by K. T. Tomb
“What’s a shoulder tag?” Shadow asked.
Both dogs laughed, and Lila spoke. “Wow, you have been out for a while. How long has it been since you’ve had a family? You look pretty well fed. You need a bath and a brushing of course, but you look as if you’ve eaten as recently as yesterday. If you’re lost, then who’s been feeding you?”
Shadow considered the words she spoke. “I don’t understand. I hunt.”
They didn’t make sense to her, but the other dog nodded along and listened intently when she stopped her questioning, waiting to hear the answer. Shadow was not sure how much he wanted to share with his new acquaintances, so he walked over to his bowls. The water smelled mostly like water, a little stale compared to the fresh creeks and lakes he was used to. But he sensed no danger and drank.
“Where are our manners?” Lila exclaimed. “Gilroy, he’s probably starving. We should let him be until he gets oriented. Listen, honey,” she said, turning back to Shadow. “If you have any questions, any questions at all, you just ask Aunt Lila, okay?”
Shadow glanced at her, nodded to alleviate her maternal gaze and perhaps offer himself a bit of silence. His head hurt a little and he hoped that maybe a bit of water and some food would help. This place looked and felt completely strange to him. He didn’t know what to do. As far as he could tell, the cage couldn’t be breached. He sniffed at the strange substance in the bowl before him. It smelled somewhat like something that may have been meat at one point in time. But finally, hunger overcame him and he ventured a small bite. It seemed palatable, but, by no means, any comparison to anything he had eaten in the past. Once his stomach felt satisfied, he looked through the bars to see what the surrounding room looked like.
Next to him on either side were the dogs that he had already met. Lila had curled up on the small pillow in the corner of her own cage. Gilroy stood with his nose pressed against the bars along the path between the cages, his tongue lolled out and eyes darting back and forth, as if waiting for something. Shadow couldn’t guess what he could possibly be waiting for.
Beyond each of them, he could see more dogs, all different shapes and sizes. Each of them seemed occupied with their own activity, as if they existed on their own. Some of them barked seemingly at nothing, while others slept and others played. Some had small toys that they tossed about in the small space. Shadow remained baffled as he looked around. What was this place? How could the other dogs exist with such a seeming acceptance of the sounds and horrible smells of their spaces? In fact, this place was the worst thing he had ever smelled, and that included the breath of buzzards.
Shadow paced back and forth. Whatever had been in that sting to his hip had obviously made him fall asleep for a while. He had noticed when he had awakened that he had a strange strap fastened tightly around his neck. A small metal circle hung down onto his chest. He found it rather annoying but he had noticed that all of the others had a similar contraption wrapped around their necks. He shook his head, wondering if that action would loosen it in any way, but it remained firmly attached. The barking at the far end of the room increased as some commotion happened. The door at the far end of the pathway had opened, and Shadow could tell right away that humans had entered the space. He pulled himself back into the far back edge of the cage, in an attempt to hide.
Lila gushed, “Look lively. Now’s our chance.”
“Our chance for what?” Shadow asked, cutting his eyes in her direction. She stood at attention with her tail wagging. Shadow thought the wagging was to such an excess that he was not sure if she could remain standing.
“To find a family!” she said. “If you’ve got a tail, wag it.”
“I have a family. My pack.”
“I’m talking about a human family, son. It’s time to turn on the charm!” She hopped about the cage, shaking her ears and never ceasing the tail-wagging.
He looked over to exchange a sympathetic glance with Gilroy, only to find him in much the same state. The humans continued down the hallway, stopping at each cage and peering through to whatever canine stayed within. All of them, Shadow noticed were running in circles, jumping, placing paws on the bars of the cages, but the element that baffled Shadow the most was that each of them seemed desperate for the attentions of the humans. He placed his own chin down on his paws. What sort of place had he found himself in?
“My family is in the forest,” he mumbled to no one in particular. He felt certain that no one would hear him in the havoc. He watched as the mayhem continued, finally drifting off to sleep, despite the noise.
Chapter Seven
Shadow could tell by the darkness of the room that night had come.
Many of the dogs in this strange place had fallen asleep. Shadow stood up and stretched. After examining his cage and determining that it remained remarkably unchanged, he decided to try something. Ever since he had been taken from the forest, he had lost the mind link to the pack. He felt it fade away, the further the vehicle had gone, and now that he had a moment of near-silence in which to contemplate his situation, he felt the profound loss of the connection.
After a quick visit to the water bowl, he sat down on the cold floor next to the pillow. He didn’t like to sit on it, as it smelled like other dogs, most likely those who had come before him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He pictured in his mind a light emanating from his forehead, reaching out to the others.
He tried his best to see Mother resting in the den, her watchful eyes roaming the space outside the opening. He saw in his mind’s eye, Alpha pacing the grove, pressing the grass into a flat carpet with his large padded feet. Shadow tried to touch their minds with his own, but the distance was just too great. He opened his eyes and placed his chin on his paws, wondering if he would ever see his family again.
Hello.
Shadow lifted his head and looked around. Seeing and hearing nothing, he lay his head back down.
Hello, are you there?
He didn’t know where the sound was coming from. Not really even a sound, just a presence in his mind somehow.
Hello. The nudge came again.
Shadow had no idea where it could be coming from. Tentatively, he tried to offer a mental response. Who are you?
Who are you? the little voice replied. You reached out to me, remember?
I was trying to reach my family, Shadow replied. Wait a second, are you here? Where are you?
Where does your family live?
In the forest, he replied. What is your name?
What’s a forest?
What do you mean, ‘What’s a forest?’ Don’t you know?
No, I don’t have a family yet. I came here with my littermates. I don’t know very much.
Littermates? What’s your name, little one? Shadow asked again.
There was a long silence. Shadow had begun to think that the connection had somehow been broken. The rustling of dogs moving here and there, an occasional whine, the sound of a metal bowl scooting across the cement floor. All sounds could be heard except the small voice. He peered around, trying to see through the bars to the other dogs within the compound. Was she there somewhere, he wondered. Was she within the walls of this room? He had nearly given up. He couldn’t reach his family, perhaps he could no longer reach this connection either.
Ula.
Finally, his answer came.
My name is Ula.
Chapter Eight
Shadow awoke the next morning when another human female came in and turned on the lights. As soon as the lights came on, a large commotion of barking and chaos began once more. The human walked to the far end of the row and opened a cage, taking the dog out of the cage with a lead and walking back down the hall. A few minutes later, the human and dog returned. She repeated the process with the next dog in the row, opening the cage, taking out the dog and leaving, only to return a few minutes later. One by one, she came down the row, closer and closer to Shadow’s cage. He wondered what he would do once she reached him. Maybe this could
be an opportunity to try to get out. To where he didn’t know, but he knew he had to try.
Good morning.
The intrusion into his mind startled him and reminded him of the mental connection he had made the night before. Not knowing the origin of the little voice disoriented him and made him feel frustrated, which she must have sensed. He felt a trill of laughter and another reply.
I’m three cages behind you to the left.
Shadow turned and stretched his vision as far as he could through the disorienting bars, which seemed to weave together, making it difficult to get a clear view. He wondered briefly why he had not made a connection with Lila or Gilroy. They both still lay sleeping in their respective cages, despite the growing din of the waking dogs.
Shadow paced the small space. Finally, he caught a glimpse of a small black and white dog standing at the edge of her cage. She looked at him, tail wagging, tongue out with a relaxed expression on her face.
Ula, is that you? he said, reaching out with his mind.
It is me. She spun in a circle, the pace of her wagging increasing, once she caught sight of him.
What’s happening? he asked. Where is the human taking the dogs?
Just the morning walk. That’s all. The human takes all the dogs out, one at a time, to go up and down the path. Then back again. It’s kind of nice to be out of this room.
Is there a way out?
Why would you want to get out?
I have to get back to my family.
Oh, you have a family. I see.
Her thoughts took on a tone of sadness at the suggestion of a family. Their conversation was cut short, however, because at that moment the human female opened the cage door and locked the end of the leash onto Shadow’s collar. Before he made it out the door, he received one last warning from Ula.
Just go along with everything for now. Don’t fight the human. No one is going to hurt you....
The next thing Shadow knew, he was quickly led through the open door and into a hallway. The walls and floor didn’t look much different than those inside, but he saw sunlight streaming through the small windows on a double door at the far end of the corridor. It was toward this double door that they walked.
Shadow took a moment to consider the scent of this human. She was one that he had not seen before, and she exuded confidence and a sense of comfort toward the animals. He could tell that she didn’t intend to hurt any of them. He became curious, as his thoughts tumbled together in an attempt to make sense of all of it, why someone who seemed to care about the dogs would stand by while they lived in cages, kept away from each other or from going outside.
When they arrived at the door, the human female pushed open one side with her hip and led him out with a careful tug on the leash. He considered Ula’s last bit of advice and walked forward, letting the human guide him.
They stepped into a courtyard that was covered in grass and surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. He wouldn’t be able to get over that. He had once seen Thunder clear a stand of wood and wondered if his old pack mate would find a way over this fence, but a pang of sadness made him push the thought out of his head.
Briefly, he wondered what his pack—especially Snow, Chase, and Blue—might be up to at this moment. The human reached down and with another click, unhooked the leash. Shadow stood for a moment, unsure what to do next. The female snapped a sharp but friendly command at him, one that he didn’t recognize. He turned his gaze up to her to see if he could figure out what she wanted, and when he did so, she threw something quickly across the space. Shadow followed the item with his eyes, a small round object that bounced and rolled ahead of them. He only found it mildly interesting. It wasn’t prey, so why bother?
A large blue jay flew into view and perched atop the fencing around the courtyard to watch and mock him. As jays did.
“She wants you to run after it,” the jay chirped in a mocking, almost sarcastic tone.
“Run after it?” Shadow replied.
“Yeah,” he said, tossing his crested head. “Chase it and take it back to her. If you humor her, they are more likely to treat you fairly. You have the look of ‘wildness’ all over you. Those of us who know it can see it on you, but the humans might just think of you as a problem dog. You need to learn to play the part of a friendly dog.”
Play the part, the bird had said. Go along with everything, Ula had told him. This whole place seemed strange to him, but he thought perhaps these other animals had been there far longer and may have gained some wisdom for survival.
“Why are you helping me?” he asked the bird.
The blue jay cocked his head to the side and let out a loud screech that may have sounded like laughter. “For my own amusement.” With that, he raised his wings and fluttered off. Free.
Shadow considered his choices. The human had been making soothing, clucking sounds and waving her arms toward the ball where it had rolled to a stop, not far from the edge of the courtyard.
Shadow took a breath. He took off in a light sprint. He grasped the ball in his teeth and returned it to the human, dropping it at her feet in much the same way he had remembered the older pack members dropping food in front of Mother when she had still been nursing the pups. To his great surprise, the human female exclaimed with a joyful voice and placed her hands behind his ears, scratching and rubbing at his fur. He had never felt anything like that before. It felt… glorious.
For the first time since he had been taken from the forest, he felt a moment of happiness.
Was that all it took? A scratch of the ears? He felt ashamed, as if he were betraying himself by enjoying her touch.
She picked up the ball and threw it again. This time, Shadow followed its trajectory and caught it at almost the same time that it landed. He returned it to the human and was pleased when she scratched his ears once more. They played the game for a little while. He did something for her and then, she did something for him. He fetched. She praised and scratched his ears. Then she took him back on the leash and led him around the other side of the building.
Right away, Shadow could tell by the overlapping scents of this new patch of grass that the human intended for him to relieve himself here. His mind reeled with confusion. Many dogs had done so, despite the clear message that whoever had been here first had claimed the plot as their own. Shadow hesitated, but it had been a while and he did need to answer the call of nature. He glanced at the leash around his neck. The human seemed to be waiting for him to do something.
He gingerly took a step forward, careful to avoid any movements that might soil his feet with the dirt of another dog. Finally, he found a small corner in which he could do what he needed to do. He desperately wished that the human would give him some privacy, as he didn’t care for an audience even outside of his species. Her presence added to his humiliation, but he avoided her eyes as he crouched to relieve himself.
Back inside the building, he was placed back in his cage. He noticed that the food and water had been refilled. He glanced around.
Lila had awakened on her pillow. Gilroy had gone with the human woman, as he was next in line. Shadow made a brief reconnect with Ula across the way and waited to see what would happen next.
Hours seemed to pass by. Besides the idle chit-chat with the others, Shadow thought that the boredom would overcome him. He had slept as much as he could, but there seemed to be no other way to pass the time. Once he had returned from outside, the noisy din of the room had ruined any attempt to reconnect with Ula, and he wondered what sort of life she had prior to coming to this place. Perhaps he would ask her tonight if they connected again after the quiet of night fell on the room. Little did he know that the chance would never come.
After all of the dogs had been taken out and brought back again, Shadow noticed that other humans started to come into the room. Some came alone, others came in small groups, many with small human-cubs with them. Each time one of these groups came into the room, the other dogs would fall into such a no
isy frenzy that Shadow wondered a bit at their sanity. No Alpha quieted them. Not even a human one.
The human man arrived about mid-afternoon. Shadow recognized him immediately when the female human let him through the door. They walked to his cage and exchanged some words. He watched, cautious but curious at what might happen. This was the same man that he had seen in the forest, in what felt like ages ago. It had only been days, Shadow realized.
Once more, the female human reached inside and clipped the leash on his collar. Shadow’s instinct made him want to pull against the offending binding, but he recalled the advice of his friends again and followed along when led out of the cage. They returned down the path to the door into the hallway. Only this time, instead of turning toward the double door to the courtyards, they went the other way into a bright sunlit room that seemed to have fresh air in it.
The female handed the leash to the man and gave him a shoulder bag that sagged under the weight of the contents. He hitched the bag onto his shoulder and said a few friendly-sounding words to Shadow.
Shadow followed the man out the door and back into the same vehicle that had taken him from the forest.
The idea crossed his mind that perhaps he would be returned to the forest, returned to his home and family. However, it was not to be. The vehicle followed a different path, stopping finally in front of a large house. A distant memory flickered but vanished just as quickly at the sight of the human’s building.
The man spoke to him in a constant, friendly stream of sounds that Shadow, of course, couldn’t understand. He was led inside the door of the house. Strange sights and smells greeted his senses. The man led him through the house, down carpeted hallways and back again.
A small area containing many human items—long sticks with strange thick hair on one end—also contained two bowls similar to those from the shelter. These were filled with water and a pile of small meat-scented pellets. Food. In his mind, he found amusement at what these humans must think about what dogs preferred to eat.