Even before I reached the tent, I knew there would be trouble. My little brother Andy was following me, with a sleeping bag, a flashlight, and his stuffed bear. My friends Wade and Bred think Andy would ruin everything. He would get scared in the middle of the night and have to be taken back to the house. They complained so much you'd think they were hospital patients instead of kids I'd invited for an outdoor sleepover.

Andy promised that he wouldn't ruin anything. He wormed his way into the tent and settled in the far corner. Night was settling in, too, with the woods around us fading toward black. The house, with its porch light, seemed a long way from us.

“Time for ghost stories!” Brad announced as soon as I'd closed the tent. He told a   story about vampires （吸血鬼）, but it only made us fall over laughing. When it was Wade's turn, he told a story of three guys who were camping in a tent. He described our situation exactly-except for Andy. When he was describing a terrifying creature, somewhere outside, a branch snapped （发出咔嚓声）。The hairs on my arms shot straight up. “These guys were crawling into their sleeping bags, right?” Wade continued. “When out of the darkness rang this terrible cry.” And out of the woods behind us there was a cry! High-pitched, frightening, and strange. The hairs on my head shot straight up!

“What was that?” Bred asked as the cry came again. We all looked at each other in horror, speechless. Wade suggested someone should go out to check, but no one dared. “What if it's something trapped or hurt?” Andy said anxiously. We focused our flashlights on Andy, whom we'd forgotten, sitting in the corner with his arms around his bear. Andy would adopt every lost or hurt animal in the world if Mom would let him.

“I'm going to see.” Andy ran out of the tent and disappeared in the darkness.

Andy said it was a baby monkey caught between branches, and it was crying for its mama.

“Tiki!” I yelled desperately.

Our dog, Tiki, had slipped out the door earlier that evening. Now I was searching the neighborhood trying to find him. My seven-year-old son, Jordan, was following behind.

I was worried about Jordan. He had lost so much already. The last few months had been difficult. After getting divorced, I could no longer afford our house in Indianapolis. Jordan and I moved in with my parents in northern Indiana. Jordan missed his friends and his old school. Losing his childhood dog was the last thing he needed.

We called out Tilki’s name until it was completely dark. We were forced to return home, empty-handed.

“Mom, it’s all new here. What if Tiki can’t find Grandma’s house?” asked Jordan. “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s wearing his collar and dog tag (标牌).” It was at that moment that I realized Tiki’s tag listed our address and phone number in Indianapolis. If someone found him, they’d have no way to reach me. I felt sick to my stomach.

The next day, I kept asking around to see if anyone had spotted him. But after two weeks, I began to lose hope.

One afternoon, I found Jordan crying in his room. “At school, we had to write about our wishes,” he said. “I wrote, ‘I wish my dog would come home.’ Mrs. Rush hung our papers in the hallway. Every time I see my paper, I feel sad.” My heart broke for him.

So later that week, when he put on a stained shirt from his old school back in Indianapolis, I just let it slide. If it helped him get through the school day, that was more important than looking put-together.

When he got home that afternoon, he told me the school custodian (管理员) had asked him about his shirt. “I told him we just moved here from Indianapolis,” said Jordan.

The next day, I got a call from Mrs. Rush. “I’m calling on behalf of our school custodian,” she began. “His grown daughter found a dog a few weeks ago, and he thinks it might be yours.”

Mrs. Rush didn’t know the details, but she passed on the daughter’s phone number.

“What made your dad think the dog was ours?” I asked curiously.

On a flight from Atlanta to Seattle, Alaska Airlines flight worker Amber May came across an unexpected and unusual request that saw her go above and beyond her normal duties.

With ten years of flying experience, Amber has me t with many special situations, but non e of them were more unique than the task waiting for her on that flight.

Six of Zoo Atlanta’s valuable Chilean flamingo (火烈鸟) eggs were on their way to Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo on the plane, where a zoo official placed them in a moveable warm box.

However, unfortunately, during the flight to Seattle, the zoo official found that the warm box stopped working without knowing what the reason was. As a result, the temperature inside the container was dropping fast. If the temperature continued to drop, this would put the eggs at risk. If the problem was not solved, these valuable eggs would never turn into young birds.

The zoo official was so worried that he first tried to repair the warm box by himself, but he was not a repairman after all. No matter how hard he tried, the warm box just wouldn’t work. He had also wanted to contact his colleagues at the zoo to ask for a solution, but he was on the plane and he couldn’t make a call. He realized that he was indeed in trouble.

And all of a sudden, he had a brainstorm. He thought of the workers on the plane, and immediately pressed the call button. He asked Amber May if she could find a way to help keep the eggs warm.

In response to this request, Amber May broadcast (广播) to find someone who can provide help. And after that, Amber May worked positively with the zoo official to think of other solutions. By filling rubber gloves with warm water, Amber created a place to keep the eggs comfortable and protected them from the coldness on the plane.

The unexpected call of duty also caused interest and kindness from other passengers.

Months later, the zoo called Amber May, inviting her to visit the young birds.