Mavis couldn’t believe it when she heard Rose calling her!
She stopped tromping through the woods and waited.
Sure enough, Rose came bursting through the tangled brush. When she caught her breath, she said, “Hey!”
Mavis grinned. “Hey.”
Then Rose trudged right past Mavis, leading the way through the woods and calling for Henry.
As Mavis followed Rose, she felt like she was floating. Like her feet weren’t even touching the leaf-covered ground or jumping over rotting branches.
Rose hadn’t left her alone to carry out her plan by herself.
Rose was marching deeper into the woods, even though she wasn’t allowed to be there.
Rose was being a very good best friend.
Mavis was so lost in those thoughts that she nearly jumped clean out of her sneakers when a thin white dog stepped out of a cluster of rhododendron and stopped right in front of her and Rose.
Henry!
She recognized that long thin nose. Those brown ears. That big brown spot on his side shaped like the map of Texas.
“Hey, fella,” Mavis whispered.
Henry wagged his tail.
He was dirty as all get-out, with dark brown cockleburs stuck here and there in his fur.
“He’s so skinny,” Rose whispered.
Mavis took a step toward him. “It’s okay, fella, I won’t hurt you.”
Henry backed up a little but wagged his tail.
Mavis took another step.
Wag, wag
Another step.
Wag, wag
Finally, Mavis was close enough to touch him. She reached out very slowly and put her hand on Henry’s side, stroking him gently on that map-of-Texas brown spot. Next, she stroked his head, rubbing gently between his ears.
Then Mavis noticed something peculiar.
“Rose! Check this out!”
Henry had numbers on the underside of each ear!
Numbers!
Tattooed on his velvety ears.
Actually, one ear had three numbers and a letter: 117E. The other ear had five numbers: 51549.
What in the world could that mean? Why would a dog have numbers on his ears?
Mavis had never seen anything like it.
Rose took a few careful steps closer and peered down at Henry’s ears. Then she looked at Mavis with wide eyes.
“Why does he have those numbers?” Mavis asked.
Rose shook her head. “I don’t know, but I think he’s a greyhound.”
Mavis cocked her head and looked at Henry. “You think so?”
Rose nodded.
Henry nudged Mavis’s hand with his long, skinny snout.
“We should’ve brought some treats,” Mavis said. “I’m going to try to get him to come with us.”
Then she reached for Henry with both hands.
But quick as lightning, he jerked away and took off running.
And in a blink, he was gone.