rufus

Her father decided to buy her a dog, just to do something. After all, it was his weekend with her. What kind? he asked. She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure, either, that this was the best way to buy a dog, to just go out and find one, especially at the pet food store, where she’d heard that they boosted dogs from puppy mills. Let’s go to the rescue, she said, so they did and a lady named Beatice, who had crazy red hair and an eagle tattoo and one dangly earring, helped them, bringing out three dogs who needed adoption. Your mother won’t like a dog this big, he said, surveying the lot, and she knew he was right, but the she looked into the eyes of a dog named Rufus and said that he was the one she wanted. Why him? the father asked. Because he reminds me of loneliness, she said. That doesn’t sound like a good reason, the father said, and she shrugged and said, well, I think it is. So, Rufus, it was. On the way back to her mom’s house, Rufus fell asleep in the back seat of the dad's car with his head in her lap. Nevermore, she said quietly to him. Nevermore.