Once the gray door had slammed shut and Sophie knew that Butch was safely out of harm’s way and in route to better times with the Shopper, she sat down on the dirty floor of her cage and just stared out into space for the longest time. She found it funny how quiet the room had become, now that the “always yapping about something” Butch was no longer at her side. She also found it not so funny how deafening the silence was when faced with the emptiness of the lonely room. She signed deeply and lay down on her stomach, putting her old drooping whiskers between her old creaky front paws, and then she looked at nothing.
The silence was broken by the always present Max in the cage across from her, “You okay, kiddo?” he asked, realizing the answer was really no but knowing she would never admit it.
The Oldest One raised her head slightly and squinted to see Max through the hazy light the sun and the few florescent tubes in the room provided her. “I’m fine, Max… I’m fine”, she fibbed. “Knowing he is okay, that someone will care for him… that the Shopper will give him a good life… THAT is all I really wanted.” She closed her old round eyes and her lower lip trembled slightly, “After all, who would want this old wreck of a dog?” She opened her eyes and smiled weakly, “I think we both know that I’ve reached the end of my journey here in the Real World.”
“Na… don’t talk like that, Missy,” Max tried to encourage her to fight on, even though he was a living example of someone who had likely reached the end of his journey as well. “You and me, kid, we are survivors… fighters… the OLD guard. We’ve lived some lives, right!!??” His words were upbeat and positive but Sophie could hear that they were mostly hollow, “Heck, we gots tons of life left to live. Who knows?? Maybe the next Shopper who walks in will grab us both up… you know… a two for one special!!”
Sophie shook her head a slow “no”. “What is really next, Max… what happens to the old, weak and unwanted here in this prison?”
Max turned away from her and looked down the walkway at the gray door, “We don’t talk about that, sister… we don’t… right?”
Auntie Sophie stood up and walked to the cage door, looking directly at Max to get his full attention. “Honestly, my long doggy friend, we need to discuss it. I need to know so I can prepare myself. Its okay, really it is. I need your help to understand it all.”
Max walked to the front of his cage and looked into her eyes, “We wait, Soph… we wait. Later tonight that gray door will open and they will come to get some of us. They will put a rope around our necks, put us on a cart… and then they wheel us behind that gray door. After that, we won’t ever be seen or heard from again. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. We are all on the clock when we are put in this joint… and then, one day, your time runs out, then you’re gone.”
Sophie nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. “You have been a good friend to us, Max. I appreciate your being honest with me. I am thankful that we met here and that we had this time together. If you are representative of your breed, then the Chin will always call the dachshund our friends.”
“I’ve got to admit it, lady… you’ve grown on me too, you know,” Max blushed a little as he smiled his very toothy smile at Sophie. “It’s a shame we didn’t get to know each other on the outside… imagine all the trouble we could have gotten into!!”
The two odd companions shared a moment of lightness, as they laughed together at the possibilities of their adventures together, in the Real World. As the Sun gave up trying to light their very dim and dingy room for the day, the darkness started to overtake their world. Sophie shifted to her side and closed her round eyes, just to rest them for a moment. The next thing she knew, she was staring at the back of her eyelids.
“Sophie…” Called a voice from inside of her brain, “Sophie… wake up, Oldest One… wake up.”
Colors flashed in front of Sophie’s brain as pictures formed where darkness had been only moments before. Magically she was back in the Yard that Goes on Forever, laying on the big red deck, the sights and smells of the Old Brown House all around her. As she looked up, she saw a strangely familiar face, one she had not seen in many a Chin year.
“Who is the smartest Chin you know… my sister?” asked the voice, attached to the face, growing off the round body of her beautiful little sister Bitty Chin.
“BITTY CHIN!!!” Sophie leaped up and hugged her sister, “How can it be you?”
“Oldest and Wisest one my corn chips smelling foot!!!” Bitty said in her know-it-all tone. “How many times does one of us have to tell you… we are in your brain, Sister!! You brought me here to talk to you about what happens next… REMEMBER!! I certainly didn’t come all the way back to the Old Brown House, it is a terribly long walk! Is there anything to eat her? That walk made me VERY hungry!”
“Always the Bitty”, Sophie thought to herself, “And even in the place that you go after the light behind your eyes goes dim… she could still learn to eat less, for she is still rather round!”
Bitty tapped her foot and looked rather disgusted, “Sophie Chin! Don’t you know that, in your brain your inside thoughts are your outside thoughts? I HEARD THAT!”
The sisters laughed for a moment and Sophie apologized for calling Bitty Chin overweight. They sat for a moment and recalled stories from their childhood, together. They talked about their Auntie May and the time that Dingus Little was captured by the Angry Squirrel Army.
“Oh my little Sister, I do love you so and have missed you so much”, Sophie exclaimed, knowing that this was all a bit of a memory mixed up with the questions in her brain… but not really caring that Bitty was not real, “but… my love… now it’s time for you to tell me the answer to the question stuck in my brain. What happens next?”
The Bitty stood up, hugged her sister tightly around the neck, kissed her on the head and started walking down the stairs of the big red deck and out into the Yard that Goes on Forever. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her sister, “that’s easy… you go home!”
“Wait… Bitty… wait… what do you mean that I go home”, Sophie yelled after her, confused by her answer, “What home… back to the Old Brown House… to the place you go when the light behind your eyes goes dim… what is my home now?”
Bitty Chin stopped and turned back to her, “Oh Sister… you’ve always had to know EVERYTHING. Just once, once in your very long and very complicated life… just live in the moment and GO HOME!” Then the Bitty walked into the back of the Yard that Goes on Forever and vanished into a puff of smoke.
Sophie Chin’s eyes popped open and she jumped up off the cold floor of the dirty cage. Max was still holding a visual over her from across the room in his cage.
“Are you okay, Soph” he asked with concern on his face. “I kinda lost you there for awhile. Your feet were moving like you were walking… but you were laying down… and you made little squeaking and squealing noises… but you were not awake… it was WEIRD!”
And THAT, my friends… is what is happening to all dogs when they run and bark in their sleep. They are answering the really hard questions that are stuck in their brains by remembering the people and events from their past. It’s a secret as old as time and as true as the Sun rising and setting in the sky above the Old Brown House.
As Sophie explained to Max all about her experience behind her eyelids and in front of her brain, the gray door slowly opened. The two dogs in the separate cage both stopped talking and stared at each other, blankly.
“The clock is running out for someone,” Max said, sadly.
The pair of lonely dogs sat, motionlessly, as the cart rolled down the path between the rows of cages and eked its way forward. Many of the other dogs howled and growled their disapproval of the ritual of the cart… but they all knew, deep inside, that they were helpless when it was THEIR time. Sophie noticed that the evil peoples with the rope on a stick was pushing the cart. Oh how he must enjoy the fact that he was able to collect the troublemakers and the old, useless ones and take them behind the gray door. He was truly a miserable and angry old peoples man. Sophie did not believe in hate… but she thought her feelings for this peoples was as close to hate as any feeling she had ever experienced. As she expected, the cart came to a slow stop in her cage and the where Max was being kept.
“It’s one of us he’s after, Sophie… one of us…” Max said softly and sadly.
Sophie knew he was right, “It’s me, Max,” she insisted, “He’s here for me. This is my time.” She thought to herself that Bitty Chin’s message to her was clear. Don’t make a fuss, don’t fight the obvious outcome and go out with the dignity and indifference of a Japanese Chin. After this, she would be with her family and she would truly be HOME.
The evil peoples man opened the cage door of the oldest Chin to ever live, the leader of the pack of the Round Man, Auntie Sophie… and put the rope on a stick around her neck. She did not fight or pull away. She let the peoples lead her out onto the cold and black floor beneath the cages and then pick her up and put her on the cart.
“Oh… Oh I’ve waited for THIS, you old hag!” squealed the evil peoples. “Now I’ll be rid of you FOREVER!!!” He chuckled to himself.
“Goodbye Sophie,” cried out Max, hiding his head between his paws. “I am so glad we were together. I will miss you… I love you, old girl… I love you!”
The gray cart started the slow walk back up the path between the cages. Dogs howled sadly in respect as the little black and white dog sat perfectly still on her way to go home.
“Just go home… go home” Sophie heard Bitty Chin’s words echo in her head. She was not afraid, she was ready. She had lived her life to the fullest. She had been a loving chindren, a doting Auntie, a good friend and sibling and the ruler of everything she could see. No Chin was ever more grand or beautiful. She was… in a word… lucky. Lucky to have lived the life she was born to live. So many others were called home too soon in their lives. She had lived long enough to prepare her for this final journey.
The gray door slowly opened. The peoples with the rope on a stick stopped and pulled out a black bag. “THIS goes over your head, you old goat! That way I KNOW you won’t make me any trouble until we get this over with!” Sophie didn’t fight as he placed the bag over her ears and pulled it down over her eyes. She saw no reason to make a fuss…. She was CHIN and all of this was just beneath her now!
Sophie sat in darkness as the cart rolled through the frame and the gray door slowly closed behind it. She felt a cold blast of air rush past her and smelled fear and death in the air. Still, she did not panic or cry out. She knew that what lied beyond the light in her eyes going dim would be wonderful… this is what she focused on to ease her mind and calm her soul. Another door opened and closed behind her. She could hear movement in the room all around her as the cart came to a stop.
“I’m going to pick you up now, old lady! Don’t you bite me… I’m SERIOUS… don’t you bite me!” The evil peoples man said in a mumble. He gently picked up the old dog and moved her to a very cold table. “Now… I’m going to remove this bag off your head and I want you to stay calm!”
Sophie closed her eyes tightly, as she was dreading what she would see once the bag was removed. How do they shut off the light behind your eyes in this place. She had seen the light go dim in her Auntie May and all her brothers and sisters but that was always natural and when they were called. As the bag came off, she could see a bright light even with her eyes closed tightly. She smelled something familiar but it wasn’t quite the same as before.
“She’s all yours now… I’m done with her,” sneered the peoples with the rope on a stick. Sophie heard a door open and close as that peoples left the room. She wondered what was waiting for her… what was out there beyond her closed eyes. She sat for a moment and decided to face whatever was next. After all, she was going home! As she slowly opened her eyes, the bright light was blinding and it took her a moment to adjust. But as she did, shapes came into focus… familiar shapes… and then she heard a welcomed voice, a voice she knew very well…
“Hello Auntie Sophie, it’s about time you opened your eyes up!” cried out Butch Chin, who was on the table right in front of her. “I started to think you was ‘fective or something like that.”
“BUTCH, is that YOU… really YOU?” she cried out, tears rolling down her old eyes and onto the table. She reached out and hugged him, kissed him and smelled him deeply to assure he was not hurt.
“Yep… it’s me. I was playing Miss Direction on you, wasn’t I,” Butch giggled, proud of himself for fooling his old Aunt with this grand surprise.
“But HOW,” Sophie asked, not understanding any of what was happening.
Another familiar voice spoke from behind her, “Because he wouldn’t get out of the car until I promised to come back and get you… that’s how AND why!”
Sophie whirled around and confirmed what she already knew… it was the Shopper. He had come back for her, he did not leave her trapped in this horrible place after all.
“That’s not true, Auntie… you were all he could talk about”, corrected Butch. “I think he likes you fine.”
Sophie slowly approached the peoples man who had come back to set her free. She looked into his kind eyes and smiled a little. “Thank you Shopper, thank you for coming back to free me.”
“HIS NAME IS NOT SHOPPER, AUNTIE… HIS NAME IS CHRIS,” Butch whispered loudly enough for everyone in the Shelter to hear.
“That’s true… my name is Chris,” the peoples confirmed.
Sophie stopped for a moment, looked at Chris, looked at Butch, and then looked back at Chris. “You could hear and understand Butch… and Butch, you can understand this peoples?”
Chris spoke for both of them, “Yep, it’s the oddest thing. Just when I got him in my car, I started to understand what he was saying to me.” Chris leaned in closer to Sophie. “Tell me, honestly… does he ever shut up?”
“CAR IS WHAT HE CALLS HIS GLASS BOX ON WHEELS, AUNTIE” Butch continued to whisper to everyone within one thousand Chin miles (or the entire Shelter property).
Sophie looked at Chris and laughed, then shook her head no. This was not the ending she had planned on when she left that cage and started her way to the gray door, no… not at all. This was not the trip home she had expected.
“Oh Bitty Chin… you were always one for riddles and fun.” She said to herself and her sister.
“Well, I’ve already signed the papers, paid the fee and we are set and ready to go! Let’s get OUT OF HERE!” cried out Chris, the former Shopper.
Butch jumped up into the arms of the peoples that had rescued him, Chris started to walk out the door to the Real World and everyone was ready for the next chapter in their adventure… expect for Auntie Sophie.
“NO!” stated the Oldest One, firmly and loudly.
Chris stopped in his tracks and turned around with a confused look on his face, “No? No… what do you mean, NO?”
“Auntie?” Butch questioned, confused by her refusal to finally leave the horrible prison.
“NO” Sophie repeated sternly. “NOT WITHOUT MAX!” It appeared that they were at an impasse and NOBODY here was just going Home.
The silence was broken by the always present Max in the cage across from her, “You okay, kiddo?” he asked, realizing the answer was really no but knowing she would never admit it.
The Oldest One raised her head slightly and squinted to see Max through the hazy light the sun and the few florescent tubes in the room provided her. “I’m fine, Max… I’m fine”, she fibbed. “Knowing he is okay, that someone will care for him… that the Shopper will give him a good life… THAT is all I really wanted.” She closed her old round eyes and her lower lip trembled slightly, “After all, who would want this old wreck of a dog?” She opened her eyes and smiled weakly, “I think we both know that I’ve reached the end of my journey here in the Real World.”
“Na… don’t talk like that, Missy,” Max tried to encourage her to fight on, even though he was a living example of someone who had likely reached the end of his journey as well. “You and me, kid, we are survivors… fighters… the OLD guard. We’ve lived some lives, right!!??” His words were upbeat and positive but Sophie could hear that they were mostly hollow, “Heck, we gots tons of life left to live. Who knows?? Maybe the next Shopper who walks in will grab us both up… you know… a two for one special!!”
Sophie shook her head a slow “no”. “What is really next, Max… what happens to the old, weak and unwanted here in this prison?”
Max turned away from her and looked down the walkway at the gray door, “We don’t talk about that, sister… we don’t… right?”
Auntie Sophie stood up and walked to the cage door, looking directly at Max to get his full attention. “Honestly, my long doggy friend, we need to discuss it. I need to know so I can prepare myself. Its okay, really it is. I need your help to understand it all.”
Max walked to the front of his cage and looked into her eyes, “We wait, Soph… we wait. Later tonight that gray door will open and they will come to get some of us. They will put a rope around our necks, put us on a cart… and then they wheel us behind that gray door. After that, we won’t ever be seen or heard from again. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. We are all on the clock when we are put in this joint… and then, one day, your time runs out, then you’re gone.”
Sophie nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. “You have been a good friend to us, Max. I appreciate your being honest with me. I am thankful that we met here and that we had this time together. If you are representative of your breed, then the Chin will always call the dachshund our friends.”
“I’ve got to admit it, lady… you’ve grown on me too, you know,” Max blushed a little as he smiled his very toothy smile at Sophie. “It’s a shame we didn’t get to know each other on the outside… imagine all the trouble we could have gotten into!!”
The two odd companions shared a moment of lightness, as they laughed together at the possibilities of their adventures together, in the Real World. As the Sun gave up trying to light their very dim and dingy room for the day, the darkness started to overtake their world. Sophie shifted to her side and closed her round eyes, just to rest them for a moment. The next thing she knew, she was staring at the back of her eyelids.
“Sophie…” Called a voice from inside of her brain, “Sophie… wake up, Oldest One… wake up.”
Colors flashed in front of Sophie’s brain as pictures formed where darkness had been only moments before. Magically she was back in the Yard that Goes on Forever, laying on the big red deck, the sights and smells of the Old Brown House all around her. As she looked up, she saw a strangely familiar face, one she had not seen in many a Chin year.
“Who is the smartest Chin you know… my sister?” asked the voice, attached to the face, growing off the round body of her beautiful little sister Bitty Chin.
“BITTY CHIN!!!” Sophie leaped up and hugged her sister, “How can it be you?”
“Oldest and Wisest one my corn chips smelling foot!!!” Bitty said in her know-it-all tone. “How many times does one of us have to tell you… we are in your brain, Sister!! You brought me here to talk to you about what happens next… REMEMBER!! I certainly didn’t come all the way back to the Old Brown House, it is a terribly long walk! Is there anything to eat her? That walk made me VERY hungry!”
“Always the Bitty”, Sophie thought to herself, “And even in the place that you go after the light behind your eyes goes dim… she could still learn to eat less, for she is still rather round!”
Bitty tapped her foot and looked rather disgusted, “Sophie Chin! Don’t you know that, in your brain your inside thoughts are your outside thoughts? I HEARD THAT!”
The sisters laughed for a moment and Sophie apologized for calling Bitty Chin overweight. They sat for a moment and recalled stories from their childhood, together. They talked about their Auntie May and the time that Dingus Little was captured by the Angry Squirrel Army.
“Oh my little Sister, I do love you so and have missed you so much”, Sophie exclaimed, knowing that this was all a bit of a memory mixed up with the questions in her brain… but not really caring that Bitty was not real, “but… my love… now it’s time for you to tell me the answer to the question stuck in my brain. What happens next?”
The Bitty stood up, hugged her sister tightly around the neck, kissed her on the head and started walking down the stairs of the big red deck and out into the Yard that Goes on Forever. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her sister, “that’s easy… you go home!”
“Wait… Bitty… wait… what do you mean that I go home”, Sophie yelled after her, confused by her answer, “What home… back to the Old Brown House… to the place you go when the light behind your eyes goes dim… what is my home now?”
Bitty Chin stopped and turned back to her, “Oh Sister… you’ve always had to know EVERYTHING. Just once, once in your very long and very complicated life… just live in the moment and GO HOME!” Then the Bitty walked into the back of the Yard that Goes on Forever and vanished into a puff of smoke.
Sophie Chin’s eyes popped open and she jumped up off the cold floor of the dirty cage. Max was still holding a visual over her from across the room in his cage.
“Are you okay, Soph” he asked with concern on his face. “I kinda lost you there for awhile. Your feet were moving like you were walking… but you were laying down… and you made little squeaking and squealing noises… but you were not awake… it was WEIRD!”
And THAT, my friends… is what is happening to all dogs when they run and bark in their sleep. They are answering the really hard questions that are stuck in their brains by remembering the people and events from their past. It’s a secret as old as time and as true as the Sun rising and setting in the sky above the Old Brown House.
As Sophie explained to Max all about her experience behind her eyelids and in front of her brain, the gray door slowly opened. The two dogs in the separate cage both stopped talking and stared at each other, blankly.
“The clock is running out for someone,” Max said, sadly.
The pair of lonely dogs sat, motionlessly, as the cart rolled down the path between the rows of cages and eked its way forward. Many of the other dogs howled and growled their disapproval of the ritual of the cart… but they all knew, deep inside, that they were helpless when it was THEIR time. Sophie noticed that the evil peoples with the rope on a stick was pushing the cart. Oh how he must enjoy the fact that he was able to collect the troublemakers and the old, useless ones and take them behind the gray door. He was truly a miserable and angry old peoples man. Sophie did not believe in hate… but she thought her feelings for this peoples was as close to hate as any feeling she had ever experienced. As she expected, the cart came to a slow stop in her cage and the where Max was being kept.
“It’s one of us he’s after, Sophie… one of us…” Max said softly and sadly.
Sophie knew he was right, “It’s me, Max,” she insisted, “He’s here for me. This is my time.” She thought to herself that Bitty Chin’s message to her was clear. Don’t make a fuss, don’t fight the obvious outcome and go out with the dignity and indifference of a Japanese Chin. After this, she would be with her family and she would truly be HOME.
The evil peoples man opened the cage door of the oldest Chin to ever live, the leader of the pack of the Round Man, Auntie Sophie… and put the rope on a stick around her neck. She did not fight or pull away. She let the peoples lead her out onto the cold and black floor beneath the cages and then pick her up and put her on the cart.
“Oh… Oh I’ve waited for THIS, you old hag!” squealed the evil peoples. “Now I’ll be rid of you FOREVER!!!” He chuckled to himself.
“Goodbye Sophie,” cried out Max, hiding his head between his paws. “I am so glad we were together. I will miss you… I love you, old girl… I love you!”
The gray cart started the slow walk back up the path between the cages. Dogs howled sadly in respect as the little black and white dog sat perfectly still on her way to go home.
“Just go home… go home” Sophie heard Bitty Chin’s words echo in her head. She was not afraid, she was ready. She had lived her life to the fullest. She had been a loving chindren, a doting Auntie, a good friend and sibling and the ruler of everything she could see. No Chin was ever more grand or beautiful. She was… in a word… lucky. Lucky to have lived the life she was born to live. So many others were called home too soon in their lives. She had lived long enough to prepare her for this final journey.
The gray door slowly opened. The peoples with the rope on a stick stopped and pulled out a black bag. “THIS goes over your head, you old goat! That way I KNOW you won’t make me any trouble until we get this over with!” Sophie didn’t fight as he placed the bag over her ears and pulled it down over her eyes. She saw no reason to make a fuss…. She was CHIN and all of this was just beneath her now!
Sophie sat in darkness as the cart rolled through the frame and the gray door slowly closed behind it. She felt a cold blast of air rush past her and smelled fear and death in the air. Still, she did not panic or cry out. She knew that what lied beyond the light in her eyes going dim would be wonderful… this is what she focused on to ease her mind and calm her soul. Another door opened and closed behind her. She could hear movement in the room all around her as the cart came to a stop.
“I’m going to pick you up now, old lady! Don’t you bite me… I’m SERIOUS… don’t you bite me!” The evil peoples man said in a mumble. He gently picked up the old dog and moved her to a very cold table. “Now… I’m going to remove this bag off your head and I want you to stay calm!”
Sophie closed her eyes tightly, as she was dreading what she would see once the bag was removed. How do they shut off the light behind your eyes in this place. She had seen the light go dim in her Auntie May and all her brothers and sisters but that was always natural and when they were called. As the bag came off, she could see a bright light even with her eyes closed tightly. She smelled something familiar but it wasn’t quite the same as before.
“She’s all yours now… I’m done with her,” sneered the peoples with the rope on a stick. Sophie heard a door open and close as that peoples left the room. She wondered what was waiting for her… what was out there beyond her closed eyes. She sat for a moment and decided to face whatever was next. After all, she was going home! As she slowly opened her eyes, the bright light was blinding and it took her a moment to adjust. But as she did, shapes came into focus… familiar shapes… and then she heard a welcomed voice, a voice she knew very well…
“Hello Auntie Sophie, it’s about time you opened your eyes up!” cried out Butch Chin, who was on the table right in front of her. “I started to think you was ‘fective or something like that.”
“BUTCH, is that YOU… really YOU?” she cried out, tears rolling down her old eyes and onto the table. She reached out and hugged him, kissed him and smelled him deeply to assure he was not hurt.
“Yep… it’s me. I was playing Miss Direction on you, wasn’t I,” Butch giggled, proud of himself for fooling his old Aunt with this grand surprise.
“But HOW,” Sophie asked, not understanding any of what was happening.
Another familiar voice spoke from behind her, “Because he wouldn’t get out of the car until I promised to come back and get you… that’s how AND why!”
Sophie whirled around and confirmed what she already knew… it was the Shopper. He had come back for her, he did not leave her trapped in this horrible place after all.
“That’s not true, Auntie… you were all he could talk about”, corrected Butch. “I think he likes you fine.”
Sophie slowly approached the peoples man who had come back to set her free. She looked into his kind eyes and smiled a little. “Thank you Shopper, thank you for coming back to free me.”
“HIS NAME IS NOT SHOPPER, AUNTIE… HIS NAME IS CHRIS,” Butch whispered loudly enough for everyone in the Shelter to hear.
“That’s true… my name is Chris,” the peoples confirmed.
Sophie stopped for a moment, looked at Chris, looked at Butch, and then looked back at Chris. “You could hear and understand Butch… and Butch, you can understand this peoples?”
Chris spoke for both of them, “Yep, it’s the oddest thing. Just when I got him in my car, I started to understand what he was saying to me.” Chris leaned in closer to Sophie. “Tell me, honestly… does he ever shut up?”
“CAR IS WHAT HE CALLS HIS GLASS BOX ON WHEELS, AUNTIE” Butch continued to whisper to everyone within one thousand Chin miles (or the entire Shelter property).
Sophie looked at Chris and laughed, then shook her head no. This was not the ending she had planned on when she left that cage and started her way to the gray door, no… not at all. This was not the trip home she had expected.
“Oh Bitty Chin… you were always one for riddles and fun.” She said to herself and her sister.
“Well, I’ve already signed the papers, paid the fee and we are set and ready to go! Let’s get OUT OF HERE!” cried out Chris, the former Shopper.
Butch jumped up into the arms of the peoples that had rescued him, Chris started to walk out the door to the Real World and everyone was ready for the next chapter in their adventure… expect for Auntie Sophie.
“NO!” stated the Oldest One, firmly and loudly.
Chris stopped in his tracks and turned around with a confused look on his face, “No? No… what do you mean, NO?”
“Auntie?” Butch questioned, confused by her refusal to finally leave the horrible prison.
“NO” Sophie repeated sternly. “NOT WITHOUT MAX!” It appeared that they were at an impasse and NOBODY here was just going Home.