Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 71

A/N - Just because he's so cute... there's another picture of Max again^^

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KATE 

We pulled into the parking lot of a pet supplies store and got out of the car. "We'll be right back, Max," I said, kissing his head. He woofed lightly and watched as we left him behind.

Once we were inside the store, I began looking for food and water bowls, while my father walked around to look for the right kind of food that the woman had typed onto the sheet of paper. I looked through their bowl selection, before deciding on two plain blue bowls, one saying 'water' and the other saying 'food'. I placed them into the basket I had gotten at the entrance then headed toward the toys section.

I'd remembered how much he'd loved the ball back at the shelter, so I decided to get a few chewy balls, a few squeaky toys, and a few other toys that I could throw for him in the backyard. Putting the toys into the basket, I headed over to look for a cute leash and collar that we could get engraved later on in the week. I came across a cute red collar with a matching leash and tossed them into the basket as well before heading over to find my father.

I finally found him, still in the dog food section.

"Why is this food so damn hard to find," he mumbled to himself.

"Here, dad," I said, taking the sheet from him. I put the basket into the cart that he'd grabbed and said, "Here, I'll handle the food. See if you can find him a crate and a dog bed just in case he decides that he doesn't want to sleep with one of us," I suggested.

My father nodded and handed me the sheet. Once he'd left, I realized that the food was all organized by the alphabet and that the first type the woman had recommended began with B and I was in the Y's so I turned around and found the brand easily. I put it into the cart and decided to go and find my father again.

"Hey, I was just coming to find you," he said, handing me a dog bed, "Is this good enough?"

He'd chosen a gray and white dog bed and I nodded my head, knowing that it was perfect. Satisfied, I headed off to see if I could find a cute basket for all his toys. I found a gray basket with a white handle that matched the dog bed and set off to meet my father at the checkout. Once I found him, still waiting in line, I put the basket into the cart and took out the bowls to see if I could exchange them for grey and white ones to match the new theme. Thankfully, I found two gray bowls with a white rim that still said the words 'food' and 'water' in black and I headed back over to my father.

"Did you find the crate?" I asked him, standing beside him.

My father shook his head. "I don't think we need one. We can just put the dog bed in the corner of the house and use that if he doesn't want to sleep with one of us. He's been caged up for a while, he doesn't need to feel that way with us."

I nodded, agreeing. "Okay, I agree."

My father's eyes spotted the basket inside the carriage and he lifted it up, looking confused. "What's this for?"

"His toys," I replied.

He nodded then put it back in. He emptied the store basket into the carriage and handed it to me. "You can put this back and I'm going to go check out," he said, once a man had waved us over. I jogged over to the entrance to put the basket back with the others before heading back up to the checkout, right as he'd finished paying. He quickly handed me the dog bed while he pushed the carriage out of the store.

"We're going to have one happy dog," he announced proudly, popping the trunk of the car and stuffing everything into it.

Max perked up and wagged his tail excitedly when he saw us. "Ready to head home, Max?" My father asked him, petting him.

Max woofed excitedly and wagged his tail harder. "I'm going to take that as a yes," my father said with a laugh before he turned around and got into the driver's seat, starting the car.

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I let Max out once we reached our house, grabbing his leash. "We're home, Max," I said.

He sniffed the ground and wagged his tail. I took him into the fenced-in backyard, where he could use the bathroom and run around, I began taking off his leash before heading back to the car to help get all of the supplies while my father worked on setting up the dog door.

First, I set up the bed in the corner of the house, taking off the tags. It fit there perfectly, almost as if it was designed to be placed there. I then grabbed the bowls out of the bag and filled the one labeled 'water' with, you guessed it, water. Then, I placed the empty food dish next to it and headed back out to grab the heavy bag of dog food and the basket for his toys.

I tore open the bag of food and poured it carefully into the bowl, following the sheet of paper to see exactly how much I needed to pour. Once his food and water were done, I jogged back out to the car to grab the last bag, the one containing all of his new toys. I tore off each tag before placing them into the basket, placing a few onto his bed.

Wiping a bead of sweat off of my forehead, I walked back to the car to grab my backpack and to shut the trunk. I then strolled up to my room, hearing the loud sound of my father's drill as he installed Max's door.

I put my math book and my copy of 'Huckleberry Finn' onto my desk and walked back down the stairs, surprised to see that the door was successfully installed and Max was laying on his new dog bed, chewing on a monkey squeaky toy happily.

"You did amazing with getting everything," my father said, kissing my forehead. "How did you even find the food?"

I shrugged. "It was all alphabetized," I explained, "I just looked for the B's, and there it was."

He sighed. "How did I not figure that out?" He asked, sounding surprised.

I laughed. "You must have been preoccupied with other things. It's okay, it happens."

"Or, I could just be getting old," he declared.

I shook my head, laughing. At the sound, Max looked up, seeing me and strutted up to me, his toy hanging out of his mouth.

I crouched down and hugged him before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Welcome home, buddy."