It's Ruff

"Oh, shut up!" I said, pulling him into the cold tiled reception room of Helpful Hands. "Sit. Damn it, sit, Chester! God, you're so dumb!" He whimpered, his large brown eyes begging me silently. I pushed on his back, right above the tail bone until Chester sat down finally. Sighing, I pulled my long blond hair into a ponytail as I walked towards the counter. Jessie, or so her name tag would lead me to believe, smiled at me from her low chair.1

"Good morning! How can I help you?"2

"I'm Laurie, Laurie Stevens. I adopted Chester about a month ago. Yeah, I need to return him." 3

"Oh. Oh, dear. Really?" Jessie frowned, her red curls sliding to one side as she looked over at Chester. The pathetic thing sat there, shaking, whimpering. "Why?"4

"He's a bad, bad boy! He eats everything he can reach, chases after women, and refuses to stay off my couch! He's a mess!" I jerked my arm at him, pointing. He seemed to shrink down lower, and moan a little. I rolled my eyes at his antics and turned to look back at Jessie. "I can't stand it anymore!" 5

"Well, Ms. Stevens, that's normal. I mean, what did you want him to act like? It's in their nature!" She sighed and then shrugged. "The good news is we can take Chester back. But, unless you adopt another poor soul in need of a good, loving home, you'll be in direct conflict of your contract. And we will be forced to sue you." 6

"Sue? What are you talking about? That wasn't in the paperwork!"7

"Actually," Jessie the unhelpful helper grinned as she looked for my file. She pulled it out and then highlighted the section she wanted me to read. "It's right here. Sorry." Only Jessie didn't seem that sorry. 8

"Or...what?"9

"Or," she said, smiling at Chester with adoration."You can take Chester back home."10

"So, it's get stuck with something worse than him, or give him another chance?"11

" 'Fraid so. But he's so cute! I bet he's not really that bad of a boy, are you sugar?" She got up and walked around the counter to scratch Chester behind his ear. He nearly flopped on the floor in obvious delight and I rolled my eyes again. "Not a big old cutie like you!" She laughed as Chester covered her face in those slimy kisses I hated.12

"See that? No loyalty!" 13

Jessie shook her head, now rubbing Chester's belly softly. "You're bringing him back to a virtual prison. I wouldn't be to thrilled with you either." 14

I hefted another sigh. When Chester had first come to my life, I thought it was the perfect thing. He was there when I got home, offered me comfort after a long day, was warm to snuggle during thunderstorms. He had the greatest, largest brown eyes that seemed to really get me and this weird little half grin that just melted my heart. I would tell him about the evil shrew in accounting that hogged all the Mountain Dew from the snack machines or the jerk in the filing room that wouldn't stop staring at my rear. And Chester would sit there, acting as if he was listening, as if he understood. But after a few weeks, Chester started to get annoying. I would find him sniffing at some girl while we walked through the park. Or he would sleep all day after eating everything he could get too. He started to hate leaving the house for any reason and would poke that nose at me when I was trying to shower, or read. He wanted all my attention when I was busy doing other things. But when I wanted to play or walk or have him pay attention to me, he would just give that long suffering sigh.15

Stay with Chester. Or adopt some new bum that would eat all my food and steal more than his fair share of the bed.16

"Well, what'cha got back there?"17

Jessie stood, after hugging Chester's neck. "Let's go see." 18

Jessie lead Chester into another room and left him there. As we walked out, he sat down, looking woefully abused and unwanted. Rolling my eyes, I followed her down a long hallway with an eerily flickering over head light, our footsteps echoing oddly. We stepped through a large metal door and the smells almost had me gagging. Unwashed, soiled body odors mixed with food and piss had my eyes watering. The worst was the sounds though. It must have been some signal for them all to start yelping and whining at once as the door slammed shut behind us. You could almost pick out the individual sounds of "Pick me, look at me, I'm cute, well behaved, I want to go home with you!" . I shrugged my shoulders as we wandered up and down the alleyways of cages. I stopped to look at some pale large thing with blue eyes. "What about this one?"19

"That's Jake. He's so sweet! And perfect with children! He just has this little problem with not going where he's supposed to go when he makes his business, don't you Jakey?" Jessie asked as she reached in to pat his head. Jake seemed to hang his head in embarrassment and we kept walking. 20

"And this one?" 21

"Oh, that's Reggie. You can't have him. He bites!" Jessie actually took a few steps back from the cage as Reggie grinned at us. "Poor woman that had him last was actually put in the hospital. He's being put down later today." 22

I sighed. So far I had a pee-er, and a biter. Great. I walked down towards the end of the row, not seeing anything that really stood out. Then...then there he was. The perfect companion. "What about him?" He was simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Reddish brown colored with these weirdly colored green brown eyes, and a quirk to his mouth that made him look glad to be alive. I reached out to him and he kissed the back of my hand, one eye dropping a wink.23

"I see you've met our Casanova. This is Sir William. He's been returned three different times for running away. He likes to chase girls all over the place and has been caught in a few different yards. He's a big old lover, ain't ya Willie?"24

I almost didn't listen to her. He was simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. "I'll take him."25

"Ms. Stevens, I really must warn you-"26

"I said, I'll take him." 27

Jessie sighed and nodded. "Okay. Well, we should go fill out the paperwork. Looks like you're getting sprung again, Will." 28

William gave me another grin and then we walked to the front. I filled out the new paperwork on trading Chester for William and waited impatiently for Jessie to bring him out and around the counter. She lead him out and I opened my arms with a welcoming smile. Will took his time to get to me, but he kissed my cheek and nuzzled my neck. "He smells so good!"29

Jessie nodded. "Yeah, he gets really picky if he doesn't get pampered all the time."30

"Well, thanks for your help, Jessie."31

"Don't you want say goodbye to Chester?" Jessie accused me with her eyes.32

William sneezed and looked around bored. "Not really. But I guess I should."33

"Okay." Jessie walked away, and opened the door. Chester walked out and glared at William who sneered back. I held onto William tightly, and Jessie did the same in case they started to fight. Chester nearly jerked out of Jessie's hold, coming towards me.34

"Laurie! Laurie, please! I love you!" 35

I shook my head, slinging my arm through William's, and sighed. "Look, Chester, we had a good run, but we can't keep pretending. I'm going to let you free to find someone who can really love you. I'm with William now. C'mon, Will. Let's go get some food."36

"Laurie! Laurie, I need you! I can change! Please, give me another chance!" Chester pleaded. I turned away, not watching Jessie pulling him into the back room.37

William escorted me to the car, and then he slid into the passenger seat. "You got cable right?"38

"Will, stop yapping," I said as I wiped a tear.