The door opens for a third time, and
the young man walks back inside. I knew that he was having trouble leaving, saying his
goodbyes, but this time he wears dark glasses. Without a word, he moves toward
the dog and kneels in front of him. I can see his mouth moving, but I don’t
hear a sound. The dark glasses do little to mask the emotion in the room and I
turn my back to both of them and take a few steps away.
I hear the sound of the door opening
and closing again, and I close my eyes. I realize that I’m holding my breath as
I listen for the sound of the young man’s truck leaving the parking lot. I hear the engine roar to life and
it’s clear that the young man wastes little time fleeing the shelter. He’s
gone, but it’s not over. One of us still has to take the dog to Animal Control.
This sounds like the long goodbye of
lovers in an airport or the soldier headed overseas, but it is not. This is a scene that unfolds daily
in the world of animal rescue. The young man saying goodbye is not even the
owner of the oblivious young dog sitting in the lobby of the shelter. The young
man is a college student who spends a great deal of his free time with the dogs
that we actually have room to take in at the shelter. This was the first time
he witnessed what happens when the shelter is full.
I would love to tell you the story of
a sad goodbye between this little dog and his soon to be estranged owner; I
cannot. This little
dog was abandoned by his owner across the street from the shelter. Two students
found him standing in the middle of our busy street minutes after his owner was
told there was no room for him at our facility. This owner was not looking for help;
he was simply turning his problem over to someone else. There is a difference.
This man will sleep well tonight; I will not.
Luckily this is not something that
happens to me every day. If it did, I’m not sure I could hold my head up; I’m
not sure anybody could. But what about the young man I mentioned earlier? Will he continue to
come to the shelter? It’s possible that he will become very busy elsewhere.
Maybe he just won’t have the free time he had last semester when his course
load was lighter. Perhaps he will volunteer somewhere that offers experience in
his field of study. He may go somewhere else where it’s easier to hold his head
up.
