Jared climbed onto a tattered seat in the ramshackle old van. He needed a moment... a moment to process everything.
His own father had given him away! Granted, his father had no idea that his eldest son currently lodged in the body of the family's sheepdog.
Jared knew his old man was strict, but this seemed extreme. "Kevin and mom will never let him get away with giving me away," he thought with the twisted and hopeful logic that stubbornly ignored certain new realities.
After the initial stir caused by his addition to the motley traveling caravan, the human occupants of the van seemed to have lost interest in him. The driver of the van played some sort of trance-inducing music that, despite his many worries and concerns, caused the sheepdog's eyes to get heavy as the van drove toward a rapidly setting sun. As the first stars peeped from the heavens, the overwhelmed sheepdog fell into a deep slumber, heavy snoring an all.
When Jared next awoke, he saw sunlight outside the nearest window as the landscape outside sped past as the van traveled 60 miles per hour along a stretch of interstate roadway.
His eyes picked up one pertinent sign that read "Houston 40 miles."
Houston! Jared lifted his shaggy head. They'd driven to Texas!
With alarm, he realized he was hundreds of miles from home with a gang of complete strangers.