OK, first, I'm over the word limit, too. Second, I hope my clues as to what is going on aren't too obvious or too vague. I wanted to make the readers wonder as the story progressed. But, it's a tightrope. Comments and critique appreciated. Thanks for your time. (I had to post to my own suggestion, right?) --------------------------------------------------------- The night was a bit cooler than Joey had figured. Of course, he wasnt outside often at this late hour. He tucked his hands inside his jacket pockets, curled them up, and drew them toward each other, pulling the material together. His heart raced keeping pace with the plodding of his worn out pair of sneakers. He was excited. And scared. There wasnt much sound in the air except for the rustling of the contents of his backpack. He shifted it a bit and changed his direction to carry him through the shadier parts of the small yards he was intruding upon. Yards attached to small dark houses asleep for the night. He was at least three blocks away from his home now and all was going as planned. Up ahead, he saw the shadows thinning out as the corner streetlight came into view from behind an old oak tree. He scanned ahead for a safe passage and decided to veer left, cutting the corner off someones yard. Cautiously, he made his way between a mounding patch of neglected shrubs and a pile of misshapen garbage that resembled the efforts of a serious garage-cleaning. Ahhhhyahhh! The boyish little scream escaped his lips before he could stop it. Yelp! Joey heard another noise join his, erasing the silence as he fell face-forward toward the ground. He panicked and tried to yank his hands from his pockets to break the fall but there wasnt time. His eight-year-old body slammed on the overgrown grass making a strange whompf sound followed by a cacophony of sounds as only the candy bars, potato chips, and soda cans in his backpack could make. Quickly, he scurried to his side and instinctively side-pedaled his feet to escape the source of the surprise only to catch a glimpse of something hairy doing the same thing as it buried itself between an oil-stained cardboard box and a broken laundry basket. Joey forced himself to calm down and looked closer at the shivering animal. It appeared to be a dog. No, more precisely, a puppy. Joey looked around to see if any lights had sprang to life but the streetlight was the only unwelcome illumination. A quick check of expected aches and pains revealed Joeys fall had created more noise than bruises. His arm hurt but he knew that had happened this morning. So he turned his attention once again to the puppy that was curled up in a disheveled ball. Here, Boy. Joey whispered. And he made a few smooching sounds for good measure. Joey moved slowly forward a foot or so and held out his hand. The puppys head raised and looked at it. Then, it crawled forward a bit, careful to keep its body flat to the ground. Thats it. Come on. Joey pulled his left shoulder in and carefully slipped the strap of his backpack off. The puppy watched. Joey could tell it was scared and slowed his motions down. A few soothing words of encouragement from his lips held the attention of the puppy as he opened his sack and searched its contents for a suitable offering for a puppy. He settled on a bag of half-eaten peanuts, sprinkled a few into his empty hand, and slowly held out his offering. The puppy stood up halfway on wobbly, shaky legs and sniffed. Licked. And then buried his nose in Joeys hand eagerly gobbling up the salty nuggets. Joey took the opportunity to reach out and pet him with the other hand and the dog moved closer, looked into Joeys face, obviously asking for more. Thats a GOOD boy! Joey whispered as he located a bag of chips, opened them to a pair of curious eyes, and poured them on the ground. Joey was more confident now and petted the puppy with less hesitation. And the puppy moved closer to him. Thats when he noticed what terrible shape the puppy was in. Gook of unknown origin was caked in the corners of his eyes. Dirt and grime coated his fur and closer inspection revealed scabs on his left flank. Ribs of a starved animal completed the scene. Joey stopped petting him as the last of the chips were licked from the grass. The puppy inched closer to Joey, obviously scared, as if contact would result in a whipping. Too many memories flooded Joeys head as he stroked the poor puppy. Somebody been mean to you? Joey cooed in his tattered ear. The puppy responded to his question with a pathetic wag of his tail. Come on, Boy. Come with me. Im going somewhere where people arent mean. And with that, Joey packed up, stood up, and with his new companion, put more distance between him and his house.