Bills poured down on her like the rain ... an unrelenting barrage; the warnings like hail stones that cracked into the windshield of the woman's life. And she was three months late with her rent ... time was up. The wealthy landlord just didn't care, he had a bottom line to worry about.

Nellie's job had lasted all of three years, long enough for her to accumulate too much debt, and now the investment firm had begun to let people go with less than two weeks notice. Fear nearly choked her breath away as she packed up her personal things and wiped from the desk all that was left of her ability to survive.

She walked every day to the employment agency to inquire about work, but no one, not even McDonald's was hiring. She forced herself to look in the mirror, and a haggard, worn face peered back, asking just what to do. But there was no answer.

She held her last unemployment check in her hand, hoping it would carry her and her dog for at least a month. She sat in a stupor, wishing she could save it. Save it for a rainy day. But the rainy day was here, it poured down buckets. Inside and out--but mostly in her heart. So much that she dreaded to venture outdoors to walk her dog, who now sat as close to her as he could, his big brown eyes knowing, asking. Begging.

"I can't keep you, sweetheart. I just can't." She leaned down, her hug for the dog this time, tight, desperate. "I'm sorry, Max ... I'm so sorry." Hot tears fell, and Max leaned closer to the woman, as if to glue himself to her.

~~~~~~~

The little car, loaded to the hilt, finally pulled away. The dog sat on the steps of the small house, wet and cold. And hungry. But he waited for the car to turn around and come back. He'd been hungry before, and the girl had always found him something to eat. She had always come home. Home, to him, and their little house. No matter what, she'd always come back to him.

But this day held a different light. It was a dark rain. Steady and heavy, the big drops hurt. Still, the old dog sat waiting. The girl would come back. She always did.

He eventually went out into the road and sat, staring at the empty space where the girl had last been, hoping. He sat there for days, and waited for her return. Until finally, a huge white van came and took him away.

The dark windows of the empty house, like sad eyes, watched the world go by, and the aura around it dimmed. The house missed the girl and dog ... it was as if they had never existed. The front door creaked open then, as a northern breeze said hello, and the little house counted the cycle of the traffic light, over and over ... as the colors blinked in the rhythm of the pouring rain.