THE DOG LADY OF MAXICO.

• Author: Current, Alison Sawyer
• Position: ANIMAL RESCUE - Excerpt

AFTER THE RELIEF GROUP left, Gretchen and Rose returned to Rancho Viejo. This time they went with Addy in Jeannie's small Honda. It was packed with as much dog food as the wheels could support, plus bags of donated leashes and collars.

After crossing to the mainland, Addy had to pay close attention while driving the overloaded car along the badly damaged roads. Most of the time they had the streets to themselves. The hurricane had destroyed many of the local cars or rendered them too dilapidated to maneuver around the widening pot holes that were filled with murky water, making it impossible to know how deep they were.

This time they decided to drive straight to the dump at the end of the road, and then work their way back. They kept going as long as they could, until Addy started to feel sick from the stench. "I'm sorry, I can't go any farther," she said, pulling the car to the side of the road. "I'll throw up for sure."

"Don't worry about it. That was probably the last house back there," said Gretchen. "No one could live with this smell."

"Sounds good to me," said Rose. They backtracked to what looked like a small junkyard. The buildings in the middle literally were fenced in with rubbish. There was everything from car parts to ratty couches to a huge plaster doll holding a hamburger, and children were climbing all over the stuff like some sort of pop-art playground.

"Here come the dogs." Rose pointed.

"How many?" asked Addy, turning the car off.

"I see three, and here come the kids." Children surrounded the car, and the women got out. Rose visually checked the dogs first, and then told the children how handsome their pets were. After that, she pulled a bag of collars from under the car seat and let them pick one per dog. The little girls picked out bright orange and pink collars and the boys picked black ones with florescent silver stripes.

"You can adjust the size like this," Rose started to demonstrate. She reached for the smallest brown dog to check the fit, but it backed away. The kids laughed and grabbed him, and held him tightly while Rose carefully wrapped the collar around his neck. After that, she helped the girls with their collars. Meanwhile, Gretchen and Addy opened the trunk and filled two plastic bags with dog food.

"Would you like some food for your dogs?' Gretchen asked the children in Spanish. No answer. "What do your dogs eat?" They shrugged. So, Gretchen offered some choices. 'Tortillas?"

"Si, Si," the tallest boy answered.

"Meat bones?"

"Si, Si."

"And when was the last time you hugged your dogs?" Rose asked, like she always did. The kids were stumped by that one. Rose was not sure if it was her bad Spanish or the question that had rendered them speechless, so she walked over to Gretchen and hugged her. "Like this," she said. The children all laughed. Gretchen pushed her away, which made the children laugh even more. By then, two women had come up behind the children. They appeared to be the mothers of all...