Ralph stomped up the stairs of his musty apartment building after a dreadful day. He finally got to his apartment door, and to his disbelief, there’s a sign that reads “rent due.” Ralph ripped the sign off, and mumbled furiously. Ralph is a dog catcher for Pound Hounds ResQ in New York. As Ralph stomped into his apartment, the photo framed on the wall of his daughter’s mother, his daughter, and him, caught his sight. He stopped and stared at it. Next to the framed photo was an old mirror. He scooted over to the mirror, took off his baseball cap, and fixed up his dark brown hair. In the reflection, he saw his scruffy beard and dark green eyes. He went to bed, the thought of his daughter kept him up.
The next morning, Ralph woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for work. He threw on his worn-out work uniform, Ralph put his baseball cap on that barely read “POUND HOUNDS RESQ”, put on his torn-out black leather boots that had holes and creases, and walked out of his apartment. Ralph finally got down to the street, he got into his rusted and beat-up truck, and drove down the street to his work. When he arrived at work, he parked his truck and stomped inside. He grabbed a pink donut with sprinkles off the table that had a variety of snacks for all of the workers. After Ralph finished his donut, he walked to the back lot to where all of the company trucks were. He started the truck and drove away to start his day.
Ralph’s job was to drive around all of the parts of the city that have the most stray dogs. He puts them in the van and takes them to the rescue at the end of his shift. It was now 11:00 AM, and Ralph was now in a different area of the city, with no luck finding any stray dogs. He almost missed it, but he swerved his truck around and slammed the brakes harshly.
He saw a beautiful Australian Shepherd wandering around. This was his daughter’s favorite type of dog. Ralph got out of the truck and went into the back to grab his leash that goes around the dog. He had the worn-out leash in his hands and slowly approached the dog, making sure he wouldn’t startle it, and to make sure it wasn’t dangerous. The dog spotted him and sat still. Ralph was very surprised. He approached the beautiful dog and slowly put the leash around the dog’s beautiful, brown and white spotted neck. The dog walked with him back to the truck, and Ralph was pleasantly surprised how good this dog was for being a stray. He loaded the dog into the back, slammed the back door shut, and got back into the truck. While he was driving, he read the time on his watch, “11:45 AM.” Ralph had four more hours until his shift ended. He decided to keep driving around until he found at least a few more dogs.
One hour went by, no dogs. Two hours later, nothing. Ralph was getting impatient, so he stopped for lunch. When he arrived at the gas station, he went inside and grabbed a beef jerky for the dog, and one for himself. He unlocked the back door of the truck and opened it roughly. Ralph unlocked the cage that the dog was in and slowly unraveled the beef jerky stick wrapper and dropped it into the cage for the dog. The dog wagged its tail energetically and panted happily. It seemed as if it was smiling as well. It looked happy to be found and have a place to be. The dog had a big brown coat of fur, with white spots all over it. His daughter had beautiful green eyes, almost the exact color of this dog’s eyes. As Ralph looked into the dog’s eyes, he remembered a moment he had with his daughter.
Ralph and his daughter used to go to the beach together all the time. They used to splash each other with the warm ocean water. He loved his daughter so much. Her name was lucky because her mother believed she was a miracle and good luck. She was his entire life; his world revolved around her. But when she was five , she became very sick with leukemia. She battled it for a year, then realized that she wouldn’t make it. Things became hard for Ralph after everything that happened, especially because his wife divorced him after their tragedy. He closed the cage, locked the back door, and tiredly stomped into his seat. Ralph drove for thirty minutes, still in search of any dogs, when he realized he was low on gas. Ralph didn’t think he needed it at the gas station. He slowly came to a spot down an alley as the engine sputtered. He sighed annoyed and got out of the truck to make sure the dog was okay. It was very tranquil and peaceful. The dog was smiling brightly with its eyes. The dog was panting, and looked lonely. Ralph decided to bring the dog up to the front of the car with him, and he just sat there with the dog on his lap and petted it gently. His watch read “12:30AM.” He dialed the tow truck number, as the dog laid very content on his lap.
There was something about the dog that Ralph could not quite put his finger on. It was different from other dogs and had a peace to it, almost like it had not one care in the world. The way the dog stared into Ralph’s eyes really touched Ralph. He saw the tow truck slowly driving into the alley, and Ralph woke the dog up and then saw it had a collar. Ralph looked at the collar, but it had no number, address, nothing. Instead, it read the dog’s name. Lucky.