It all began at the local animal shelter, during the summer of 2006. During the summer months when schools out, I spent time at the Boys and Girls Club. I live in Lewsitown Montana a small business town where if you wanted to make money you had to own your own business, anyway thats what my dad always said. I had also filled out an application at our local newspaper the Lewistown News-Argus to deliver the papers on a route. I was saving my money for a trip to Washington DC the following spring. A week after school let out, the Club opened, I went there on a Monday, with my brother who is two years younger than me. When we entered I signed in at the front desk and headed upstairs to the teen room for teens, I was 13 at the time. At ten o'clock our teen director Abby Hotz stood up, "Alright everyone we're going to PALS," she said. Abby was really pretty, she had gorgeous green eyes, that made it hard for me to make eye-contact with her. "What's PALS?" I asked quickly. "Oh its the animal shelter we go there to walk the dogs," she replied. "Oh," I said. The shelter wasn't too far away, so we walked there, the nice weather and the price of gasoline, it wasn't worth it to drive there. As we approached the shelter, a big white sign read ANIMAL SHELTER in large capitol letters, next to it a smaller sign read, PAL, below that it read Pet Assistance League of Lewistown. As we got closer to the shelter I could hear dogs barking in the distance, some hi-pitched yips, and low-pitched barks, all in a mix of excited barking. Abby opened the gate, and we followed single file, I brought up the rear. It all happened at once, a bunch of dogs swarmed around us, of all colors and sizes, it seemed like a bunch of hungry wolves were surrounding us. I closed the gate quickly. I tried to get a good look at the dogs, they were moving too fast, and then my eyes swept over a medium-sized black and tan female dog that I locked my focus on. She was gorgeous I thought, the dog looked at me through the prettiest brown dog-eyes I have ever seen to this day, we just stood and stared at each other trying to figure each other out. At last I turned away from her, her gaze stang like a bee. I felt something hit me on the left leg and I looked down, and saw the black and tan dog, "get off me!" I shouted shoving her down, she looked at me, confused, I hated dogs when they jumped on me, that would soon change. The dog looked at me bewildered and walked off, I followed her with my gaze as she trotted up to a girl in our group. "Hi Maxine!" the girl said, the dog jumped up and down on her happily. The girl leashed her. Maxine, that name circled in my head, what an odd name I thought. I looked around the other dogs most were mutts including Maxine, I found a yellow Labrador named Daisy, I leashed her and waited for the others. When we started walking, I noted Maxine's behavior, she acted weird, she kept trying to walk next to me and Daisy, I tried to ignore it but found I couldn't. She kept turning and looking at me, it looked like she was grinning, "you are starting to creep me out dog" I whispered. Maxine's strange behavior continued, I was starting to wonder if the dog was affiliated with me! When we were done walking the dogs, we returned to the shelter and returned them to their kennels. I looked at the black and tan dog once out the gate, she still appeared to be grinning at me, what a weird dog I thought. On the way back to the Club, I blurted out, "what a weird dog!" I said, "what dog?" asked Abby, "oh that black and tan one, that Maxine whats-her-name," I responded. "she kept staring at me, and grinning like a devil," I added. "Maybe she likes you," Abby answered. "She's a good-looking dog, but I don't like the way she acted, it freaked me out!" I said. "The dog just likes you," the girl that walked Maxine said, after that I shut up. The next day at the Club we went down to the shelter, gosh I hope that dog isn't going to intimidate me again, I thought. At the shelter everything unfolded like the day before, the dogs barking, Maxine attempting to try and jump on me again, thinking I had changed my ways, she got fooled. I took Daisy again, the girl that walked Maxine the day before leashed her again. On the walk Maxine didn't try to walk next to me, but she still stared at me, her big C curled tail bobbing around like a rudder. When we were putting the dogs away, the girl that put Maxine away didn't get the gate closed all the way. I put Daisy away and turned around and looked into a pair of brown, sparkling eyes, "oh my gosh dog you nearly gave me a heart-attack!" I said. "Maxine got out, can you put her away?" said Abby. I looked at Maxine and pointed at her open gate, "get in there," I said, she didn't move, instead grinned. "You are so stubborn!" I exclaimed, I went and grabbed her collar, and lead her to the kennel, where I pushed her through, and latched the gate tight. She looked up at me giving me the eye, "oh don't pull that one on me babe, it ain't going to get you out of there," I said laughing at her silliness. I went home that day, and had a new outlook on Maxine, I was starting to take a liking to her, for some reason I know not of. The next day at the Club the girl that normally walked Maxine didn't show up. Who's going to walk her today, surely there's gotta be somebody who wants to walk her I thought. It was Wednesday, I had to deliver my papers after the Club closed. When we got there everyone seemed to want a certain dog, somebody had already taken Daisy, pretty soon I looked at all the dogs everyone of them was leashed, except one, Maxine sat in the dog run facing me you have no choice but to walk me grin on her face. I leashed her, she got so excited she began to yelp in excitement, "okay, you don't need to be going nuts over me," I said. As we started to walk, Maxine grew so excited, she tried to slow down so she would get between my legs and try to jump up, and hit a place where I don't want to be hit. I put my hand out and she hit my hand jumping up, "okay I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to jump there," I said in an obvious tone, shoving her to my right, she stayed there after that. I started to study her features as we walked, she had a steady gait, her claws were curved to the right angle, her back was straight, with no slopes or humps, her hindquarters were well-muscled and sturdy same with her forequarters, her tail was curled straight over her back, her head was up high, her eyes focused, and alert. What kinda person would give a dog like this up, I wondered, she had the perfect body for agility, some organizations accepted mutts for agility. "Fine young dog." I said to myself. When we returned the dogs, I knelt beside Maxine and looked at her, "you know, you're not so bad, I kinda like you," I said to her, she then licked me on the nose, "okay lets not get into the mushy stuff yet I haven't even known you for more than three days," I said. I put her in her kennel and looked down at her, "I'll see you tomorrow, Maxine," I said smiling a little at her. For the next two days of that week I continued to walk Maxine, our friendship was starting to grow, rapidly. One day the next week I got up early before heading to the Club, I wanted to visit Maxine. When I got to the shelter on my bike, the first rays of the sun were peeking over the horizon. I sat on her doggy igloo where she slept, it supported my weight. Maxine jumped on me, settling her front in my lap. "You know Maxine, I think we can be friends, I wish I could adopt you, I doubt thats possible," I said to her. I sat and talked to her for another hour playing a game of fetch with her. When I was about to leave I bent down beside her, "I know you don't belong to me but," I placed my hands on her cheeks and kissed her on the head, my heart started thumping like her tail was thumping the ground. "Okay, I don't know why I did that, I'll just be going now," I said and stood up quickly. I didn't want to be getting too serious about her, she didn't belong to me, and somebody would adopt her someday anyway. The next few weeks flew by some evenings I visited her, I was getting too attached to her, and someday my heart would be broken, I knew it. There was a big problem, my St. Bernard Sasha's condition was falling, she was getting old, an injury sustained to her as a pup was catching up with her now, she didn't have much time left. On June 26th, 2006 Sasha died, her hips didn't work anymore, we had to put her down. My life sank into depression, the walks with Maxine weren't as enjoyable anymore, the days were dark with depression for me. Sasha had been our guard dog for nearly 8 years, a very loyal soldier had fallen. The depression clouds finally cleared up one day as I walked Maxine. What if we adopted her as a new guard dog? I was thinking about it anything to cheer me up would be nice. I hadn't told my parents or my brother about Maxine yet. One afternoon I told my bro about her, and we went and visited her that evening after the club closed. He took a liking to her instantly, "lets ask dad!" he exclaimed. The next morning I went and sat in the living room, where dad was watching the Early Show on the big screen, sipping coffee like usual. I admired my father, his big powerful shoulders and arms, he was tall about 6' 2'' I always wanted to be good-looking and as strong as my dad someday, like most sons do. "Whats up kid?" his voice boomed, "nothin'," I responded. Dad was smart, "c'mon I know you're thinking of something," he was right, I was thinking about something. "Can we adopt a dog at the animal shelter?" it came out before I could stop it, just slipped through my lips. "What kind of dog?" he asked, "I don't know a mutt I walk when we walk the dogs for the animal shelter," I answered. "Well I'll think about it," he said, I then went and hopped on my bike and headed for the Club, an ear-to-ear grin on my face all day. "Yes!" I shouted at Maxine when I visited her that evening, we didn't walk the dogs that day. I headed home fast, pedaling like I was running from a clown, I was scared of clowns. When me an my bro came into the house we saw mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table. We sat opposite them. "The deal on the dog boys is that if you will install the Pet Safe electric fence to keep this dog from running off and getting hit by a car the dog is yours, if you can do it," dad said, mom nodded her head in agreement. "We sure can!" I said happily. "Okay we'll getcha started tomorrow," dad responded. "Get lots of sleep digging a trench to put the fence in is a back-breaking job," dad warned. "I imagine it will take a week to do the whole thing, we'll have to rent a trencher," he said. The next morning I was up and adam early, I wanted to knock a dent in this project today. It was the beginning of July, it would be the hottest 31 days of the year, it was reaching 90 degrees by ten o'clock when I was delivering my newspapers I checked a customer's thermometer. My bro was home starting on the project I was hurrying the route. I got home at about noon, it was really hot now. I trenched with the trencher for 30 minutes, and quit it was too hot to be outside. I started again at six, my bro trenched for 30 minutes, and then I did, by then I was wore out. We didn't accomplish as much as I had wanted, this was going to be a tough project. Five days later dad decided to take a day off and help us finish the project, he'd seen how hard we worked, and knew we were getting restless about it. The sun was disappearing as we finally after five hot treacherous days of work were finally done. Tomorrow Maxine would be part of my life, a big part. The next morning I jumped out of bed as soon as my eyes opened, gulping down a bowl of cereal. I went out to feed my older dog named Jack, the first dog I ever owned he was 11 at the time. "A new family member will be joining us today!" I told him happily. I sat on the deck dangling my Converse shoes off the edge waiting for dad and my bro to get up. We loaded up in an old two-wheel drive 1965 Ford F-150 that was pumpkin orange, we called it the pumpkin. The old pick-up sputtered and spat, and then roared to life the rusty muffler coughing out a puff of black exhaust. When we pulled in to the animal shelter a woman was waiting there to sign Maxine out to us. When I put Maxine on the leash and began to walk her toward the pumpkin, she got over excited when she saw a truck sitting there with my scent all over it. I tied her to the rack in the back so she didn't jump out and injure herself. We loaded back into the truck, I couldn't believe it Maxine was riding in the back of our truck. The back window of the truck was open and Maxine jumped through restrained by her leash, dad said she could ride in front, she sat in my lap facing the front. I put my arms around her middle and rested my head on her back, I loved her. We were headed to Pamida I had volunteered to help the Club make sloppy joes for customers at a motorcycle rally afterward I had to deliver my newspapers. My bro sat on a bench amongst the displays holding Maxine's leash, Maxine also became a display too. After an hour we gathered our bikes that we had also brought, and I wrapped Maxine's leash around the handlebars hoping she didn't jerk to the right while moving, she didn't. She ran very well for the two mile stretch to our house. Once there I had my bro hold Maxine while I left to deliver the papers. The whole time on the route I spent thinking of Maxine wondering how she would soon impact my life greater than any other. When I returned home Maxine was lying in the cool shade of the old Ash tree in our back yard, when she spotted me she darted out from under it. I jumped off my bike and we clashed together in a mass of hugs, kisses, and licks it was good to be home. The hot days of July seemed to flow by after we got Maxine the fair was going to be here in five days. My bro left one Friday afternoon to go visit his grandma for a few days, it was just Maxine and me, and of course Jack. One day before the fair my bro was still at his grandma's, it was such a beautiful evening I wanted to sleep outside under the huge Cottonwoods that towered over the whole neighborhood that night. I gathered my bedroll and 2 pillows and placed them under the trees. When the sun finally went behind the hill I went out to the place where the bedroll was, Maxine was on it keeping it warm for me, "thank you Maxine for keeping my bed warm for me," I said sarcastically. I laid down on the soft yard and looked up at the trees, they looked kinda spooky at night when the wind whistled through the branches it sometimes sent a chill through my spine. Maxine lay at my left practically laying on me! I put a arm around her and held her tight as she rested her head on my chest, grinning. "Oh sweetheart you are so silly!" I said. "I love you Maxine, I'd do anything for you, you know that don't you?" I asked. "If you ever ran off I'd come find you to assure you were safe, I wouldn't wait I'd look for you," I promised. She licked me on the face, "oh you are so sweet," I said and then I fell asleep. The fair was one of the best, there were better rides and there were better games it was all exciting. When the fair ended, my bro had to head home in a few days he lived with his mom during the school year. We had to take him to Billings where he would board his plane to Denver Colorado. We were all up early that morning of August 4th and ready to make the 130 mile drive to Billings. I went out to feed the dogs, "I'll be back this evening, we need to do some shopping, you be good Maxine I know I 'll miss you sweetie," I said laughing at her. Before I climbed into the truck I bent down to Maxine's side and kissed her on the head and hugged her holding her for a moment, "We'll be careful I love you," I said. Knowing that every time I climbed into a car it could be the last time, mom had had a terrible wreck two years before and I had always been kinda scared to go on the highway that nearly took her life. I climbed in an shut the door and belting my seatbelt and tightening it securely, remembering that if mom hadn't had one she wouldn't be with us. I looked out the window at Maxine as we were leaving she looked sad. We said our goodbyes to my bro before he departed until Christmas when we got to the airport. Once home I set up my dome tent in the yard, I'd spend the rest of the nice nights sleeping outside until autumn came again. The next day was Wednesday I decided to take Maxine and Jack on the paper route to have someone to talk to. It was a nice day no clouds in the sky just all clear and beautiful. We went down to the dollar store to get a Coke for me to drink and then went to get the papers. I thought having the dogs along with me was nice they liked it too. The next week I went to visit a relative and couldn't bring Maxine and Jack, I'd be gone for four days. On a Wednesday we went to town to deliver my papers, my relative dropped me off at the house and went to run some errands. We planned to bring Maxine and Jack back with us. I wanted to take Maxine and Jack on the route. I started to call their names, Jack showed up, Maxine didn't. I went in and called dad he said Maxine was at the house that morning when he fed the dogs. I went and delivered my papers on the bike scared for what might have happened to Maxine, hoping she would be home when I got there that didn't happen. When I got home my relative was waiting. He took me by the shelter Maxine was not there, we headed out with Jack no Maxine. Two days later dad came and picked me and Jack up. "I'm sorry son, but its been two days now and we haven't seen her you can go look for her if you want but it will be a slim chance that Maxine will ever be back," dad said. "I promised Maxine that if she ever ran away I'd come find her and I don't break promises," I said. As soon as we got home I set my bags inside the door and hopped on my bike I wouldn't rest until I found my Maxine. I pedaled to Russell's house, he had been my best friend since 3rd grade and he would help me find Maxine. One of Russell's friends from out of town was there his name was Kevin, we headed out they walked I rode my bike ahead of them. We searched and called Maxine's name. I finally sat down on a curb, "it's hopeless she's been gone for two days now, she's probably lying dead on the side of the road or something," I said shakily. "Have you checked the shelter yet?" asked Russ. "No but, lets go!" I said with a hint of hope. I pushed my bike alongside them we started talking about school which was going to start soon. There was barking as we approached the shelter, I thought back to the day I first walked there with the Club remembering my first encounter with Maxine. I looked in at the dogs and saw a C curled tail attached to a familiar figure, "Maxine! oh baby there you are!" I shouted over the barking. I thanked Russell and Kevin and headed home. I called the dogcatcher and she brought Maxine to us. When the dogcatcher arrived and let Maxine out we ran to each other and she jumped into my arms it was heaven to have her home again. "Don't ever scare me again," I said. We slept in the tent and it felt good to have Maxine's warm body next to mine. September came and the leaves on the Cottonwoods started to color, autumn was closing in I quit sleeping out. Maxine ran off and came back occasionally. Leaves were falling and I was picking them up. January came and on the 19th Maxine ran off and I got the call. I drove to the place where the person had said to come. I pulled up to a ditch, I looked up and saw Maxine laying in the snow I had a lump in my throat I knew right then that something something bad was wrong. The person said he saw the accident and Maxine didn't get back up. Maxine had turned me into man. I still think of her daily. Rest In Peace Maxine. I miss you!