‘Bo Fenway a Girl Named Rose

Rose knew her only chance, and it was not much of a chance, was to run again. As she turned to make her break she caught her right foot on a root. In an instant she was on the ground and one of the men was on top of her. He was furiously trying to remove her clothing. She screamed and used every ounce of her strength to fight him off. She closed her eyes and was waiting for him to strike her to stop the struggle, as she was sure he would, when suddenly she could no longer feel his weight. When she finally opened her eyes and pulled herself together she saw both of the thugs running away being chased by what looked to be the same wolf that saved her from the rail yard bull that same afternoon.

The other hobos in the camp told her it was a really big black wolf/dog that leapt into the clearing just after she fell. The animal grabbed one thug by the leg and literally dragged him off her and then while that man was holding his leg in pain the animal turned on and knocked the other man to the ground. Almost as soon as it all started both men were running away with the wolf on their heels.

Rose picked up one of the steel pipes the thugs left behind and in frustration threw it as far as she could into the woods. She then picked up the other pipe and kept it just in case any of the hobos got any ideas now that they knew she was a woman. She then fixed her shirt, straightened her clothing, filled her cup with stew and finished it quietly in a corner of the camp. She didn't sleep in the camp but took her things and the pipe, left the jungle, and went to the edge of the nearest town where she slept fitfully in a park with the pipe in her hands.

When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw, lying in the grass just a few yards away, was the big black animal. This was the first time she got a good look at the animal and she could see now that it wasn't a wolf at all but just a big black dog with floppy ears. She was sure it was the same dog that saved her from the bull and the thugs. For just a moment she thought she had seen those ears before. Then she remembered that Kelly had ears just like those.

Could this dog be related somehow to Kelly? Kelly was white though, and this dog was, as she looked closely, a very dirty gray. Rose got up and then so did the dog. As they both stood motionless, Rose said: "Hello, was that you who saved me yesterday?" The dog wagged its' tail and moved slowly toward Rose. When Rose stooped down to pet the dog she realized how really dirty and the dog was. It could very well be the dirtiest, smelliest, dog she had ever seen. She talked to the dog. "Hey, do you want to come along? I'll get us something to eat and drink just as soon as I can."

She then started toward the road and the long walk to the small mill town where she hoped Robert and a job would still be waiting. The dog went out in front of her and didn't miss a turn. She noticed that the dog stayed almost exactly the same distance in front of her for the whole trip, stopping only at intersections and to drink once from a bird bath and once from a stream.

When Rose finally reached the tailors shop it was well after dark and she was very tired and hungry. She told the dog she would sit for only a minute or two and then find somewhere to buy them some food. She sat for only a moment on the bench in front of the shop and promptly fell asleep with the dog curled up at her feet.

The next morning the tailor found Rose still asleep on the bench. He took one look at her and invited her to breakfast at the diner across the street. She thanked him and when they got to the diner she excused herself for a moment and ordered some scrambled eggs and brought them outside to the dog with a bowl of water. She told the dog to "Eat and then stay and I'll see what I can do about getting you a bath right after I eat"

She went back inside the diner and the tailor told her he just knew she was a kind person. He said he was glad to see her back and hoped she was back to stay. He then thanked Rose for bringing Kelly home. He could tell by the look on Rose's face that he needed to explain. He told her that he was almost sure that the big dog waiting patiently outside was Kelly. He told her that Kelly disappeared the day after she left more than a month before. When Rose asked about the dog's color, the tailor simply said that after a bath he was sure she would be almost white once again. After breakfast Rose had a new job and place to live.

It took many baths to restore Kelly to her beautiful white color and during one of those baths Robert overheard Rose speaking quietly to the dog "You know Kelly girl, a pretty white dog like you is just not cut out to be a hobo. Now, why don't you just stay here where people love and feed you and it's nice and warm and clean? Maybe I'll even stay around so you won't have to rescue me again and we'll see what happens. Is that alright with you?"