by Bobbie Pyron
I carried him into the sunlit meadow. “I found him! He’s alive!” I said to everyone as they grinned and stared at Tam in wonderment.
I held Tam close and just cried and cried. A warm tongue licked my cheek. Then Tam rested his head against my chest, and heaved the biggest sigh in the universe, like he was breathing out all the months and miles.
I kissed that special white spot on the top of his head. The snow on the ground glittered like a hundred million stars, and I had my own north star, finally, right here in my arms.
CHAPTER 50
Tam
Her smell surrounded him…grass, green apples, the salt of tears. Tears he licked from her face.
The months fell away. The mountains and high windy passes fell away. The rivers and streams, all the cold nights beneath the moon and stars, fell away. The hunger and fear and pain fell away.
All that mattered was this.
Tam listened to the steady thump thump thump of her heart. It filled him with hope and contentment. It healed him.
Tam wagged his tail. He looked into his girl’s smiling eyes.
It did not matter to him all that he had endured. It had been time. Time to watch for his girl. And at long last she had come, and they were together again.
Finally, everything was as it should be.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I’d like to send a million thanks to my wonderful agent, Alyssa Eisner-Henkin, who saw a gem in the diamond in the rough. Thanks for putting me and Tam and Abby on the path home.
I owe a bucket-load of gratitude to my early readers: Patti Sherlock, Emma Galvin, Julie Steppan, Susan Hamada, Linda Broussard, Charlene Brewster, and Lisa Actor. Thank you to the most talented Susan Patron for offering her time and encouragement when I was about to give up. I’m so lucky to have the best critique group in the world. Thank you to Lora, Jean, and Chris for your patience, support, and crucial feedback all along the way.
This book wouldn’t be what it is without the thoughtful and respectful guidance from my dream editor, Molly O’Neill. I couldn’t imagine a better north star to guide Tam and Abby home. And many thanks to Katherine Tegen for opening her heart and her publishing imprint to my book. Every author needs a warm, safe place to create and grow their dream books. Katherine Tegen Books provided that home for me.
This story would never have been given to me without Barbara Edelberg, Jim Melton, and Sheltie Rescue of Utah. Not only did they bring sheltie love into my life, they’ve made finding forever homes for abandoned shelties their life and their passion.
Many thanks to my first cousin, Mica Copeland, for generously showing me all the sights Abby would see in Nashville and surrounding areas, and for sharing her Barbie dolls and all their outfits with me.
And special thanks and love to the real Miss Bettis, who supported me and believed in me even when I wanted to be a frog when I grew up.
Finally, I can never express all the many ways my husband, Todd, supports and encourages me in this sometimes lonely and frustrating process of writing. He keeps me anchored.
About the Author
BOBBIE PYRON calls A DOG’S WAY HOME “my own personal love letter to all the great, classic dog books I’ve read and loved—and to all the dogs I’ve loved too.” As a part-time librarian, Bobbie enjoys sharing dog stories and books of all kinds with readers. Bobbie is also the author of THE RING, a teen novel about the world of competitive boxing.
When she’s not writing, working as a librarian, or volunteering with animal rescue organizations, Bobbie and her dogs Boo, Teddy, and Sherlock can often be found walking in the woods of Park City, Utah, with her husband, Todd. You can visit Bobbie online at www.bobbiepyron.com.
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Credits
Jacket art © 2011 by Wayne McLoughlin
Jacket design by Joel Tippie
Copyright
A DOG’S WAY HOME. Copyright © 2011 by Bobbie Pyron. Map art copyright © 2011 by Tim Jessell. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pyron, Bobbie.
A dog’s way home / Bobbie Pyron.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: After a car accident strands them at opposite ends of the Blue ridge Parkway, eleven-year-old Abby and her beloved sheltie, Tam, overcome months filled with physical and emotional challenges to find their way back to each other.
ISBN 978-0-06-198674-1
[1. Shetland sheepdog—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Lost and found possessions—Fiction. 4. Human-animal relationships—Fiction. 5. Survival—Fiction. 6. north Carolina—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.P999Do 2011 2010006960
[Fic]—dc22 CIP
AC
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition © January 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-206969-6
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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