A veterinary clinic, which also boarded pets, finally agreed, and the Travelers' Aid representative drove them to the place. Nancy was the last to say good-bye. She knelt and took Snoopy' s frosted muzzle in her hands. "You know we' d never leave you if we could help it," she whispered, "so don' t give up; don' t you dare give up. We' ll get you back somehow. I promise."
Once back in Fort Wayne, the Topps found a mobile home to rent, one of Joe' s brothers gave them his old car, sisters-in-law provided pots and pans and bed linens, the children returned to their old schools, and Nancy and Joe found jobs. Bit by bit the family got itself together, but the circle had a painful gap in it. Snoopy was missing. Everyday Nancy telephoned a different moving company, a different trucking company, begging for a ride for Snoopy. Every day Jodi and Matthew came through the door asking if she' d had any luck, and she had to say no.