The Moon Shines On Starlight

Chapter Two/James

"You're my whole life. I would never be happy again".

-Peeta, The Hunger Games

I was driving down the road in my minivan. My music was turned all the way up. I was listening to my 60's music, the best kind out there. Especially the song Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison playing on the radio. My windows were rolled all the way down. I didn't care if anybody heard it. The song was a bop back in the day and still is at least I think .I would care even less if the police tracked me down. What can I say? I am a bad guy. A very bad guy, I might add. No, I am actually quite a good guy.

Let me explain to you why I am such a good guy. You see I was driving down my street, and I just so happened to see a mother and her pups. Normally, a person who drives wouldn't stop, or maybe they would pick them up unless you're a dog catcher. Today, I decided out of all the crap in my life I'll do something good for a change.

I parked my minivan alongside the dumpster. I went to the back, and opened up the cages. I worked part time at Pet Score, an animal store. I had extra cages in the back, it was my work truck I used to pick up animals from local shelters. I opened them up, one of them bigger cages for the mother. I glanced over and she had about five pups around her. I unlocked two more of the smaller cages. I grabbed my catch pole and slowly approached the dogs.

I held the pole tightly in my hands. The mother dog had her head bowed down. She was getting in an attacking defence stance. I was prepared to grab her. People without proper training shouldn't try anything like this, likely I had my license for it. I crept to her very slowly until my pole was only an inch from her face.

"Grrr." I heard her growling at me.

My hands started to shake and get sweaty. The pole was starting to slip. I couldn't let her see the fear she invoked in me. Dogs could sense things like that. We stood there, staring at her. Her pups started to surround her. She kept snapping at them to get back. I quickly wrapped the pole around her neck while she was distracted by her pups.

She struggled against it, the dog was strong too. I carefully picked up the mother. I kept her a safe distance away from my face. The dog was still struggling against me. I put her in the cage, and locked it behind me. She tried to snap at me through the cage. I put my hands up and closed my eyes. I let out a small breath. The dog frightened me to my core.

I went back to get the pups. They were scrambling trying to hide from me. I counted five pups. I looked around, like I was playing hide and seek with them. I found a couple in these boxes. I could hear their whimpering, and their small growls as I reached for them. I found the last one by the dumpster. It was tiny. I was guessing it was the runt of the bunch. I only made that conclusion based on its size compared to the others. I locked them in the last two cages I had. All growling at me and looking at their mother, whimpering. I shut the van doors behind me, and headed back to the drivers side.

I figured I could maybe make a couple bucks off these pups. Maybe even sell the mom too. I finished driving down the street until I reached my road. I turned on my signal light to the right, and headed to my house. When I did make it to my house, I reversed park the van into the driveway, that way it'll be easier to get them out. I unlocked the back of the van, and grabbed my catch pole again. I laid it beside the garage door.

I pressed the garage button on the side, and typed the password. The garage door opened up. I rarely used it but it will work for the dogs. I grabbed one of the puppies' cages first, and carried it into the garage. I went back and grabbed the other puppies, and finally the mother dog's cage too. She was heavier than the rest.