Free Dog Daze by Lauraine Snelling Page B

dog food, stacked about waist high. With nothing to add to the very capable job the girls were doing, Aneta wandered away from the counter toward the wire pen. Bags of Puppy Pellets lay haphazardly stacked six high on three sides of the pen.
    “Oh!” Aneta gasped. “Little Winks!”
    The pen held six basset puppies; two lay on their sides, flanks heaving as though they were too hot. Two more rose to their feet but didn’t approach Aneta. They looked tired. “Poor babies. Are you hot, too?” She glanced at an overturned water bowl. “No water, huh? I will get you some.” A bunch of Winks who needed help. The last two bassets in the pen, however, stopped tugging on a dirty towel and watched her, tails looping up like question marks. Together, with their big feet stepping squarely on their long ears, they stumbled across the pen toward Aneta.
    Distracted from the water mission, she dropped to her knees, leaning against the pile of Puppy Pellets. “So cute,” she murmured. She couldn’t wait until Wink was at her home. She hoped all these puppies would find forever homes, too. Funny how there were so many bassets about Wink’s size. She stuck her fingers through the wire pen.
    “Hi, puppies.”
    At the same moment, the two stumblers collided with the pen and promptly sank sharp puppy teeth into her wriggling fingers.
    “Ouch!” She jerked her fingers away. The action pushed her against a bag out of order in the stacking. One began to slowly slide. Aneta fell farther backward, kicking the pen with her flailing feet while she tried to balance herself.
    “Whoa!” she cried.
    “Ai-ai!” the puppies cried.
    The dislodged bag pushed the one nearest it out of the stack. The entire wall of Puppy Pellets cascaded toward Aneta’s head. She pushed at the bags, but they were too big, too heavy, and gaining speed.
    “Help!” she cried, throwing up her arms to ward off the heavy bags. They pushed her over, and faster than the breath to cry out, she lay half-buried in dog food. The yelping puppies increased their volume. Her cheek hurt from scraping the cement floor.
    “Oh, ow.” She opened her eyes. “Help.” The logo of the bag scrunching her nose looked familiar.
Later
, Aneta thought.
I will think about it later when I breathe
.

Chapter 13
A Clue to the Crocs Killer!
    D azed, she heard the girls approaching. “Aneta! He’s going to put the poster back up. Aneta? Aneta!”
    Esther shrieked. “Aneta! Lord, help her!”
    Yes, please, Lord
, Aneta thought, speaking to Him for the first time. Her cheekbone began to throb in beat with other parts of her body awkwardly twisted under too much puppy food. Puppy Pellets did not smell good. Especially when one of the bags had split open and she was nearly swimming in Pellets. Some were in her ear. Trying to push herself up while everyone pulled off bags, several Pellets crushed under her elbow.
    Finally, she was free of Puppy Pellets. The girls helped her up and brushed her off. All but two of the puppies, still delighted at the entertainment, had settled down to a lower-voiced grunting and grumbling. The quiet pair raised their heads briefly, appearing too tired to care.
    The pet-store man pushed past Gram and the girls to regard the mess. “I hope you’re not thinking to sue me,” he said to Aneta, who was touching her pulsating cheekbone. “You owe me for forty pounds of Puppy Pellets!”
    How much does forty pounds of Puppy Pellets cost?
Aneta felt her face grow hot, hot, hot. Her Christmas money was long gone. “I am sorry,” she said, backing up. Zeff’s long arm slipped around her. She leaned against him. “I heard the puppies. They did not have water. One of them bit my finger. I jerked my hand back. It hit one of the bags. I fell.”
    Cousin Zeff cleared his throat. “Good thing it was you, Aneta, and not one of those tiny little pups.” He inspected the two remaining walls of Puppy Pellets. He nudged one with his toe. That side began to slide. With a