Amidst the row of dog cages at the animal shelter, her mother drew in a long, deep breath which was quite the task, given the foul air.

Val stood there waiting at her side, eyes darting anxiously between her mother and Foofy. Apparently, his breed as a Doberman Pinscher was going to pose a problem in his adoption, but why should it? The way that Foofy sat in his kennel as a model dog, Val refused to entertain this thought. She simply could not accept any fault that her mother would find with Foofy.

In a long, drawled out voice, her mother asked, “Why did you not tell me that Foofy was a Doberman Pinscher?”

“There was no reason in particular,” Val said with a shrug, and truthfully, she did not see why this should be an issue. “His breed should be irrelevant because Foofy is a good dog, and he is the dog that I want.”

“He is a big dog, though. When you told me that you wanted to adopt a dog named Foofy, well, I had imagined a little fluff ball like that one over there.”

The dog that she pointed to looked like a Pomeranian going mad in its cell. Its mouth opened up to chew at the wires of its cage. Every few bites, its tongue would flick out to lick along the bars. Its unsettling eyes stared up at them with the sort of crazed expression that Val thought only existed on the Internet in the form of dog memes.

“Uh, no,” Val said slowly. She had to take a step back and turn her head away to get that Pomeranian out of sight.

She did not even want that dog appearing in the peripheral of her vision, much less have it as a pet. That dog would be worse to her than Gigi the Chihuahua.

Rather, her attention focused solely on Foofy. To better present him, Val threw her hands out in display. “Just look at Foofy! He is an excellent dog, better behaved than any other dog here.” Of course, Val still held Keep the Peace over him and only him as part of her doggy advertisement. “He may be a Doberman, but he is a sweet, innocent Dobie. He would not even bite a hamburger.”

At that, her mother tilted her head with a quizzical look. Obviously, nearly every dog in the entire world would snatch a burger if they could, hence the figure of speech. Rather than appreciating Val’s cleverness and lightening up, her mother carried on with all seriousness. “I am not saying anything bad about Foofy in particular. It is simply a fact that our landlord forbids big dogs in our apartment.”

Her jaw clenched hard. “That is a dumb rule. I say that it is unjust to follow unjust rules.”

In response, her mother shook her head while her countenance further twisted up into an apologetic look. “I am sorry for misleading you and saying that we could adopt Foofy today, but we simply are not able to do so.”

“Then, let’s move today, right this instant!” Val knew that she spoke in unreasonable impossibilities, but looking on at Foofy in his cage, he simply could not be left here under any circumstance.

“Even if we lived somewhere else that would allow big dogs, Foofy is a Doberman Pinscher,” her mother reiterated. “Our insurance would not cover him as an aggressive breed in the event that he caused anyone trouble.”

“You are talking about leases and insurance while I’m talking about life and death! Foofy is going to die by tomorrow if no one adopts him.”

“Someone else will adopt Foofy today then, hopefully. We can always pray to Adelaide.” After clearing her throat, she carried on in a more cheerful tone. “You can have any other dog here—any other small dog.”

Her teeth bit together, much harder than before. Val felt as though she might just be able to crack one of her own molars if she continued to hold onto this anger. “I do not want any other dog. Y-You should head home. I am going to volunteer here, like I do every day.”

“Are you feeling all right, Val?” Her mother hovered closer to her and touched her fingertips to Val’s arm. “I know that I said that we could adopt a dog today, and I will hold true to my word. It just has to be a dog that we can keep in the apartment.”

Rather than the warm, considerate touch like her mother intended, the gesture made Val flinch away out of disgust. “I just want to be alone with the dogs right now.” By the dogs, Val meant only Foofy as she continued to stare on at him, the only dog in the shelter according to her eyes.

“I’m sorry for promising that we would adopt Foofy today,” her mother repeated. “I never should have let you get your hopes up like that, before I saw Foofy for myself. I’m sorry, Val. You can still have any small dog that you want.”

With that requisite tacked on for clarification, Val could not have any dog that she wanted because she only wanted Foofy. The way that her mother tried to substitute any old dog in for her best friend in the shelter only served to disgust her. It was not like the dog directly in front of them would be dead by tomorrow or anything. Val continued to seethe in her silent fury, waiting for her mother to leave her alone.

At last, her mother turned to saunter out of the animal shelter. “I guess that I will see you at home, then. Bye Val.”

“Mom?” Val forced herself to turn around with something like a wince of a smile on her face. “Thanks for coming here anyway.” More like thanks for nothing, but she kept those rude thoughts to herself for the sake of a polite exterior.

“O-Of course.” By the slight pinch in her mother’s eyes, she seemed to understand her lack of gratitude. “We will talk more at home.” Her mother turned sharply and saw herself out.

Val lowered herself to Foofy’s level in a squat. Her fingers reached out to him, but she had to settle with a grasp around the linked wires of Foofy’s kennel door. “I am so, so sorry, Foofy,” she whispered. Val had failed her favorite dog in not just the entirety of this animal shelter, but also in the whole, wide world.

With a whine, Foofy laid down and crawled forward on his doggy elbows. His nose nuzzled up against her fingers while his pink tongue darted out to caress her knuckles in sad licks. If Foofy tried to reassure her, his sweet gestures only made Val loathe herself more. In the event that he just wanted a carrot, Val had to also hate herself for forgetting to bring any of those with her.

This cage separated them, dividing their lives ever more prominently now that Foofy could never be her dog.

“It is hard being a dog owner while also answering to a landlord.” The shelter worker sighed as he walked alongside the kennels. His gaze cast down to both Val and Foofy, looking at them with a sad shake of his head. “I’m sorry that your family will not be able to adopt Foofy. If it is any reassurance, he has no idea what is about to happen. Today seems like just another day for a dog! Foofy looks like he is looking forward to his usual walk with you.”

“Yeah.” That single word left Val’s lips in a sour tone. She could not disagree with the shelter worker’s suggestion. Foofy deserved one last walk on the final day of his life, so Val got up to fetch a leash for him.