Kate James - The Truth About Hope

The man provided the address and directions.

“Phone them.” She pointed a finger at him as she sprinted to the front door. “Please call them and tell them not to do anything to Einstein. I’m on my way to get him.” She swung around just before she exited. Her voice turned hard and cold. “Tell them if they so much as harm a hair on him, I’m...I’m going to sue them for every penny they have.” That would be no consolation if she lost Einstein, and she realized she sounded very much like her father, but she didn’t know what else to say.

Her stomach was churning with nausea as she raced to get to the animal control facility. She didn’t bother to park in the lot, just left her car in front of the building. She dashed up the steps to the door and pushed. It didn’t budge. She tried again; it was definitely locked. That was when she noticed the sign. Fridays they closed at four. It was now approaching five. She rattled the door again and screamed in frustration.

Looking around, she saw a couple of cars parked behind the building. That meant there had to be people inside. She ran toward the back; peering through a window, she could see two people moving around. Hope banged on the glass with her fist, but they didn’t seem to hear her. She continued around the side of the building, until she got to a large fenced yard. Inside the enclosure, there was a back door. Without hesitation, she climbed the chain-link fence, dropped down on the other side and ran to the door.

This time her pounding got the occupants’ attention. The two women looked at the door, then at each other. The taller woman approached Hope. “We’re closed,” she yelled through the glass.

“I know, but it’s urgent!” Hope shouted back. “ Please open up.”

“Come back tomorrow,” the woman advised.

“No!” Hope pummeled the door again with both fists. “Please don’t walk away. Please. You have my dog and there’s been a terrible mistake.” Tears were brimming in her eyes, blurring her vision.

The woman paused. “Which dog?”

Hope described Einstein. “You have to let me take him home,” she finished, sobbing. “He’s all I have. He’s everything to me.”

The woman glanced back at her companion, exchanged some words with her, and then Hope heard the lock disengage and the door opened. “Thank you,” she breathed. “Please tell me he’s all right.”

The other woman joined them where they were standing. “He’s fine,” she assured Hope. “He was next on our list, but we couldn’t believe he’d hurt anyone. He’s such a sweet boy. We were just discussing what we should do. He’s scared, but he’s fine.”

Hope threw her arms around the woman, tears coursing down her face. “Oh, thank you.” She hugged the other woman, too. “Please take me to him.”

Einstein might have been big, but when he was released from his cage, he crawled into Hope’s lap, licking every inch of her face and neck. She hugged him tight and buried her face in his fur. “You’re okay, pal. You’re okay,” she murmured, attempting to soothe him as much as herself.

When she finally stood up, Einstein plastered himself to the side of her leg like Velcro.

“We’re glad you got here in time.” One of the women trailed a hand along Einstein’s back. “We fell for the big guy.”

“Believe me, we don’t want to euthanize any animal,” the other woman added. “But look at this place. We’re out of room, as you can see, and we have more and more animals coming in. When they’re hurt or sick, we can’t tend them properly. The city just doesn’t provide enough funding for veterinary services for all the strays and injureds we get.”

“We wish there was more we could do,” the taller woman interjected as they walked through the kennel area to the front office. “But we just don’t have the resources or the facilities.”

Hope’s heart broke as she looked around at the sad-eyed cats and dogs, resigned because they’d been there too long, and the eager new arrivals, trying to catch her attention, begging her to free them from their small, dank cages.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Hope said as she signed the paperwork to claim Einstein.

“We’re happy to have you two reunited!” one of the women told her.

“Take care of each other.” The other woman waved goodbye.

Outside, Hope took Einstein for a walk, letting him stretch his legs and work off some of his nervous energy. She also needed the fresh air.

The relief she felt that the unimaginable hadn’t happened left her weak and a little dizzy. Now that Einstein was safely with her again, her anxiety was crowded out by an intense anger. How callous of her father to do what he did! Didn’t he appreciate what Einstein meant to her? He knew full well that Einstein wasn’t dangerous. Why hadn’t he waited until she got home so they could have worked things out?

Hope couldn’t take Einstein back to her father’s house, now that she’d seen what he was capable of. But where could they go?

Did it really matter? Anywhere was better than living with such a dreadful man. He obviously didn’t love her and never would. They simply coexisted beneath one roof...one very big roof!

She stopped suddenly. How could she have forgotten? Her birthday was next week! She would be eighteen years old. Legally an adult. That meant she could leave her father.

She let Einstein jump in the car and took her time driving home. She was no longer in a hurry, and she needed a chance to think. To figure things out. She didn’t have to worry about facing her father that evening, because he was staying overnight at the hotel after his business function. Small blessings, she thought. If she just packed up and left that night, she wondered if he’d do anything about it.

Yes, he would, she decided. She was no more than a possession to him, and he was greedy with his possessions. He would find her if for no other reason than to prove that he was in control. That he could .

By the time Hope reached the house, she had a plan. She pulled up to the garage rather than the front of the house. Even though she knew her father wasn’t home because he would’ve left for his evening engagement by now, she didn’t want to risk Einstein being seen. She didn’t trust all her father’s employees the way she did Priscilla and Morris. Not that the others were bad people; they were just fearful of her father.

She left Einstein in the car. He whined and pawed at the window, obviously not wanting to be separated from her again so soon. She spoke to him reassuringly, then climbed the stairs at the side of the garage. She knocked and was about to knock again when Morris opened the door. Sitting inside on his sofa was Priscilla. From the look of her flushed, puffy face, Hope surmised that she’d been crying.

Seeing her, Priscilla shoved the soggy tissue she held into her pocket and rushed over. “Did you find Einstein? Is he okay?”

Hope nodded. “He’s fine. He’s in my car. I’m sorry—I should’ve called,” she said regretfully.

“Oh, thank goodness you found him,” Priscilla exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Hope. “I’ve been worried sick. It’s all my fault. If anything had happened to him, I...I don’t know how you’d ever forgive me. I don’t know if I could’ve forgiven myself.” She withdrew the tissue from her pocket and blew her nose loudly.

Morris touched Priscilla’s shoulder. “Why don’t the two of you sit down. I’ll get Einstein. He shouldn’t stay cramped up in that little car, especially after what he’s been through.”

Hope smiled at him gratefully. A moment later, the door opened again, and Einstein scurried into the room. Hope noted that Morris still looked glum, and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with Einstein. “What’s wrong?” she asked.