The 8 week old puppy clawed and whined at the cage door.  Nancy rolled over the sleeping child, clambered out of the bottom bunk, and freed the prisoner.  She sighed heavily as she carried the little guy downstairs and outside.  Ned must be bipolar-cycling again, she thought, why on earth would he bring home a puppy?  Nancy glanced at the kitchen wall clock.  Midnight. She sighed again. Louder. Nancy recalled the time Ned brought a stray home from the trail after a run.  He was a darling beagle puppy.  They wanted to keep him.  That is, until around late evening when the darling beagle had worms start dropping out of his butt.  A midnight run to the local humane society sealed that pups fate.  Maybe this time it would be different?  The puppy started to whine again.  In Nancy’s sleep deprived state, she wondered if she could breastfeed the little thing?  That was how she had survived their five children.  Nancy was not one to miss out on her sleep. She sighed again, wrapped a blanket around the puppy to catch any possible butt crawling worms, and snuggled her way back into the bunk bed. Puppy and Nancy soon drifted off to sleep.