Alisa was watching Duke as he played by himself in the play room. She felt a little sad that he was by himself and she so wished she had the room and the money or she would adopt the little fella. Duke was playing with his favorite toy, the huge rubber ball when Chantelle comes in. She looks at him and she smiles then goes over to Alisa, sighs then says. "The boss made a few phone calls and wants us to send the puppy to the Cocker Spaniel rescue group in Crosby". Alisa looks at her and asks. "What?" Chantelle shakes her head then says. "Everybody is thinking he might have a better chance over here at a place that specializes in the breed". Alisa looks at him and she sighs then says. "I suppose that would be best". Chantelle goes over to her, puts her hand on Alisa's shoulder then says. "At least with Crosby being so close, we can go check on him". Alisa shakes her head then says. "I'll get him ready to travel, when are we taking him?"

Chantelle goes over to the door then says. "Within the hour". Alisa then looks at him and says. "I'll give him a quick grooming before he leaves..." She looks back at Chantelle and says. "Can't hurt". Chantelle gives her a quick wink before leaving.

Some time later, the van from the ASPCA drives up to a large house and they have a massive fenced in back yard with rows of kennels. Different cocker spaniels are playing all over the place. Alisa gets out of the van and she looks around and says. "Hello!" A tall, red-headed woman comes out of the house and she has a smile on and she asks. "Can I help you?" Alisa tells her. "My name is Alisa and I'm from the ASPCA, I bought the cocker spaniel that my boss talked to you about". The woman smiles and she shakes Alisa's hand then says. "I'm Mary Anne, glad you are here. Let me see the little fella"

Alisa signals for her to come to the back and she opens the door and they both see little Duke in a black wire cage. Mary Anne gets into a wide smile and she says. "He's adorable! I don't see any problem in getting him a home...I really can't wait for my partner to see him". Alisa looks at her then asks. "Your partner?" Mary Anne shakes her head then says. "Yes, she helps me run this place, she's just out for a while; she'll be back soon"

Mary Anne looks around her yard then she says. "Roller! Come here and get this puppy and put him with the others". This tall, lanky boy with black hair and an earplug in his ear and a iPhone in his shirt pocket, wanders over and gets Duke's cage and carries him out to the yard and Duke nervously looks around.

Mary Anne smiles and turns back to Alisa and says. "Thank you for bringing him, we'll be sure to take good care of him". Alisa smiles and sees Duke carefully come out of the cage and sniff his surroundings and sees other dogs like him running and playing and barking then Alisa says. "If you don't mind, I would like to stop by from time to time to check on him". Mary Anne smiles then says. "Of course not, you're welcome anytime"

Alisa goes over to the fence, looks at Duke then says. "Goodbye boy, enjoy your new home". Duke watches his friend leave and he gives a small whimper but he is soon distracted by the other cocker spaniels.

Back at Keith's home, his mother, Frances is still talking to her friend, Debra. Frances stands next to the patio doors and she looks out at some workers putting up a wooden fence around her back yard and she is slowly drinking her coffee and Debra comes up behind her and looks out and asks. "What's going on? What are they doing?" Frances sighs and goes back to the couch, sits down and puts her cup on the coffee table then says. "Building a fence around the back yard." Debra then asks her. "Isn't that expensive?" Frances nods her head then tells her friend. "Yes, it is but Sonya insisted. She doesn't want the neighbors to be looking on her with pity as she sits out there in her wheelchair". Debra looks at the men putting up the fence and she says. "And they will". Frances then says. "Mrs. Grayson across the street will be the first."

Debra looks out the patio doors and just before the men put up a fence board, she sees an older woman looking out her kitchen window across the street and Debra says. "And there she is". The friends laugh and Keith and Craig come down from their rooms, Keith has a camouflage egg dying kit in his hand and he asks. "Mom, can you help us dye these eggs?"

Frances smiles and nods her head then Debra says. "I need to get going, I need to get back to work. You call me if you need me, okay?" Frances nods her head then walks her friend to the door and says "Bye" to her then turns around and goes to the boys and says. "Okay, let's get this egg dying going on". Craig rolls his eyes then says in his cocky ten year old voice. "I can't believe I'm doing this dorky egg dying thing". Keith looks at him and he says right back. "Oh yeah, then why did you make mom buy two boxes of eggs? She could have just bought me some". Craig looks at him with eyes of fire then he says. "I didn't want you to be alone dork"

Keith rolls his blue eyes then says. "Yeah, right. Mom, you think it's okay to put Army stripes on our eggs?" Craig tells him in a hateful voice. "It's camouflage dum dum". Frances gets out a deep pot to boil the eggs in and she sets it under the kitchen faucet and runs cold water in then says. "Craig, we don't call people dum dum and I don't think there's anything wrong with putting camouflage on eggs. Shows a sign of respect, I think". Keith looks at her then asks. "What's that?" She thinks on it a minute then says. "Respect. It means you feel pride and good about somebody doing something like being in the Army" Keith thinks about it then asks. "LIke when we sing ''America, the Beautiful'?" Frances gives a tender laugh then puts the pot on the stove for the water to boil then she says. "Something like that...you do know that your great Uncle Andrew Malone died in the Vietnam war?"

The boys shake their heads and she looks over at an American flag in a flag display case on top of a tall bookcase with an old faded black and white picture beside it. She walks over to the case and looks at it then says. "When we take care of his things for him even tho he is not here , that's a sign of respect..." She looks up at the flag and the picture and she softly starts singing a chorus to a song, 'He said, 'My name is Private Andrew Malone, if you are reading this, then I didn't make it home. But for every dream that shattered, another one comes true, this care was once a dream of mine, now it belongs to you. And though you may take her and make her your own, you'll always be riding with Private Malone".

The boys look at each other and they shrug their shoulders then ask. "Mom?" She shakes her head out of her memories then they ask. "What is it mom?" She walks back over to them then asks. "Boys, have you ever heard the song, 'Riding with Private Malone'? Keith shakes his head no than Craig says, "I heard it once". She smiles then says. "Well, I heard and I don't know if it's true but somebody said that song was written about your Uncle". The boys look up at the picture of their Uncle and they say. "Wow!" She smiles then sees the water boiling and she says. "Let's get these eggs dyed". She opens the cartons and picks up the eggs to put them in the water and smiles with her sons as they make memories.

Later, Debra drives up to the same house that Alisa drove up to earlier and when she gets out, Mary Anne walks up to her. Debra gets her purse and asks Mary Anne. "Well, what's been going on while I was gone?" Mary Anne tells her. "Well, they came and delivered the puppy from the ASPCA in Houston" Excited, Debra asks. "They did? Where is he?" Mary Anne turns around and yells. "Roller! Bring the puppy! The new one!"

The tall and skinny teenager dressed in red and black clothes , brings Duke to them in his arms. Debra melts and squeals when she sees the little puppy and takes him out of Roller's arms and hugs him then asks Mary Anne. "Do you know anything about his background?" Maryanne thinks on that then says. " All they said at the ASPCA was that he was found in a abandoned boat dock with stray cats." Debra raises little Duke to her nose and says. "How did you wind up with a bunch of stray cats?" Mary Anne shakes her head and says. "Could have run away from home, been abandoned...any number of things"

Debra kisses his little nose than says. "Come on, let's take the picture". Mary Anne laughs then she says. "I figured that so that's why I got the digital camera". The girls laugh and Mary Anne says. "Roller! Come take the picture!" Roller comes and get the camera and Mary Anne gets on one side and Debra on the other side of Duke and they take a picture then Debra says. "A picture of every one of our rescues". The girls give Duke one more hug then Mary Anne goes and puts Duke back in the yard with the other dogs.

A few hours later, Roller comes around with a industrial broom in his hand and the hose and he cleans out one of the dog houses and he looks around and he sees a hole dug out under the fence and he looks out past the hole and he sees an older cocker spaniel sitting as pretty as she pleases out near the woods and Roller sighs and says. "You always give me the most trouble Beth...I'm coming to get you". Roller goes to the back fence, opens a gate and goes and gets the little copper cocker spaniel and brings her back in the yard, puts her down but forgets to close the back gate. Just goes over and gets a shovel and puts dirt in the hole and goes back to cleaning the dog kennels.

Duke is around playing in the yard then he looks around and sees the open gate, he just goes on sniffing the ground then he comes to it and sniffs the open space, looks back at Roller then runs on out to wherever he wants to go.

A/N-I may be a day late but I wanted to put in my honor and respect for our service men ( and women ). Really, we don't need just one day to honor them, we should do it 365 days.

If you have never heard the song I wrote, go to YOU TUBE and check it out, the song and video is AWESOME! And there is a rumor that this song was written for a true story, don't know if that's true or not but it's neat.

I hope you are enjoying reading about Duke's Adventures! The fun isn't over yet!

Fresh Wildflower