Page 46 of Taming Georgia

Her entire body shakes with fear.

I’m so relieved when the final piece of tape comes loose.

“There. Now, you can breathe.”

I look up to Georgia. “I need you to stand on the silver garbage can. I’m going to hand her to you. Then, I’ll jump out and take her.”

“Okay.” She nods and steps up.

I gently pick up the little girl, reassuring her the entire time, and hand her to Georgia. Then, I climb out of the dumpster and extend my arms so that I can get the dog back. I hold her close to my chest and exit the alleyway to find Ethel and the van waiting.

I place the dog in a crate in the back of the van and motion for Cooper to jump in. He does.

I pull the knife out of my pocket and hand it to Georgia. “Can you tell Mark thanks for me?”

“Sure.” She takes the knife from my grasp. “But can I come back with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, be right back.” She smiles and runs off to return the knife to Mark.

I climb into the passenger seat.

“Same shit, different day,” I tell E.

She sighs, “Poor baby.”

“She’s so sweet, too.”

Georgia slides in and closes the door, and then Ethel drives off.

“I can’t believe she let you cut that off of her mouth and pick her up. She didn’t even snarl or anything,” Georgia says from the backseat.

“It’s often like that. They’re so trusting of humans despite being so abused by them. It’s the pit-bull spirit. They just love people. They’re the best dogs. That poor girl doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, and she was so abused by people. Still, she wags her tail when I pet her.” I shake my head, still so angry with the piece of shit who did this to her.

“Will she be okay?” Georgia asks.

I nod. “Yeah. She’ll be a great dog. She needs some antibiotics and TLC, but she’ll be fine. She’s going to make some family really happy. She’ll love them unconditionally.”

We get back to the shelter and get Luna situated.

Georgia named her Luna because as she says, “She’s as black as night, but her spirit shines as bright as the moon, and Luna means moon.”

Georgia really invests in the dogs’ names. I pretend to find it annoying, but it’s kind of endearing.

After Luna is bathed, fed, and medicated, I check on all of the other dogs. Everyone showed for work today, which is rare, and they all did their jobs well, which is also rare. The dogs all look good and happy.

“E, go home,” I say to Ethel.

“It’s fine. I have some reading to do. I’ll stay.”

“For the love of God, go home. Spend time with your cats. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I kiss her on the cheek, grab her by the shoulders, and push her out of the office.

She laughs. “Fine, but I need my purse and my coat.” She points into the office.

“Okay, but then you leave. Enjoy your Sunday.”

“What about you?” She looks concerned.

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