Page 54 of Oblivion
I walked toward the long, white reception desk and looked around. This place needed some funding as soon as possible, but that wasn’t why I was here.
“I want to adopt a dog,” I blurted out without thinking, and as the thought settled, I didn’t feel regret for saying it. Yes, I moved a lot, my life was hectic, but if I could save one of them, then I would be on the road to doing something right.
She straightened up, beaming at me.
“Did you already visit our website?” she asked.
“No.” I cringed. “Was I supposed to?”
Shaking her head, she continued smiling, her bubbly personality waking up the awkward side of me. “No, no, it’s not necessary. Only if you want to have a look at the dogs that are already in. But,” she walked to my right and came right out of the desk area, “I can show you if you’d like.”
She pointed toward the tall, white door that was probably leading to the area where the dogs were.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I would like that very much.”
“Follow me,” she announced, and just like a puppy, I went after her, following her every move.
She unlocked the door and as soon as she opened it, the barking sounds filled the space, muting down every thought I had. We went straight into the area where several cages lined the wall on each side.
“There is a board with every dog’s information right on the cage,” she said. “I’ll leave you to it and I’ll be right in front of the door.”
But I wasn’t listening to her anymore. I was already striding toward the cages, hoping that I would be able to bring one of them home with me.
Some of them were right at the front, barking playfully and yapping, but none of them pulled at my heart like the one in the very last cage on the left side.
I knew enough about dogs to know which breed he was even before I looked at the board, but the sad look in his eyes was what made me stay.
His fur was black, with brown spots on his chest, above his eyes and his paws, shining underneath the weak light. But while the other dogs barked, howled, and tried to get my attention, he only sat there, simply looking at me as if he could convey everything with one simple look.
“Hey, buddy,” I said and kneeled, placing my hand on the cage. “You’re such a pretty boy.”
His tail wagged, and slowly, almost carefully, he came closer to me, and sniffed my hand. I saw a rottweiler once before, but I forgot how big and majestic they were.
“You’re such a sweet boy,” I cooed as he pushed his head against the fence, trying to reach my hand. “Yes, you are.”
“I see you’ve found our longest resident here,” the girl from before stated. I hadn’t noticed when she came back. “He’s such a good boy, but people see his size, his breed, and they don’t even want to look at him.”
“He’s beautiful,” I whispered, pushing my fingers through the fence, trying to reach him. “Why would they leave him?” I asked and looked at her.
“Ah.” She came closer and sat down on the floor right next to me. “His family got him as a puppy, but when he started growing and growing and growing, they decided he was too much for them. They dumped him here about a year ago. He was still just a puppy back then.”
“Why get a dog then if you’re not gonna take care of it?” I asked, looking at him. “Does he have a name?”
“Not really,” she answered sadly. “We try not to get too attached to some of them, because we know that there could come a day where we would need to say goodbye.”
“You mean once they get adopted?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He’s been with us for over a year and they’re planning to, you know…” she trailed off.
“They’re planning to do what?”
She leaned toward me as if she didn’t want him to hear her. “To euthanize him.”
“What?” I shrieked. “But why?”
“Those are the rules. This isn’t a no-kill shelter unfortunately, and he isn’t the first dog that had the same destiny.”
He laid down on the floor, right on top of his paws and looked up at me.
