It was a bright and breezy summer day that seemed no different from any other. Maddie sat gazing through the window wondering if today would be the day. Her day. Gotcha day. The seconds turned to minutes and the minutes turned to hours. A vast array of people had passed through the doors, staring, pointing, cooing and aahing. Some of Maddie’s friends had been lucky enough to be taken for a walk outside. Maddie herself was yet to have that luxury.
Mid-afternoon came and Maddie lay dejected. Many faces had peered through her window smiling, yet they had all walked by to the next. She let out a sorrowful sigh and closed her eyes. A few moments passed before she could feel the gaze of someone through her window. Maddie slowly opened one eye to see a man and a woman crouching before her. She opened her other eye and took a long look at them. The couple had smiling eyes and kind faces. They kept looking at her and then looking at each other, saying things Maddie didn’t really understand. Maddie got to her feet and began to play with her favourite toy. The bright yellow ball bounced around as she pushed it, kicked it, nudged it. As she squeezed it in her mouth, the ball squeaked and Maddie began to jump and dance around while making it squeak more. The couple got to their feet and began to chuckle. Again, the looked at each other, looked at Maddie and smiled. In fact, Maddie began to realise that they hadn’t stopped smiling. Surely this was a good sign. She dropped her ball, looked up at them, deep into their eyes and smiled back. The woman grabbed the man’s hand and squeezed it. Then Maddie’s heart sank as they walked away.
It was about ten minutes later when one of the girls who worked in the shelter came to see Maddie. The sight of the lead in the girl’s hand made Maddie’s heart skip a beat. Finally, it was time for a walk, time for fresh air, time to get out in the open. As Maddie was led out she was taken aback when they started walking in a different direction. This wasn’t the normal route they took. The girl lifted the latch on a huge wooden gate and opened it wide. She led Maddie through and as she began to close it Maddie noticed two people sitting on the bench opposite. Two familiar looking people. As she stared more intently towards them, they looked across and saw her. Their faces were alight with joy. Maddie was led towards them. As she approached the couple, the woman crouched down to Maddie’s level. Maddie took the opportunity to get a closer look at her. She gave the woman a good sniff. Smiling, the woman gently held out a hand which Maddie sniffed and then licked. The woman stroked her and stood up. The girl handed Maddie’s lead to the woman and walked away.
“Come on then Maddie,” said the woman “let’s go for a walk.”
Maddie could barely contain her joy. A walk! Maddie loved walks with the guys and girls from the shelter but today was special. Today people were walking her. People who had gazed at her through her window. People who smelt nice. People who looked nice. Happy people. Kind people. Were they going to be her people? Paws crossed she thought to herself.
Time passed far too quickly for Maddie’s liking and soon the walk was over. Before the girl took Maddie away the couple crouched down to Maddie’s level and fussed over her. As the girl began to lead Maddie back through the open gate Maddie looked back to see the couple still there, holding hands and smiling at her. She lovingly smiled back and then went inside.
The following day Maddie was in for a big surprise. No sooner had the doors to the shelter opened, than the woman walked through and straight up to the front desk. Maddie couldn’t see what was happening, but within a couple of minutes, she was being led out for another walk. To her delight, as she was led through the gate, there was the woman standing by the bench, her face beaming. Maddie was so excited she couldn’t get to the woman quick enough. They shared another glorious walk. Neither of them could contain their joy. When they returned to the gate ready for Maddie to go back inside, the woman crouched down, hugged Maddie and said “Not long now girl and you’ll be coming home with me.” Once back inside Maddie repeated the woman’s words over and over again in her head. Could it really be true? Was she finally going to have a real home?
Over the next few days, the woman came on her own, or sometimes with the man, to take Maddie out for a walk. On the days when the weather was bad, they were allowed to play in the big room instead. All that space for games, toys and lots of love. Maddie loved the couple and the couple loved her.
It was the following Monday that turned out to be the best day in Maddie’s life. The couple arrived and did a lot of talking with the staff at the front desk. Eventually, Maddie was taken to them. She was so excited to see them again. The weather wasn’t great so she presumed they would be having another play session in the big room. But she was wrong. The couple had lots of pieces of paper and a large bag that was bulging with different objects. Maddie sniffed the bag. Mmm, food she thought. The couple finished talking to the staff, crouched next to Maddie and looked deep into her eyes. “Gotcha,” they said in unison and hugged Maddie.
As the car pulled away from the car park, Maddie looked through the window at the shelter. This was really it, she was going home. Lovingly she looked at the couple and barked “Gotcha”.
