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The dog was older, probably about seven or eight years old. She was beautiful, though the black in her fur was greying. She limped, probably due to hip dysplasia in her hind legs. It was a common occurrence for German Shepherds and a bunch of other breeds. Maggie sighed and stopped for a moment to stick her fingers through the cage and gently pet the dog for a moment.
They'd had the dog in the shelter for more than two weeks, and no one seemed interested in an older dog who seemed to not be in full health. She also didn't seem to be fixed — there were no scars. When abandoned puppies or younger, more energetic dogs were available, a dog like this old girl had really very little chance of being adopted.
Maggie didn't have the room for such a big dog, even one who likely wouldn't have a ton of energy. She lived in a small apartment and a dog like this needed a yard, at the very least. Still, she'd made up her mind. If no one adopted her today, she'd have no choice but to take her home. She wasn't going to let her get put down just for being old. It was one of the many policies of the shelter that she disagreed with, but the organization couldn't afford to hold on to unadoptable pets for long. She'd argued with her boss and gotten two more days for the old girl, but it was already past three on the second day. Time was running out.
As people wandered around the cages, she'd kept bringing their attention to the older dog. She'd watched, over the last couple weeks, kids pointing to puppies, even avowed dog people adopting cats instead of the German Shepherd. This was her last chance, and Maggie had accepted that it was up to her to save the dog.
Until the woman walked in.
She was breathtaking. Tall, well, taller than Maggie, though that wasn't hard to do, she was slender, with reddish-brown hair that fell into her face. She had dark eyes that didn't seem to miss anything, taking everything in as she wandered through the room, examining each animal in the cage. Maggie stood back, leaning against the doorframe to the inner office, her arms folded across her chest, watching this woman move. She was wearing dressy clothes, so she was probably just coming in from work.
Maggie usually enjoyed guessing with herself as to why someone was at the shelter. Dog? Cat? Bird? Just looking? She found herself unable to guess why this woman was looking carefully at each animal. Most people who came in had an idea as to which kind of animal they wanted. Checking out each animal was unusual. Someone would more likely look at each dog or each cat or each bird. She watched the woman crouch down at the cage next to the German Shepherd, where a youthful mixed dog was whining. The woman held out her hand for the whining dog to sniff and laughed as it licked the offered appendage. Maggie smiled to herself. It was a nice laugh.
She saw the woman move on to the German Shepherd's cage and do the same. The old dog didn't really react, and Maggie's heart broke. If the dog didn't show some kind of enthusiasm, who would adopt her?
The woman scratched the dog through the cage and spoke to her in low, quiet tones. Maggie couldn't make anything out and sighed as the woman moved on and, eventually, out the door to the stairs that led to the lobby. A swing and a miss, apparently.
Maggie walked back into the room and knelt by the German Shepherd's cage. "Hey, girl," she whispered. "Looks like it'll probably be you and me, huh?" She petted the dog gently. It was clear to Maggie that the dog's spirit was broken. Whatever had happened to her, she seemed docile and gentle enough, but wasn't particularly happy or energetic.
She sighed and went back to the office to do some paperwork.
About five, half an hour before closing, someone knocked on the door frame of the office, interrupting Maggie's work. She turned and looked up. It was the woman from earlier.
"Hey," she said.
"Uh, hi," Maggie replied. "Can, uh, can I do something for you?"
"Yeah, I think I'd like to adopt one of your dogs here, if that's okay?"
She nodded, betting herself she would be adopting the mixed dog. "Sure. Which one?"
The woman walked over to the cage with the German Shepherd. "I was thinking about this one. Can you tell me anything about her?"
Maggie smiled. "Sure, yeah. Uh, she's not fixed, so that's something to know. We figure she's about seven or eight. She may have a case of hip dysplasia, which is super common in German Shepherds. Oh, and she's at least paper-trained, so there's that. I wouldn't be surprised if someone trained her to go outdoors too."
The woman nodded. "Is she sick? She seems pretty low-energy, you know, for a German Shepherd."
Maggie shook her head and walked over and crouched down. "Nah, she's in good health. We gave her all her shots." She scratched the dog through the bars. "I think she's maybe just sad."
"Oh no, was she abused?" the woman asked, crouching down herself and petting the dog too.
"I don't think so," Maggie said, "we'd see more hostile behaviour if abuse was a factor. Maybe neglected."
The woman smiled sadly. "Well, I've been wanting to get a dog for a while and I think she and I might have some stuff in common."
"Oh?"
The woman looked up at her, an eyebrow raised.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," Maggie said. "Do you want me to open up the cage and you can play with her a bit?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice."
Maggie pulled the key from her chain at her hip and unlocked the cage. "C'mon, girl," she encouraged.
The Shepherd lumbered out and sniffed the other woman.
"Yeah, there ya go," the woman smiled, still crouching. She ran her hands around the dog's neck, coming up behind her ears and scratching them gently, getting a small lick on the face in return.
"Hey, she likes you. Her tail's wagging," Maggie pointed out.
"Well, I like her too." She looked up at Maggie. "Any idea what her name might be?"
She shook her head. "Not sure. Someone who found her dropped her off here. No chip, no collar, no tags, nothing."
"Poor old girl," the woman said, nuzzling the dog's neck. "We'll have to get you a good name, won't we?"
"Here, let's put her back in for a minute and do the paperwork," Maggie said.
"Sure." The woman scratched the dog's ears again and let Maggie lead her back into the cage. "I'll be right back, girl," she promised.
Maggie took the woman to the office and handed her a form to fill out while she did her own preparation.
"So it's $125?" the woman asked.
"Yep, she's an older dog and we tend to drop the price to help make sure they're not put down." Maggie brought out a large collar. "Ten bucks more for the collar, since I'm guessing you don't have one."
"You got me," she smiled. "Got a leash?"
"Uh, yeah, I have a small one. You'll want to get a good one from a real pet shop." She walked over and pulled out a leash that was meant for a much smaller dog. "For real, before you take her for a long walk or something, get a new one." She put the leash on the counter.
"How much for that?"
"Consider it a loan, you can drop it off when you've bought a more appropriate one."
"Thanks, that's nice of you," she smiled, and Maggie felt her heart skip a beat.
"Sure thing." She pulled the paper over and skimmed it. "All right, Ms. uh, Danvers, I—"
"Oh, call me Alex. Please," she said.
Maggie smiled at her. "Of course. Alex. Great. So, uh, she's had an exam, and she's in good health. She's had all her shots, we tested for heartworm, and she's fine. All you'll need is to get her fixed, if that's what you'd like to do, and chipped."
"And I can get that done here?"
"Sure, or at a vet."
"Cool, sounds good." She paused. "I suppose I'm going to have to get food and stuff, huh?"
"Uh, if you don't mind my asking… is this, uh, an impulse?" Sudden concern for the dog crept into Maggie's mind. She desperately hoped this Alex woman wasn't a complete idiot, just walking into a shelter to pick up a dog on a whim.
Alex blew out a breath. "Kind of. I mean, I know what goes into having a dog. Exercise, routines, playtime, like I get it. I know what to expect."
"But?"
"But my sister said I should look at shelters and see if I felt a connection with a dog," she said, quietly. "And I wasn't exactly expecting to feel a connection with a dog, you know? Especially not on my first day of looking. And not at the first shelter I stopped at."
"Oh, so that's where you went? To other shelters?"
She nodded, smiling. "Stopped in, found her, then said I was being silly, but no other dog in like, four other shelters, connected with me. Not like her."
Any possible misgivings Maggie had about Alex being unprepared and wanting to adopt a dog for the sake of it vanished in that moment, and her heart melted.
"You doing anything right now?" she asked.
"You mean apart from adopting a dog?" she joked.
"Yeah, like, no plans for tonight?"
"My life, such as it is, currently revolves around work. And my sister. And my soon-to-be dog, I guess."
"Do you trust me?"
She looked at Maggie, frowning. "I might be more inclined to do so if I knew your name."
"Right, that's fair," she laughed. "Hi," she said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Maggie. Maggie Sawyer." She smiled, showing off her dimples. "Do you trust me?"
Alex narrowed her eyes at her for a moment. "Okay. Sure."
"Great. Here, I'll take the payment now and then we can get out of here."
"We?"
"We," Maggie affirmed.
***
Two hours later, after an extended trip to PetSmart, Maggie, Alex and the dog arrived at Alex's house. It was a smallish house that she lived in by herself, but it had a nice yard. It also was just a few minutes away from a park with an enclosed dog run. Maggie approved. She got out of her car and grabbed three full bags of pet supplies from the back of her car. She decided to leave the huge bag of dog food for the next trip. She'd offered to put everything in her car so Alex could just worry about the dog.
Maggie walked up to the front door and deposited the three bags on the doorstep. Meanwhile, Alex brought the dog into the kitchen where she could close the door to keep her from escaping. She was just coming back with the dog food when Alex returned to grab the bags.
"Oh, here, let me take the dog food," she said.
"I got it, it's fine," Maggie argued. "Where do you want me to put it down?"
"Uh, maybe over there?" she pointed.
"You got it," she said, and walked into the house, carefully lowering the 30 pound bag to the floor by the kitchen door. She stood up and saw Alex had brought in the remaining three bags. The contents consisted of everything from toys to lint rollers, from a dog brush to two bowls for the dog. She smiled. "Uh, again, I'd like to apologize to your wallet. You didn't absolutely have to buy everything I suggested, you know."
"I figure you know what you're talking about," she said, setting the bags down. "Uh, thanks, um, for coming with me. I was like, okay, could use a bowl, a leash, some food…"
"Well, thank you for adopting her. It, uh… I probably would have adopted her tonight myself if you hadn't."
"Oh no, did… did you want her?" Alex looked upset. "Did I take her from you? Please, take her if that's the case."
"No, no," she smiled. "It's okay. It's just that we'd had her a couple of weeks and no one was adopting her and… I couldn't stand the thought of her being put down."
Alex's eyes widened. "They were going to put her down?"
"Yeah. The shelter doesn't have to do it often, thankfully, but these older dogs, you know?"
"Wow." She looked up at Maggie. "And you were going to adopt her?"
"I would have had to," she chuckled. "Me, in my tiny apartment, with a huge dog like that." She rolled her eyes at herself.
"That would have been a really wonderful thing to do, Maggie," she said.
She felt herself blushing a bit. "I… really, I wouldn't have had a choice."
"You would have. And that you think you didn't…" Alex exhaled, slowly. "That's lovely."
"Yeah?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She took a breath. "You're lovely."
"Now you're just being nice," she teased and then stopped grinning as Alex took a step towards her.
Maggie closed her eyes as Alex approached, and gently, so gently, kissed her. She returned the kiss in kind, softly exploring the warmth of Alex's mouth.
They pulled away and their eyes met, locked together, perhaps even gazing into one another's soul. "Okay, maybe you're not just being nice," Maggie joked, to alleviate the tension.
"I'm really glad I met you today," she said, and Maggie could feel the sincerity of the words.
"Me too," she answered.
"So, uh…" Alex cleared her throat. "You wanna help me get everything set up for the dog?"
"Sure," she smiled. "Oh, hey, did you come up with a name yet?"
"Maybe. What do you think about Gertrude?"
She laughed. "That would be perfect."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"And you think you'd like to hang out with me and Gertrude, now and then?"
She smiled and leaned in to kiss Alex again. "Definitely."