My family ran an animal shelter. I know it's trendy nowadays to talk about no-kill shelters; but that's not the kind we ran. It would have been nice if we didn't have to put down so many of the animals; but it also allowed us to bring in new animals fairly frequently.
Every now and then, Mom and Dad let us pick out an animal to rescue. That's how we got Rascal, a mutt of indeterminate ancestry. We also had a cat, Miss Kitty. Our pets got along, once they adjusted to having each other around.
It seemed like that was going to be my life: Growing up in Reno, going to college, and taking a paid job at the shelter.
And then everything changed.
******************************
It began the day after I got my first period. Mom made a minor fuss about it; but I knew it was because she loved me, and thought of it as me becoming a woman, not just something my body did.
Like I said, the day after that started, I took Rascal for a walk. Mom encouraged me to get some exercise. "I know it's the last thing in the world you feel like doing," she said. "But getting up and around really will help you feel better." So I attached the leash to his collar, grabbed some bags, and we went for a walk.
Naturally, when a dog is out walking, he feels the call of nature, if you know what I mean. So he squatted, and I got one of the bags ready.
As I collected the mess, I heard someone ask, "Why are you doing that?"
"Because it's the law," I replied, irritated a bit at being questioned by a stranger.
"That's a great smell. How are the other dogs supposed to know I was here if you take it away?"
"What?" That was a weird thing for someone to say. I looked around; there was nobody around. "Where are you?"
"Right here."
I turned to where the voice came from. There was nobody there; nobody except Rascal. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here," Rascal said.
I knelt down. "Rascal? Y-you speak English?"
"What's English? You speak Dog."
My head started spinning. My dog starts talking to me?
Copyright 2000 - 2025 21 x 20 Media All rights reserved. This site is property of 21 x 20 Media
All Writing.Com images are copyrighted and may not be copied / modified in any way. All other brand names & trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
Generated in 0.19 seconds at 5:40pm on Feb 08, 2025 via server WEBX2.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
