Because the others had to be back in time for school, Reed dropped everyone else off first before bringing Shay home. At her request, Reed let her and Apollo out at the end of the cul-de-sac she lived on then zoomed away to get home before his own parents woke up.
Shay and Apollo walked the rest of the way to her house and crept into her yard. She had Apollo wait for her just inside the back gate while she scaled the backyard storage shed to reach her bedroom window. She had a plan to explain the dog and hopefully manipulate her parents into letting her keep him. But she was going to have to do a quick wardrobe change first.
After she managed to climb in through the window she quickly changed into running clothes before climbing back out again. Then she and Apollo walked around to the front door and she let them in, making a loud clatter as they did. Their house was a high ranch and as she and the dog climbed up to the main floor she could hear someone moving around in her parents’ room. Moving quickly into the kitchen she took a mixing bowl from the cabinet, filled it with water and placed it on the floor for Apollo who immediately began to drink. She had just finished splashing water on her face to make it seem like she was sweating from her workout when her mother came around the corner dressed in her bathrobe.
“Who’s your friend?” her mom asked without batting an eye. She knew her daughter was an animal lover so she took the presence of a strange dog in her kitchen in stride.
When she was six, Shay had brought home a dove with an injured wing which she had talked her mother into helping her nurse back to health through the winter. They still had the cage, although they had released the bird back into the wild the next spring. Following that there had been a series of “poor” animals Shay had brought home to care for, most of which only stayed for a few days. Her parents had drawn the line however when she wanted to take care of a “sick” raccoon that had wandered into their back yard one day. As far as her mom and dad were concerned the raccoon seemed more ornery than sick. Fortunately, it had wandered on by that afternoon when they left the gate open for it.
After that, her parents had taken the girls to a local rescue shelter and adopted a pair of young Labradors, one for each of them. They had named the dogs Calvin and Hobbes after their favorite comic strip and the dogs had lived with them for more than ten years before passing away, Calvin just last summer.
“Let me guess,” her mom said, as she poured her morning mug of coffee. “He followed you home.”
Shay put on her brightest smile. “As a matter of fact he did. Do you think we can keep him? He’s a really good dog and really smart, too.”
Her mom looked at the dog over the rim of her mug. Apollo had stopped drinking and now sat at Shay’s side, watching. For a moment her mom got the feeling that the dog was sizing her up, although she didn’t feel threatened.
“I don’t know, honey,” her mom said. “You’re away at school for most of the year now and your sister’s going to start college this fall, too. That means dad and I are going to wind up being the ones taking care of him.” Part of the deal they had made to keep the Labradors was that each of the girls had to be responsible for their dog. “Why don’t we see if the shelter will take him? He looks like a pretty young dog. I’m sure somebody will adopt him.”
“Please, mom,” Shay begged, “I don’t think the shelter will take him because they’ll say he’s a ‘vicious breed.’ That just leaves animal control and they’ll put him down after a week if no one takes him.”
Her mom pursed her lips briefly.
“Talk to your father about it,” her mom said as she glanced at the clock. “I need to leave for work soon.”
Shay grinned and gave her mother a big hug. Dad was an even softer touch than mom.
“Just one thing,” her mom added when Shay released her. “We have to make sure no one owns him. I don’t suppose he has a collar.”
“No.” She’d taken it off of him when they stopped to let Matt out. “And I’ve never seen him around here before either. He doesn’t belong to any of our neighbors.”
“Hmm. Well, if dad says it’s okay and we can’t find his owner and he doesn’t have any kind of horrible disease, I guess it will be alright. It was getting kind of quiet around here without the boys, anyway,” she said. Truth be told, she kind of missed their old pets.
“Thanks, mom! He won’t be a problem, I promise.”
Shay looked down at Apollo and motioned him over. “Come say hello, boy.”
Shay quickly telepathed to Apollo that her mom was the ‘alpha female’ of their pack and that she had accepted him. Taking her cue, Apollo walked over to her mom and started licking her hand.
“He does seem friendly,” her mom said, petting his head. Now that he was closer she took a moment to look him over. “He seems pretty clean, but it looks like he’s been in a bit of a scuffle recently.”
You have no idea, Shay thought.
Her mom straightened and headed back down the hall, coffee in hand, to finish getting dressed.
“Since you’re home today, take him to the vet and have him checked out,” she called over her shoulder. “If the vet clears him I’ll talk to your father about it tonight.”
“Thanks mom! I love you!”
Her mom waved with her free hand as she reached her room. “Just make sure you keep him off my furniture.”