I just spent an hour writing the latest chapter in the story of Arf and Annie. I hit the wrong something on my laptop and lost it all. Did you hear me? I lost every word…and they were good words. I liked them a lot. They really added to the story. The story was exciting and full of adventure. I can probably manage to rewrite some of it, but there is no way it will be as good as it was before I lost it.
Let’s see if I can remember what was going on.
Steve and Tom had discovered the kids and the old woman had been to the house that Steve and Dina lived in when Katie was a baby. After that discovery, they went back to the ranch where Steve gave the information to the Sheriff.
Brad and Mark were together, checking with all of the ranchers and finally decided to drive into town before going back to the ranch.
Arf spotted Brad’s truck and ran to catch up and take them to the hot dog stand where Jake and Katie were. The old woman who said she was their grandma was waiting for them in her truck. Annie was still hidden in the truck bed.
When Arf caught up with Brad and Mark and got them to head back to town, they got stuck waiting for a train to go by. In the meantime, Grandma saw them and took off… leaving the kids sitting at a picnic table by the hot dog stand.
(I don’t like how this is going. I didn’t do a recap the first time I wrote this.)
Arf barked and Mark let him out so he could take them to the children. It wasn’t long before they reached the hot dog stand.
They could see Jake sobbing and Katie was holding on to him tightly. “Grandma left us,” he said. “I just saw her drive away.”
“There’s Uncle Brad and Uncle Mark!” Katie said excitedly. “Arf is with them, too.”
“Daddy.” Jake shouted as he ran to Brad’s open arms. Brad couldn’t believe he and Jamie had been given this beautiful little boy to raise as their own.
“Daddy, Grandma left us here.”
“She did? You two are going to have to tell Uncle Mark and me all about it.”
“Brad, I’ll go over to the General Store and call the ranch to tell everyone we found the kids. Where is Arf? Katie, were Arf and Annie with you two?”
“Nope. They weren’t with us.”
Both Brad and Mark were puzzled. Arf had seen them and took them to the kids and now he was gone.
When Mark called the ranch, he talked to Steve who told them about finding Katie’s hair ribbon. “We went to the house Dina and I lived in when Katie was born. No one is currently living there, but when we found the ribbon, we knew they must have been there earlier.”
“Maybe that’s where she went, now,” Mark said. “I think we should go take a look.”
I can’t imagine who this person is,” Steve said. “I’m just grateful that Katie and Jake are alright. What about Arf and Annie? Are they doing okay?”
“Arf led us to the kids and then took off while we were distracted. We haven’t seen Annie at all.”
Mark handed the phone to Brad and turned to ask Katie what the old woman had been driving.
“It was an old pickup truck. It was kind of rickety. Jake and I put our seat belts on Uncle Mark. We went on some bumpy roads.”
“Steve and Clark are going to head over to the house and see if the woman is there and if by chance Arf and Annie have found her,” Brad told Steve. “Katie said the woman was driving a rickety pickup truck. Arf and Annie must have hidden in the back. We had better get these kids home. Their mothers are having fits.”
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All the woman who called herself Grandma was thinking about was getting home. She was unaware that Annie was hidden in the back of the truck.
Annie: I was able to see behind us and I was relieved when I saw Arf. He had caught up with us in good time. I just hoped wherever we were going wasn’t too far for him to run. I had been able to tell that Grandma human was in a weakened state. She didn’t appear to be feeling well at all.
Arf: It was a good thing I had caught up with them because Grandma human wasn’t going where I thought she would. She had gone in a completely different direction.
Those 70ish Girls 