Puppy Paws

The White Coat

I wake up with aches down my back from the hard cage. I'm getting so tired of being cooped up with nothing to do to get back to the life I had a glimpse at. The wild life. The free life. The dog "adoption" event is really bugging me.
I don't want to be taken by a human again. If one family of humans can hurt you then another can too.
I know I'm too young to be trapped in a cage. It can't be good for my legs!
The door at the end of the hall bangs open, a sound I have gotten used to. A white coat comes down the hall.
I get to my achy paws and peer out of my bars. The white coat stops at each cage and looks at something on each door. Finally he gets to our area. He kneels down to Mama and mutters to himself. I growl and paw at the ground in frustration.
How dare he look at my Mama through bars and not do anything about it!
To my shock, Mama's cage is slid out and lugged down the hall by the human. I whine and I can hear her whining back.
"Carazo!" I say to the black wolf beside me.
"I know," he whispers.
I stare at the door until my eyes burn. Finally the human comes back with Mama in her cage.
I peer closer at Mama.
She's limp. She's lying in her filthy cage. Not moving.
I feel something snap within me.
"They killed her!" I howl. "They killed my Mama!"
"She's not dead," says Carazo.
"They killed her!" I growl.
"She doesn't smell dead," Rogo chimes in. I don't believe them. How could she not be dead? She's not moving. The white coat stands up from sliding her cage back into its place. I growl and bark ferociously at him.
You hurt my Mama. You killed Mama.
He shows his teeth at me and heads over to my cage.
"Let's deal with you now," he says.
I feel his hands pull my cage out of its space. Carazo looks at me sadly. Rogo whines. As I'm jostled past Mama's cage I see her once glossy body dirty and matted.
The white coat carries me through the large room outside of the cage room. Instead of heading off to the outside place we veer off down a long dark hallway that smells like fear. We go into a bright room that scares me so much that my heart feels ready to beat out of my chest.
Shhh, I tell it. It doesn't listen.
My cage is set down in the corner. The white coat bustles around for a little while and then comes back to me holding something that looks like a small stick but smells like a mix of dog, fear, sweat, and a little bit of death, like the animal that Larry dragged around for me in the clearing. I shut my eyes hoping to block out the view of the humans ugly face.
I feel a prick in my side and everything goes black.