How Much Is That..?

I week ago I went to work as always. It had been a cold night. I wasn't looking forward to this day. The car wash would be icy. The wind would be at my face the entire day. Monday was a clean up day at the wash. After a busy weekend, things had to be made right again for the coming week. I get there to find the place cleaner then usual. Too cold for folks to come and throw their garbage around. Wait...what's that? A dog? Running loose at a car wash? Must belong to a guy that searches through my dumpster for cans... Wait he's not here. Who does this dog belong too? I ask the few customers there. He doesn't belong to them. I ask the dog, he growls at me. Has he spent the night here? Later I see him laying in the sun. It's cold. I mean, it's cold. Looks to be a Pomeranian. They don't mind the cold so much. But I've got to get him out of here. More customers are coming in and he's growling at them...barking at them.

I call the dog catcher.

The dog catcher comes. Says: "Oh...he's in a bad way. Not an easy grab. You catch him and I'll take him. Otherwise..."

Wait...isn't that his job? To catch the dog? I mean...he's the dog catcher...right?

I go to the corner store and buy a box of small dog treats. I go back and temp the little dog with them. He's starving. Eating them if I give him distance. I try to coax him into a storage room... He's too smart for that. Doesn't like storage rooms. How about my car? (there go my clean car seats) He jumps in to get a treat...I close the door...I've got him. I get in. He gives me a look. An almost grateful look. I pet him. He's not so bad, just cold and scared.

I take him to the CT Humane Society. This dog is not abandoned...he's missing. I tell them the owner will probably be here by nightfall. The humane society won't take a stray dog. "Since when?"

A waitress and a dog lover at a diner up the street says she'll take the dog for a couple of nights until an owner comes.

She has two other dogs.

This little guy goes nuts in her house...bites her husband.

He's out. Back in my car.

I take him to my mother's house where I'm staying for a few days...the dog is an angel at my mother's house... He loves my mother. He loves my brother. He loves my aunt. He loves me.

I put up a sign--"dog found, ask for details..." Nobody asks. Nobody is coming to his rescue. This is the smartest dog I've ever seen. Nobody cares. I decide to keep him...name him Runi... He'll be with me...unless a teary-eyed family comes and asks this dog for his forgiveness...