Alison was the first one up the next morning, and it was a bright morning, the sun shining over the various gambled rooves of the populace; the morning birds came out to display their vocal prowess, and Alison could see a few dogs here and there wandering the streets. She wondered who owned them, thinking of her own dog whom she would never leave out at night to wander the streets.

     Standing on the second floor balcony over looking the meagre parking lot, the row of pleasant homes, and the flowing field beyond. It was a beautiful sight, reminding her of Kansas, where she grew up. She let the morning sun sink into her, filling her with all its glory.

     She smiled and then softly whispered to the wind. "Thank you Jesus for making this day."

     Returning inside, Emily was just getting up, her blonde hair a mess. The two girls talked a bit, mostly about plans for the conference, before heading down to the breakfast area in the motel.

     Nathan and John were already there, both talking about what they were going to do that day. The breakfast was to their delight homemade by Mrs. Brumfield herself. It turned out that not many people stopped by in Barken, and ever since her husband Raymond had died ten years ago, she had handled the motel all by herself; it was her pride and joy. The others joined one by one, with Brandemas coming down uncharacteristically last. The meal didn't last long, as it was delicious, the best meal on the road they had for the past week.

     "So what are we going to do with our first day here in Barken?" Jason asked.

     "I dunno," Nathan replies, "What's there to do around here?"

     "I don't want to sit around the motel all day," Allison said, "It's too nice a day for that."

     "There's a lot of space to go for a walk," Brandemas offered. "We can take a nature hike while it's still reasonably cool out."

     "That sounds like fun!" John agreed, then looking around at the others he asked, "What do you think Greg? Jason?"

     They both nodded, and within a few minutes, the group walked out of the motel, giving their assurances to Mrs. Brumfield that they would be back in time for lunch, something they were all looking forward to considering how good the breakfast was.

     Their hike took them towards a set of hills that seemed more hospitable than the rest of the land out there. They talked about various things; they watched for wildlife, and once they thought they saw a coyote off in the distance.

     It was a lovely hike until out from behind a set of rocks jumped a man waving a gun.

     "What are you doing here?!"

     Allison screamed, and Emily nearly fainted. Brandemas stepped in front of Greg who nearly in surprise jumped at the man with the gun. The other three stayed behind Brandemas, watching the man warily, all their hearts racing.

     "We're out for a walk," Brandemas said, trying to ignore the gun pointing at him.

     "You aren't from Cherry, are you?" the man asked, his eyes moving between each of them, not letting a single one go unwatched.

     "Cherry?" Brandemas said in bewilderment. "No, sir - I have never even heard of the place."

     The man snorted to himself, and the looking over them once more, and then reholstered his gun.

     "You're alright."

     Then his face changed from one of suspicion to one of genuine amiability. "I'm Randy Kempe. I'm one of the sentries that makes sure no delinquents get into town and hurt the kind folks that live there. I haven't seen you all before though."

     "We're just passing through," Brandemas said, offering Randy his hand. "I'm Reverend Timothy Brandemas. We were on our way to Houston, but our van broke down, so we'll be spending at least a week here till they get the telephone lines back up."

     "Oh yeah, I heard about that," Randy nods. "I hope you all get your stuff fixed, but please feel free to enjoy your stay in Barken. Our nice little town has a tendency to rub off on people in interesting ways... Sorry if I frightened you all, it's sort of a gut instinct." Randy laughed a little at his own comment, which helped Emily and Allison feel a bit more comfortable.

     "Why do you need to be out protecting the town anyway, seems pretty nice here to me?" Greg asked, still a bit jumpy.

     "Well, see, the people in Cherry don't like us too much, and unfortunately, people in the past have come to kill us just because they hate us, and this is the best way to protect ourselves."

     "I can't believe there are people who hate that much - can you, Nathan?" John asked his friend.

     "It's unbelievable," Nathan replied almost mechanically.

     "I don't think so," Jason suddenly interjected. "Hate is an overwhelming emotion, takes away reason. There is still a lot of hate in the world. My question is why don't you call in the federal marshals, or the Texas Rangers or something like that to take care of the problem?"

     Randy leaned his head to one side, and then shrugged. "We're a close knit community, and like many communities, we like to solve our problems by ourselves. Nothing too illegal in that I think."

     An uneasy silence followed.

     "Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr Kempe," Brandemas shook his hand again. "I hope you never have occasion to use that weapon."

     "I hope so too," Randy patted Brandemas on the back, and walked off as the seven watched him.

     They continued on their hike without any further events, and the fright that Kempe has caused was already forgotten as they all enjoyed their morning stroll. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the day became increasingly hot, and they all agreed that it would be best to head back to the air-conditioned motel. The lunch that Mrs. Brumfield served was equally as delicious as the breakfast, and afterwards they each took some time to relax or to swim in the pool out behind the motel.

     Later that afternoon, just after they ate an equally delicious dinner of sirloin steak cooked rather rare, a tall, burlesque man entered the hotel. He smiled upon seeing them and walked purposefully up to Brandemas to held his hand out.

     "Reverend Brandemas, I presume? I'm Pierre Davis, the sheriff of Barken. I would like to welcome you here to stay as long as you want. We like to have folks visit with us, we don't get them too much around here."

     "Well, we'd be glad to stay as long as need be, but as we can leave we probably should, we have an important conference to attend, and the church back home isn't paying for us to stay in Barken."

     Davis laughed. "As part of our hospitality, we're picking up the tab for your stay here as long as your van is being fixed - you don't have to worry about money."

     Brandemas looked skyward for a moment, smiling, and intoned, "Lord, why can't there be more people like this?"

     Davis laughed again, and then continued, "Sorry if Randy gave you a stir earlier this morning, but we try to be careful. I hope you all don't become too bored while you're here, I understand that to city folk such as yourselves, this town is quite lifeless."

     "Not at all!" Brandemas assured him. "We come from a similar town, but with a lot more farms and such. I'm sure we'll do well here."

     "I'm glad to hear it. Well then, I hope you all enjoy your stay." With that, Davis turned and left Brandemas to himself.

     That night they had another Bible study, with prayer session following. They prayed for healing, Allison's arm was much better already but still stung, for deliverance, for safety, etc. Like always in their Bible study, Brandemas liked to let God's laws drive their discussion, letting the bible fall open any particular passage. That night's passage made Brandemas a little anxious: "Do not give that which is holy unto the dogs." He didn't mention his dream, which had come back to him just then, but the others could tell he was a little stirred up about something.

     However, after the prayer session was over and they each returned to their rooms they had forgotten. Greg however was restless, and while Jason was sleeping, slipped out of the room, and walked along the street. Things seemed normal, though there were a lot of dogs out, more so that had been at day.

     As he peered down an alley, he saw something that made him stop, then after a moment’s pause, to turn and run all the way back to the motel room, and then kneel on the floor fervently praying. He saw a woman, naked patting some dogs head, then turn to notice him staring, winked, turned away, and then somehow turned into a dog, and loped off down the street right in front of him...