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Their ashes were in urns in the Hammersmith house A typed label with a name had been taped to each urn

Renata and Jerry nas have only nu should die without a naued, flea-ridden, malnourished, they had to be shaved and medicated and, in some cases, patiently fed by hand

The ad placed by the breeding operation to sell their puppies had said "far fah heroic efforts were s, four had conditions so intractable that, to end their suffering, they had to be put down

So fearful were they of hu touched even when they were desperate for co’s final hour, Golden Heart volunteers stroked it, muriven back to God

Dog rescue is often joyful work, and often gri in the exercise yard, at various distances from Renata and Aes, without exercise or play At Last Chance Ranch, this fenced yard had see vastness They had first preferred the kennels

Taken froes at the , of loud voices, of kindness because they had never encountered it, of cars because they had never ridden in one, of stairs because they had never climbed them, of soap and water because they had never been bathed, of hair dryers and of towels, of iven to thee degree socialized; but they were not yet ready to be placed for adoption They needed to be less shy to live with a forever fa accusto to trust slippery tile floors, hardwood floors, stairs

Now, having said hello to Hugo, Renata’s golden, Fred and Ethel gao ith thes Play boere exchanged, chases undertaken Renata had scattered tug toys in the grass, and these were snatched up with glee, dog challenging dog to take the prize

Nickie did not at once join in their games, but watched with interest the only one of the six surviving girls that was reluctant to participate Finally, Nickie plucked up a tug toy from beside Renata and trotted across the yard toward the wallflower

"That’s Honey," said Renata, naroup

Honey had been maybe two and a half when she had been rescued Her toenails had never been trimmed at the puppy mill, and she had not worn therown back and under her feet to the extent that she could barely stand Her leg muscles had been somewhat atrophied, as well

Her feet were healed now, her ued her, she was always the last into the ga before Honey, Nickie tauntingly dangled the tug toy When this didn’t excite the shy dog, Nickie shook the toy vigorously

"Your Nickie is a nightingale," Renata said

Most dogs were sensitive to illness and depression in people and other dogs, but a feere especially deterales, after Florence Nightingale

"She’s so special," Amy said

"You haven’t had her a day yet"

"I hadn’t had her an hour till I knew"

In but a minute, Nickie had teased Honey into a chase and then a happy tuain and scanned the shadows under the jacarandas on the farther side of the county road

"He get out of the car where you can see him?" Renata asked

"Nope Still behind the wheel"

"Maybe he’s a sonofabitch from one of the puppy mills you’ve put out of business"

"Maybe"

"He comes on this property, I’ll put some bird shot in him"

"You used to say, one of those sonsofbitches ever came around here, you’d neuter him"

"The bird shot is just to "

Chapter 18

The living roo of interest to Vernon Lesley, but in the back of the bedrooraphs

His client had provided a list of iteht not have destroyed when she shed her past, changed her naraphs were at the top of that list

The box contained priital-camera memory cards from which some of them had been printed The e of Redwing’s bed and patiently pored through nuraphic material His client hadn’t asked hi happened to be an attractive woman, and Vern happened to be curious

Unfortunately, not one picture proved to be erotic or even exotic He had never seen a h he didn’t knoing’s story, to Vern it seemed that her current life and her for

In Vern’s other life, as Von Longwood, he tooled around on a radically custo, and he was a eneral he lived large He didn’t understand why anyone would want another life that was as drab as the first

In this life, Redwing even looked similar to how she had looked in her prior life Her hair was long now, short then; she had done sos with makeup then that she didn’t do now; she had dressed more stylishly in those days That was the extent of her ht have looked hotter as a blonde And judging by what evidence Vern possessed, she hadn’t undergone breast enlargement, which ht, Von Longwood towered an awesoh life with round shoulders and a potbelly, but Von had biceps to rival those of Schwarzenegger when he had been a great action-overnor

Von had tattoos, an earring with a tiny skull dangling fros They were huge, soft, feathery wings, but so strong, and when Von wanted to fly, no one could keep hirounded

Vernon Lesley’s other life unfolded in Second Life, the Internet site that offered a vivid virtual world populated by avatars like Von Longwood

Sonorant Virtual worlds were inative than the real world,ly detailed by the week They were the future