  Everyone showed up on time and we headed over to the dog pound. My plan had been simple. We would get there before anyone came to work set all the dogs free and get out. Then each of us would go home and stay in the house the rest of the morning so we would have an alibi. When we approached the fenced area of the pound I knew things would not go that smooth. The information PK gave me about the pound failed to mention a couple of key things. There were two fences about a foot apart. I guess that was so the dogs would have to dig 2 holes to get out. I thought we would be able to just pull the fence up and out the dogs would go. I also hadn’t realized that the main reason that PK wanted to free these dogs was that there was a liter of seven beagle puppies.
Puppies that I knew Spider, Ronny, PK and even me would not be able to just walk away from once they were free. I told Ronny and Spider to pull up on the fence and PK and I would try and lift the second fence. I had my arms under the first fence and was pulling up on the second one but couldn’t get a good grip. I moved left so I could get pulling room and knocked Spider’s legs out from under him. The first fence came down hard on the top of my arms, cutting the left one and scrapping the right one. I rolled away from the fence and told PK to throw his coat over the top of the fence and then we will throw Spider over the fence. Once inside the dog pen Spider started throwing the puppies over the fence one at a time. When all the dogs were out I realized that Spider couldn’t climb out.
He was starting to get a little freaked because PK had told Ronny to head back to the fort. He then told me to think of something quick because people would be waking up soon. I looked around and noticed for the first time that the dog pen had a gate that was also a door to the pound building. I told Spider to try the gate and it opened right up and he ran through the building and out the front door to safety.
We ran all the way back to the fort and Ronny was rolling around on the ground playing with the puppies. The alibi part of the plan was blown. We had taken to much time and none of else really wanted to leave the puppies. We named them all and found food for them and generally spent all day taking care of our rescued friends. If any of us tried to leave a puppy would follow them. There was no way to hide them without tying them up and since we had just freed them we couldn’t do that. So instead Ronny went to his house and stole a ham out of the refrigerator. His family always had stuff like a whole ham in the fridge.
We left while the puppies were devouring the ham and all headed home. The next day we all showed up at the fort early. The puppies had pretty much just gone to sleep after their ham feast. We decide that the heat was off and it wouldn’t look suspicious if we were seen with a dog or two following us around so we headed out. We decided not to hang out together to make it look a little better. We were all reunited at the Sheriff’s office later that day.
I guess it did look odd to be followed around by puppies. We were each put in a jail cell for and for an hour no one spoke to us. It was sort of scary but mostly I thought about the puppies. The Sheriff would probably kill them so nobody else would try and set them free. I knew that PK and Ronny would do there “Yes sir, I am so sorry, you are so right,” routine. They had that perfected since fourth grade but Spider would just start crying and you never could be sure what he might let slip out in between sobs. We couldn’t see or hear each other and then the Sheriff would pull one of us out and lecture each of us about the dangers of rabies and how we could have been seriously hurt. I got sent back to the cell for asking the Sheriff which of the puppies had rabies. When he came back and asked if I had anything else smart to say I said no and ask him how long he was going to hold me before he charged me with a crime. Then after another hour he ask me if I had any other smart things to say and I told him no and so he let me go as well.
I thought about what I would say to my parents when I got home and kept wondering what would happen to the puppies. When I did arrive I realized quickly that the Sheriff had not called my Mom or Dad meaning I could risk forgetting about it. It had always been my philosophy to never volunteer information to grown ups. I never knew what became of the pups or why the Sheriff hadn’t called but always imagined him taking all of the dogs home with him. It was easier to imagine then thinking he had them all put down. I mean after all he did let me off the hook. 
