Yellow Dog — Charles de Lint

Yellow Dog is a short story set near de Lint's fictional desert town of Santo del Vado Viejo, where his novels The Mystery of Grace and The Painted Boy take place, and where some of his recent short fiction has been set.
Ernie Grant is a decent guy, a bit of a desert rat who works at a scrap yard where he has to put up with racist comments from his crass, bullish boss. The boss works by night as a self-proclaimed Minuteman protecting the U.S. borders from the influx of illegal Mexicans. Ernie and his friend Salvador also search the desert at night, but they carry food, water and blankets to help the same travellers in the unforgiving desert.
One day a mysterious stranger shows up at the scrap yard, unable to speak, but willing to help in more ways than one.
Yellow Dog first appeared in 2007 as one of Charles de Lint's personal chapbooks that he gave to family and friends. It was reprinted the following year as a limited edition chapbook from Subterranean Press. This is its first worldwide release in an inexpensive format.