Beau responded by heading straight to the door for a howl session. These invariably ended with one of us putting Beau outside. Later we learned that one of our neighbors had fed Beau when he was a stray. She didn't know that we had adopted Beau, so she continued to feed him whenever
he came by. Then Beau, who thought watching television was a bad habit, initiated games of hide-and- seek with us at night. Hopping off the couch, he crouched on the carpet in a playful position. Then he hid, often behind the couch, and waited to be fished out. His antics mobilized the entire family—even Dad—as we chased him around the house, searching and laughing. Finally we had everything a family could possibly want—a house of our own, a loving family, and our very own pet, at last.