< 52 >

I looked up and something large, brown and furry ran over my back and squeezed through what was left of the hole in the fence. Something else gripped my ankles and hauled me backwards out of the hole, scraping skin off my sides and shoulders. A running, barking, whining, spitting and howling blur slammed into me and over me as I was dragged further out into the field on my belly. After about ten feet, I kicked my feet loose and balled up in a foetal position to protect my face from the panicked claws and teeth.


Suddenly the tide parted and I saw John Sr. standing in front of me bellowing and batting the animals away with his massive arms. Blood stained the arms of his wet sweatsuit. I jumped up completely disoriented and heard yelling and gunshots from the other side of the fence. Two policemen ran around the corner of the building and started shooting into the panic stricken swarm of animals fighting to get through the hole in the fence.


I saw one of them bring his weapon to bear on John and me. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion. One tick...he saw us. Two ticks... he screamed and fired. Three ticks... John Sr. spun around to the left like he had been hit by a truck. Four ticks...I saw my big friend fall crumpled to the ground.


I looked back at the policeman in shock and saw a cold look of fear and hatred in his eye as he leveled the weapon on my chest. He was yelling something but I couldn't hear it over the barking and the screams of the wounded animals. I froze and raised my arms. Just then a black streak hit him from the side and knocked him to the ground. It was Smitty, Dusty's Doberman. At the same time, Sam Glennon jumped off the tin roof of the building next to the policemen and knocked the other officer to the ground.