Tank  T. DeSimone

Today was Essie’s day.  Tank watched as the Man With The Red Cap brought Essie a special treat for her breakfast.  Essie didn’t eat it, even though it probably could have been one of her favorites if she had ever been given it before today.  Essie knew today was her day.  She could tell by the way the Man With The Red Cap acted; he talked to her a little more than usual.  And the word was out, up and down the run, that it was That Day again. Plus, a few days ago the little red piece of paper had shown up on the door of her cell. Everybody knew what that meant. Essie wondered why they had even waited until Monday to make it ‘her day’.  She was old.  She was black.  She wasn’t pretty and didn’t have any special talent, so she knew this day would come soon.  Essie didn’t mind that today was her day.  She had been happy once, before her sweet owner had gone to sleep and awakened Someplace Else, and she had been loved, and that was all she had ever wanted in her life. And she knew that it being her day was no big thing.  She knew she would just go to sleep, and then wake up Someplace Else too. 

Tank was glad that Essie didn’t mind that today was her day.  He would have been sad if she had been afraid like those young ones that had to leave on the last That Day.  They had never had a chance to have a family and be loved, and that worried Tank.

Tank looked up and down the cell run, and caught old Lad’s eyes.  Lad loved Essie, so Lad was sad that she would be leaving.  That made Tank sad too.  And then there was Ace.  Poor old Ace.  Today was his day too.  Tank would miss Ace, as Ace had plenty of stories to tell about how he once raced in the Iditarod, and how he used to train young mush dogs.  Ace told stories of grizzly bears and big animals called elk and scenery of which Tank could only imagine.  But Ace was pretty broken down, with aches and pains in all his joints.  Ace said he was ready for it to be his day.  And Susie, well, it was Susie’s day too. 

Susie was the neatest gal; with all that long golden hair and those pretty brown eyes.  Tank was really going to miss Susie.  Susie had lived a sad life, living in a tiny space and never getting any exercise or love; but she said she loved every baby she’d had, even though she had given birth too many, who were all taken from her and sold.  Susie made up stories about her life; pretending that she had a family that loved her and that she had ridden around in a car that the top came off and that she ate fancy food and got to wear little coats and sweaters.  She liked to pretend that someone brushed her beautiful hair every day, and that sometimes she had bows on her ears.  Tank liked to let Susie think that he believed her stories, because it made Susie happy.   Susie deserved to be happy.  Susie wondered if any of her babies would be there when she woke up, and Tank told her he was sure some would;  especially since she’d had so many of them.  Susie came to the cell run when she couldn’t have any more babies.  Her person didn’t want her if she couldn’t have babies for him to sell. 

And Lolly, what about sweet Lolly?  She was so young and pretty.  Was it her fault that her relatives had the reputation of being dangerous, of being fighters?  Why should Lolly not be able to find a home, just because of her family?  And what about Rusty?  He was brought to this place after he bit the hand that fed him.  It didn’t matter that it poked him in the eye before it fed him.  Or that it kicked him or hit him.  He had tried to be good, hoping that his family would make The Boy quit hurting him.  But that day when The Boy poked him in the eye, he just reacted.  He had bitten The Boy.  After they beat him and tied him to a tree, they took him to the cell run and left him.  Today was Rusty’s day too. Tank thought a lot about how Rusty came to be at the shelter, and felt that Rusty might be better off here at the shelter or even at Someplace Else, if it meant he never had to be hurt by The Boy again. 

Tank thought that if every human would promise not to ever hit another human or an animal smaller than themselves, than there would never be any more hitting.

Tank wondered how long it would be before it was his day.  Tank wondered lots of things.

He wondered why it was some dogs got out before it became their day.  He understood why many puppies found homes, and he understood why those pretty little poodles found homes, but he had to wonder why no one would take Susie or Lolly, or some of the others.  They all had so much love to give, so it made him sad that their days came before they had gotten a chance to give it.  He wondered why so many dogs that had black fur weren’t taken very often.  People just seemed to look right over them.  Maybe, he thought, people couldn’t see black fur very well.  He wondered why no one would take the older inmates, as he knew that many of them knew so many tricks and knew where to go to the bathroom, and not to chew up stuff. Why wouldn’t a human want someone so well trained with lots of love still to give?

Tank also wondered if what he heard was true, that on the other side of the building there was a run with cats in it?  He didn’t have any great love for cats, but he was sorry that they had to be in jail too.  He once had a cat friend named Boo Boy.  Tank thought they probably got along because Boo Boy didn’t have those wicked claws that so many cats have.  He was glad Boo Boy didn’t have claws, but Boo Boy said his feet hurt all the time, and that not having claws made it really hard for him to open doors and pick up treats.  And as big and tough as Boo Boy was, Tank knew Boo Boy was afraid to go outside, because without claws he couldn’t defend himself or climb up a tree to protect himself.  Tank wondered if Boo Boy still lived in the house next door to where Tank used to live.  

Thinking of his old house made him think of Chris, and how much he missed Chris.

Tank wondered why he had to come to the cell run after it was Chris’ day.  Chris was his best friend; the human he had lived with from the time he was just a puppy.  Chris had something called cancer, and it had caused it to be Chris’s day to go to sleep and wake up Someplace Else.  Tank had been very lonely after Chris went to sleep for the long sleep.  For a while, Chris’s friend Tom had kept Tank.  Tom worked with Chris at the rescue center.  But then Tom’s son sneezed a lot, and the lady at Tom’s said that Tank had to leave.  Then Tank went to live with Bob, another human that worked at the rescue center.  But Bob said he didn’t have enough room for both Tank and Charlie, Bob’s dog.  Then Bob gave Tank to another man, who let him live with him for six days, then brought him to the cell run.  Tank wondered why.  The man said Tank was too big.  Tank wondered what it was he was too big for?  The man’s lady said that Tank was ‘ugly and mean looking’.  Tank knew he wasn’t the handsomest dog in the world; he wasn’t a purebred anything.  But he didn’t think of himself as ugly!  Sure, he was big, and had lots of different colors in his coat.  And he had one blue eye and one green eye, but Chris always said that Tank was ‘unique’.  Tank was pretty sure that didn’t mean ugly.

Tank wondered who was rescuing people now that he and Chris weren’t.  He and Chris had rescued lots of people.  Tank liked to remember all the times he had rescued people, especially when they were the little sized people.  Tank liked the way the light around the little sized people was so clean and shiny and bright.  Tank also liked to remember all those rescue times, because it helped him forget that he was at the cell run.  Some people called it the ‘shelter’, but Tank felt that it was more a jail; and he had never done anything to have to go to jail.  Sure, a lot of the people were nice who worked at the cell run, and two ladies cried and cried and cried on every That Day, but still, it wasn’t like being loved by Chris.  The worst thing was that there were no people here to rescue.

Tank had rushed into burning buildings and rescued children and dogs and even cats. He had dug people out from under buildings that had fallen down, and sometimes they were still alive and still had light around them, and that made Tank feel very happy and proud.  Tank had pulled big and little people from holes in the ground, pipes underground, wrecked cars and trains and planes, and even from garbage bins.  One time he jumped right into the water and pulled a pretty lady to Chris on the rescue boat.  Tank was very proud of this one, because he wasn’t wild about swimming. He and Chris were quite a team; he knew they were two of the best rescuers ever.

One time Tank went into an old building that was about to fall down, and he brought out eight little puppies, one by one.  That rescue wore him out because all those puppies were so wiggly, as puppies tend to be.  They didn’t even know they were being rescued.  They thought Tank just wanted to play.  That is the thing about puppies; they always want to play!

Tank couldn’t believe that humans brought puppies to the cell run and left them.  How could anyone leave little puppies in a place like this?  Tank knew it wasn’t an awful place, as many of the animals here found great homes; but he also knew lots of puppies that had to have their day and go to sleep and wake up Someplace Else.  He had heard the Lady With the White Hair say that there weren’t enough people for all those puppies.  She said people needed to ‘fix’ their dogs and cats.  Tank thought it was all those people who needed ‘fixing’ so that they would love all the little puppies; and Tank wouldn’t have minded if one of them would love him too.  He thought that he probably shouldn’t wish that someone would love him, because Chris had loved him a lot, and so Tank had gotten to know what human and animal love is.  He thought that probably the puppies needed to be loved worse than he himself needed to be.

All of a sudden Tank heard a big ‘boom’.  All of the dogs were startled and wondered what the noise was.  The people didn’t get excited, so Tank guessed that the big boom wasn’t anything too bad.  The boom made him remember one of his hardest rescues.  He and Chris had gone to a place named New York and had worked nonstop for hours and hours trying to find people in a big huge pile of junk.  While he looked for people to save, he had kept hearing big booms as the building continued to fall in.  Everywhere he went he kept hearing humans say, ‘We just heard a big boom, and things started burning and falling down.’  It was terrible and dusty and all the people were so sad.  Tank was sad too, because he and Chris hadn’t found too many people to rescue who were still alive. It always made Tank sad to try to rescue someone, only to see when he got to them that their light had gone out.  Anyway, he and Chris had worked for hours and days and weeks, and in the end, they had been given a medal.  Chris said it was Tank’s medal.  Tank thought that the medal was nice, but he would rather have gotten a chew treat.

Tank’s first real rescue was a boy from a car that was on fire.  Tank was very young then, and it was one of the hardest rescues he had ever done, especially as he wasn’t even fully grown yet.  He and Chris had been riding down the road, when a car in front of them started rolling and tumbling.  Chris stopped quickly, and he and Tank ran to the car.  Chris pulled a lady out and the lady kept trying to talk and Chris couldn’t understand her.  Smoke started coming from the wrecked car, and the lady was babbling, and Chris was trying to understand her and to see if anyone else was in the car.  He didn’t see anyone, and then all of a sudden the car was on fire.  Just as the car started burning Tank thought he heard someone saying, ‘Mama!, Mama!’, so he ran to the car to look.  Sure enough, there was a boy in there and he was stuck in some straps and he was trying to get loose and he couldn’t.  Chris hadn’t seen the boy because a bunch of stuff had rolled on top of him.  Tank knew this was big trouble, and that he didn’t have time to tell Chris, so Tank crawled through the broken glass into the crumpled car, which was now filled with smoke.  Tank tugged and tugged but couldn’t get the boy loose.  Tank looked at the boy, and saw that the light around the boy was getting faint.  The boy was already sooty with dirt and smoke, and all Tank could see were these two beautiful blue eyes.  They were the color of that salty water that Chris took Tank to once.  For the first quick second, they were looking so frantically at Tank, that Tank couldn’t pull his own eyes away; and then they started looking at some place much farther away. They were getting dimmer. Tank knew there was no time, so he started chewing and tugging, trying to help the boy get out of the things that were holding him in.  He chewed fast and tugged hard and was glad he had sharp teeth.  The strap came loose and the boy fell over.  Tank tugged and tugged and was trying to bark between tugging to tell Chris he needed help; the boy was not small.  Suddenly, Chris was there, and was pulling the boy to safety.  Tank barely crawled out of the car, behind Chris and the boy, before the car exploded into a fiery ball!  Tank was thrown far away from the car by the explosion, but was unhurt.  Chris gave the boy his own breath, and soon the boy was coughing and the lady was crying and Chris was hugging Tank.  He told Tank it was the bravest rescue that he had ever seen, and Tank had done it all on his own, without even being given directions from Chris.  Tank was very proud, and new that being a rescue dog was exactly what he needed to be. When they left the wreck, he looked at the boy again, and the light around him was already getting stronger.  He looked once more at the boys beautiful eyes, and they were looking back at Tank, all bright and happy.  It made Tank feel so good to know that the boy’s eyes were happy.

He wondered now what had ever happened to that lady and the boy.  He wondered if the boy had a dog of his own.  Everyone knows that boys and girls need dogs to love and protect them, and he hoped that boy had a dog protecting him now.  Especially since Tank couldn’t protect him again.  That was the hardest thing for Tank, knowing he couldn’t protect or rescue anyone anymore.

Tank hoped that all the people he had rescued, or helped rescue, were happy now.  He hoped they all had dogs to love and protect them.  There was a little girl once that Tank rescued from a hole in the ground, and after he rescued her, he had gone back into the hole and rescued her teddy bear.  She was very happy.  Tank wished he had his old teddy bear, the one he had when he lived with Chris.  There wasn’t much bear left to it, as when Tank was a puppy he had messed it up a little getting a thing out of it that squeaked.  But he still loved his bear, and had often kept it on the bed that he and Chris slept on.  So he wondered what ever happened to his bear.  One more thing to wonder about, since that was really all he could do in this place; wonder and wait.

All of a sudden there was lots of barking and yipping and Tank set up to pay attention.  What was everyone so happy about?  Then he saw what it was; Susie was getting a family!  It wasn’t going to have to be her Day after all!  Rusty said she was going to a Cocker Spaniel Rescue, whatever that was, and that someday she would get a family!  Tank was so happy for Susie!  Maybe, he thought, she wouldn’t have to pretend about bows anymore.  Maybe the humans where she was going would give her some pretty bows of her own.  Tank hoped they would be blue ones, as he really liked blue.

Everyone had just settled down when one of the people came back to Ace’s cell, and Ace couldn’t help it; he cringed and cowered, because he wasn’t quite ready for it to be his day.  The human put a thing around Ace’s neck and said, ‘Well Ace, you must have played your cards right because you’re getting rescued’.  Rescued?  Was someone like Chris and Tank coming to save Ace?  Tank was confused, as he didn’t see any fire or smoke or cars around Ace.  And hadn’t he heard the word ‘rescue’ when he was learning about Susie’s new place too?  Was this a new kind of rescue that he and Chris didn’t know about?  The person went on to say to Ace something about a ‘home for old mush dogs’, and that Ace was going to one!  Tank didn’t know what that place was, but he felt by the joy on the person’s face that it must be a good home!  That was wonderful!  Ace was going to a home!

Today was a good day on the cell run.  Two of Tank’s friends were going to new places where Tank felt certain they would be happy and could roll in some grass!  And he felt certain that Susie would get some real bows.  Then he remembered his other friends who would be leaving today.  They were going to go to sleep and wake up Someplace Else.  He wondered if there would be teddy bears at Someplace Else.

Tank was about to take a nap, and was wondering the way you do when you’re not really awake, and not really asleep, and you sort of hear things from far away.  He thought, as he fell asleep, that he heard some of the humans say that it was sure a good thing that two dogs were leaving, as that would leave two kennels empty, so that they wouldn’t have to ‘put anyone to sleep’ today after all.  Tank wondered what that meant, and then he fell asleep.

As Tank slept he dreamed about times when he was happy; those times with Chris when they would play or run or just sit in the park as Chris talked to him about this or that.  He didn’t always know what Chris was talking about, but he always knew if what Chris talked about was a good thing or a bad thing, a happy or a sad thing.  He always understood when Chris needed for him to lay his head on him, or lick his hand.  He knew it made Chris feel happier. He dreamed of the bowl he used to have that was always full of good food, and how soft and warm it was on Chris’ and Tank’s bed.  He dreamed of all the things he saw when they would go for a ride in the car, and how Chris sometimes bought them each an ice cream cone.  He dreamed of how much fun it was to see Chris laughing when they would play Frisbee, and how much Chris liked to play in the water.  He remembered all the love he felt in his own chest when he was with Chris, and he remembered all the love that he felt shining off of Chris and onto himself.  Then he woke with a start!

The cell run was in an uproar again.  Somebody new must be coming in. That’s the way it worked around here; as soon as someone got out they barely had time to put that stinky cleaning stuff in the cage, and in came another dog who didn’t have a home.  Tank hoped it was a pretty girl dog, and then he thought better of that, and hoped it wasn’t any dog at all.  In just a few minutes one of the men came in with a big yellow dog that was pretty battered up; he looked like he had been in a fight or two in his life.  Tank hoped he wasn’t one of those ‘tough guys’ with attitude.  They never got out and were always the first ones to be put to sleep and wake up Someplace Else.  Right behind that one came one of the men with two more; both Jack Russells. Tank had seen lots of those dogs lately.  One of them he’d met, named Rosie, once told Tank that her owner was always wanting her to be still, and to not run and jump and play.  That is impossible for a Jack Russell, according to Rosie.  Maybe that was why so many of them were at the shelter; they just couldn’t sit still like their humans wanted them to.  Tank thought that if it was up to him, he would give humans a test to see what kind of dog they needed; one that played hard or one that sat still all the time!

Later that day Tank was talking to the new big dog, whose cell was right next to Tank’s.  Turned out that big dog was just as nice and polite as could be.  He had been in lots of fights, but not because he wanted to be.  The human who had Stupid Dog (that is what he told Tank his name must be, since that was always what he was called) made Stupid Dog fight with his other dogs; the men thought it was funny.  Stupid Dog said it was awful; if he didn’t fight, he was beaten; so he just fought instead.  That was one of the saddest tails Tank had ever heard!  Why would anyone make dogs fight?  Tank decided that it was some humans that were stupid, not their dogs!  Anyone who would make anything fight, and condone it, were beyond stupid in Tank’s book!  Tank worried about SD (as Tank preferred calling him).  He worried that he was just a young dog, and that he was so big, and that he was so torn and scarred.  Tank was afraid for SD; afraid that he would quickly be put to sleep and wake up Someplace Else, before he had ever gotten to know a nice human.  Tank spent a lot of time that night telling SD that all humans weren’t like SD’s human.  He told SD how wonderful life had been with Chris, and how nice so many of the humans were that Tank had met or saved through the years.  SD was amazed.  He said he had only known those few humans he lived with who made him fight and threw cans at him and cursed him.  He said he surely would like to know some really nice humans.  SD hadn’t had a house or clean water or a soft place to sleep.  He’d never had a teddy bear or an ice cream cone, and he had never had anyone love him.  When the lights went out that night and Tank was going to sleep, he wondered how he could help SD find himself a good human. 

Sometimes just before Tank went to sleep, he would remember Chris so well that he felt he could almost see him and smell him and talk to him.  You know, the way dogs talk to humans with their eyes and tails and hearts.  So this night, Tank thought about Chris and could almost feel Chris rubbing his head.  He told Chris, with his eyes and tail and heart, that it sure would be nice if Chris could help figure out a way to send a good human to SD.  As he went to sleep, Tank could swear he heard Chris laugh and say he’d see what he could do….

The next morning started out like any other, except that Lolly was gone!  Tank was sad, as he figured she had gone to sleep and wakened Someplace Else.  Tank couldn’t believe he had slept so soundly that he didn’t hear anyone come and get her, but he had done a lot of wondering the day before, and that can make a fella tired. Lolly was gone just because she was a ‘Pit Bull’, whatever that was.  Apparently, humans had made some of her relatives really mean and given all Pit Bulls a ‘bad rap’ (that’s what the Man With The Red Cap said), and so everyone thought Lolly was mean too.  Tank knew though that she was very sweet.  One time Tank saw her push her blanket over to the next cage to an old dog that was cold. She talked very softly with her eyes and heart and tail, and Tank knew she had a nice light around her.  He just couldn’t understand humans.  Why did they have to judge dogs by their color or hair or age or breed or size or weight or even the size of their feet?  Why couldn’t they see into the heart, like dogs can see into human’s hearts?

He asked Essie when Lolly had gone, and Essie said it was a grand thing!  She told Tank that Lolly was taken by a young woman to a place called Illinois, and that she was going to a Pit Bull ‘rescue’. Tank couldn’t understand who was rescuing Lolly, but was so relieved to find out Lolly was getting a new life!  Looking at Essie, he wished she could get a new life too.

Tank thought he heard laughing, and couldn’t imagine who was laughing in this place (Though knowing Lolly had gotten out made him a little giggly!). Laughing is a fast yippy huffy sound that dogs make and they use their body too; they jump and hop.  Well, those two little Jack Russells that had come in were surely laughers.  Turns out they had worked in a place called The Circus.  They laughed all the time.  Tank thought a little bit of laughing might be good in the shelter.  The two dog’s names were Frick and Frack, and they were jokesters for sure!  One had just asked the other why dogs don’t make good dancers?  Frack laughed and said that it was ‘because they had two left feet’!  Those two pups laughed for ten minutes on that one!  When Frick asked Frack how you know when it’s raining cats and dogs, Frack said it was when you stepped in a ‘poodle’!! Even Tank laughed out loud when he heard that!  The whole run was laughing, except for Rusty, who couldn’t help but worry that his day was drawing nearer.

Tank noticed Rusty’s sadness, and thought that maybe he could make him feel better.  He told Rusty to be positive, that Lolly and Ace and others had gotten out, and maybe Rusty would too.  Rusty didn’t think it was likely.  He had heard that once you bite a human, your days are short in number.  He felt so bad about biting The Boy.  He knew he would never have bitten anyone if he could’ve helped it.   Tank knew The Boy deserved worse then a bite, but that didn’t help Rusty’s situation.  Tank wondered how long it would be before it was Rusty’s day.

Frick had just asked Frack what you get when you ‘cross a rooster with a dog’?  Frack howled as he answered, ‘A cocker-poodle-doo’!  Those two pups started twirling, and even stood up on their hind legs!  They twirled and laughed and Frack flipped over and stood on his front legs!  Tank had never seen any dog do that before!  It made him laugh out loud and even lay on his back and wiggle his feet in the air.  Boy, it sure felt good to have a good laugh!  Tank hoped those two found a home, but he hoped they were at the shelter for a while, just so they could make everyone laugh every now and then.  Even the humans were laughing at those two pups, although Tank was fairly certain they hadn’t gotten the joke!  Even Rusty smiled a little whenever Frack asked Frick ‘where wouldn’t you take your dog shopping’, and Frick answered, ‘the FLEA market’!  The whole cell run was on their backs at that one, with legs waving every which way in the air! 

The laughter came to a quick halt as the Man With The Red Cap came in; and he went straight to Essie’s cage.  He was with two other humans that Tank didn’t recognize.  Essie saw him coming and stood up bravely, though her tail was tucked a little; she was a little afraid of her impending sleeping time.  The Man With The Red Cap was talking to the two humans, and he was telling them something about Essie’s best friend being Lad. The people went over and were petting and talking to Lad. It was then that Tank realized that something special was going on; something involving Essie, and Lad who loved her. And then Tank realized a miracle was happening; Essie and Lad were going together to a place called a ‘senior’s home’.  They were going to live amongst the elderly people who lived there, and they were going to be everyone’s pets!  The man said something about dogs being good for people’s blood pressure and depression; whatever those were.  Tank thought this might be the happiest day there had been at the shelter since he had come to stay there!  No one was going to go to sleep this Monday!  Essie and Lad, the two oldest dogs at the shelter, were going to a home where they would have more love and attention than they could ever imagine!  Oh happy happy day thought Tank; and he saw Essie give Lad one of her very rare, and very beautiful, smiles.  Every dog in the shelter yipped in joy as Essie and Lad left.

Tank knew the joy would be short lived; he knew that some more dogs would quickly fill those cages; and they might have to go to sleep and wake up Someplace Else.  They were already bringing the stinky cleaning stuff in.  Tank was still very happy in his heart, which is a dog’s happiest spot.

Frick and Frack were dancing again and telling jokes, and SD was wanting to know what all had just happened and what it all meant.  Poor little SD was so ignorant about so many things, since no one had ever tried to teach him anything but fighting.  Tank decided right then and there that SD would be his best friend at the shelter, and that he would teach SD everything he could think of to teach him.

The next morning was stormy, and kind of dark.  Tank knew that wasn’t a good sign, as people hardly ever came to the shelter when it was rainy.  If people didn’t come, than dogs didn’t get taken to homes.  SD was already awake and wanting to hear more stories from Tank.  Tank had told SD stories long into the night; about hamburger and ice cream, about learning how to be a rescue dog; about parks and Frisbees and especially about having a good human to love you. Tank told SD to ‘give him time to shake his head’, and then Tank realized something very sad and very awful.  Rusty wasn’t in his cell.  Tank asked Frick (or Frack) where Rusty went.  Frick said that the Man With The Red Cap had come and gotten Rusty. He said the man was crying when he took Rusty away, and that Rusty was afraid. Tank just laid down and moaned as he felt his heart tighten; he could barely breathe. Rusty was a good boy, and now he was gone just because he tried to defend himself from a bad human.  Tank’s heart hurt so badly for Rusty that he couldn’t even explain it to SD; he couldn’t explain that Rusty wouldn’t be back, and that Rusty would never get the chance to know what a good place was like.  Poor Rusty.  Poor SD.  And, he thought, poor Tank.

The day was dark.  Even Frick and Frack were quiet.  Tank could not understand how some humans could be so bad, and some humans could be so good.  He knew that some humans were so bad that they mutilated dogs; made dogs fight; and hurt dogs for no reason at all.  Once there was a dog two cells down from Tank that had no ears.  Humans had cut them off.  They had cut off his ears and pulled some of his teeth, and had filed down other teeth.  The poor boy was scarred from head to tail, and a huge chunk was missing out of his lip.  He was so thin he could barely stand.  His name was Cutter.  When he tried to tell his story to the other dogs, he had a hard time; his thoughts were all fear and pain, his ‘voice’ was seared with pain.  All he could tell the others was he had been tied and repeatedly attacked by other dogs. The humans enjoyed his pain. He had to stay alive for two days in his cell while somebody did something to his humans.  Tank hoped whatever they did to them was bad; as bad as what they had done to Cutter.  Cutter was a Pit Bull like Lolly.  Cutter’s eyes, as he left with the Man With The Red Cap, told Tank that he was ready to go to Someplace Else.  He was thankful to go to Someplace Else and leave this world of man.  The Man With The Red Cap had set down in Cutter’s cell and cried and cried and threw things and cried some more.  And he held Cutter close for a very long time before he took him to Someplace Else.

Another day passed and still the cells were quiet.  New dogs had come in, and a few more had gotten homes or gone someplace good; but Tank just couldn’t shake his sadness.  He was getting very tired of being in his cell.  Sure, he got to go out in the yard sometimes, but the grass was all worn off.  Tank really wanted some fresh grass to roll in.  And he was having a hard time telling SD about the good humans; because he couldn’t stop thinking about the bad.  He missed Rusty when he went out in the yard.  Tank couldn’t figure out why he was so sad for Rusty.  Lots of dogs had gone to Someplace Else since Tank had been at the jail.  Rusty was just one more; but somehow Tank kept thinking about him, and was just feeling really tired.  That’s what it was; Tank was tired.  Tank thought that maybe Someplace Else wouldn’t be so bad; they might have grass there.  He might see Chris there.  They might have ice cream there.  Tank thought maybe he’d just go back to sleep.  When he was sleeping, he sometimes saw Chris, or at least something that made him think of Chris. Right now he really, really wanted Chris.

SD tried to get Tank up; he asked Tank to tell him about good people.  He told him a joke Frick and Frack had told him (What do you call a cat who ate a whole duck? …..A duckfilled fattypuss…..).  But Tank told SD he would talk later; right now he just wanted to sleep.  SD wouldn’t let him sleep though; he kept asking questions and asking Tank to tell him stories of his rescues and asking Tank what a Frisbee was or what a squeaker was. He asked so many questions and got on Tank’s nerves and tried so hard to get Tank’s attention that Tank had to smile a little.  And there were a lot of new dogs that had come in; every cell was full again, so Tank decided he ought to get to know some of them.  And then the unthinkable happened.

The Lady With White Hair came out of her room and came to Tank’s cell.  In her hand were some pieces of red paper. 

She put one on Tank’s door. 

She put one on SD’s door.

She put one on the door of two other small, scared dogs who had just come in; their people had brought them to the jail and put them in a box in the night time, and when the box was opened, they were put in a cell.

Tank’s Day had come.

The Lady With White Hair told Tank she surely hoped someone would ‘come get him before tomorrow’.  She rubbed SDs head, and tried to pat the two new dogs but they huddled together in the corner; they were just pups and they were scared.  Tank didn’t know what to do.  He didn’t know what to feel.

SD asked Tank what it all meant; and Tank didn’t know how to answer him.  About that time some people came in and started oohing and aahing over Frick and Frack.  They had some kids with them and Frick and Frack started doing their tricks.  They started yipping and twirling and jumping and laughing and the two kids couldn’t stop laughing.  They took Frick and Frack out of their cell to go play in the yard. Tank figured, well actually he hoped, that Frick and Frack had found their humans. Tank laid down and moaned until he went to sleep.  He didn’t hear a word SD said, and he didn’t hear when Frick and Frack came back to their cells; he didn’t hear anything at all. 

When Tank woke up, Frick and Frack were back in their cell.  The people had played with them, but then had left.  The two jokesters were quiet; too quiet Tank thought.  SD was quiet too.  One of the other dogs had explained to him what the red paper meant. 

The door opened again and one of the ladies that visited sometime and took the dogs out to the yard, came in and got one of the two scared pups.  She took him away and that other little pup just lost his mind.  He started howling and barking and running in circles and running into his cell door.  But soon she came back and got him too.  Tank didn’t think they were already going to Someplace Else because nobody seemed sad when the lady took them; he hoped one of those ‘rescues’ he kept hearing about had come to get them. She said something about ‘meeting their transport’, whatever that meant. Then she came back in and got Frick and Frack; she was smiling and told them they were going ‘home’.  Home.  Tank decided right then and there that it was okay to go to Someplace Else, since he couldn’t go home.  Frick and Frack were actually quiet; Tank suspected they were a little afraid.  Tank was glad they were getting to go ‘home’ together; he couldn’t imagine those two ever being separated.

Some other people were coming in; two young guys.  They were laughing and talking loud until they walked into the room where all the cells are.  They quit laughing then.  There wasn’t much funny about that room that day.  They were walking cell to cell.  At each cell they were looking and talking quietly.  They seemed to be studying each dog.  One of the ladies came in and one boy told her that the other boy was looking for a buddy to take to ‘college’ with him.  Tank wondered what college was.  When they got to Tank’s door Tank set up.  He always wanted to look strong when humans he didn’t know came around; they might need him to rescue someone.  It was hard to look strong today though. They looked closely at Tank; the boy with blue eyes squatted down and was talking to him; saying that Tank was surely handsome and that it was a shame he was ‘so big’.  Then they went to SD’s cell and were talking about how big SD was, and how beaten up he was.  The other boy, the one with green eyes, said he thought SD was ‘awesome’.  SD was smiling, but was being careful to sit back some; you never know what to expect from these humans.  Then the boy with the blue eyes came back to Tank’s cell.  He squatted down and looked closely at Tank.  And Tank looked closely at him.  Something in Tank said ‘wake up’!  He could swear that Chris had yelled at him; ‘pay attention’!  Tank set up straighter and met the boy’s eyes.

Tank knew those eyes.  He had seen them, years ago.  The color blue of the salty water Chris had taken him to; this was the boy Tank had saved from the fiery car years before when he was just a puppy.  Tank was almost sure of it. This was the boy whose eyes had so captivated Tank that he could hardly pull his own eyes from them.  The boy paused a moment, looked at Tank, and then he walked to the next cell.  He and the boy went to every cell, looked back once, and then they left.

They left.  They didn’t take any of the dogs to ‘college’.  Tank lay down again.  He was ready to go to sleep again.  Tank thought about the day; he was glad for Frick and Frack, and he surely was glad that the boy he’d saved all those years ago had stayed saved.  He had grown up and stayed rescued.  Tank was pretty proud of that.  He was almost asleep when the Man With The Red Cap came in and went straight to SD’s cell.  He took SD right out of that cell without saying a word.  Tank thought it must be about time to go to Someplace Else.  He was very sad that he hadn’t been able to talk to SD before he left.  He felt he had let SD down by not staying awake and answering all SD’s questions. 

Tank was just choking down his dinner (his heart so tight he could barely swallow) when the Man With The Red Cap brought SD BACK IN!  Tank was elated! 

SD was excited and couldn’t wait to tell Tank where he had been.  The Man had taken SD to a room where he was fed, and while he was eating some woman kept doing things to SD; poking him and talking to him.  She did some other things, then smiled and patted SD on the head.  SD thought it was weird, but he was too hungry to think much about it.  Then the boy with the green eyes took him out in the yard and walked around with him.  He had rubbed SD all over and had thrown a ball for SD   SD had fun chasing it!  He had never done that before!  Tank couldn’t figure out what all of that meant; but he was surely glad SD had fun.  SD was so excited that Tank just had to smile.

Dark had come.  It was time for the lights to go off and time for Tank to go back to sleep.  SD was too excited to sleep and wanted to talk.  Normally Tank would have talked all night.  But not this night.  Not after this day.  Not after yesterday.  As Tank fell asleep he thought he heard Chris laughing. Tank couldn’t imagine what could possibly be funny. 

Morning came with a clatter.  The sun was shining after the rainy day and the jail was alive with hungry dogs waiting for their breakfast.  Tank wondered if his breakfast would have the special treat on it that dogs got when it was Their Day.  Tank got his breakfast, and there was no treat on it.  Tank didn’t know what that meant, since he did have a red piece of paper.  Then one of the ladies came back and went straight to SD’s cell.  She told him that it was a ‘wonderful day’.  She said, ‘Diesel, that’s what he’s calling you, you’re going to be college educated!’ and she took SD away.  It happened so fast that Tank didn’t even get to say good bye…again!  SD looked back and Tank did get to tell him not to worry; he was going to be just fine.  The boy with green eyes was going to take SD to ‘college’ with him, wherever that was.

Tank was glad for his friend.  Tank could tell by the boy’s light that he was a good human.  SD would be just fine. Tank’s heart felt happy and sad all at the same time. 

Then the Man With The Red Cap came in and came to Tank’s cell.  He told Tank they were going out to the yard.  Tank hadn’t finished eating, but he did like going out to the yard, so he wagged his tail a little and headed out.  Out in the yard was SD and the boy with the green eyes, and so was the boy with the blue eyes!  Tank was glad he would get to look at him again; he wanted to make sure it was the boy from years ago.  The boy came straight to Tank, and went down on his knees.  He put his hands on each side of Tank’s big head and looked closely at him.  Their eyes met and Tank knew.  Tank knew this was the boy.  The boy knew too.  He laid his head down on Tank’s head and he kept hugging and rubbing Tank.  He was saying something about ‘he couldn’t believe it’.  He ‘couldn’t believe a dog like Tank had ended up in a pound’.  He kept saying things like that, but mostly he just kept loving on Tank.  For Tank, it felt a whole lot like it used to feel when Chris would wrestle and play and hug on Tank.  For a second Tank thought he heard Chris laughing, but then realized it was the boy with the blue eyes.  Everybody was laughing!  Everybody was wrestling and rubbing and the Man With The Red Cap had a huge grin on his face.  Tank couldn’t understand a lot of what was being said, but he knew one thing.  He and SD were going to college, where ever that was.  Tank was going home.

Beverly McChesney

Petus12@att.net

Copyright June 2008

May not be used in whole or in part, or reproduced for any purpose in whole or in part, without original written permission from the author.