2 Books Found

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"A story about a retired man who was a widower. He had some animals ( gophers ? ) making holes in his back yard, he found an weird ad for a solution that meant he had to plant something in his back yard. The story got weird and creepy after that. A little boy who lived next door had a little black dog that went missing. The boy drew weird scribbles that was suppose to be his missing dog? The end of the book younar not sure if the man is sane. There is a fire in the neighborhood playground near the end The man was in his house at night sitting in the dark. He though he saw the shadow of plant that he had put in his yard to rid himself of gophers,outside his window moving as if walking."