That was the one lesson life had taught me and I’d learned well.
But all of that worry, all of that truth slipped away like a cloud on a breeze when I locked eyes on the dog in kennel forty-two.
Unlike the other dogs I’d passed, this one didn’t wait for me at the gate, tail wagging and paws scratching at the metal to get to me. Instead, he stayed back in the corner, curled into a ball with his tail limp on the concrete floor.
I glanced at the sheet, where I learned he was actually a she.
She was a pit bull, and her name was Rojo — pronounced ro-ho, like the Spanish word for red. I decided it fit her well as I noted the deep burgundy and chocolate brindle stripes that lined her fur.
When I didn’t move on from her kennel, she looked up at me from where she was resting, her tail flicking a few times before it was still again. I smiled, bending down to her level and placing two fingers through one of the gate holes. Rojo lifted her head at that, looking at me curiously as her tail began to come to life again.
It was like she couldn’t believe I’d stopped at her gate, that I’d found any kind of interest in an old dog like her. At first, she didn’t move at all, and I wondered if she thought I’d disappear just like all the other humans that wandered through here idly each day, picking and choosing who to rescue.
After a moment, Rojo heaved herself up, walking slowly toward me with her tail tentatively wagging. She sniffed my fingers, her snout cold and black, and I reached in farther so I could rub her chin.
“Would you like to meet her?” someone asked.
I glanced up at the smiling volunteer who had stopped at the kennel, a blond, twenty-something kid with braces. His smile was genuine, and without me even answering, he moved forward, unlocking the gate as I stepped back to let it swing open.
Sarah joined us as I knelt down again, this time without any metal barriers between Rojo and my hand. She sniffed it again, and just like before, I rubbed her chin. She closed her hazel eyes in what I swore was an appreciative grin, and then she moved in closer, letting my other hand come up to pet her back.
“Rojo has been with us a very long time,” the volunteer said, and the way he said it made my stomach pinch.
“How long?” Sarah asked from where she stood above me.
The volunteer checked the sheet hanging on the gate, and his face softened as he read the number. “One-hundred-and-seventy-two days.”
I did the math in my head as I turned back to Rojo, who was full on wagging her tail and leaning into me now. Nearly six months she’d been at that shelter, in that kennel.
Alone.
I scratched behind her ear, smiling a little as she let her tongue flop out.
“What’s wrong with her eye?” I asked, noting the cloudy mist that covered the left one.
“It was like that when she came to us,” the kid said. “Owner told us some story about her being born that way, blind in one eye as the runt of her litter, but, if I’m being honest, we’ve always suspected some foul play.”
I swallowed, teeth clenching together at the thought of anyone hurting her.
We were all quiet for moment, me petting Rojo as Sarah and the volunteer watched from above. I noticed the curious way he took in Sarah, and then me, like he was trying to put the pieces together.
Clearly, we weren’t related.
“She still has great vision through her other eye, though,” he continued, seeming to shake off whatever questions he had about mine and Sarah’s relation as he bent down to pet the dog with me. “And she had two healthy litters of puppies before she was brought in to us. We spayed her, of course, once she was in our care.” He paused, smiling when Rojo tilted her head into his touch. “She loves chewing on bones and cuddling, and though she walks slow, she seems to really enjoy getting out and laying in the sunshine. Not much of a fetcher, but I imagine she probably enjoyed it when she was younger.” He shrugged. “I guess what I’m saying is that she’s seen a lot in her life, regardless of that eye.”
“How old is she?”
He frowned. “She’s nine, which is why she’s been here so long, we think. Most people want a puppy, or at least a young dog.” The kid stood, and Rojo turned her attention back to me, leaning into my hand as I rubbed under her collar. “She’s at high risk.”
“What does that mean?” Sarah asked.
When the kid didn’t answer, his silence was the loudest response.
I swallowed, a rubber band snapping around my chest as Rojo put one paw on my leg. I smiled, bringing my other hand up to pet her, but she didn’t stop. She pushed into me, nuzzling me with her head and climbing up until I had no choice but to fall back on my ass and let her into my lap. That dog was way too big to be a lap dog, but there she was, curled up in my lap like she’d been in the corner when I first passed her kennel, her eyes closed, tail still wagging softly as I pet her to the tune of Sarah and the volunteer’s laughter above us.
And in that moment, we all knew that Rojo’s days of being at risk were gone.
Sarah
“I think she fits right in,” I said, sipping on the hot tea Reese made for us when we got home. We were both standing in the kitchen just like we had earlier that afternoon, only now the sun had set, and we were both watching Rojo chew on her brand-new bone. She was also curled up in her brand-new bed, placed near the front door just to the right of the couch, and she had a brand-new collar adorning her neck as she chewed, tail wagging, a content little grin on her face.
She might as well have been a brand-new dog for how happy she seemed.
Reese smiled, and it was in a way I’d never seen him smile before — not until that day at the shelter. Seeing him bent down and loving on an old dog was enough to make my heart swell up to the size of a balloon. And now, back in his home, Reese watched that dog with a sense of protection and care.
“I can’t believe anyone would ever give her up,” he mused after a long moment, sipping the hot Earl Grey from his own mug with his eyes still on Rojo. “Humans can really suck sometimes.”
My stomach twisted, something about the way he said those words striking me in a way I didn’t expect. A flash of my last night at Bramlock hit me like a branding iron to the face, and I closed my eyes, squeezing the images away before I opened them again.
I wondered if those flashes would ever stop, if they’d ever fade, or if that night would be on permanent replay in my mind.
“Trust me, I know,” I whispered.
Reese turned to me, his eyebrows meeting at that beloved crease. He didn’t say anything for the longest time, just scanned my face like he could peel apart the layers of that last sentence I’d spoken. I could feel the questions swirling in his head like they were cars racing around me as I stood still in a parking lot. But he didn’t ask a single one of them. Instead, he took another sip of his tea, his eyes falling to where his hands rested on the counter.
“I wish you didn’t.”
My eyes snapped to him, but he didn’t meet my gaze. He just took another tentative sip of his tea before looking across the kitchen and into the living room again. He smiled when he found Rojo, and I turned, smiling, too, when I saw her bone had been abandoned, her eyes closed, legs curled up under her as she rested.