Tires on gravel sounded, and my mother patted my hand. “You finish up the pens, and I’ll go see who that is.”
I was halfway done with exchanging out soiled pads for clean ones when the silence registered.
Giving the baby otter a little pat on the behind, I closed his cage and headed outside to see where my mother was.
She was standing at the edge of the fenced-off part of the rehab facility that we always kept locked, whether we were in the rehab facility or not.
“What is it?” I asked.
She stepped to the side, and I blinked when I saw two very angry looking dogs foaming at the mouth, growling at the gate, and looking like they’d very much like to kill us if we opened said gate.
“I tried opening the gate, and they went for my hand.” She winced, confirming my earlier thoughts. “I think we should stay in this gate until we can get help.”
I tried reaching for the gate myself, and the dogs went ballistic, biting at the gate and throwing their bodies against it.
“What on earth?” I asked.
With them guarding the gate, we were stuck.
We wouldn’t be able to get out anytime soon.
The dogs were quite big and wouldn’t be able to be moved easily, either.
“I came out here just in time to see the truck drive off,” she said. “There is a note pinned to this one’s collar. But I can’t quite read it.”
I pulled out my phone and checked my dad’s location.
“Dad’s still in Bozeman,” I said. “Even if he came home now, we’d be stuck in here for two hours.” I placed both of my hands on my hips. “I was supposed to bring Wendy lunch today, dang it.”
My mother picked up her phone.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
I mean, besides the police, I wouldn’t really know who to call. I didn’t think that Bear Pass or Sawtooth even had a dog catcher.
I hadn’t lived here long enough to make many friends. And the one person I could call that I know would come I didn’t have his phone number.
Which only seemed to make me even more mad.
Mom placed the phone to her ear and said, “Margery. She can go take Wendy food. Or she’ll know someone who will. I don’t think she’s allowed to drive anymore. She’ll also know who to call for help with them.”
I looked down at the dogs.
Poor things.
They looked ragged.
The one closest to the fence was emaciated, but I could see markings on him that looked familiar.
Though I didn’t know why.
“Margery, hi. It’s Janet.”
I stepped back inside.
If I wasn’t going to be able to get out anytime soon, I might as well make myself useful by cleaning up some more.
Twenty-Two
