@page { margin-bottom: 5.000000pt; margin-top: 5.000000pt; } THE NEXT DAY RICK HUGGED CRACKER SO HARD, it scared her. It was sudden, the hugging. At first he’d just petted her, given her a wiener. She remembered Willie’s last hug. She whined. “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s just a leave before we get sent to Vietnam. They’ll take good care of you, I promise. If they don’t, I’ll kill ’em.” Then the next day he didn’t show up at all. She tried not to get too upset—it was just one day—and someone came to feed her and water her. But she got the sense that Rick was far away. She stuck her nose against the fence, and Tristie pushed her nose against hers. Tristie was worried too. None of the guys had come by today. She couldn’t imagine that Rick had left her. But yesterday there had been a lot of anxiety with the guys, and with the dogs. Something was up, but what? Why all the hugging? One guy even cried. Rick had said, “Last wiener for a while.” She knew “wiener,”
