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Finally, I had the lightbulb go off, and I unplugged the phone.
“Was that a bathrobe belt in your hair, Katie?”
I didn’t respond, and I understood immediately that Suzie was trying to squash any shame she felt by her oversharing by placing it on me.
Katie’s Words of Law
Tort
Tôrt
A social “no-no”, but not technically an illegal act of wrongdoing (with exceptions).
“It’s called heatless curls, Suzie.” Jonathan quipped back. “And with hair like Katie’s, that is naturally frizzy, it’s a great idea. My wife is a hairdresser, so I pick up on these things.”
Gee, thanks,Jonathan.
Unplugging my phone magicallyunfroze it,and I selected thecorrectphoto, plugging it back in.
The cuteness of Dolly’s picture on the big screen made the entire room let out a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘awes.’
“How did this come about?” Frank asked, still smiling ear to ear about Dolly. They all turned to me for her adoption story. I nodded, remembering I recounted this many times yesterday to strangers I could do it again now.
“We had the manager from Newtown Animal Shelter make a plea for adoption at our church yesterday.” Suddenly I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. I felt confident speaking as surely as Samantha in front of my co-workers.
“You see, the shelters are full. They have run out of options for their animals.” The room turned solemn, some gasping around me. “It was what I had to do.” That made me sound a littlehigh and mighty, and I wasn’t about that, so I added. “I wasn’t sure about it. I was—I am still very nervous about dog ownership, but when I saw Dolly, I went for it.”
The roomapplauded.
Frank stood. “Katie, thank you for sharing.” He turned to the table. “Gang, why don’t we focus some efforts on the Newtown Animal Shelter this week? We still haven’t picked our non-profit for our annual giving drive.” My jaw dropped. “And on that note— look, I love animals. How about this,” Frank walked from the table, hands in his pockets, and looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the rainy weather outside.
“If you adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue—whatever it may be—” we all paused in absolute amazement, “—you get a 5-Day PAW-ternity leave!”
We all laughed and clapped, cheering him on. He was pumping his fists in theair, receiving praise. “Jackie, write it up and pass it to HR. And while we are at it, why don’t we turn our old conference room into a doggy daycare for our employees!”
At this moment, I may have blacked out from the ricochet effect of my actions. My face was stiff and numb from smiling. Everyone patted me on the back as the room shuffled out, still cheering.
Frank was doing a slow jog, high fiving everyone on the way out, and I overheard him yelling from the water cooler. “Who wants to go with me RIGHT NOW to Newtown!?” People started screaming, and Suzie chimed in. “Buster needs a friend!” The frat guys stopped their cheering to look at Suzie, who was up in arms, smiling. They looked at each other and then started cheering again when someone pulled out confetti poppers theyjust happenedto have on hand.
I was standing now, though I didn’t remember getting up from my seat in shock. I looked at this group of oddballs in amazement. What just happened? And what was it about dogs that brought everyone together?
I gave the group a few minutes to calm down before I pretended to collect all my materials for the meeting, but they were still impeccably organized, considering we hadn’t done any business talk. When I hoofed back over to my cubicle, half of the crew was gone, no doubt having taken Frank up on his offer to visit Newtown. I smiled and remembered my prayer from yesterday to help the pets. Looking around once more, I noticed the people who were absent now were some of the ones who rattled me themost.
“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” I whispered, beaming.
Five minutes into my lunch hour, I started collecting my things ready to leave when I checked my social media.42 Notifications.What now? I only had 57 connections. I clicked on the tab and was flooded with comments and reactions, half of which were my mother, who was replying to every comment herself,thanking themfor their kind words regarding my new dog.
Then the text came in.
Hi Katie, this is Samantha. I’m absolutely floored. We had eleven pets find homes this morning, and they said you sent them. Your boss Frank even donated $1,000. Are you my guardian angel?
My heart was warmed. She sent a snap a moment later, and opening it up, I saw it was a photo of cringey Chaz holding a Persian Cat with the caption,
Soul mates (paws emoji) (white heart emoji).
Another text immediately followed.
That guy just asked me out. What do you think? (laughing emoji).
