There was no sign of the youths as they exited the alley and for that Sarah was glad. Hopefully they would think twice about bothering another animal after their recent experience. Sarah had never worn a collar before and it felt totally alien being round her neck. She put up with the feeling though, thankful for the miracle that was the man that saved her.

     She had never known any of her friends in Barken ware a collar. Normally such restrictions caused problems during changes because of size differences. She had known some Barken residents, of larger breeds, ware decorative collars as fashion statements. Most though didn't as the effect of such was to effectively locked then into their dog form. The only place in Barken where collars were used was in the sheriff's office where they were used in prisoner restraint.

     This however was a totally different case and she knew that it wouldn't matter, as she was already a dog. This strange man had saved her life and his gentle voice had comforted her. He smelled nice too. He had a natural musky smell of a man who lived outside. Rugged but clean, fresh yet wild. It was not at all like the smell of some of the tramps she came across in the vicinity of her flat. It always amazed her how much she could tell about something just by its smell.

     Of course she still had to use caution around him. She wanted to stay near him though because of the sense of safety she felt around him. She was still concerned about her position. Still trapped in her dog form and at the whims of someone who didn't know her true nature. Being with him without him knowing would not be a problem as her instincts. Only making a special effort could she extend that human part of her mind to control her dog instincts so as long as she stayed relaxed he would not suspect. She could use that to her advantage if she was careful, he would never suspect her of misleading him.

     The man paused in front an old vandalised phone booth on the other side of the road from the alley and she came up to stand by his side. He stepped inside and picked up the tattered remains of the phone book inside. She quickly lost interest as he started leaf through the phone books remains, and squatted to relieve herself. She still felt very unwell and sore from the last few days and hoped that soon she would have a chance to get some good food into her as well as being able to rest.

     She turned around and sniffed at her little puddle of urine beside the booth. She picked up faint traces of other dogs having left their messages there but hers was the strongest. Places such as this were used by dogs as public marking spots to tell others, who had passed that by. It was her message that she had been there.

     The man left the booth and took out what looked like a compact but detailed map. He stood there quietly studying it for a few minutes. With a light tug on her leash he started walking. She turned towards him and followed close behind. Sarah was still puzzled at why he had stopped at that phone box and what he had been looking for.

    For half an hour she followed close, hardly noting where he was leading her. She was quickly getting a little annoyed as her muscles ached from the leftover effects of the poisoned meat. Suddenly the man stopped. Luckily Sarah was not so engrossed in her thoughts that missed his action and she quickly came around to stand beside him.

     The sign said:

     Dr Henry Morgan Veterinary Surgeon Pet Supplies

     Suddenly she realised what he had looked in the phone box for. He must have been worried about her condition and wanted to make sure that she was ok. Sarah followed him quietly up the steps and through the door into the front of the vets' surgery, She was a little concerned. The only other vet who she had seen was Barken's resident, Dr Shishido. The thought of seeing another vet who didn't know about Barken scared her, but she followed the man in anyway.

     Michael looked around the inside of the shop that served as the front office of the vets' surgery. It was small but neat and smelled clean with only a slight odour of disinfectant. He had often been suspicious about the real cleanliness of places that used excessive amounts of disinfectant. He walked up to the counter at the rear of the store where the assistant sat reading a magazine.

     As he came up to the counter the woman glanced up and gave him a quick look up and down. Michael knew from her facial expression what she was thinking, "Tramp".

     "Can I help you." She asked him in a bored tone of voice.

     "Yes, I came across this dog in an alley being beaten by a gang of youths. I would like to see if Dr Morgan could take a look at her and make sure she is all right. I suspect she has also been poisoned at some point."

     The woman looked at him coldly. "I'm afraid that we don't deal with cases like this. You would be better going to the dog pound. I can give you the address if you want.

     Michael sighed deeply. This was not the first time this had happened to him. Just because he chose to live as he lived and Dress for it, this woman assumed that he was a tramp and didn't want to be bothered with him, thinking he wanted charity.

     Michael looked back at her and smiled. He had been through this many times before and knew that it would not help matters to get angry with the woman. He had saved the dog from the gang and wanted to get her the best treatment he could, there was no way he was going to take her to a public institution like the dog pound.

     "I'm afraid you don't understand," he said, reaching into his inner coat pocket and pulling out his wallet and opened it. "I'm quite able to pay for the doctors time." He carefully took out his gold master card and laid it on the counter top. Then seeing the disbelief in her eyes he took out his Drivers license and Military ID as well and laid them next to the card.

     She had a slight tremble in her voice after she had looked at the card and identification. "I'm terribly sorry sir. Please forgive me for my rude behaviour. I didn't realise. Ill see if the Doctor has an appointment free."

     Michael sighed inwardly as the assistant looked at the book. He could never get used to the situation where people judged others on what they wore or how they looked.

     "The doctor will be free in 15 minutes sir." The woman said. "If you would like to bring the dog trough to the waiting room I'll let him know you are here". She handed his card and Id's back to and showed him through a door to a small waiting room.

     Michael sat on one of the chairs and the dog lay down at his feet and looked sorrowful. He wondered casually if she might have ever been to a vet in the past. Obviously she had seen better days and had probably had a home some place. He wondered about the kind of people who would have such a beautiful dog and then leave her on the streets. Even worse was that when he had first examined her it looked like she had never had a collar. That probably meant that she had been unlicensed, a death sentence for any dogs caught by the stray dog patrols that most cities and towns had.

     Michael leant down and started to softly scratch the top of her head. The dog looked up at him and seemed to smile. Michael thought she had very beautiful and intelligent eyes.

     The door opened in the opposite wall and a middle aged man stood there. "Hello Mr. Dowder, I'm Henry Morgan Would you like to come through now."

     Michael rose to his feet and led the dog trough the door as it was held open, into the examination room.

     "What seems to be the problem with her?" asked Dr Morgan.

     "Well I was passing by an alley about an hour ago and heard sounds like laughter and an animal in pain. I found her being tormented by some youths and rescued her. I wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of before I left Detroit. I'm only just passing through."

     "Ok. We will see what we can do then. Come on girl, lets get you up on the table"

     The doctor bent down and gently lifted Sarah onto the examining table and started to gently probe her body. It was a gentle probing of fingers all over her body pressing lightly against bones and organs. She had not been examined this closely before. There had been no need

     Occasionally there was a slight twinge of pain at the probing but nothing more than the result of the doctor pushing against a bruise. Sarah stood quietly and suffered the very personal probing the doctor was doing to her.

     "Well she does not seem to have any broken bones" she heard the doctor tell the man, whom she now at least had a last name for. "She does have a few minor cuts and bruises along with what looks like mild dehydration, probably caused by eating poisoned bait"

     The doctor had finished his examination of her so she sat down on the tabletop and listened.

     "She also has no identifying tattoo markings indicating previous vet visits. That is not unusual in some cases though. She seems to be a pure breed Alsatian and tattoos can damage the value of a dog if the owners want to show it."

     The doctor went to a small cabinet and pulled out a small device. "Sometimes they have a small chip inserted under the skin in the neck for identification purposes. Ill just check to see if she has one"

     Sarah sat quietly as the doctor passed the device over her neck a few times at different angles but it remained silent.

     "Nope...  Sorry it looks like she hasn't been registered at all, which is unusual, as she does seem to have been well taken care of until recently. Its illegal to have an unregistered dog within the city limits so whoever was keeping her must have been either very stupid or from outside the city."

     "What will happen to her now?" asked the man asked.

     "Well since she is not registered there is little chance of finding the owner. I have not received notice of a lost Alsatian from the City dog pound and it obvious she has been alone for at least a week, which would give the owners time to place a lost dog report with the pound. However they might not want to risk the $200 fine there is for an unregistered dog"

     "So what does that mean" asked the man.

     The doctor looked sad. "It means she will go to the pound and since there is no guarantee to her pedigree she will have the same chance as all the other dogs to being adopted. She will probably have to be put down after the 60 day holding period if she isn't."

     Sarah's heart went to her throat at the mention of being "Put down" and she whined and sank down close to the tabletop looking frightened.

     Her sudden movement and sound caught the attention of the man and the doctor and she regretted her involuntary action, as it would have been unlikely for a normal dog to know what was meant.

     Their attention only lingered a moment.

     "Looks like she is feeling those bruises." the doctor said, "I'll give her a shot to help relieve the pain and speed the healing. Also some antibiotics for the cuts and Scrapes, as for the poison she seems to have been minor and she seems to be recovering"

     Sarah was glad her slip went relatively unnoticed but was still frantically thinking of a way to save her life. It was unlikely that anyone in Barken would have realised anything was wrong within 60 days, especially since the trip had been relatively unplanned.

     The man surprised her thoughts by saying. "It would be a bit inconvenient but I could always adopt her myself until I found a good home for her.

     Michael was surprised at his own words. He had not really thought about it much but the prospect of such a beautiful animal being killed because of someone's stupidity really annoyed him and after saving her life once he felt duty bound to do so again. After all it might be nice to have a travelling companion for a little while, before he found her a good home with one of his friends.

     "Well you would have to get her registered and licensed. Other than that there should be little problem with that. You would need to get a better collar and leash than the one you have at the moment. You would not want her breaking free and causing an accident"

     "Yes" said Michael. "Also I think since she hasn't been to a vets before that she get a full course of shots just in case she hasn't had any" its always a smart precaution." He reached over and gently rubbed the dogs' head.

     "Well the registration is a once off fee while the license will have to be renewed each year where ever you are." said Dr Morgan.  "You are looking at either $30 or $70 for the Registration. The $30 includes tattooing in the ears while the $70 is done with the small chip I mentioned about earlier and her details are entered on a national database. The inoculation shots will be $60 but you would have to repeat then in 3 and 9 months and then at 2 to 3 year intervals. Are you sure you want to do this? Having a dog can be very expensive."

     Michael looked down at the dog, which was looking up at him with a hopeful expression.

     "Yes" he said. " I'm very sure" and he smiled down at her. "I suppose I will have to choose a name for her as well for the registration and license... Hmmm"

     Michael stood a moment and thought about different names he could give her.

     "How about Sasha?" he said. And looked down at the dog. She looked back at him with a quizzical expression but didn't look displeased.

     "Ok" said the Doctor. "We can leave the dog here while we do the paperwork and get her registered and licensed. Which method do you think you would prefer...Tattoo or Chip?

     "Chip I think" said Michael. It seemed the obvious choice considering he was not going to be staying in Detroit. He followed Dr Morgan out the door to the outer office. "By the way... you can call me Michael"

     Sarah was a little anxious about this whole process and was not at all happy about either the tattoo or chip ideas but could not really do anything about it without risking both her freedom and her life. She was glad though when Michael chose the chip method, as she didn't like the idea of marring her ears. At least she had a chance now.

     Sarah listened to the muffled voices outside the door and gently drifted to sleep on the tabletop. She was happier than she had been in over two weeks. She had a chance now to somehow get back to Barken. She had protection from dangers in the form of the man who she now had a full name for. She liked the sound of his name, Michael. Her thoughts turned to Barken and her family and friends as she slid into an exhausted slumber.