Laura Needs A Dog

8 January, 2020

The apartment seemed empty. Not horribly, terribly empty, just empty as in "Ah..It's just me again, doing the Solo Act". It was that thought which floated through the mind of Laura Kinney, as she sat at the kitchen table in her apartment.

Sitting across from her on the table rested what could be considered a Christmas tree, if it were chosen by one Charles Brown. It looked as it would tip over if anyone were to try and decorate it; after tipping over, it would roll over and die, very dramatically.

It wasn't that Laura didn't like Christmas, or any of the holidays for that matter. It was more a matter of clone Sister Gabby embracing the emotions and understanding of holidays that Laura did not.

This tree -- was it even fair to use the word to describe the sad, sad not-Christmasy-at-all tree -- was just something that Gabby would have done if she were still here. "It just needs a little love," Gabby would have quoted Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas as she and Laura brought the tree home.

Even Jonathan the Unstoppable, the wolverine they had "adopted" (is that even a fair word to describe the situation) after Squirrel Girl brought him over to show them, would have been in the spirit. Most likely, Gabby would have him draped with some garland or wearing a Santa head or perhaps both? In any event, it would have made the apartment feel the holiday spirit, rather than a bad performance of a scene from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

The one item in the apartment Laura totally understood and embraced, especially this morning, was coffee. A large mug the equivalent of two normal mugs of coffee, while the coffee was a light roast, providing the caffeine that her mind and body needed this morning.

Coffee beside her, steam rising and curling in the air just above the mug, Laura scrunched up her face and remarked aloud, "Ugh! Enough already! This apartment is too damned quiet without Gabby!".

As she sat in front of her laptop, she began to research good options for an apartment with one tenant and an inability to deal with the increasingly frustrating silence. After perusing several online articles as well as blogs focusing on this particular issue, the answer to her issue at hand was quite simple really: she needed to adopt a dog.

"A dog?" Laura muttered as she swigged the last of her coffee, "This ought to be good!".

After several minutes of online search, as well as a second mug of coffee, Laura was to discover that the best breed for her would be either a Husky, a German Shepherd, or even a Miniature Pinscher. At least that was the answer according to the multitude of "Which Dog Breed Works Best For You?" surveys, as well as "Which Dog Breed Are You" quizzes.

The last thing she read would also turn out to be the most significant. It was a blog entry about the benefits, for both the dog and the new owner, of adopting from your local shelter versus buying from a breeder. The main point got to Laura on so many levels, whether she chose to acknowledge those feelings or not.

Laura grabbed her leather jacket and left for her trek to the local animal shelter to help with the emptiness of the apartment.

Her first impression upon walking in was a sense of hope as well as disappointment. Laura was fairly sure both feelings being expressed by the dogs. Hope for today to be the day they get adopted, while disappointment was the realization that today was not going to be that day.

The man behind the counter approached her and asked, in a fairly pleasant manner, "Hi, what can I help you with?" He scratched at his goatee.

Laura looked at him and said, "I need a pet for my apartment. I did not realize how stifling the empty silence could be."