Page 20 of Baratta's Darkness

Fiona

When Baratta returns I thank him for walking the girls out and lock up. It has been a long day and I’m exhausted. You would think my job is easy but crouching down over another person for hours can wear a person out.

He starts to say something but I just hold my hand up to stop him. “I’m tired and I’m hungry. I just want to heat something up and go to sleep. Please hold it until morning.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday and I know you are closed. I just want to know your plans.”

“I’m meeting my brother at the shooting range at 9 then we have the family BBQ the rest of the day.”

He takes my hand, together we walk out the back door. I stop to lock the door but he says, “I got this, I’ll be right behind you.”

As I’m zombie walking towards the stairs, I hear a noise. My head snaps up and I’m suddenly alert. It sounds like crying or whimpering and it’s coming from behind the dumpster.

Since Baratta installed the security lights, it is much brighter back here. I pull the dumpster away from the wall and wiggle behind it.

Baratta is shouting at me, “What are you doing? Get out of there.” But I’m determined.

“I heard something.”

I’m frantically looking and I’m about to give up when I hear it again. I follow the sound and to my surprise I find a puppy. It’s clinging to the side of the building like it’s looking for warmth. The poor thing is dirty and clearly hasn’t had a good meal in a long time.

I scoop him up, then turn and hold him out for Baratta to take so I can get out of here. “Take him.”

“I’m not touching that. You don’t know where it has been.” He holds his hands up as he backs away.

“Well I’m not leaving it out here to die.”

He reluctantly takes the puppy from me, while we go up the stairs. I take a quick look around to see if there are any surprises by the door before unlocking it.

Kicking my shoes off, I let out a sigh of relief before taking the puppy back. “I’m going to shower and give this little guy a bath. Will you please heat up something for us to eat? There are storage bowls in the freezer from Sunshine, they’re labeled. Just pick something; I’m too tired to be picky tonight.”

“What are you going to do with that thing?” He asks, pointing to the pup.

“Tonight I’m going to clean it up and feed it. I’ll decide tomorrow what to do for the long term.”

I don’t take long in the shower. I’m in my robe and the pup is wrapped in a towel when I go back out to the kitchen. Baratta has two plates set out; it looks like rice with some kind of stir fry. I don’t care. With the puppy in one hand I’m scooping up food in the other.

“Give me the puppy so you can eat.”

I hand him over and notice Baratta has put a bowl of food and a bowl of water on the floor. He puts the pup down before joining me at the table. “Thank you.”

The next few minutes the only sound that can be heard is the scrape of our forks on our plates and pup chowing down.

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