone had dumped a black plastic garbage bag.
    She looked up and down the road then back at
the bag. She prodded the bag with her foot. It moved. She jumped.
"What the hell!"
    The plastic stretched and tore. A shaggy head
poked through the hole. Bright, black button eyes peered out from
under matted fur of an undetermined color and latched onto her. The
creature's mouth opened revealing a moist pink tongue that lolled
comically.
    "Yip," it barked.
    A dog? No, a puppy. Gangly legs ended with
large paws. Through patches of fur and dirt she could see the
outline of its ribs. Its large head with long, floppy ears wobbled
as it tried to untangle itself from the bag. Anger sizzled through
her. Someone had put a puppy in a garbage bag and thrown it out of
their car alongside the road.
    She knelt in the weeds next to the bag. Not
stopping to worry about how it might react she reached for the
puppy. "You poor little thing. Let's see if you're okay."
    The puppy trembled as she lifted it from the
now shredded plastic. Though skinny its body felt warm and solid.
It licked her arm as she held it and ran her hands over its dirty
fur.
    "Well, I'm no vet, but you're a little boy
dog. You seem all in one piece. The weeds must have cushioned the
impact. Nothing feels broken. And you don't act like you're
hurt."
    He gave a small woof of agreement and nipped
at her fingers.
    "Hungry, are you?"
    Body shivering, its long bushy tail went
wild.
    "Maggie?"
    "Where are you?"
    From a distance she heard Jared and Alexandra
calling for her.
    "I wonder if puppies like hot dogs," she
mused as she stuffed the puppy inside Jared's jacket. With a
contented sigh, it settled against her chest. Hungry, dirty, cold
and tired, now in a warm, secure place it fell asleep. Even abused
and abandoned, it gave her its unquestioning trust. Only an
occasional shudder revealed the trauma it had already endured
during its young life. Too bad people weren't as resilient.
    After the physical and verbal abuse she'd
suffered at the hands of her drunken parents, it had taken her
years to learn to trust again. Even now she found it hard to let
anyone get close enough to hurt her, physically or emotionally.
     
     
    ~~~~~

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Relief flooded through Jared when Maggie,
arms wrapped protectively around her chest, stepped out of the
woods behind the restrooms. Though