-
The Dog I Didn’t Want
- University of Pittsburgh Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
56 The Dog I Didn’t Want ran in anxious circles around the room— stacked crates of dogs in need of homes. I drifted toward a puppy, nonchalant; the assistant said he hadn’t, yet, been fixed, and returned the dog I didn’t want to his cage. An older couple, looking to assuage a recent loss, sat with a spaniel, transfixed. The dog I didn’t want yipped and cried in his metal pen. “Take him for a walk,” the keeper called, gave me a leash. Outside he stalked the mailbox post and tugged to come inside. He wouldn’t meet my gaze or lick my hand or charm with any doggy gifts. Instead, the dog I didn’t want curled up and tucked his head into the coiled spiral of his body, color of sand. Quiet, eyes closed, snout down, he awaited his fate like one bound for the gallows or the chair. Resigned, unloved, the dog I didn’t want in his despair won me his small estate. ...