The Runaway

Last night Colin took Dilly out to do her thing before bedtime. He had her on the extendable leash so she could move around in the yard. Something spooked Dilly and she ran, pulling the leash out of Colin's hand. Then the sound of the leash on the pavement spooked her even more and she took off running. It was so dark Colin couldn't even see what direction she ran.
Colin called for her and I came out to help, but we couldn't see her or anything. We walked up and down the block and around the curve in the road thinking she might be at our neighbor's house, but still we couldn't find her. Colin even drove around looking, but no results. He looked off and on until almost 2 am and finally decided to try again in the morning.
We both had a hard time sleeping. I was up most of the night. Around 3, it started raining and I wondered where Dilly was out there. Colin got up at 4 as I was heading back to bed. He kept looking off and on all morning, while I stayed home with Ian.
Finally, around 11 he pulled up to our driveway and honked his horn. He had found Dilly.
She was about a mile or so from our house in a field. Colin saw her as he was driving around in the van looking for her. She was happy in her newfound freedom and very unrepentant, instead of coming to Colin when he called her she ran into the field next to her. Colin had to chase her in the fields and finally cornered her. She was wet and muddy and went straight into the bath as soon as she got home. After her bath she slept for several hours, happy to be back on her doggy bed. I told Colin she was probably chasing birds in that field this morning. She's been very affectionate today and this evening while Colin was tucking Ian into bed she looked out the front door and saw some people walking she actually barked at them. She rarely barks so I looked at her and asked 'who taught you how to bark?' I wonder what our runaway did all night and all morning. Judging by how muddy and wet she was, she had a good time!