Rebound
Cat or dog?
It’s one of those definitive questions, isn’t it?
Summer or winter? White bread or brown?
It’s meant to say something about who you are, if you’re a dog or cat person. Introvert or
extrovert. Life of the party or a Saturday night hermit.
Personally, I’ve always liked both - cats or dogs that is. But given my recent relationship
status, I steer away from the sign that separates man’s best friend from his feline counterpart.
Cat lady is not the look I want to go for right now.
I wander down a row of chicken wire cells, brimming with puppies, yapping terriers or big, booming fluffballs named “Buster.” It’s not until I reach a pen in the corner that something, or someone I suppose, catches my eye.
Biddy, 15 years old, Female, Yorkie X
My great-aunt Rose was obsessed with Yorkies. She even had a ceramic one which sat on her porch. That was a dainty little thing though, with long silken hair and a bow on top. Biddy, meanwhile, looks like she’s seen better days. Her hair is short and tufted and when she looks up at me its not with waggy tale, panting tongue or doleful eyes.
She looks thoroughly fed up.
She looks as pissed off as I feel.
I don’t blame her. To have lived 15 long years to end up somewhere like this? Perhaps her previous owner was as old as she was and became too ill to look after her. Or worse still, died. Or maybe she was the one who became too old and crotchety. Nipped at the kids one time too many and so doomed to be traded in for a younger model.
You and I both, my friend.
Biddy’s ears prick ear so slightly but there’s still no wag of the tail. She expects me, no doubt, to move on like everybody else has. No point making too much of an effort. Not when there’s a puppy baying from the adjoining cell. There’s little hope for a dog like her here, not when God knows how many years she has left. With a heart broken like hers, it may even be
months.
My stare breaks, only to catch the barest twitch of a tail.
It’s decided then.
We’ll be each other’s rebound.
Zoe Brady studied English Literature and History. Last year she completed an MPhil in Children’s Literature and currently works at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI).
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