A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Chapter XLI: Givin' the Dogs a Home

"Thanks for comin'," Angus said as Brian stepped out of the car. "Ya' sure ya' want dog fur on the seats?"

Brian patted the roof of the car and smiled at us. "Don't mind a bit," he said. "Might all be sneezin' on the way back...ah, but it's alright, love the little buggers."

We called Brian to ask if he could help us bring the dogs home. It had been about a week since we picked them out. I was excited to see my old man and Angus' beagle. And I hoped they were excited to see us. We had been thinking of names for them. I considered names like Roo or Espresso, something people didn't often name their dogs. Rover and Fido were cute but a little common. Angus jokingly suggested I name him "Geezer" after Geezer Butler. "Mal will love that," he laughed. 

I wanted to know what Angus considered naming his hound but he wasn't sure. "I dunno...I think maybe I ought to get to know him first, ya' know?" he said. 

"Could name him John," Brian suggested. 

"Why?" Angus asked. Brian shrugged.

"Dunno, jus' the first thing that came to me mind," he laughed. 

We pulled up to the shelter and all of us clambered out of Brian's car. My heart was racing. Angus grabbed the harnesses and leashes we bought the last time we were here. I got my dog a black harness with a bright green leash. Angus found a blue harness and a blue leash with a fish design. It was the only one left of its kind. 

The woman with the silver hair saw us coming and beamed. "Hi! You're here to pick up your dogs, right? They're right in here," she said leading us back to the room. There was another family in there looking at some new additions without the orange card. All of the dogs we saw the week before that had the orange card were gone. Except ours, of course. "Look who's here!" 

My old man saw us and his tail started wagging. He looked like he had been groomed an hour before. Angus' beagle barked and spun around in his cage. Some of the other dogs got excited by sheer proximity and started barking up a choir. The woman held a couple of papers in her hands. 

"So the beagle is about a year and a half now," she said. "You know he was a stray and brought in and had all his shots. Neutered and the like." Angus nodded. "And the mutt is...the vet we took him to guessed he was at least ten...but we don't know for sure." Bad things happened to dogs that turned ten. It wasn't even that old but so many dogs I took care of had their health take a bad turn when they turned ten despite seeming relatively healthy. He looked okay, he even stood up on his bad legs. "He was surrendered to a few different shelters. You know, passed around to find one that would keep him without putting him down," the woman explained. "He had kennel cough at one point but he's fine now. Shots, neutered...he's good."

"Any other health problems?" Angus asked. 

"His back legs are a little wobbly sometimes," she said. "It's his hips starting to give out but that happens sometimes with dogs his age. 

Don't I know it...

"Are you ready to go home?" the woman asked unlocking the beagle's cage. He jumped out and started dancing around our legs, his tongue out of control. Slobber everywhere. Angus had a hell of a time getting the harness on and Brian and I had to help hold him still. "He's very excited."

"I can see that," Angus said wiping slobber off his nose. The woman went to the old man's cage and unlocked the door. He stretched and crept carefully out, sniffing around. I could see his eyes were a touch cloudy. He licked my nose and whined. 

"They're very lucky dogs," the woman said. "They've both been here for at least a few weeks. They're used to each other by now."

Brian knelt down to pet them both. They sniffed him and then sniffed each other. The family who was also in there stood back to let us through, looking at a pair of Pomeranian puppies, some new arrivals. I looked down at our newest family members lovingly.