“Um, hey, what if we gave him a walk?” I suggested.
“Out in that flood!?” Are you crazy? Her eyes said but her mouth didn’t.
“Well, I kinda meant… around the store. What if we gave Crash-I mean ‘Jessie’, a walk around all of Let’s Pets so that he’ll calm down and even be tired by the time he comes back?” I knew this plan was far-fetched, but I found myself hoping Ava would agree with the idea.
“Hm.” She looked up, thinking. “Well, Irish setter’s do need lots of exercise. Alright. A nice walk inside the building should do him well. This is also a pet store, so no one should be freaked out to see a dog walk by.” Ava handed me his leash.
For some reason, I felt so good inside that I smiled. Crash looked up at me, wondering what just happened and what this meant for him. My younger brother summed up my feelings in one word.
“Yay!” Shibitsby jumped up then went to pet the dog. I even leaned down to give him a good head rub before I started to walk down the aisle of dog cages.
I was moving, but Crash wasn’t, even as the leash pulled farther away from him. He stared at me, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening.
“C’mon, come on Crash!” I said and to my suprise, the big red dog began to follow me.
I sped up.
He sped up.
Shibitsby started to run.
When Crash began to trot Ava said “Not too fast!” and we came back to our senses.
I liked walking with Crash and Shibitsby. Shibitsby mainly tried to grab Crashes’ attention, and he managed to do so a few times, but eventually he got bored and went to run off to our older brother Shawn down at the front of
“Maybe he can help Shawn go find mom’s wallet.” I said to Crash. “He’s going to be in a big pot of trouble if he can’t find it.”
Crash took one look back at me and continued walking.
I was getting tired from walking all day and my feet were starting to hurt. Add that to my hunger and I felt as if I couldn’t go on.
Come on Crash, lets go sit down somewhere. All that was around with seats was the employees lounge a level above us.
Since this place had high ceilings, it was able to have a little second story in the corner of this huge pet store.
I probably shouldn’t have gone up there, since it said ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’ on the door in big letters, but hey, I really needed a sit-down, and I saw chairs up there in the window.
When I had got up there, I saw that the lounge not only had a place to sit, but also a tv AND a vending machine! Wow, this seemed a bit luxurious compared to the rest of the store.
rrrrrrBOOM!, went the sky, as it let out a furious light accompanied by a thunderous growl.
Crash whined and got a bit anxious, his ears glueing themselves to his sides and his tail tucked between his legs.
“Oh come on it’s just a little thunder! God you’re just like Shibitsby.” I went over to Crash and pet his head. He was trembling, but as I pet his back, he began to settle.
“Don’t worry, a little storm won’t hurt ya’.” I said, and he seemed to believe me.
Thunder sounded at the same time as the lightning shown, so I knew the storm was passing. This time, Crash only looked at me as it struck, knowing somehow that I’d have his back in this storm, and be here to comfort him.
I smiled. “Good boy.”
I closed the door and let go of Crashes leash, letting him stare at some cartoon on the tv while I walked over to the vending machine.
A snack! That was the perfect way to give me enough energy to walk Crash over to Ava and and then get back to the boys. Crazy lucky I’d found two quarters on the floor today and had just enough money for a bag of chips.
Crash looked at me with sad eyes as I ate in front of him. I stared right back down at him. “Don’t think I didn’t read the ‘top foods to never feed your pet’ list back at the kennel. Chips are a no go for you. Sorry.”
That’s when we both heard footsteps walking up the stairs. I swear for a split second it felt like my heart froze in place.
I looked out the window to see one of the store staff coming up the steps.
“Oh no! Time to go! Let's buzz Crash!” I said nervously as we walked down the steps.
Of course we had to walk past the Let’s Pets employee, who yelled after me asking why I was up in the staff lounge with a dog. But I kept speed walking away from there, and even Crash was aware enough to bring his speeds up to a low trot.
When we had made it back to the kennel Ava was waiting for us at the front desk.
“Back?” was all she said.
“Yep.”
“How was he?”
“Great.” I said opening the dog treat jar at the counter and feeding him one. I felt a little guilty that he couldn’t eat the chips with me, and the dog deserved a nice treat after finally calming down about the storm.
He started to wag his tail. Crash wasn’t such a bad dog, was he? I started to rub the sides of his head, ruffling his ears. And what surprised me was that I ended up giving him a hug, an actual hug. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see long red fur all over my white and purple hoodie.
Ava smiled and took him back to his pen, where he now willingly went in and layed in his dog bed.
Well, now that that was over I could return to my brothers and see/pray that Shawn found mom’s wallet.
As I walked over to the registers near the entrance of the store, I saw Shibibtsby run back to Shawn too, and shake his head about something. Shawn’s eyes widened in fear until he seemed to stare off into space. Then his mouth formed an O as he remembered something, and he began to laugh. That’s when I caught up to them.
“What’s going on?” I queried.
“Oh, I just remembered I left mom’s wallet in the glove box of the car! If you could go get it, we could pay for the items!” Shawn effused, relieved.
“What?! Why do I have to go get the wallet!?” I asked Shawn. The nerve of him to lose mom’s wallet and then ask me to retrieve it.
“Well, cause me and Shibitsby were looking for it while you were eating chips with dogs.” Shawn answered.
“How do you know what I-?” I started, but didn’t finish as he just pointed to my hoodie pocket where I had lazily stuffed the chips.
Dang it!