“It’s okay, I’ve got her.” David held onto Precious as best he could. The scruffy little dog, all the itchiness returning to her toes, noes, and, weirdly, somewhere deep in her intuition, wriggled and squirmed.

“Thank you,” Franny said. “I’ll take her.”

“No, you have your hands full with that gallant gentleman who tried to save her.” David turned to keep Precious away from Franny’s reaching hands. “I’ll take care of the dog until you’re ready.”

I’m ready now, Franny thought, isn’t that what I just told you? As she opened her mouth to make this point, Leo moaned.

She knelt back down beside him. “It’s okay. The ambulance is on it’s way.”

“I don’t need an ambulance,” Leo said, trying to sit up. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine, anyway. What happened?”

“Just rest there, Leo. The EMT’s will assess you. They’ll decide if you’re fine or not.”

“Franny. Precious,” Leo mumbled.

“She’s fine, Leo. Precious is just fine. I’m going to take her home as soon as the EMT’s are here.” Franny stood to take her dog back from David as the ambulance arrived, and her attention turned back to Leo.

One of the EMT’s knelt next to Leo, asking questions in a soft, reassuring voice.

The other asked Franny for a run-down of what happened. She explained how Precious’s leash had slipped out of her hand when the dog ran across the street after something. How the Jeep had been moving, probably too fast, the driver unable to either see the dog or stop in time.

How Leo had dashed out into the road to save Precious.

How at that moment, a car going the other way blocked Franny’s view, so she wasn’t sure what had happened in the collision.

How, by the time she got there, the Jeep’s driver had scooped up the dog, and Leo was laying, semi-conscious, in the road.

How she hadn’t seen any blood. How Leo had answered her, after a moment or two, she couldn’t be sure how long he’d been out.

How the driver of the Jeep, a new neighbor named David, had now disappeared with her dog.