Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Pooch was so excited to see Brady, he couldn’t help but laugh as the little guy squirmed in his arms and licked his face. He was glad he already had the leash attached to his collar so he could set him down. Even then, the dog jumped up and down, pawing at his leg, wanting so badly to have Brady’s full attention.

He did--for the moment. Noelle was getting her coat and gloves on and said she was going to get Blacky from his cage to take him for a quick walk. She wouldn’t be able to be away from the front for too long since there were no volunteers to help anyone that might come in, but the fact that she was going to spend a few moments walking with them in the back of the shelter had Brady smiling widely as he stooped to pet Pooch.

She sure had a way of helping him get his thoughts together. When he’d come into the shelter with her lunch in hand, he’d had an idea that there was something they could do to help solve the town’s problems, but it wasn’t until he’d actually talked things through with Noelle that he actually formulated those subconscious thoughts into potential solutions. While she was right in thinking it would be a long shot to convince Mayor Jenkins to go along with his suggestions, he might be able to get the town council to agree, and they were the most important people anyway. They were the ones who got a vote, not the mayor. Still, Jenkins was influential and might be able to sway the council members to see things his way. He’d need to figure out a way to talk Jenkins into this plan--one way or another.

“You all right?” Noelle asked, stepping through the door with a medium-sized black dog whose paws indicated he still had some growing to do.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Brady stood and tried not to grin too widely at her. She looked just gorgeous in a white coat and matching hat and gloves.

She widened her eyes at him but didn’t say anything about the look on his face. “Hi, Pooch! Are you ready to go for a walk?”

The black and white dog hopped up and down, spinning around in a circle on his leash. This drew Blacky’s attention. Still a puppy, and not knowing his own size, he wanted to get in on Pooch’s celebration, but when Noelle saw that he might hurt the smaller dog, she pulled back on his leash. “No, Blacky,” she said in a stern but not unfriendly voice. “Down.”

Blacky didn’t seem to have any idea what any of those words meant, except for maybe his name, but since she tugged on his leash, he had no choice but to leave the smaller dog alone. Brady headed toward the door, bringing Pooch with him, and Noelle followed at a distance, giving Blacky some space. A whimper from Goldie’s cage had her stopping to reassure the little dog. “I’m sorry, girl. You’ll get to go again soon.”

Outside, the crisp winter air cleared Brady’s mind and quickened his pace as he let Pooch lead the way. The little dog seemed to love the cold air, or maybe he just wanted to be outside. He skipped and danced as he walked, letting out an occasional happy bark.

Noelle didn’t walk right beside him this time, probably because Blacky was determined to interfere with Pooch’s course. Instead, she kept a few feet away from him, pulling back on the leash as Blacky attempted to drag her across the yard. It was clear she knew how to handle a dog on a leash, even an energetic young dog who wanted to be in charge.

“So how do we go about organizing people to help improve the Christmas situation?” Brady asked as they made their way toward the back of the yard. They were moving at a quicker pace than they had the day before since Blacky was much bigger and rambunctious than Goldie, and he was certainly setting the pace.

“Well, I was just thinking, I know someone who has an awful lot of extra time on her hands, loves Christmas, and knows just about everyone in this town.” Noelle had a twinkle in her eye that brought a smile to his face.

“You wouldn’t happen to be talking about one Doris Snow, would you?” he asked just as Pooch bounded up into the air and did a little skippy, jump thing that made him laugh. He loved to see how happy the little dog was. It hurt his heart to know he’d be back in a kennel soon and would have to stay there for most of the day.

“Yeah, that’s exactly who I was thinking of. She and her friends who hang out at the Hair Port on Saturdays would be a great group of ladies to organize things. Of course, Christmas is just three weeks away, so they’d have to work quickly. How fast do you think you could get the city council to approve what we’ve talked about?”

“That’s a good question,” Brady admitted. “It won’t be easy. Maybe we should ask for a public hearing on the matter of bringing back the Christmas decorations, tree lighting, and incorporating a Christmas arts and crafts fair. Really, how much would that cost the city? It can’t be much.”

“I wouldn’t think so. We’d need to get the word out to neighboring towns as well, attract some crafters with large followings who will bring people in to shop.”

“A strong social media following would be great.”

Noelle nodded in agreement. “We do pretty well on FB and IG because who doesn’t like cute animals? But I’m not sure how well that will carry over into general excitement for the other events you just named.” They’d reached the end of the yard and turned back. As if they instinctually recognized that they’d have to return to their kennels when they got back to the shelter, Blacky and Pooch slowed down quite a bit, though they were still scampering about.

“We can use pictures of the available dogs to help draw people in. If you still have Pooch by then, I’m sure he’ll be very popular.” Brady gave her a reassuring smile.

“I don’t think we will,” Noelle said, studying the little dog. “I haven’t been able to find his owners yet, but when I post his picture, I get dozens of comments from people saying they’d like to be notified when he is available. People from all over the state and some neighboring ones have responded to the little guy.”

Brady kept his smile, but it faltered slightly as he thought about that. It would be a happy day when Pooch went home with his new family, but at the same time, he would absolutely miss the little dog. He was so sweet and lovable--even if he did have a habit of stealing people’s keepsake scarves.

“You do have first right of refusal, though, you know?” Noelle added, obviously seeing him stare at the little dog.

Brady looked up at her. “Oh, right. Well, I doubt I’ll have a place to live in a week and a half when he’s able to be sprang from jail.”

“Ha! It’s hardly jail,” Noelle said with a chuckle, knowing he was just kidding. “But I understand what you mean. I haven’t heard of any houses for rent. Did you get a chance to talk to my friend, the realtor?”

“No, not yet.” Brady tried to make a mental note that he needed to do that. “I will, though.”

“You could also check with Rob and his wife to see if they would mind if you kept him there for a little while, until you found a place to stay.”

The thought had occurred to Brady, but he didn’t want to seem ungrateful to the couple that had gone to so much trouble to give him a place to stay when they didn’t have to. “That’s possible, I suppose,” Brady said.

They were nearly back to the building now. Brady felt his spirits dropping as he realized not only would he have to say goodbye to Pooch, he’d have to say goodbye to Noelle, too. He didn’t want to leave either of them, and he certainly didn’t want to go speak to Mayor Jenkins about the ideas they’d come up with. Perhaps he shouldn’t start with the head honcho. There were other people on the council who might be more willing to listen. He immediately thought of Martha. “Does your mother know Martha Davis well?”

“Martha?” Noelle said with a small grin. “Yeah, of course. They went to school together. Martha is part of the Hair Port brigade. It hasn’t done the shelter any good, but it might help with this. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Perfect,” Brady said, feeling a bit more lively than he had a moment ago. “I think I know where to start.”

Noelle chuckled and nodded in agreement as Brady pulled the door open.

Pooch refused to go in. While Blacky went bounding inside without thinking, the puppy in him not allowing him to reason through the situation quite as thoroughly as the older dog had, Pooch held fast at the door, not budging.

“Come on, buddy,” Noelle said, patting on her leg and calling him in with kissing sounds. Pooch didn’t move.

With a chuckle, Brady reached down and scooped the little dog up. He whimpered and nuzzled against Brady’s neck, licking his chin. “I know, Pooch. I know. But… I’ll come and see you soon. I promise.”

The dog continued to protest as Brady carried him to his kennel, placed him inside, removed his leash, petted his head, and then closed the cage. The dog gave one last whine and laid down.

“You’ll be home with a family soon, Poochy,” Noelle promised. She pet his nose and gave Goldie one last pet as well before taking Blacky to his kennel.

Brady followed along. “Where does Blacky live?” he asked, as if it were an apartment he had all to himself.

Noelle sighed as she turned left and went down a row of kennels he hadn’t seen yet. “We keep the big black dogs together,” she said, approaching a large kennel to the side, near the cat cages.

“Why is that?” Brady asked as she paused in front of the largest cage he’d seen yet. Inside, several black dogs, most of them forty or fifty pounds or more, many with gray or white patches around their snouts and eyes, started back at him.

“They have a much smaller chance of ever getting adopted,” she explained. It was clear from her expression that she was heartbroken about the situation. “Not only do people prefer smaller dogs, they tend to think that black dogs are more aggressive. It’s called Black Dog Syndrome. Some people say it’s just a myth, but as you can see, it’s true here.”

Looking at the sad faces gazing back at him made Brady want to cry. They all looked so sad, like they’d just given up on life. “Why do you keep them all together?”

“So that they can bond, rely on one another,” she replied. “I still think Blacky has a good chance of being adopted. He’s young, and I think he may be a full-blooded lab. But just in case, I want him to have friends in here, like Samson, Zeke, and Beau.” She pointed at three of the larger older dogs as she spoke.

“They’re like mentor dogs?” Brady clarified.

“Exactly,” she said with a smile. She opened the kennel and took Blacky’s leash off, motioning him inside. A few of the other dogs came over to her, and she petted their heads. One of them, which looked a little like a German Shepherd to Brady, though darker, squeezed his way past Noelle enough so that Brady could reach over and pat his head. The dog nuzzled against his hand, so happy for the attention.

Noelle backed out and closed the kennel, sighing again, and shaking her head slightly as she took in the dogs in the cage. He could tell she felt it in her soul, the pain and sadness these dogs felt.

Brady wanted to reach out to her, embrace her, let her rest her head on his shoulder the way that Pooch had before. The chime of the door brought her attention, and Brady remembered he had plenty of work he needed to do that day. He’d already taken his full hour for lunch, possibly a little more, and he needed to get on this Christmas relaunch idea.

“Thanks for coming,” Noelle said, as she headed for the door.

Brady followed. “Thank you,” he replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

She grinned at him, despite the fact that she could see the person at the door now, a woman with a cat she likely wanted to turn in. “I hope so,” she said to Brady, and he grinned back.