Return © July 30, 2000 It was about nine-fifteen on Sunday night. I was just coming home from work, climbing the stairs to my apartment. I thought I heard barking, but I dismissed it, thinking I was hearing things. When I reached the top of stairs, I saw two large rats on strings tied to my doorknob, at least that's what they looked like in the dark. They were Chihuahuas and they were scared. I got down on my knees and approached them slowly, holding out my hands to both of them. They sniffed me and after a while, I raised my hands and petted both of them. "Where'd you two come from?" I asked the dogs. My mom had always treated our pets like they were children, so I was inclined to do the same. I untied the dogs from my doorknob, and unlocked the door. Fortunately for me, my cat was in my bedroom, so I just ran down and quickly shut the door, locking the cat inside. I then came back to the little dogs. I bent down and picked them up, hoping there would be an identification tag on them. One was a male and the other was a female. Both had crosses that served as tags for them. On each was the same phone number. I carried the two shaking dogs to my room, kicking the cat out, and curled up in bed with them. I reached over and picked up the phone, saying to the dogs, "I bet your mommy and daddy are worried about you two. Aren't you just the cutest little things?" I dialed the number, not knowing where or whom I was calling. After three rings, a groggy masculine voice answered, "Hello?" "Hi, my name's Rebecca. This may sound like a weird question, but are your dogs missing?" I asked the man. "Yeah?" "They're two Chihuahua's right? One male, one female?" "Yeah?" "I found them." The man on the other end, who had seemed half-awake, was now very animated. "Where'd you find them?" he asked. "I found them on my porch. They were tied to my door." "So what's your address? We'll be right over." I then heard the man say softer, "Leigh honey, someone found our babies." "Um, well, I think it might take you a while to get here, because well, I don't think we live in the same area. I dialed a number outside of my area code." "Where do you live?" "Chico, California." "California?" the man choked out. "How'd they get all the way out there?" "Where are you?" I asked. "Atlanta, Georgia." "Oh my God, I'm sorry," I apologized. "I just called the number knowing that whoever these pups belonged to, they'd wanna know that they're safe." In the background on the other end of the phone, I heard the woman say, "Brian, find out if the pups are okay." "Brian?" I asked, "is that your name? What are the names of the two pups I'm holding?" "The male would be Tyk Thomas and the female would be Litty Leigh. Are they okay?" My mind raced. I had just read something on a website about a pair of missing Chihuahuas. They belonged to Backstreet Boy, Brian Littrell and his fiancée, Leighanne Wallace. "You're Brian Littrell?" I asked, not really trusting my brain to make the connection. "Yeah," the man replied. I felt Tyk shake in my arms, so I turned my attention to him. "It's okay, Tyk. You're daddy's gonna come get you." I stroked the little dog, hoping it would stop shaking. "They seem to be okay," I told the owner. "Just a little scared, that's all." "Look, give me directions on how to get to your house. We'll be there as soon as we possibly can." I gave Brian directions on how to get to my house from the closest major airport. When I hung up the phone, I curled up with the dogs and after a while we all fell asleep. At seven the next morning, there was a knock on the front door. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. Growling to myself, I went to move, only to find two Chihuahua's in my arms. The events of the previous night came back to my mind, and I picked up the two sleeping dogs and carried them with me to the door. With a pup in each arm, I unlocked the door with my teeth and opened it with my feet. On the other side was a very weary looking Brian Littrell, and an even wearier Leighanne. The two immediately went for the dogs in my arms, which I willingly relinquished to them. I invited them in, shutting the door behind them. Tyk looked at me from his spot in Brian's hands. "Aw, what's amatter boy? You gonna miss me?" I asked the dog and then leaned down to kiss him. Brian looked at me funny. "I think we bonded last night," I told him. "I'm Rebecca by the way." "I'm Brian, an this is Leighanne," he said to me, like I really needed to be told. "Thank you so much for finding our dogs." "You're welcome," I said. "But I didn't find them, they found me." "Brian," the blonde woman said to the man beside her. She looked at him. "Oh yeah," Brian said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. He handed Tyk to Leighanne and took a pen. He asked my full name and I gave it to him, which he then wrote on a check. "This is for finding our dogs," he said, handing the folded piece of paper to me. "I really couldn't accept anything," I told him as I glanced at the check in my hand. "Whoa," I said. "Ten thousand dollars?" "Yeah, five grand for each dog." "Uh, as much as I'd really like to, I can't accept this. I mean, all I did was come home from work and call you when I found the number on their identification tags." I attempted to hand the check back to him, but he held up his hand. "Please take it." "Alright, but I'm telling you right now, I'm using part of it pay the phone bill and what's left is being donated to the Humane Society under the dogs' names." "If that's what you wanna do." "Can I make a request?" "Sure." "Can I come visit the dogs?" "Huh?" Brian looked at Leighanne who shrugged. "Rebecca, of course you can," Leighanne said to me. The couple left with their dogs shortly after that. A few days later, the press contacted me. They all wanted an interview with me and they all wanted to know what I had done with the money. I told them all that it had been donated to the Humane Society. I even got a call from John Norris of MTV news, who wanted to know my thoughts on the whole dognapping thing. I told him that I thought it was stupid and childish. The two girls who had stolen the pups had given us fans a bad rep, but I hoped that my donation of almost all the reward money and the quick and safe return of the pups, helped restore some faith in us. "Brian and Leighanne are just normal people," I told John. "They were worried about their dogs and just wanted them home safe. I respect that. I would expect that if my dogs were missing and Brian found them that he would do exactly what I did. Get in touch with me, and make arrangements for their safe return. It's the right thing to do. I have no problems with people doing the right thing, even if it's for a celebrity."