A Friend In Need  
 
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Wiggle would have felt very alone if Dixie hadn't stayed with her.   Without a tire she could not move.  There was absolutely nothing she could do until Kramer and Max returned, hopefully with good news.

Dixie knew how it felt to be alone, hoping someone would help.  She had read all of Wiggle's stories very closely, because she understood what it meant to be junked.  Poor little Dixie had been thrown away for real in her past.    While they were waiting for the guys to get back, she told Wiggle how she had been rescued from a nasty dumpster.

Once again Wiggle realized that knowing what other pawsons had gone through helped her to put her own pawblems into pawspective.
"You poor dear," said Wiggle with admiration.  "You must have been so scared!"

"I was very, VERY scared for a long time," Dixie admitted.  "Even when I got to my new home here, all the way from Furginia!"

"Is that why they called you Dixie?" asked Wiggle.

"Partly," said Dixie.  "Plus, I'm small for a Coonhound, so I'm a little like a Dixiecup!"

"How did you get all the way to New England?" asked Wiggle.

"My Uprights adopted me through Coonhound rescue.  They helped me to get all better. I call them my gooddad, and goodmom.  I  finally have someone that I can trust, and I finally know what it means to be happy. My family pawficially calls me Dixie the Bluetick Coonhound Speckledog."

"Well then," said Wiggle, "Dixie the Bluetick Coonhound Speckledog, I cannot thank you enough for stopping to help me today.  We have never even met before!"
 
 

 
"We are all friends in Rescue Dust," said Dixie.  "Besides, I feel like I know you.  I tell all my dog friends to read your story.  We have to stick together to help each other out.  Just because someone has been thrown away does not make them junk.  Anyone can run out of luck," said Dixie.

"But it takes someone special to be a friend," said Wiggle.  "Especially to someone you've never met who needs you.   A friend in need is a friend in deed," she said.

"I will never forget that you were a friend when I needed you!"

At that moment, Dixie heard the guys pulling up.  "They're back!" she said.
"We got the tire plugged!" Max called to them triumphantly.

"We had to go to six different places," said Kramer, "before we found someone who could help."

"What does plugged mean?" asked Wiggle, uncertain if that was a good thing.

"It means that it will be safe to drive it home, but you MUST go right away to get a new tire," said Max.  "Safety first."

"Oh dear," said Wiggle, "do you think I will be able to get Patrick and Cricket by 4:00?"

"Just to be on the safe side," said Kramer, "Let's give the pawlice in your town a call and ask them to watch out for them until you return."

Wiggle let out a huge sigh of relief. "Of course!" she thought.  "Pawlice know what to do in an emergency."

 
When Henry and Molly and the others came out of the Fund Raiser they were chatting away about the wonderful things donated to raise money for the rescue dogs. 

Henry noticed Dixie and Max putting Wiggle's tire back on. 

"Is everything alright?" he asked them.

"It is now," said Dixie, introducing herself.

After everyone met, Dixie told them all that Wiggle had been through. 

"As soon as we have her tire back, you can load up the bus again," said Max, but she must go right to the tire repair.  It isn't safe to drive around like this for very long."

"I thought you were going to be bored out here in the parking lot all day," said Molly.

"Really," said Wiggle, "it was an adventure!"

"I'm sorry we missed it," laughed Henry.
Since they were already late to get Patrick and Cricket, the new friends pawmised to get together another time. 
Waving thankfully to everyone that helped them, they drove away carefully on Wiggle's repaired tire.