Jenn McKinlay - Due Or Die

She had always considered herself a beta fish sort of person. The relationship, while entertaining, didn’t last too long, and it was pretty easy to get a free fish sitter when you wanted to travel. She just didn’t think she was ready for more of a commitment at this point in her life.

A soft snore sounded from the floor at her feet. “I’ll find you a nice home,” she said. “I promise.”

When she had to leave for her meeting with the mayor’s liaison, she found herself reluctant to leave the puppy. Not because she cared, she told to herself, but because she didn’t know what sort of mischief he’d get into. She had read somewhere, probably when helping a patron find a book on dog rearing, that puppies could be soothed by the sound of a clock ticking and something that smelled familiar. She took her coat off the back of her chair, and as she eased her foot out from under the puppy’s head, she put her coat in its place so the puppy had something soft to rest on that smelled familiar. She then got her wall clock down and put it near the puppy so he could hear it ticking.

Fortunately, the meeting with the mayor’s liaison was being held in the upstairs meeting room of the library. She felt slightly better that she was at least still in the building with the puppy on the off chance that Ms. Cole got crazy with her broom again.

As she gathered her notes and slipped out the door, the only sound she heard was a soft snore. Poor guy was probably tuckered after his ordeal. She figured she’d better take him in to see a veterinarian just to be sure he was okay. Luckily, she now knew the vet on her street, Tom Rubinski. Maybe she could take the puppy to see him after work.

The dog seemed healthy, aside from being hungry and thirsty. She supposed she should probably take his picture and make some flyers to report him found. If someone had taken him and shoved him in the book drop to be mean, well, the owner would probably be frantic. Maybe they would find his owner and all would be well. She wondered why that thought didn’t make her feel as happy as she thought it would.

Lindsey had a hard time concentrating on the meeting with the mayor’s liaison, Herb Gunderson. It could be because she was worried about the puppy in her office or because she was concerned that Nancy hadn’t called to give her an update about Carrie, or it could be the fact that Herb was the single most boring person alive. She tried not to judge, really, but the man could send an insomniac into a well-deserved sleep coma.

She glanced around the table; several of the department heads for the town were in attendance. Herb was giving a fact-laden discourse on the process of work flow and the mayor’s desire to improve it.

Jason Meeger, the head of the town sanitation department, had his head bowed as if he was studying his notes. She checked the rise and fall of his chest. Asleep. Candace Collins from the public works department got up for her third cup of coffee, and Lindsey suspected it was a way to keep herself awake.

Lindsey glanced at the clock on the wall behind Herb’s head. Five more minutes, they just had five more minutes to go.

“And now the mayor would like me to ask if any of you have any questions about the new work-flow policy?” Herb asked.

No one moved. No one spoke.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I can go over it again.”

“No!” Candace shouted and then cleared her throat. “What I mean is, I’m sure everyone is all clear on how to implement the new work-flow techniques. Right, everyone?”

Lindsey looked at the manic light in Candace’s eyes. She was pretty sure Candace would smack anyone who spoke upside the head with the coffeepot.

Herb glanced around the table, looking at each of them over the top of his reading glasses. “All right, then, meeting adjourned.”

Like runners in the blocks, everyone made for the door at once. There was a bit of a jam up in the doorway, but Jason Meeger, who had bolted awake, used his former high school football brawn-turned-to-fat to strong-arm his way through the door to freedom. Candace was right on his heels, as were several other department heads.

Lindsey followed them down the stairs, relieved that there wouldn’t be another one of these meetings until next month. She waved at the others as they made for the front door.

She turned and headed for her office, wondering what to expect. She eased open the door in case the little guy was asleep. She needn’t have bothered. Amid a pile of half-chewed papers, she saw a black furry behind sticking out of her overturned wastebasket.

“Is something wrong?”

Lindsey turned and saw Ms. Cole headed her way.

“Oh, no, it’s all good,” Lindsey lied and quickly stepped into her office and shut the door behind her.

The snap of the door caused the puppy to back his way out of the wastebasket. When he got a sniff of Lindsey, he went into spasms of delight. He bounded across the office and jumped up on her leg. On his hind legs, he reached just above her knee and wrapped his paws around her leg as if he was hugging her.

“Hi, there, buddy,” Lindsey said as she stooped to pet him. “I’m not going to bust you this time, but just so you know, the garbage is off limits.”

His tail went into hyper speed, and Lindsey assumed they understood one another. It took her a while to clean up the mess, and she made a note to herself to pick him up some toys on the way home. Just to get him through the night, she told herself.

Lindsey was relieved that it wasn’t her night to close the library. Ms. Cole had taken to popping into her office, and Lindsey had the feeling that she was trying to catch the dog misbehaving. And what exactly did she think Lindsey was going to do? Throw him out into the freezing temperatures outside? Not likely.

She called Tom Rubinski and he managed to fit her in at the end of the day. She had to leave work an hour early to catch him before he closed, but that was okay. She had a feeling the sooner she got the dog away from Ms. Cole the better.

When it was time to go, she emptied her tote bag of its usual paperwork and put the dog inside. She wasn’t going to be able to bicycle home with him, so she figured she’d hoof it. He was solid, at least ten pounds, but given that she didn’t have a leash for him, she didn’t want to risk having him run into the road.

As she hefted the bag onto her shoulder, the dog popped his head out. His eyes sparkled under his bushy eyebrows and his pink tongue hung out on one side, making him look like he was enjoying the lift.

Lindsey decided to walk to the police station first to see if Carrie and Nancy were still there. She certainly hoped not. They simply could not have questioned Carrie for a whole day. Then again, she supposed she might have been arrested, but that was just ludicrous. Carrie was not a killer.

She pulled open the glass door that led to the station and saw Emma still at the front desk. No sign of Nancy, however.

“Hi, Lindsey.” Emma greeted her. “What have you got there?”

“A library donation,” she said.

Emma frowned at her.

“Someone shoved him into the book drop, so I’m taking him home for now. You don’t happen to want a dog do you?”

“I have three already,” Emma said. She held out her hand for the pup to sniff, and he went all licky-lou on her.

“Aw, he’s sweetie,” she said. “What are you going to do with him?”

“Put up signs in case his owners are missing him, and then if we can’t find them, I suppose I’ll take him to the pound.”

Emma gave her a nod as if to say she understood, but Lindsey still felt like a heel even using the p word. The dog turned and licked her hand and she felt even more rotten.

“I keep lousy hours for having a dog,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fair to him.”