Episode 1080: Tracks Of My Tears

The moment Tansy tearfully explained what had happened, her dad hadn’t hesitated to jump into action, leaving the garage in the hands of an employee while he took time off to join the search. Then Xavier had volunteered to help, too.

Tansy didn’t feel grateful about much just then in the backseat of the car, but she was so thankful that if it had to happen it had happened near her dad’s garage so she hadn’t been on her own with it for very long, she had the comforting presence of her dad and Xavier.

Her mom and Hero were on their way, too. A hug from her little brother sounded really appealing right then as did the thought of five sets of eyes searching, it was so much better than just her.

The pessimistic side of Tansy couldn’t help wondering though if that would be enough, if they’d ever find the missing dog. Tansy locked her fingers together but it didn’t help, her hands trembled like crazy. She could never forgive herself if something bad happened to Honey.

“I want to strangle that kid on the bike,” her dad said, turning to park out front of the animal shelter.

“At least if it was by accident, if he’d just had the firecrackers on him and they went off by accident somehow…” Xavier shook his head. “To purposely set them off next to a kid and a dog and speed off laughing. I’m right with you on the strangling.”

Tansy felt another wave of tears as she relived the trauma. She sniffled and swiped at her eyes, wanting to get herself together, she owed it to June to handle this without making it more difficult. Her dad had called to tell June what had happened, but Tansy still felt like she should stop and talk to her in person before continuing on with the search.

She asked her dad and Xavier to stay on the lookout while she quickly went inside and offered to resign as a volunteer at the animal shelter.

June immediately enveloped her in a lavender scented hug. “You are a favorite around here, by animals and people alike. I refuse your resignation. This could have happened to anyone sweetheart, it’s not your fault. And, with the amount of people I have willing to help us look, I’m feeling good about our prospects.”

“We’ve got this,” Enid said, as Tansy suddenly realized there was a half dozen others in the lobby of the animal shelter, and more entering by the minute.

“Nobody is going home until we bring back Honey save and sound,” Theresa added handing around fliers with Honey’s picture on them.

The others, fellow volunteers and people who had adopted dogs at Tansy’s recommendation offered more assurances before making their way outside as her grandpa and his dog, Walter, made a surprising entrance.

“Your friend called to let me know you probably wouldn’t make it to walk Walter later on. When we heard it was because a dog is missing, we thought maybe we could help,” he said much to Tansy’s astonishment. And just like that her tears weren’t only about sadness, fear and guilt, they were about feeling like she was one of the luckier girls in the world to have so many people willing to be there when she needed them.

Episode 1081: Where Are You?