Page 26 of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
“But I don’t know anyone here.”
“I know.”
“When are we going home?”
“We’re not.”
“Why? I don’t have any friends! I want to gohome!”
Annie’s mother swallowed and rose silently. She scraped her plate into the sink. Then she walked to the bedroom, just a few feet away, and shut the door.
The next morning, she woke Annie early and made scrambled eggs with shredded cheese. She pushed them onto Annie’s plate without comment. When Annie finished, Lorraine announced, “We’re going for a ride.”
It was raining lightly, and Annie kept her arms crossedthe entire trip, her mouth in a scowl. Eventually, the car pulled in to a dirt parking lot, with a one-story building and a blue-and-white sign that readPETUMAH COUNTY ANIMAL RESCUE SHELTER.
They walked towards the back. Annie heard barking. Her eyes widened.
“Are we getting adog?” she asked.
Her mother stopped. Her face seemed to crumble. She bit her lip and blinked back tears.
“What’s the matter, Mommy?” Annie asked.
“You’re smiling,” her mother said.
***
That day, Annie walked past dozens of rescued or abandoned dogs. She watched them leap and paw at the cage doors. The woman running the shelter said Annie could choose any dog she wanted, so Annie studied them carefully. She played with several, letting them lick her cheeks and fingers. At the end of a row, she saw a cage with three cocoa-and-white puppies. Two ran for the door, barking on their hind legs. The third remained in the back. It wore a plastic funnel around its neck.
“What’s that?” Annie asked.
“An Elizabethan collar,” the woman said. “To keep the dog from biting or licking.”
“Biting or licking what?” Lorraine asked.
“Her wound. She needed surgery when we found her.” The woman jangled her keys. “A tough story.”
Lorraine touched Annie’s shoulder. “Come on, sweetie, there’s others to look at.”
But Annie was fixated. She felt something for this creature, wounded as Annie was wounded. She tilted her head the way the dog’s head was tilted. She made small kissing sounds. The dog stepped forward.
“Do you want to play with her?” the woman asked.
Annie’s mother shot her an annoyed look, but the woman opened the cage door.
“Come here, Cleo,” she said. “Someone wants to meet you.”
***
As Annie recounted this story to the old woman, the image appeared before them. The shelter owner had long, silver-tinged hair and wore blue jeans, black sneakers, and a faded flannel shirt. She smiled as she handed the collared dog to Annie.
“Is that you?” Annie asked.
“Yes,” the old woman said.
Annie looked around.
“Where’s my mother? She brought me here.”
