Ripples - Chapter 4: Adopted again.

 

       Just about the time the day began to grow dim, Dana Farino started her shift at the upscale café. Her first assignment was to empty all of the trashcans and take the bags out to the dumpster. It was on her way back from that dumpster, in the dying light of the day, that something in the road drew her attention. As she drew closer, she could see that it was a small puppy trying futilely to revive the now cold body of Stephen Wilton. She scooped the now shivering little dog up and held her close to her beneath her jacket while she ran inside to get help.

       Once inside, Dana called 911 to report the man in the alley. She stood by the open back door and tried to comfort the yipping puppy who was trying pitifully, to get back outside to his dead friend. She stepped outside to answer the questions that the police officer had for her but she really didn’t have much to tell him beyond when and how she found him, but she did her best.

 

       By the time she got back inside, she’d been on the clock for an nearly an hour and worked all of five minutes. Her boss, Jim, was none too excited about that, so when Dana came back in with the still noisy puppy under her jacket, he protested.

 

       “You can’t have that dog in here.”

 

       “She’s got no place else to go. Her owner is dead out there!”

 

       “Look! It’s not like I’m unsympathetic, but I have a business to run. You’ve been here over an hour and you haven’t done a lick of work. Either the dog goes, or you both go.”

 

       “Well I hope you’re happy!” Dana complained to the oblivious, tail-wagging puppy, as she walked away from her newly former, place of employment, “Dad always said that everything always happens for a reason, I hope like heck he was right.”

 

       The puppy tilted her head and stared up at Dana almost as though she was listening.

 

       “Oh stop looking at me that way. I guess it was about time for me to find another job anyway.”

 

       The next morning, the whining of the puppy woke Dana at dawn. She mixed some leftover meatloaf from the previous night’s dinner with some puppy chow and put it down with a small bowl of water. With the pup eating and temporarily satisfied she started a pot of hazelnut coffee and retrieved the morning paper from the front porch. When she pulled the rubber band off of the paper and unfolded it and read the headline, an audible gasp escaped her lips. The headline read ‘Three Employees Murdered in Robbery’ and the photo was of the Café from which she had quit less than twelve hours earlier. Dana had been scheduled to work until close.

 

       Everything happens for a reason indeed!

 

Reviews

[Tara]

Cool twist there...I like the ripples!

[nostal]

Oh My God! I actucally felt something for Stephen. But i have to admit this new charcter is equally nice.

[Emily B]

oh, my!!! I guess I'm not happy you killed off Stephen, but I like this character.