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The next guy was sliding down the pole. “No.”
“Him?”
“Are we going through the whole calendar?”
“There’s only ten more. Now is this him?”
“Nooo.”
Bark. Bark. Bark.
I didn’t need to check my watch, knowing it was close enough to six for Sadie to start.
“She can wait three minutes,” Miss Adeline said, rolling onto June. “Him?”
“She’ll bark until we feed her supper.”
Some of her friends in the kennels had joined in. The girl had done that the five years we’d had her. When it was time to eat, she barked. And barked. And barked. She wouldn’t stop until her bowl was in front of her.
“That dog could learn some patience,” she huffed, though Sadie was Miss Adeline’s favorite. Maybe it was because they were so alike. Stubborn. Said what they thought. Had to be in charge.
“She won’t learn it from you.”
“I get no respect around here.”
I froze when she held up October. She turned the calendar back toward herself, and I grabbed it. That half smirk and those lightning eyes stared up at me from the page.
“Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner.” Miss Adeline sounded downright triumphant. “And he didn’t get a knockoff shirt from Times Square.”
I slammed the glossy pages shut. “Aren’t firemen supposed to be kind?”
“All the ones I’ve met are.”
I spun to find one of our most supportive volunteers in the doorway, a thick binder in her arms.
“Hey, Vivian.”
“Is that the FDNY calendar?” She dropped the binder on the desk and picked up the calendar I’d just thrown there.
“The one and only,” Miss Adeline said. “And our girl here just met Mr. October.”
“I didn’t even tell you—”
“Didn’t have to.” Miss Adeline leaned back in her chair.
Bark. Bark. Bark.
“Why haven’t you fed Sadie?” Vivian asked without looking up.
“Because we were appreciating the hard muscles—I mean work—of the fire department.” Miss Adeline’s old lips formed into a mischievous grin.
I closed my eyes and prayed for strength, even as I felt my own smile form. “I’m going to feed the dogs now.”
“She thinks appreciating what God gave us to look at is above her,” Miss Adeline said as I walked toward the kennels.
“I do not,” I called.
“Do too.”
