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“We spend more time interpreting our visual data than our olfactory. Do you agree with that?
“I do.” Charli motioned for Oakley to accompany her, and they headed back to where they’d left the horses, waiting to be brushed and cooled. “So, continue. This is interesting.”
“Okay. Now dogs are the complete opposite. They spend a lot of their brain power interpreting smells.”
“Interpreting. That’s an interesting concept.”
“It’s elegant in design,” Oakley agreed, and Charli could see the passion in her eyes. This wasn’t just an interesting fact for Oakley. It held meaning.
“Did you know that dogs have more than 100 million receptor sites in their nasal cavity?”
“And people have…?” Charli asked.
“Six million.”
“Six? Six to one hundred million?”
“Yes, and what’s fascinating is that the area of the canine brain dedicated to analyzing odors is about fortytimes larger than the comparable part of the human brain,” she paused as they exited the barn. “Which way?”
“Let’s walk,” Charli wasn’t ready for the conversation to end, and didn’t want any intrusions.
“Sure.”
“Keep going,” Charli prodded.
“When it comes to smell, it’s been estimated that dogs smell anywhere from one thousand to ten thousand times better than human.”
Charli stopped and turned to face Oakley. “That’s fascinating, and it sure makes me see them differently, but it has to be more than a fascination to make this job so fulfilling. What is it about dogs?”
It stunned her when Oakley blinked back tears before facing her. “They’ll never betray you, never leave you, and until they have no life left, theywillbe there for you. Show me a human half as good.”
And there it was. A crack in the wall. Charli and Oakley had been friends for more than a decade. Charli knew Oakley’s backstory, the life she had before she found a home in the military. And because she did, she now understood why Oakley was so addicted to working with the canines.
They’d love her unconditionally as she would them. And maybe with enough of that, Oakley would one day be able to let go of what turned her heart against people. Her pain ran deep, and she bore it in silence.
It benefited the military, that pain. Oakley was the only woman to beat the record for number of pushups and pull-ups in one minute in the Army’s history. At six feet tall and a hundred and seventy-five pounds of muscle, she was physically someone to be reckoned with.
And when it came to the hard task, pulling the trigger on someone who’d use a child or their wife as a shield? Oakley could put a bullet between someone’s eyes faster than you can blink. That ability earned her the moniker, Annie Oakley.
She didn’t like or dislike it. It didn’t matter. Oakley did the job, followed orders, and battled her demons.
“I get it,” Charli finally said.
“Do you?”
“I do,” Charli put her hand on Oakley’s shoulder. “Sister.”
Oakley smiled, reminding Charli of the dramatic difference in appearance when warrior Oakley eased into Oakley, the woman struggling to keep from being obliterated in that silent war she carried inside. One hard as stone and the other one of the walking wounded.
Charli had long hoped Oakley would find someone to connect with that would bring a little joy into her life. Looks like joy came in all kinds of ways. Oakley hadn’t foundthe oneso far, but she’d found a whole lot of connections with dogs who would remember her until their final breath. Those were her children, the only ones she would ever have.
And like any good mother, she protected and provided and nurtured every one. Charlie witnessed the heartbreak Oakley suffered when one of her warriors fell in battle. She’d stood over what she called “too many coffins”, saying goodbye and thanking her ward for their love and service.
Charli found it a little confusing. Oakley ran from connections with people, playing the role of the good time, love’em and leave’em soldier girl. She let no oneinside that impenetrable barrier. It’d taken them facing hell together for her to open to Charli.
So, if she was so determined to keep everyone out, to cut off her emotions, why work with the dogs? Oakley had to know that each puppy she trained, watched grow and sent off to do what he or she had been trained to do, might not make it home.
How could she put herself through that gut-wrenching grief, over and over? It made no sense.
