Chapter 3

Gracie heard footsteps coming toward the sleeping room. She could see Rob’s feet beside the bed. She heard the door where the men kept their clothes and shoes open. Then something heavy was dropped on the bed above her and made it shake. She heard a zzz sound. Then she could hear the sounds of the boxes that slide open where Bryan and Rob kept their socks. Gracie remembered how when she first came she would steal Bryan’s socks and chew them. Bryan did not like that. “No socks, Gracie!” Bryan would say. So she didn’t do that anymore. Rob’s feet were by the bed again. He was talking while he did things that made the bed shake.

“I’ll get out, all right! Who needs him? Him and that dumb beagle.”

Gracie knew that word. Bryan called her “Beagle” sometimes. It was like her second name.

Rob was still talking. “…He loves that mutt more than he does me.”