All Paws on Deck by Daphne Maple

Author:Daphne Maple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

9

But it wasn’t so awesome that afternoon. Mrs. Benson was in a hurry when she dropped Missy off, so I didn’t even know the little Yorkie was at the shelter until there was a problem. Caley and Tim were running late, so the four of us were managing all the dogs by ourselves, which normally would have been fine. But today Boxer was extra energetic, and before we could manage to take a group of dogs outside, a food delivery arrived. When the shelter dogs saw the familiar sight of big bags of kibble they went nuts, running and leaping all over the place. The woman carrying the bags jumped back suddenly to avoid getting trampled by Boxer and that’s when I heard Missy cry out. The woman’s boots were nearly on top of Missy, and Missy was clearly terrified.

“It’s okay,” I said, rushing over to her.

But Missy didn’t even glance at me. She backed away into the other corner, her eyes dull.

“Missy, it’s all right,” I said, coming closer.

Missy scrambled to back up again but since there was no space behind her, her backside hit the wall. She cried out again.

“Oh no,” Sasha said, coming up behind me. “She’s really frightened.”

“I know,” I said regretfully.

“What can we do?” Sasha asked, looking sadly at poor Missy.

“We have to give her some space,” I said, stepping away. I hated to do it but I knew it was the best thing for Missy. “Right now she doesn’t feel safe, and having anyone too close will just make it worse.”

“But she likes you,” Sasha said. Mr. S had sensed his owner’s distress and came over to press himself against Sasha’s legs. She picked him up and hugged him tight.

“She was starting to like me,” I said. “But winning her trust is going to take a while. And this was a step back.”

Sasha sighed. “That’s rough,” she said. “I wish we could do something to help.”

“Me too,” I said, feeling upset that we hadn’t protected Missy. But right now there was nothing to do but let Missy get over it, in her own time. And then I could start building our relationship again.

Tim and Caley came in, their hair windblown. “Sorry we’re late,” Tim said. “There was a bake sale and we had to support the glee club.”

Caley socked him in the arm. “It wasn’t for glee club, it was for the winter musical. Which I plan to star in.” Caley was really into drama and had had the lead in a number of school plays and musicals.

“Whatever,” Tim said. “The important thing was that they had great brownies. Which they ran out of, but we did bring you guys some cookies.”

“We actually had some of the brownies at lunch,” Taylor said.

“Oh, so you guys have an inside connection on all the best baked goods?” Tim joked. “I’ll need to work harder to get on your good side so you start bringing some to me.”

We laughed as Tim handed around cookies.

“Thanks,” I said, stuffing mine in my mouth fast, before the dogs realized there was food in the room.

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