11 Days

DOGS AND SIGNS

The dog shelter was near the lake right in the center of town. An abandoned farm with enough space had become a sanctuary for these animals cruelly treated by life. The barn had been modified and fully equipped with kennels and toys and dog beds so that the canines could spend the night there; by day the dogs had free rein to run and play all day. It was a quiet place to spend the day, even at night it was quite calm. When I got to the small office inside the barn, I found Sam Rowlands organizing the papers on his desk. She was a black woman twice my age with a passion for helping those most in need. When I started coming here as a volunteer, she didn't like me very much because she thought I didn't have the ability to take care of dogs, however over time she changed her mind and now she trusted me blindly. "Good morning, Sammy!" I said dropping my backpack to the ground. She looked up, seemed busy and distracted. "What's going on?"

"There are so many things to do and I don't have time!" she exclaimed with disdain. It was funny for me to see her this way because she always exaggerated about the smallest things.

“Tell me, Sam, what’s on that head of yours this morning?”

She exhaled and slumped into her old chair. "Did you know we received a substantial donation yesterday?" I couldn't help but hold my smile because I knew where the money had come from. "I never expected so much kindness from a stranger. From the new guy." Sammy opened a drawer on her desk and slid a check face down and nodded in my direction. "Do you know him? Have you seen him?"

"We are actually neighbors; he lives right across the street." I said while flipping the check and what I saw surprised me. There was no trace of the five hundred dollars on the check, well yes ... but no. Six had donated two thousand five hundred dollars to the shelter. "Wow! This is more than I ever expected to see." Who is this man? Where did he come from? "We usually get weekly donations of one hundred dollars and Joey's monthly contribution but this ... is a lot of money."

“I know! I can’t believe it. When he came in here and handed me the check with a letter I was,” she seemed at loss for words for a few seconds, “I was so confused and then elated by his gesture!”

“Okay? So… what’s the problem?”

“I have to go to the bank today and also have an interview with a new volunteer scheduled for lunch time and I need to go pick up the food for our babies here.”

“I can do the interview.” I offered feeling more than competent to do so. I had been working here for four years now and I knew my way around just fine. “You can go do whatever you’re planning on doing and getting done for today and I’ll manage things here. You know you can trust me.”

Sam's gaze became one full of gratitude, sometimes I thought of her as a sweet mother duck who made sure that all the ducklings followed her without falling down a sewer. Quiet Gate was a whole family of ducklings and Joey and Sam were the only adult ducks in charge of all of us. From time to time it didn't hurt to give them a hand. "You are a piece of joy, my girl!" she took her bag and hung it across her chest. "I'm going, be good." It amused me great deal whenever she told me to be good. In a way, she had become my mother; If my actual mother found out that another woman was that important to me, she would send me to the moon and leave me there forever.

When I heard Sam's car drive away from the farm, I grabbed my backpack off the ground and jogged outside where the dogs were playing in the fenced off area. "Hi my loves!" I yelled at them vigorously as I picked up my pace. When they became aware of my presence, all twenty dogs rushed into the mesh. Some jumped and others just wagged their tails; then there was my favorite, Gus. Gus was our old Labrador and he was the one who pretty much made the rules here. From the first time I saw him, I fell in love with him. Many times, I considered asking Sam to let me adopt him, but my schedule didn't allow it. For me it was much better to spend the whole day with him on the farm and he had no problem with that. "Hello, Gus! I missed you” My voice came out high-pitched, like I was talking to a baby. Why did humans speak with stupid voices to dogs? “Back off, kids.” I yelled at them as I dug into my purse and pointed at them with a water gun and sprayed them. Most of the dogs moved backwards and I took my chance to unlock the gate and get in with them. The fenced area was wide enough to hold the pups here with a wide variety of other toys, slides and a couple of kiddy pools. “Are you boys hungry?”

One of my main tasks was to feed them breakfast when I arrived. Every morning before Sam put the dogs in here, she emptied the food into a huge plastic container, and I served it on a log that we had carved for everyone to eat from there. Once they finished eating, I filled the plastic container with the hose, and they drank from there. Once I finished with the first task, I started to collect all the toys from the grass and put them in a basket knowing perfectly that they would soon take them out again. I emptied the water from the pools too, washed them and refilled with fresh water.

Gus finished eating quite fast and came bouncing to me shortly after. His round face was almost pale yellow now from old age. “Do you want to go to the lake with me today?” I whispered at him and held onto his collar to guide him with me out of the fence. The other dogs were to full and sleepy from eating and drinking too much; they didn’t even notice me slipping out.

Unfortunately for me, Gus was also very tired of being a world class glutton as he preferred to seek the comfort of his cage inside the barn and take a nap. "If that is what you want." With nothing else to do I followed Gus and covered him with blankets, making sure he didn't get cold. I remembered that today a volunteer would come for an interview, so I started to clean the cages of the other dogs. It took me about an hour to get everything settled and smelling faintly of lavender. When I headed into the office to take five minutes, I heard the bell ringing outside the barn. "I'm coming!" I yelled as I ran towards the entrance and gasped when I arrived. “Are you coming to drop more donations?”

Six was there smiling at me holding a manilla envelope between his hands. His legs were clad in worn denim pants and a simple black v-neck t-shirt.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, tilting my head. When he handed me the envelope I knew right away. “You’re our volunteer?” My brows drew together. “Sam told me about you making the donation, but she didn’t tell me about you coming here to volunteer.”  As expected, he pulled out his small notepad and flipped it towards me once he was done scribbling.

I sent her an email.

“How do you have her email?” I was starting to feel a big hole being drilled in my stomach.

She gave me her card yesterday.

“Of course, she did, sorry. It’s just… weird.” I cleared my throat in an effort to go past my lack of oversight. “Why do you want to volunteer here?”

Is this how the interview is going to be?

“Oh! Right! My apologies, please come in. Follow me.”

Could I be any dumber?