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At last Travis got the point He looked in the right ear and found nothing But in the left ear, he saw soo with hiht was better, and he discovered that the mark consisted of two numbers, a dash, and a third number tattooed in purple ink on the pink-brown flesh: 33-9

Looking over Travis’s shoulder, Nora said, "They probably had a lot of pups they were experi with, from different litters, and they had to be able to identify them"

"Jesus If I’d taken him to a vet, and if the vet had been told to look for a retriever with a tattoo

"But he has to have shots"

"Maybe he’s already had them," Travis said hopefully

"We don’t dare count on that He was a lab aniht not have needed shots And maybe the usual inoculations would’ve interfered with their experiments"

"We can’t risk a vet"

"If they do find hiive him up"

"They can make us," Travis said worriedly

"Damned if they can"

"Daovern the research, and they can crush us We can’t risk it More than anything else, Einstein’s afraid of going back to the lab"

Yes, yes, yes

"But," Nora said, "if he contracts rabies or disteet him the shots later," Travis said "Later When the situation cools down When he’s not so hot"

The retriever whined happily, nuzzling Travis’s neck and face in a sloppy display of gratitude

Frowning, Nora said, "Einstein is about the number-one miracle of the twentieth century You really think he’s ever going to cool down, that they’ll ever stop looking for hiht not stop for years," Travis adin to search with less enthusias to look in the ears of every retriever that’s brought to theuess It’s the best thing we can do It’s the only thing we can do"

Ruffling Einstein’s coat with one hand, Nora said: "I hope you’re right"

"I am"

"I hope so"

"I am’’

Travis was badly shaken by how close he had co Einstein’s freedom, and for the next few days he brooded about the infaain His life had been turned around and made livable because of the love he felt for Nora and for this i And now maybe fate, which had always dealt with him in a supre away froical concept He did not believe there was actually a pantheon of h a celestial keyhole and plotting tragedies for hi warily at the sky now and then Each tihtly opti on wood to counter malicious fates At dinner, when he toppled the salt shaker, he immediately picked up a pinch of the stuff to throw it over his shoulder, then felt foolish and dusted it off his fingers But his heart began to pound, and he was filled with a ridiculous superstitious dread, and he didn’t feel right again until he snatched up h Nora was surely aware of Travis’s eccentric behavior, she had the good grace to say nothing about his jitters Instead, she countered hishiht about their trip to Vegas, by being in unrelieved good hu on wood

She did not know about his nightmares because he did not tell her about thehts in a row

In the drea in the wooded canyons of the Santa Ana foothills of Orange County, the saone there with Einstein again, and with Nora, but now he had lost theed down steep slopes, scra frantically for Nora, for the dog So, and they sounded as if they were in trouble, so he turned in the direction from which their voices came, but each time he heard them they were farther off and in a different place, and no matter how intently he listened or how fast hethe, a silent screaust 6, was such a blessedly busy day that Travis had little ti, he telephoned a wedding chapel in Las Vegas and, using his Aeust 11, at eleven o’clock Overcoer that he wanted twenty dozen red roses, twenty dozen white carnations, a good organist (no damn taped music) who could play traditional ht without harsh electric light, a bottle of Donon hich to conclude events, and a first-rate photographer to record the nuptials

When those details had been agreed upon, he telephoned the Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas, which was a family-oriented enterprise that boasted a recreational-vehicle caed for caust 8 With another call to an RV carounds in Barstow, he also secured reservations for Saturday night, when they would pull off the road halfway to Vegas Next, he went to a jewelry store, looked at their entire stock, and finally bought an engage, flawless three-carat dia band with twelve quarter-carat stones With the rings hidden under the seat of the truck, Travis and Einstein went to Nora’s house, picked her up, and took her to an appointTravis’s hand He kissed Nora on the cheek He seehted "I’ve asked around about you, Travis"

Surprised, Travis said, "You have?"