Riely
	Allie’s father was listening to the radio in his barbershop. “And the new president is President Roosevelt!” said the radio. “I already heard that news.” He said to nobody in particular. He changed it to a different station. “Hitler was elected in Germany and blah blah blah war...” and the radio crackled and then fell silent. “Crap the powers out.” Said Allie’s father.
				*	*	*	*	*
	“Come on Emma!” called the voice of Allie.  “Where are you?” wailed the voice of Emma. She was very far away. “Over here!” called Allie. “Under the big pine tree!”
	“I can’t see you!” hollered Emma. “Ow! My ear!” cried Allie holding up her hands to cover her ear. Emma had yelled right into her ear. “Oh wait I see you!” cried Emma pointing at her. Allie crawled out through the little gap at the bottom between the branches and the ground. She twisted uncomfortably as the little needles scraped her back. 
	Allie was 7 years old and she had been playing hide and seek with her best friend Emma. Emma was 7 too. She lived in the Oklahoma Panhandle and her father worked at the barbershop. Her mother was dead because she had gotten sick right after she was born and she hadn’t had the strength to make it.
	They also had a dog named Riely. Riely was a Border collie dog and was very smart. He was the most loyal dog that anyone could ever have. He was especially loyal to Allie. He absolutely loved her and he always slept with her.
	Emma was doing the “I Won” dance and was at the part where she was spinning around in circles. She always fell when she did that part so it wasn’t a big surprise when she fell. “Oofh!” she said as she fell.
	“You only won because I gave myself away,” said Allie crossly. She got up and brushed the sand off her knees. She was extremely hot so she walked with Emma to get her water bottle.
	“I’m melting.” She complained as she got her water bottle and poured some water down her hot dry throat. “Me too.” Gasped Emma as she accidentally drank to much water in one gulp. Allie burped. So did Emma. They both cracked up. They always cracked up at really stupid things. 
	“Oh I think I drank a bit too much water.” Said Emma. Now she was doing the pee dance. “Why don’t you go to the bathroom then?” asked Allie. “Because the nearest bathroom is almost a half mile away!” cried Emma. “You could just use the tree.” Said Allie pointing at the tree. “Just as long as you don’t dirty the really good hiding spot.” She added.
	“No no no eeww! I am not going to pee on the tree! That's just disgusting!” said Emma. “Fine then why don’t we walk back then? We can do this again tomorrow.” Sighed Allie. Emma was so annoying sometimes because she hated feeling dirty thought Allie. 
	“Oh thank you thank you so much!” said Emma as she started jogging in one spot. “I’m going to run ahead, okay.” Said Emma. “Ok.” Answered Allie. Emma took off. She was actually very fast at running. Allie slowly started to walk forward. 
	She could just see Emma in the distance and farther than that she could see her house where she could just see a little black and white dog watching her. “Hi Riely!” she yelled as loud as she could but she still knew that he couldn’t hear her.
	Suddenly, she saw Riely sit straight up with his ears perked. Riely started barking so loudly that she heard him all the way from where she was walking. Then someone screamed. She saw her dad come running out of his shop and he started yelling something that she couldn’t hear.
	Panicked, she started running as fast as she could toward the village and now she could hear what her father was yelling. “Run as fast as you can and don’t look back!” he yelled through the screams and other shouts of people. Of course when he said don’t look back, Allie did the only thing that she shouldn’t have done. She looked back.
	Before she knew what was happening she tripped and fell over a lonely little rock in her path. She tried to get up but her leg was burning. She looked down and saw that she had scratched her knee really bad. Then she heard a loud barking. She turned and saw Riely jump the fence keeping him in with a mighty jump and he started pelting toward her.
	She looked up to see a gigantic cloud of black looking dust looming over her and putting her in a shadow. It’s a dust storm! She thought faintly as she fell down and the last thing she saw was a black and white shape running toward her as she slowly fell into darkness. “Riely?” she murmured.
	“Get off me.” murmured Allie. She rolled on the ground and looked up. A big wet tongue came out of nowhere and softly licked her cheek. She sat up. It was still very dark and there was sand floating around in the air.
	“I think it passed.” She said to nobody in particular. Riely came up to her and lay down on her lap. Without noticing she started petting Riely’s back. I wonder how long I’ve been out thought Allie.
	Riely sat up and started sniffing around. “Lets get out of here.” Said Allie and she stood up and started walking toward Riely. Riely looked back to make sure Allie was following and started walking forward.
	I wonder how he knows it’s this way she thought. On and on they walked occasionally stumbling over a rock or a little hollow in the sand. After a while Allie started to get tired. She was also starving. She still had no idea where they were going but Riely just plodded on and on. 
	After a while she started getting slower and slower until she finally stopped and fell to the ground. Riely came back and helped her up. She felt like she was going to fall asleep on her feet and her lungs really hurt because of the sand in the air.
	“I am going to die!” she wailed and she fell to the ground and the darkness engulfed her. 
	When she woke she was in a small little comfortable bed and as she looked over the side Riely’s face appeared so she leaned down and scratched his nose. She raised her head and looked around. 
	Crrreeeeekk…  Allie jumped. She looked toward the noise and to her immense relief she saw her dad standing in the doorway. “Allie! You’re awake!” he cried and he rushed forward to see her. He bent down and kissed her forehead. “I was so worried about you!” he said smiling down at her. 
	“How did I get here?” asked Allie her voice quivering. “Riely.” he said. Suddenly it dawned on Allie. “Riely brought me all the way back here?!?!” she cried in surprise and disbelief. “Yup.” Said her dad. 
	“Oh Riely you saved my life!” cried Allie and she threw her hands up and put them around Riely. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” Said her dad hugging her and Riely. “Me too,” said Allie. “I love you and thank you for saving my life.” She murmured into Riely’s ear. Just for a second, she thought she saw Riely smile.