It was another beautiful morning in Pennsylvania.
Ginger and Mike woke up early, and after a good stretch, they both headed out of the woods and went back to Brodhead Road.
An hour later, Ginger and Mike walked down Brodhead Road and soon headed into Coraopolis and soon saw O'Hara's Pub.
"Let's try to find some food," Ginger said while they saw the pub off to the left.
"Sure, I kinda miss garbage food," Mike replied with a tone of sarcasm in his voice.
They walked through the parking lot where some cars, pickups and other vehicles were parked.
They walked to the rear of the pub and saw the garbage dumpster without garbage bags on the ground.
"Rats," Ginger said disappointed, and her stomach growled.
"Let's see if we can find another place," Mike said.
They walked around to the parking lot.
Then Mike's widened when he saw a familiar sight. "There's Gus's truck. I know him," he said while he ran over to a truck that had a bulldozer chained to a lowboy trailer.
Ginger ran over and saw Gus Whorley's Land Clearing Company, New Castle, PA, sign on the door of the truck. "How lucky are we?" she said.
Mike jumped up on the lowboy trailer. "Gus will get us to New Castle," Mike said while he motioned with his head for Ginger to join him.
Ginger limped and tried to jump on the lowboy. She didn't make it to the top of the trailer.
"Come on, girl. I know you can do it!" Mike coached her.
Ginger walked ten feet away and faced the lowboy trailer. She cringed in pain while she ran as fast as she could and jumped up on the trailer.
"I knew you could do it," Mike said then he rushed over and got under the bulldozer.
Ginger limped and joined him under the bulldozer.
They waited under the bulldozer between the tracks.
Thirty minutes later, Gus walked out of the pub and walked to his truck. He didn't notice the two dogs that hid under his bulldozer. He got in his truck and started it up.
Gus drove his truck out of parking lot of the pub and headed north on Brodhead Road.
A little while later, Gus drove his truck down Gringo Road and got on the ramp and headed north on Interstate 376.
Later that day, Gus drove his truck down an exit ramp off Interstate 376 into New Castle.
A little while later, Gus stopped his truck at a traffic light.
"This is where I get off. Thanks, Ginger for all your help," Mike said then quickly rushed from under the bulldozer and jumped off the trailer.
Mike ran off down the street.
A few seconds later, Mike heard someone behind him. He turned around and saw Ginger running with a limp after him.
"I guess there's no getting rid of her," he said to himself then waited for Ginger.
"I need to make sure you safely make it home," Ginger said.
Mike walked away and hoped he could get rid of her while he got back to his family.
"I've been to this town numerous times. A good place to get food, as some of the humans are friendly to homeless dogs. Then some are not," Ginger said while she limped along behind Mike.
He wasn't paying attention to her since he had his family on his mind.
Later that day, Ginger and Mike walked upon the housing development that he worked on when he was a human a year ago. The development was about ninety-eight percent completed and already had people enjoying their new homes.
Mike looked shocked when he saw the sign at his old office trailer that was now the Gates Construction Company. "Gates Construction? How could Russ take over my business?" Mike asked and looked confused.
"My business? What do you mean by that?" she asked a little baffled.
"Ah, I mean I would walk down this way sometimes," he replied and wasn't sure she would buy his story, but that was all he could come up with at the spur of the moment.
"That's funny, I would visit this place, and I've never seen you here," Ginger said.
"You would visit this place?" Mike asked, curiously.
"Yeah. One of the workers was cool and would feed me part of his lunch. Roast beef is my favorite," she answered.
"That's where I know you from," he replied.
"You saw me here before? Why didn't you join me? I would have shared my roast beef with you," she responded.
Then Mike remembered how he treated her in the past. "I was somewhat of a jerk," Mike said then felt ashamed.
"I wouldn't say that I think you're a sweet, caring dog," she replied, then walked up to him and licked his face.
"Thanks," Mike replied.
"We better find your family before it gets dark," she said while she looked up the at sunset.
They walked away.
An hour later, Mike walked Ginger down Kiscoe Avenue, where his home was located. His heart raced when he got closer and closer to his house. He pondered how he could turn back into a human. He wondered if he should show up at the front door. Then he wondered how his family would react.
His legs shook while he walked down the sidewalk to his front yard.
He saw Debbie's mini-van parked in the driveway.
He got scared and sat down in his grass.
"Is that where your family lives?" Ginger asked while she sat next to him.
"Yep, that's the place," he replied while his eyes welled up.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Ginger responded while her eyes welled up and she got up. She moped away with a bit of a limp down the sidewalk.
Mike stared at his house and didn't realize Ginger walked away.
Mike looked and saw Ginger while she limped away. He looked back at his house and didn't have the nerve to go to the front door.
He got up and ran after Ginger.
"Aren't you going home?" she asked the second he walked up to her side.
"Maybe later. We could get something to eat," he said.
"But I thought you wanted to go home?" she asked curiously.
"I'm not sure they'll recognize me," he replied.
"I'm not following you," she replied.
"It's a bizarre story of which you may never believe," he responded.
"I guess a nice story over table scraps sounds nice," she said.
Ginger and Mike walked away down the street.
Mike glanced back at his house.
They turned down another street.
They turned down another street.
They turned down another street. When they were halfway down that, they heard a rustle in some small hedges by the sidewalk.
Ginger stopped and sniffed the air. Then she had a comfortable feeling about the rustling sound. "Hello," she said to the bushes. Silence came from the bushes. "Come on out; we won't hurt you," she talked at the bushes.
Then a dog poked his head out of the hedges. It was Rascal who was bigger but looked mangy from living on the streets for a year.
"Hi, I'm Ginger, and this is my friend Mike," she said.
"I'm Rascal," he said while he walked out of the hedges.
Mike's eyes widened with surprise when he realized it was the puppy he dumped in the woods last year.
"Why are you hiding behind the bushes?" Ginger asked curiously.
"I thought you were humans and got scared," he said while he studied Ginger and Mike. "But as soon as I got in those hedges, a bug or something crawled on me," Rascal added.
"Why are you scared of humans?" Ginger asked.
"It started a year ago. My mean human dropped me off in the woods and left me out there to starve," he told her.
Mike got ashamed and looked away to avoid eye contact with Rascal.
"Why are some of them so mean?" Ginger asked.
"I don't know. We're supposed to be man's best friend," Rascal said.
"I was also dumped in the woods by my owner. Now Mike here was accidentally left behind in Alabama when his owners went to Florida for vacation," Ginger told Rascal.
Mike remained quiet, and then his stomach growled.
Ginger looked at Mike then at Rascal. "Are you hungry, Rascal?" she asked him.
"You bet!" Rascal replied and wagged his tail.
"Well, then, please join us," she offered.
"I would love that, and I know the perfect place," Ginger replied.
Then Rascal thought for a second. "Momma's?" he asked her.
"Yep," Ginger replied.
"I love Momma's," Rascal said while his mouth salivated.
Ginger walked away, and Rascal followed alongside her.
Mike watched. "Are you punishing me?" he said while he looked up at the sky. Then he walked off and joined Ginger and Rascal.
Twenty minutes later, Ginger and Rascal were at the rear screen door of Mamma's Great Cooking restaurant.
"Momma!" Ginger yelled out at the screen door.
Rascal wagged his tail in anticipation of some food.
"Are you nuts, Ginger? They'll come and chase us away," Mike said while he looked around for a place to run.
"Don't worry, I know what I am doing," Ginger said with a voice of strong confidence.
Then a sizeable seventy-year-old white-haired woman named Momma came to the screen door and opened it. Her eyes lit up with joy the second she saw Ginger and Rascal. "Hey, you two. I haven't seen either one of you in a while," Momma said then she saw Mike. "And you brought a friend," Momma added then she walked back inside the kitchen.
Momma's restaurant! Mike said to himself, as he brought his family here many times for dinner. His mouth watered, as he knew her cooking was the best.
Momma returned a few minutes with three plates that each had five meatballs. She opened the screen door and placed the dishes on the ground. "Here you go my sweethearts," Momma said then she went back inside the kitchen.
Ginger, Mike, and Rascal each started to munch down on their meatballs.
Momma came back to the screen door and brought three bowls of fresh water. She set a bowl down by each of the dogs.
"I wish I could keep you all, but I already have three other dogs," Momma said to the dogs.
Ginger walked up and Momma's legs. Momma bent down and petted Ginger's head. "You're welcome and come back tomorrow," Momma said then she stood up and went back inside her kitchen to supervise her cooks.
Ten minutes later and Ginger, Rascal and Mike relaxed at the rear of Momma's restaurant with their tummies full of meatballs.
"So, Mike, let's hear your bizarre story?" Ginger said.
"I love stories. My little female human would read to me at night in her bed," Rascal said.
Mike looked at Rascal and knew he talked about Jenny.
Ginger burped. "Oh, excuse me for not acting like a lady," she said.
Rascal giggled about Ginger's burping.
"Come on, Mike, tell us your story," she requested.
"Please, Mike," Rascal said.
"It's a stupid story, and I don't think you'll want to hear it or believe it," Mike told them.
"Of course we want to hear it, and we'll believe it. Won't we Rascal?" Ginger said.
Rascal nodded in agreement with Ginger.
Mike thought for a second. "I guess I should finally confess," Mike said then paused for a few seconds while glanced at Ginger and Rascal's curious eyes. "Well, my real name is Mike Hanson, and I was a human a year ago," he said.
Ginger and Rascal just looked at Mike in a little disbelief. Then they both started busting out laughing and rolled over on their backs while they laughed out loud.
"You're a human, how funny!" Ginger said between laughs.
Rascal laughed then he stopped when something dawned on him. "Wait a minute, that human name sounds familiar," Rascal said while he tried to recall where he heard that name.
Ginger sat up and wiped the tears of laughter out of her eyes with a paw. "What do you mean?" she asked Rascal.
Rascal strained to remember why that name sounded so familiar. Then his eyes widened the second he remembered the name. "My owner that left me in the woods had the name of Mike Hanson," he said a little unsure then he thought about it for a few seconds. His eyes lit up. "Yes, it was Mike Hanson," he added again, and he was confident.
"You broke my Les Paul guitar on that day, and I came home from work, and I chased you in the house," Mike told Rascal.
"I don't know what that is, but I remember breaking something that got my human mad," Rascal said.
"My Les Paul made a twanging sound," Mike told Rascal.
"Yeah, now I remember," Rascal replied and remembered that horrible day.
"And Ginger, I would chase you away from my construction site when one of my workers would feed you. I also tried to run over you with my truck while you walked down the road from my construction side," Mike told Ginger and looked ashamed.
"And Rascal, I built a wooden house and made you stay out in my backyard. My son's name is Chris, and my daughter is Jenny. They loved you," Mike told Rascal.
Ginger was stunned with the news, and then she got mad. "How could you be so mean?" she yelled at Mike.
"I'm ashamed of myself for that. I wish I could turn back time and be kinder," Mike said.
Ginger and Rascal were quiet while they thought about Mike's story.
"Please don't hate me! I'm so sorry!" Mike pleaded, and his eyes watered.
Ginger and Rascal thought for a second about Mike's proposal.
"You did take care of me when those mean dogs attacked us. So you must be sincere," Ginger told Mike. Then she looked at Rascal. "What do you think, Rascal?"
Rascal thought for a few seconds about Ginger's question. "We're supposed to be man's best friend. I guess we can forgive him," Rascal replied.
"Thanks. You're the best, and I'm going to make it up to you, wait and see. But I do need your help," Mike told them.
"How's that?" Ginger asked curiously.
"Help me turn back into a human again," he replied.
"How do we do that?" Rascal said.
"Well, I believe that my neighbor used some Voodoo potion on me," he told them.
"How do you know that?" Ginger asked.
"I remember waking up while sleeping on the couch and seeing her face glaring down at me. Then I went back to sleep and woke up as a dog in Alabama," he replied.
"But how can we help turn you back into a human?" Ginger asked, and Rascal nodded in agreement with her question.
We need to find out if a potion exists to reverse the potion Louise placed on me," Mike said.
Ginger and Rascal looked at each other and looked a little confused.
"I don't know what a potion is or how to find one," Ginger replied.
"Is it something we can find in the woods?" Rascal asked curiously.
"Maybe Momma can make us a potion?" Ginger added.
"No, it's something Louise would have in her house," Mike said.
Ginger and Rascal thought about Mike's response for a few seconds.
Ginger looked at the sunset sky. "We better find a place to sleep and work on this first thing in the morning," she said.
"I know of some woods on the other side of town," Rascal said.
"Great. Let's get some sleep and then we can turn Mike back into a human tomorrow," Ginger said.
"Thank you all," Mike said.
"You better pay us back for helping you," Ginger said with a serious tone.
"Yeah, especially after the way you treated us," Rascal added.
"I will. I promise," Mike said and held up his paw.
"Okay. I trust you," Ginger said.
They all walked away from the rear of the restaurant.
Later that night, Rascal led them to some woods located on the east side of New Castle.
They were soon fast asleep except for Mike who tossed and turned in the dirt nervous they might not find a potion to turn him back into a human.