Bay's Wish [ONC 2024]

Prologue

The pads of my paws pressed against the cold floor as I pulled my human by the leash into the strange, brand-new place he had brought me to.

My tail worked overtime and I simply could not contain my excitement anymore. We rarely left the house. Not since I accidentally ran away to chase a squirrel on our walk a long time ago. Can you blame me? The dreaded thing was getting far too close to my human for comfort. I had to show it who was boss. But when I turned around to tell my humans the threat had been neutralized, they were gone. After I finally found my way home, they were not happy; they were the opposite of happy. I never figured out if they were angry at me for running or for coming back.

So imagine my excitement when Human Dad pulled out my leash and put me in the car... the car! With a new place and so many intriguing smells to sniff, my excitement burst from tail to snout.

In all honesty, this new place was a little bit frightening. But my human seemed okay with it, so I was, too. After all, part of a dog's responsibility was to protect their human. How could I protect him against hidden danger and squirrels if I wasn't bouncing around everywhere, sniffing every suspicious rock and blade of grass? Thankfully, there were no squirrels in sight, but I detected plenty of other dogs like myself.

Inside the new building, Dad stopped in front of a tall counter. Too tall for my paws, but I could at least try to reach the top.

"I'm dropping him off," Dad said. He jerked at the leash attached to my collar to keep me from inspecting what was over the counter. My claws scratched at the smooth surface and, even though I was not sure how or what, I immediately knew I'd done something wrong. My tall, pointy ears pulled back and I sank to the floor, but I could not stop that confounded tail from wagging at a rabbit's pace.

"Are you sure?" The human behind the counter asked. He sounded sad, like he needed a good dog kiss to cheer him up. Remembering to keep all four paws on the cold, hard ground, I stared up at him from behind the counter, my head tilted. "We offer training classes. He's still young."

"Just take him," Dad said. The human behind the counter sighed the way Human Mom did when I found hidden treasure in the trash.

"If you could just fill out these forms—"

"I don't have time." Dad's sharp tone sent my ears back again. "We have a dinner reservation in twenty minutes. Just take him."

Dad shoved the end of my leash into the other human's hand—which pulled at my collar again—and disappeared outside.

I wondered where he was going. When I tried to leave with him, the human who held my leash urged me to follow in the opposite direction with a gentle tug. At first, I did not want to, but the smell of peanut butter filled my snout. Turning around, my claws clicking against the floor, it took no time at all to spot the irresistible treat the new human held out towards me.

"Yeah, you want the treat, boy?"

My paws reached as far up the counter as they could go and I stretched my neck towards the crunchy bone-shaped delicacy, which I devoured effortlessly.

The new human led me around the counter. I hesitated, weary of what lurked behind it. But a few air sniffs told me there was not much to be afraid of, so I pulled us towards the door behind him. My nails skittered across the floor as I tried to get us to our destination as quickly as possible. Maybe there were more peanut butter treats.

The new human told me he was sorry, but I did not know why he needed to apologize. My family would come back for me. But when he walked me through a door behind him and into a new room lined with fences even taller than the counter, I put on the brakes. There were no treats behind the fences. Only other dogs like the ones I smelled outside. They all barked at me as we walked by, causing my fur to stand on end.