This chapter took all night to write, so I hope it's to everyone's liking. I really didn't want to write something like this so early in a story, but we all know what happened in Wizard of Oz, so there was no avoiding it.


Dena came out of her room an hour later, fully dressed and fresh as a spring rain. Unfortunately that feeling evaporated the moment she stepped into the living room. Nana was on the couch, Mrs. Wecktola was sitting in the antique rocking chair, a man in a white coat stood at her side, and the county sheriff was standing by the door. They apparently had been in deep conversation before Dena had come in, because the group had quieted immediately and looked at her.

Dena stood there feeling really confused, and now somewhat violated at having the hated Mrs. W in her home.

"Weck—I mean, Mrs. Wecktola," she stumbled on her tongue, "what're you doing here? And what's with Mr. Suit & the Lone Ranger over there?"

Nana stood up.

"Dena, there's something we need to discuss." She sounded rather sad and strained as she spoke. Dena still felt confused and now a sense of dread had come creeping into her mind again. The feelings abated somewhat when she heard a whine and saw Tahoe crawling out from behind another couch, (one that she noted was as far from the Weck as possible).

"Hey Tahoe," she soothed, picked the furball up into her arms.

"Horrible thing," the Weck said under her breath, "should be turned into minced meat before he can do that to my Squall."

"Do what?" Dena demanded, glaring at her.

The sheriff came forward. "Miss Pazatis—"

"Patsatzis," Dena corrected.

"My apologies, Miss Patsatzis," the man said, "Mrs. Wecktola called this meeting to order to discuss your dog, Tahoe. There have been reports of…"

The man's words were lost on Dena, for has he spoke, she happened to take a closer look at the man in the white coat, and the portable kennel sitting on the floor by the front door. It was enough to tell Dena what the Weck was here for. Reality struck her like a dart.

"You're taking him away!" she cried out, interrupting the sheriff and clutching Tahoe even closer.

"Dena, calm down," Nana told the girl, but Dena was not to be calmed. She'd always worried that the Weck would have her way with Tahoe one day. That horrible crone had had it in for Tahoe ever since the little guy had first torn through her gardens. And now that day had finally come.

"You're County Animal Control!" Dena cried, pointing at the man's uniform, "You're going to take Tahoe away! I won't let you! Not in a million years!"

"Dena!" Nana immediately got up from the couch, "Calm down! Nobody's taking Tahoe away." She put her hands on Dena's shoulders in an attempt to calm her, but it did little to help.

"Yeah right!" Dena yelled, shaking her great-aunt off, "How do you know that's not what the motley crew over there came to do? Just because he chases that hairless mutant she calls a cat, doesn't mean he's to blame."

"You should talk, little girl," the Weck snarled, staggering to her feet, "I've had just about enough of that mutt."

"He's not a mutt!" Dena fired back, "He's a purebred German Shepherd puppy! And don't you dare call him that again!"

"Dena! Please!" Nana attempted to affirm over her niece's shouting, "This is not a way to behave in front of other adults, you know that. This outburst of yours is only going to make things worse."

"Worse? How the heck could it get any worse?" and the moment she said those words, Tahoe popped out of her arms and ran away down the back hall. Dena attempted to go after him, but Nana took a firm hold of her arm and forced her to sit down on the couch.

"This is important Dena," she said, now angry at her great-niece for her embarrassing behavior, "if you plan on dealing with other adults, you will be quiet and listen, or I'll march Tahoe down to the animal shelter myself."

Dena was downright shocked at this. Nana was supposed to be on her side, not theirs! She stared open-mouthed as Nana attempted to gather herself and sat back down.

"I apologize for my great-niece's behavior," she told the sheriff, "you know how things are different when you're a teenager."

I don't believe this, Dena thought in horror, you traitor! She stared venomously at Nana as the woman made an effort to smooth things over with the two men. Meanwhile, Dena now felt confused as to who she was angrier at, Mrs. Wecktola, or Nana. Her dark eyes would dart between Nana and the Weck, who in turn stared stone-faced at her.

"There have been numerous reports of Tahoe disrupting the peace and attacking both Mrs. Wecktola and her associates," the sheriff was saying.

"That's a lie!" Dena yelled, "We were always alone whenever this stuff happened."

"Is that so?" the Weck said, a nasty smile forming on her thin lips, "You don't recall that time when I had some friends over, and your little monster ruined a very important meeting?" That was when Dena vaguely remembered last spring, Tahoe had badly disrupted some sort of event the hag had been holding at her home, though whatever it was, it was minor, and it had only happened once. She refused to dignify the Weck's accusation with more than another angry stare.

"Miss Patsatzis," the Animal Control man spoke for the first time, "we're merely trying to protect Tahoe from causing any more damage to himself or the public. He's not a safe dog."

"You and the horse you rode in on, pal!" Dena snapped at him, "He's the nicest, sweetest creature on earth! Whatever the Weck told you, it isn't true." Nana had a mixture of horror, anger, and humiliation on her face, a combination Dena hoped never to see on her guardian again.

"Ma'am, if you do not calm down and cooperate, I'm afraid we're going to have to take the animal by force," the sheriff told Dena in an irritatingly calm tone.

"There's nothing you can do, Patsatzis," Mrs. W said her name like an insult; "The document was signed and approved." Dena whipped her head in the Weck's direction.

"What document?" she demanded. The sheriff brought out a yellow paper that looked almost too complicated for Dena to read, though she felt as if the world was starting to close in on her as she looked at it.

"There is proof that on a number of occasions, the dog Tahoe has repeatedly attacked Mrs. Margaret Wecktola, and there are witnesses," the sheriff told her.

"Witnesses my ass!" Dena exclaimed, throwing the paper back at him, "We were alone every time Tahoe chased that thing's cat. And do you know how many people are out on that road this time of year? Almost none! You hear me? None! Zippo! Zilch! Besides, Tahoe never even went near the Weck."

"Oh really?" Mrs. Wecktola demanded, "Then how do you explain this?" She lifted the skirt of her dress to reveal a large, blood-stained bandage wrapped around her lower leg. Dena's jaw dropped once more. That horrible woman was trying to make it look like Tahoe had attacked her.

"That's a bald-faced lie!" Dena shouted, pointing, "You probably did that yourself with that rifle you used on me this afternoon!"

"What?" Nana and the two men said in shock.

"Yeah, that old wee-atch over there shot at me today!" Dena accused, "All because she couldn't wait a few more minutes for me to get Tahoe out of the yard."

"Why, I've never handled a gun in my life," the Weck said, suddenly putting on an innocent tone, "I don't even have a permit, much less a pistol."

"Liar!" Dena shouted.

"Ma'am," the sheriff carefully had her step aside. "Is this young lady speaking the truth? Did you threaten her with a firearm?"

"No," the Weck told him, putting on the best poker face Dena had ever seen. The sheriff then turned to Dena,

"Were you actually injured?" Now the girl felt a little awkward on top of the chaos that roiled in her soul.

"Um…no, actually." She answered, not at all happy with the answer. The sheriff then asked both of them,

"Was there anyone else there to see this happen?" Dena reluctantly shook her head.

The man seemed to consider the two rivals for a moment before saying,

"I will investigate this further after the matter with the dog is cleared up. For the moment, I'm afraid you're going to have to hand over your pet, Miss Patsatzis."

For a moment, Dena stared in shock, now seeing that she was so trapped by all this that there was no way she could get out of it. The Weck was going to have her way with Tahoe, and now she had the law to back her up. When the sheriff made a move to go towards the back hall, Dena immediately blocked his way.

"No," she started quietly, but when the lawman's look became more determined, she immediately went ballistic.

"No! You're not taking my dog! I won't let you!"

"Officer!" Nana rejoined the conflict, "Show some sense here; you didn't even consult us on this before the order was signed, for God's sake! Dena, go to your room, now."

"No, I won't go to my room, and I won't let them take Tahoe!" the girl shouted at Nana. She immediately turned her tormented eyes back on the sheriff.

"Don't believe anything that…thing has to say. She's just mad because someone dropped a house on her sister."

Suddenly, Mrs. Wecktola's face turned beet red and she shot up from the rocker.

"That will be quite enough!" she roared. Dena shot her a lethal look before the sheriff told the girl,

"If you don't move I will have to hold you for obstructing justice—"

"Officer, let me handle this," Nana said in a quieter tone. She came over to Dena and spoke as calmly as she could manage.

"Dena, don't do this. We can't afford to have this sort of thing to happen on the farm. No one will want to work for us and the harvest has been bad this year. Please…just do what the officer says." For a second, Dena saw a flicker of pain in her great-aunt's eyes, and the poor girl was torn between protecting her dog and preventing any more strain in her guardian's life.

In the end, she grew numb and slowly backed away from the door frame. Her steps became faster as she turned and ran to her room, slamming the door so hard the whole house shook. The Animal Control officer went back to gather the dog into his kennel. Nana watched this with an expression as numb as her great-niece's. She then turned her eyes to Mrs. Wecktola. For years she had seen that horrible woman bully people around town, and today she had gone too far. Nana spoke in a low, hard, and dangerous voice.

"I hope you're happy…Wecktola. You just broke the heart of a good and honest kid. You may think you can throw your weight around this town, but you will never get your way with me. If you had any sense left in you, you will leave my property and never come back, ever. Do you understand me?" The Weck's face remained hard and stony in regards to the brat's great-aunt, but she eventually got up and left, waiting in the truck for the two men.

~/~/~/~/~

After punching a few pillows and smashing a few items, Dena lay on her bed, crying. It nearly tore her up to hear Tahoe's squealing and whining as the Animal Control officer and the sheriff wrestled him into the kennel and carried him out. The tears lasted for what felt like hours, until Dena couldn't cry any more. She just felt so…numb. First her parents, now Tahoe.

Dena just couldn't take it any more. She couldn't stand this place, this stupid farm, and this stupid town that bowed down and kissed the wrinkled behind of a cruel and heartless harpy like the Weck. She had to get out of there. But where would she go?

The girl knew before she'd even got off the bed and looked at a photo of her old home. Lake Tahoe. She didn't care how it was done; she had to get back there, back to the life she missed so much. Yeah, the parents wouldn't be there, but at least she could be in a place that wouldn't remind her of Nebraska. She started packing immediately.

~/~/~/~/~

The Animal Control van sped down the sun-baked road at a steady pace. Since the town Dena had lived in was small, Mrs. Wecktola had had to call in the Animal Control officer from a larger town to the west. The sheriff had gone back to town while the Weck went with the other officer to see to Tahoe's final resting place.

However, neither she nor the Animal Control officer had any clue what lay in store for them. A storm had been forming off to the west, one so powerful that it caused many who drove near or under it to cringe at its intensity. It towered over the plains and filled up the western sky, the purplish-black thunderhead asserting its terrible majesty and power upon all who saw it.

Yet the Weck and the officer ignored the thunderhead, for storms were common in the region and they had work to do. But as they came within a mile of the storm, the gust front hit the van with such force that the officer had to fight to keep control of the wheel. Another gust slammed the van so hard that it actually rolled off the road and several yards into the nearest field. When it came to a stop, the back doors hung at skewed angles from their hinges.

On the other hand, luck was on little Tahoe's side, for the latch on his kennel had broken open in the crash, and the pup squeezed out of the bent iron mesh door. Quick as the flashes of lightning in the distance, Tahoe had climbed out of the van and was immediately racing back down the road towards town.

~/~/~/~/~

Dena had a plan now. She came out of her room dressed in a short, pale blue halter-top dress with tiny dark blue flowers and shimmery blue butterflies gracing the hem. Her long dark hair was now tied up and she had some very nice heeled blue sandals on. She wore a small backpack purse that matched her dress over one shoulder. Makeup hid the red puffiness around her eyes and the blotchiness of her cheeks, and it took a lot of self-control to do what she did next.

"Nana, I'm going out." She said in as level a voice as she could. Nana had been wandering the kitchen after the Weck's "visit," though now she eyed Dena suspiciously.

"Where do you plan on going?" she asked.

"'Brina's having a party at her house, and she invited me. I figured going would be easier than moping." The brunette said flatly.

"Fine," Nana said, though she was somewhat dubious bout Dena's mental state, "Be back by eleven, ok?"

"Understood," Dena said, "is it all right if I take the truck?"

"Yes, yes," Nana waved her off, heading towards the master bedroom. Dena watched her go before taking the next step in her plan.

She quietly went out the front door, but then went around the house and grabbed the suitcase she'd placed outside her window. It hadn't been easy prying the bug screen off, but the teen was determined now. At least 'Brina's party would soften the chaos going on in Dena's soul before she ran away for real.

She was heading for the truck when she heard a familiar barking coming from the driveway. Dena couldn't believe her eyes. It was Tahoe! How did he get back? The girl didn't care. Her little friend was home! She immediately ran over and swept up her furry friend into her arms, the two of them covering each other's faces with kisses.

"Oh Tahoe! I thought I'd lost you!" she cried into the little pup's fur. He obligingly licked up her tears. For a nanosecond, Dena reconsidered what she was doing, but remembered what would happen if she stayed. Tahoe's return strengthened her resolve.

"Come on Tahoe. We got a long trip ahead of us. But first, 'Brina's party."


This was a pretty emotional chapter, very hard to write but it's done. I feel really sorry for Dena now :(

I actually studied meteorology for a time, though I'll try not to use any huge terms while writing, lol. But you guys will see some aspects they didn't talk about with the original "Wizard of Oz." And yes, I used a line from "Beetlejuice." I don't claim ownership of that movie either.