Lost Dogs

My mother had found another dog. Its like, when they were lost, they knew to come to our house. We would put up posters on telephone poles and adds in the newspaper when we found them. Mother would even keep extra dog food in the house, in case our little visitors had to stay a couple nights. The only problem was, sometimes an owner wasn’t found. Sometimes, they had been abandoned, left on purpose. It was sad, I couldn’t imagine being unwanted. I would almost cry every time when we took them to the shelter, maybe they’ll get adopted, maybe someone will want them. But maybe, maybe no one will, maybe they need to make room for more, and maybe he or she will be, put to sleep… because there was no one who wanted them. I love what my mom does, I really do, but sometimes I hate it, I hate that seemingly invisible force that steals lives, that takes them without giving back.
I walked to the front door where my mother would be, playing with who ever it was, getting attached, again. Watching her bend down and smother this little white poodle thing with pets and scratches I sighed. She seemed to be enjoying herself.
“Now, who do we have here?” I grabbed her from my mom, who was grinning ear to ear. She enjoyed saving them, even if it was for a few days.
Its ears were floppy and it was completely covered in white, curly fuzz and full of energy. She rolled in my arms, trying to get free. I sat her on the ground, she was attached to the red leash, the one my mother has used on at least 50 other lost dogs.
“This one looks familiar doesn’t it?” My mother asked, I looked at it sideways,
“Maybe” I had seen the breed before, but I wasn’t sure if this was anyone’s dog in the surrounding area.
“What if you took fluffy here for a bit of a walk and some neighbors if they have seen this dog around, or if its theirs.” I rolled my eyes,
“Not the neighbor walk again, that’s the only reason I know the neighbors.”
“Well, you will get the meet the new neighbors if you walk down about a block, at the other end of the street. They have a couple kids your age there.” My curiosity perked,
“I guess I do like meeting new people.”
“Then this dog is the perfect opportunity.” My mom said with a twinkle in her eye. I grabbed the leash, snuck my flip-flops on and headed out the door. Saving the new neighbors for last I headed round our neighborhood starting with the oldest couple on our street. They have two wiener dogs. Jack and Jill, what is it with people and having such generic names for their dogs? They had seen it running about the street that day, but they knew mother would be able to pick it up. I went to the next couple houses and some people had seen it, some hadn’t. One household provided a clue, during the moving day for the new neighbors it was seen jumping and running around the moving truck. Maybe it was theirs, but in case not I decided to still save them till last. Eventually I was standing before the doors that used to have familiar faces behind them. I hesitated in knocking when I heard a peal of laughter inside the house. Were they watching a sitcom? I knocked on the door really quick and if they didn’t notice I would just go home. The noise inside subsided and I hear about three chairs squeak back in unison.
“I got it” an unfamiliar voice called out.
“Peter, get back in your chair!”
“Mother, I’m fine, don’t embarrass me.” I heard steps up to the door, the door knob moved a couple of times before it was opened. A young man, of about 17 I was guessing stood before me. He wore t-shirt, and basketball shorts. His hair was ruffled, and he had some stubble on his chin but his eyes. They were beautiful, a light grey with a hint of blue around the iris. I smiled,
“Hey I’m Rachel, I was wondering if this was your dog. My mother found her in the street and…” He put his hand out awkwardly, I shook it and then he bent down and reached out, as if to touch the dog. His eyes remained staring forward. I moved the dog to his outstretched hand, his face lit up
“Hey mom, did you even realize Flo was missing?”, he grabbed the dog and buried his face in her fur. He stood up, “Thank you for finding her, she would have been sorely missed.” I nodded and looked down,
“Peter, introduce our guest!” He opened the door further
“Family this is Rachel, Rachel my family.” Boxes were stacked all throughout the house, a dining table was in the middle of them, and in the middle of it was a monopoly board. A well advanced monopoly board as houses and hotels were scattered all across the playing field. I nodded and smiled,
“I live just at the other corner at the same street, and since I’m here I might as well welcome you to the neighborhood.” The Mrs. Introduced herself as Jenny and gave much thanks for finding the dog. Walter was her husband. There was a girl at the table who looked about 17 as well and a boy who was about 19. She introduced herself as Christine and her older brother was John. They seemed like a very quaint relaxed family, who was good at putting things off, by the look of the mess. Jenny noticed I was looking at the boxes,
“We’ll clean all this up eventually, in the middle of moving we thought it would be best to have a monopoly game before we start putting things away.” I nodded and smiled. “Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I might have to head back to my house. Maybe I’ll see you again sometime?” “Come back anytime, we love company.” Jenny offered. I headed out the door and looked into Peter’s eyes. He just stared, not seeing anything. He was still just as beautiful to me.

They next week I decided to make cookies and asked my mother if I could take them over to make them feel welcome and possibly help with unpacking. She agreed on the condition that I be back at 4:00 to watch TJ, my little brother. Dad was going to be home at 5:00 and my mom wanted time to get ready before he got home. She wanted them to go have a special dinner tonight, they hadn’t spent much time together recently and she thought this would be perfect for them to catch up, I guess.
I agreed to the condition and headed off to their house with a dozen of steaming chocolate chip cookies. Stepping up to their house I paused before I knocked on the door, hearing nothing unusual I proceeded. Footsteps came up to the door and it slowly opened. It was John, I smiled
“Hey, I just figured I would make some cookies and bring them over if that’s alright?” He smiled and opened the door for me to come in.
“So, have you lived here all your life?” I shook my head, “No, I was actually born in Chicago, but my mom missed the country and my dad needed a more relaxing environment, so we came out here about 8 years ago.”
“I see, are the schools here good?” I shrugged,
“Depends on you definition of good.”
“Well, do you like it?”
“No, not really. I feel like school ties you down. Personally, I would like to travel, see places, do things, experience life. It just sounds way more exciting.”
We walked into the kitchen and I noticed that I hadn’t seen one box open or closed. It all seemed like they had everything all sorted out. I set the cookies on the counter when all of a sudden Flo came out of nowhere and starting jumping up my legs. I grabbed her into my arms
“Hey girl, how you doing? Isn’t she such a good girl, yeah, good girl.” She licked my nose and I put her back down on the ground.
“She has been staying inside most of the time ever since you found her. That was the first time we ever had a problem with her leaving and we still cant find a hole she could have snuck out in the backyard.”
“Hmm, that’s odd. I wonder how she managed to get out.” Just then, Peter walked in. He moved more confidently then any blind person I had seen before. His head wasn’t down, and he seemed to be quite happy, despite his handicap.
“Hello Rachel, glad you could come over. Do I smell cookies?” His face lit up with a smile.
“Yes you do, would you both like one?”
“Sure” they both replied. I handed each of them one.
“They are still warm!” John commented as he bit into his. I was just glad that they seemed to like to cookies. Christine just walked down the stairs
“What’s all the commotion down here?”
“Rachel brought cookies, and she’s a better cook than you.” He teased.
“Thanks Peter, after all I’ve done for you.” she rolled her eyes “boys” she said sarcastically in my direction.
“You like cooking?” I asked.
“I love cooking, its almost all I can think about especially if I get a new recipe that I need to try out. It’s a wonder these boy aren’t obese.” I laughed at her comment,
“We should do some cooking sometime, I’ve never done too much of it, I just know how to make the essentials.”
“That would be brilliant! I could teach you some of the things I learned in cooking class.”
“Sounds like you’re going to have your hands full.” John said laughing.
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I opened the door. Christine was standing on our porch in her chef outfit.
“Ta-da!” She looked dashing, and even had a chef’s hat to top off the outfit.
“Wow, Christine, you look great!”
“Thanks, you don’t look so bad either.” She commented on my world’s best dad apron and my backwards cap. I just laughed,
“My dad would be proud of me. So, when do you want to start?” We were to be cooking dinner and it was only 2:00 pm.
“What if we went to the grocery store and just saw our options for starters?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
We went to the grocery store and figured out what to make. Lasagna, garlic bread with a tossed salad and a strawberry cheesecake for dessert. I was excited, it was the first time cooking for a whole group of people. Both of our families would be there, I hoped we wouldn’t mess it up.
We got back to the house around 3:30 and started cooking. Everything went perfectly. We served by 6:00 with everyone looking very hungry.
“Oh my goodness, where did you get this recipe?”
“Are you sure you didn’t pick this up somewhere? It delicious.”
“You cook almost as good as your mother.”
“Dad.”
John grinded his chair back and stood.
“I propose a toast,” everyone was quiet “to family, friends, and lost dogs.”
“Amen to that.” Everyone clapped, cheered, and clinked glasses together. It was a great night. I sat in-between Peter and John. We talked and talked, until desert and then we talked again. John had plans of becoming a journalist, he was working on getting a scholarship this next year. Peter, all he knew was he wanted to experience life to the fullest, no matter what that involved doing. I liked that, maybe that’s what I’ll plan on doing as well. We told everyone goodnight, and Christine and I promised we would do this again sometime. John was the last to leave, mother was getting Tommy ready for bed and my dad was in the kitchen cleaning.
“You did great, I was very impressed.”
“Aw, thanks, but it was your sister who did most of the work.”
“Hey, umm, would you like to hang out sometime?” I wasn’t expecting that. What was I supposed to say?
“Maybe, but…”
“It’s ok if your busy, I guess I’ll head back to the house.”
“Goodnight.”
“Yeah, see ya.” He headed back to his house. Slumped shoulders, I hate rejecting people. Now its going to be awkward at his house. Especially if Peter and I decide to get together. I guess I will cross that bridge if and when I get there.
I crept underneath the blankets on my bed a fell asleep swimming in my uncertain thoughts.

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His fist landed in the middle of the table.
“You chose him over me? A blind helpless…” He stormed off. Peter had both his hands to his face.
“How could I have been so stupid? He’s my brother. I need to talk to him.” Peter stood and tried to follow him.
“Would you like my help?”
“I don’t think so, it might add a bit more stress to the situation if you were present. I’ll try to find him.” He stumbled toward the door where John stormed out. I sat at the table, looking at our barely touched food. The drinks were spilt, staining the white tablecloth and slowly dripping on the floor. I went and asked for some napkins and to pay for the meals. The lady at the register must have seen what happened and told me not to worry about the mess.
As I was heading home the wind was blowing something fierce. It was so cold, my fingers turned numb within 5 minutes. I let Peter go out in this? They would have gone the same direction since are houses are close together. The walk was only about 5 minutes. I decided I would stop by the house to make sure that everyone got home safe. Stepping up to the door however didn’t make me feel any better. I knocked, Jenny answered it promptly.
“Oh, hello Rachel. Would you like to come in? Its pretty chilly outside.”
“I’ll be fine,” lying, it was all I could do to keep my teeth from chattering “I was just wondering if John and Peter made it home alright?”
“You bet they did, and you could hear both of them storming in. I thought you and Peter went out for dinner.” I looked down,
“We did but, there were some problems surrounding that. Peter didn’t tell John.”
“Oh my, and Peter tells John everything. I might have to have a discussion with the both of them. You better head home if your staying outside, your lips are turning blue.” I smiled and nodded my head. I went home and opened the door.
“Your back early,” my surprised mother said.
“It, did go well. I don’t really want to talk about it.” And I headed to my room. Things will get better,

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He smiled at me, in my direction. I couldn’t believe we wanted to do the same exact things. More so I couldn’t believe that even though he was blind he still wanted to make the most out of his life. Being blind would be a great excuse to be sad and depressed. To not try for anything, heck he deserved things to be handed to him. Well, that’s how I would feel, if I were blind.
His hand reached out and grabbed mine, it was all I could do to not gasp. I had never really liked someone like this before but for some reason he seemed perfect.
“Tell me,” he requested “what does a sunrise look like?” He had never seen the beauty of a sunrise? A silent tear rolled down my cheek. How can I describe something so amazing? I still wanted to try,
“Its like the taste of a perfectly ripe strawberry. How it makes your jaw tingle. The warmth of a hug, you feel warm inside even if its cold. Hearing the voice of a loved one speak to you, the reassurance everything will be alright. The smell of crisp clean air, time seems to stop for a little while and then, it all turns back to normal. But in a way, every sunrise is different.” I looked at his eyes, they were moist.
“Tell me,” he put a hand to the side of my face “what do you look like?” I grabbed his other hand and put it on my face and closed my eyes. I let him run his fingers through my hair, along my forehead, softly over my eyes, over my cheeks. I felt his lips touching mine with a gentle kiss. My heart seemed to skip and flutter. He smiled, “I had always known you were beautiful.”

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“A simple operation!?” I about yelled “You lived your life so far not knowing there was an operation that could fix you!?” he seemed to flinch with those last words. I reached for his hand, “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry, I meant fix your eyes. But why didn’t you look for a means of making yourself better?”
“Because I was happy. My blindness caused me to see things differently. The way I grew up, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I have parents who love me, a brother and a sister who would die for me. Besides not being able see, I have it all.”
“But, you could have grown up with seeing things.”
“I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Maybe I wouldn’t have liked what you wore, the day you found our dog. And I know now that anything that would have kept me from keeping you, including my sight, would not have been worth having, apart from what you have given me.” I had nothing to say to that. He wasn’t upset, in fact, he was still glad about the way things turned out. “Besides, I’m going to get it now, if that makes you feel any better.” I squeezed his hand, he squeezed back.

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We all had assumed the worst after Peter had gone in Christine started quivering.
“Its not right, Its not right.” She kept saying. John had placed his arm over her and held her trying to make her feel better. About an hour after he had gone in a doctor came out of those same swinging doors, all of us felt like something bad happened.
“There was a problem during the operation. He was allergic to the sleeping stuff that we gave him and his heart gave out. We had to restart his heart to keep him going. At the moment he is resting, we were wondering if you want us to continue with the eye surgery with a different sleeping stuff. In a couple days or so. Jenny was sitting next to me, he hadn’t disappeared behind those doors less than an hour ago.
“May we see him?” She asked.
“We request that he be allowed to rest, for the time being. But if you insist we will bring you to where he is.” She nodded,
“How much sleep would you recommend?”
“At least a few hours.”
“Would you come get us?” He nodded,
“Thank you for your understanding and I’ll give you time to think about your decision for continuing with the operation.” He turned to leave, his white doctor coat quick behind him. I grabbed her hand and she leaned on my shoulder and began crying softly. Christine sat on my left, stiff as a board. She knew it, maybe it was just one of those things with twins.

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I was so nervous, I couldn’t believe it actually worked. Peter was seeing, and I wanted to wait till last to see him. What if he didn’t like how I looked? Would I be how he imagined me? Sitting alone, in my own stall, in the bathroom I tried to hold back tears. I decided that I had to see him, he was my boyfriend and he had just gotten his sight. How can I be so selfish? I went where his room was, his family inside. Glancing in the window his family surrounded his bed. John had his hand on Peter’s shoulder. Christine was sitting at the edge of his bed, smiling. Jenny had tears trailing down her face in Walter’s arms. Walter had the biggest smile and I could bet that his eyes were moist, despite his attempts at being the tough proud father. Then he saw me, I wanted to jerk away but those eyes, his eyes that caught me the first time I saw them only his eyes didn’t just happen to glance in my direction unseeing, he could see me! He could see me in the window! I could hardly breathe and I started shaking. He went to stand up, to come to the door. My heart seemed to pound in my throat. I turned my back to the door, every moment we had together spun in my head. He pulled the door open and put his hands on my shoulders.
“I could close my eyes if you wanted.”
“That might help”
“Alright, eyes closed, you can turn around when your ready.” I slowly turned and grabbed his hands in mine. Before he opened his eyes I had to close mine. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see his reaction. Squeezing his hands I knew he would be looking at me as soon as I opened my eyes. His beautiful eyes were looking into my own, seeing, for the first time in his life.
“I have no idea what you were so worried about, you are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” I laughed and looked at the ground.
“You’ve only seen 5 people.”
“It doesn’t matter, the next 5 thousand people, the next 5 million people they will never be as beautiful as you are to me. You loved me, even when I was blind. I felt and heard it. Now, I am blessed to see it. I love you Rachel.”