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BRAXTON
The custom-made,paw-print dog tag clipped to the deep brown leather collar in my hand swings as I walk, clinking against Hades’ rabies tag. There’s an obvious skip in my step, and it makes my smile grow into a cheek-pinching grin.
I swagger into the shelter, and a sense of comfort falls on my shoulders when I notice my boy waiting for me in his pen. His tail swings faster and faster the closer I get, and a whine fills the space between us. It’s been too long since I’ve had the time to come see him, and I’m planning to make up for the time apart with a long walk in the warm evening air.
“Hey, baby,” I coo, making quick work of unlatching the pen door. He runs at me and stands on his rear legs, placing his front paws on my thighs. “We have so much to catch up on. I freaking missed you.”
He pants, his tongue swiping at my chin and cheeks. I dig my fingers into the short hairs around his neck and give him some scratches.
“I got you something. I figured you needed a nice new one. This one is all yours.”
He just stares at me as I slip the collar around his neck and fasten it. The brown looks perfect on him, and my eyes burn as I place a kiss on his snout.
He looks like somebody’s pet, not the broken fight dog he used to be.
I pinch the dog tag in my fingers and read back over what I had the guy at the shop written on it.
Name: Hades
Allergies: Please no gluten
Special instructions: I don’t like small spaces and please no cats.
Owner contact: Heights Animal Clinic, Braxton Heights. 439-555-9099
There was a moment when I wondered if I shouldn’t have put my personal cell phone number and included the clinic’s number instead, but it was instinct, I guess. There’s nobody I trust the same as I do myself. Not when it comes to Hades.
The door opens behind me, and I look over my shoulder, offering Marco a smile. “Hey.”
“The collar looks great. Matches the little patches all over his tummy,” he notes.
Hades is watching Marco with cautious eyes, but he’s much calmer than he was a few weeks ago. The fear is still there, coming out when he feels threatened or surprised, but I think he’s started to feel comfortable here. Possibly even safe.
“He seems to like it enough. We were about to go show it off to the neighbourhood.” I glance to my side to see Marco wandering closer, hands shoved deep in the pockets of a pair of sunflower-speckled scrub pants. “Do you wanna come? Sapphire over there hasn’t gone for her walk yet tonight, and I told Sadie I would get her out before I went home.”
He looks at the butt-wiggling German shepherd two pens over. “Hades does okay with her?”
“He does, actually. Sadie usually takes them together.”
Grabbing two leashes off the long line of leashes hung on the wall beside the door, he swiftly hands me the black one I’ve been using for Hades and takes the blue one to Sapphire’s pen.
“Sounds like a plan. I haven’t hit my steps for the day yet, anyway.” He laughs as Sapphire bolts out of her pen and nearly takes him down. “This one’s going to be a great addition to someone’s home someday. Hopefully a family with a bunch of little kids.”
Hades turns his head to look at his wild-child friend, puffing out a breath at her energy.
“I’m hoping they’ll all find a home after the adoption day, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up.”
We have nine dogs at the shelter right now, and it pains me to leave them here every night. Even taking Hades and Sapphire out for a walk while all of them just sit and watch us leave has my stomach in knots, but knowing they’ve all already been pampered today helps soothe some of the discomfort.
“They all deserve something better than to spend their days in a pen waiting for the chance to find someone who will love and cherish them. I know we do everything we can to make them feel at home here, but they’re still locked in pens. We would never survive being locked up all day, every day,” I add, holding Hades a little closer.
Marco leads the big dog over to us and tells her to sit, which she does happily. He scratches her behind the ear, and her tongue flops out of her mouth.
“I get that. Hell, if I could adopt every dog out there that doesn’t have a home, I would. You’re right. They deserve better.”
“I’ve never wanted to own a shelter,” I blurt out as we head out the back door of the shelter and step onto the street. Hades falls to a slow trot beside me. “I briefly worked at a place like this when I was a teenager, and I went home crying nearly every night because I hated leaving the animals there. If it weren’t for all of their cute faces, I wouldn’t have bought this place.”
Marco’s eyes go wide for a brief moment. “Do you regret it? Buying this place, I mean?”
