The police checked my bag and gave me the go-ahead to walk through the scanner. I smiled at Stephanie Miller, City Hall’s receptionist, when I reached the desk.
“Hey, Missy, how’s it going?”
“It’s great, Stephanie. How are you?”
“I’m just peachy keen, thank you for asking. I’m helping organize the winter festival this year, and I’m busy as a bee, but loving it. I hope you’ll have some puppies to bring.”
“We always have puppies, and we haven’t done a pooch party in months, so keep me posted. I’m here for Councilman Hoover. Is he in today?”
She frowned. “He is, sweetie, but he’s in a meeting.” She leaned closer and whispered, “Seems we’ve got an urgent situation on our hands. He called the meeting about an hour ago, and I have no idea when it’ll be finished. But I’ll let him know you stopped by.”
“Would it be any trouble if I waited?”
“No trouble at all,” she said, and flicked her hand toward the hallway. “They’re in the main conference room. There’s a bench just outside it. Of course, you know that, though. Silly me.”
I casually walked over to the conference room, pretending I didn’t have a care in the world while trying to listen to what was happening behind the closed doors. Either my hearing was bad or the doors were thick, because I couldn’t make out a thing.
Julie Salmonelli pranced out of the women’s restroom and smirked when she saw me. I wanted to duck and run, but it was too late for that.
I wasn’t a fan of the woman, and she wasn’t a fan of me.
“Missy Kingston.” She eyed my dark jeans and orange-and-green sweater like she was judging a beauty contestant. “Love the look. It’s very jack-o’-lantern-like.”
“Nice to see you too, Julie.”
“Are you here about the meeting?”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“Of course I do. I’m the one who submitted the ban request, and Max got his privates all in bunch about it, so he’s got the rest of the council in there, trying to convince them to pull the plug on my progress.”
Heat rose up from the pit of my stomach and into my throat. “You? Why?”
“You really do live in a bubble, don’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t you watch the news? Those dogs are killers. We don’t need them in our town even if it’s temporary, and heaven knows we don’t need our residents adopting them.”
“These dogs have been abused, Julie. They’re products of disgusting humans, they’re not killers.”
“You can’t train away their aggression, Missy. If I know that, you should know that.”
Julie Salmonelli had a small terrier mix with teeth resembling sharp blades. Her dog was a bigger threat than my protective Allie any day, and I’d happily prove that with a public meeting showcasing both dogs. “I’m not going to have this discussion with you.” I stood and, before walking away, said, “You better make sure this is a battle you’re willing to fight.”
She placed her hands on her hips and jutted the right one out. “Is that a threat?”
I steeled my eyes on her. “No, but this is: don’t mess with my dogs, or you’ll regret it.” I marched off so she wouldn’t see the steam blowing from my nostrils.
I jerked open my car door and climbed in, grabbing my cell phone from my purse. I sent a text to Max, asking him to call me ASAP, and then I called Kerry.
“Hey!” Her voice sounded normal, but I knew she was a little stressed from the extra work.
“Can you get me a list of the, I don’t know, last year’s worth of pittie adoptions? I need the owners’ phone numbers and emails, please.”
“Uh, sure. Everything okay?”
“Do you know Julie Salmonelli?”
“Isn’t she that woman who moved here from Texas a few years ago? The one who ran for city council?”
“And lost by a landslide. Yes. She’s the one who put in the request for the ban on rescues accepting pitties.”
“No way! Really?”
“She just rubbed it in my face. We need to get the list together and call them all to request a meeting at the dog park for this evening.”
“That’s cutting it close.”
“When they hear why, they’ll change their plans.”
And that’s exactly what we did. I sent Kevin a text and let him know dinner would be later than planned. He called right away, and I explained the situation, so he offered to meet at the park too.
“That would be great. The more people we have supporting us, the better.”
* * *
A few hours of phone calls and fifty-seven people later, we met at the dog park. While the dogs played and ran zoomies, we discussed Julie Salmonelli’s plan to ban pitties from coming into the county. I’d put together a petition and made sure everyone in the group signed it.
“It won’t end with banning rescues. She’ll keep going, and pretty soon we’ll be told we can’t have the ones we already do,” I said to the gathered crowd.
“Can they do that? Isn’t that illegal?” someone asked.
“It’s not if they pass a city ordinance,” I said, though I’d have to find out the specifics about that.
I eyed the growing crowd, catching a glimpse of both Nancy Meyer and Tammy Simpson in the back. It was nice to see dog supporters without dogs there. It meant word was getting out, and I hoped we’d have a larger support base because of it.
Shelly Wishard raised her hand. “I just heard from a friend in Gainesville that the dogs from the fighting ring weren’t from the city of Atlanta, but from Roswell. That’s hitting a lot closer to home than I expected. Do you know if these dogs have someplace to stay?”
“I have a call out on that, but I haven’t heard back yet.”
Another person raised his hand. “You’re a non-profit. Aren’t there special circumstances for this kind of thing? Can the city actually tell you what to do?”
“We have to follow all city ordinances like any other non-profit. Unfortunately, we don’t get special circumstances to help our dogs.”
Max Hoover walked into the fenced-in area. “You do now.”
The crowd turned in his direction. “I know all of you are concerned about the dogs, and I understand,” he said. “I’m here to let everyone know we’ve voted against the interim ban at an emergency meeting this evening. It’s a temporary solution, however, and we’re going to have to address it at next month’s meeting.”
Shelly raised her hand. “What about our dogs? Are you going to try to take them away, because you’ll have a serious fight on your hands if you do.”
Everyone spoke at once, and Max waved his arms to calm them. “People, please. I’m here to help, but I can’t do that if I can’t answer questions.”
The group quieted.
“Max, what’s the process for something like this?” I asked.
Kevin stepped closer to me and placed his hand on my back. When Max saw that, his eyes widened briefly.
“It’s not a one-meeting decision. We’ll have to find out how many owners we have in the city. We’ll have to research adoption rates, incident reports, gather community opinion through a survey, and whatever else we deem necessary, all prior to voting. It’s at least a six-month process. More, since I plan to drag it out as long as possible.”
I exhaled, feeling at least a little relief. “Great. Okay, everyone, Councilman Max Hoover has assured us this isn’t happening tomorrow, but we have work to do. I’ll be in touch soon with a plan. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, you have my email.”
The group let their dogs continue playing. I pulled Max aside and spoke to him privately.
“Truth. Should we be concerned?”
He sighed. “I know how you feel about the dogs, Missy, but Salmonelli has a point. They’re considered dangerous by a lot of people. Stopping a ban won’t be easy.”
“You can’t be serious. Allie wouldn’t hurt anyone, and you know that.”
“Of course I know that, but that doesn’t mean other dogs, especially ones coming from a fight ring, won’t.” He sighed. “I’ll do what I can, but I suggest you prepare your army for battle. Julie’s on a mission to take her district’s spot when it’s up for election again. She’ll do what’s necessary to make that happen.”
“And I’ll do what’s necessary to stop her.”
As we talked, I caught a glimpse of Kevin and Shelly, deep in conversation. At first everything seemed fine, but then Shelly’s posture changed, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Kevin said something that upset her. She was holding something and staring angrily at Kevin, who then grabbed it from her. She stormed off, and Kevin walked back toward Max and me. He smiled when he caught me watching him. I quickly looked away.
“Who is that guy?” Max asked.
“He’s one of the adopters. He just moved into that new subdivision with the farmhouse-style homes.”
Max examined Kevin as he moved next to me.
“Everything okay here?” Kevin asked.
“For now,” I said. “Hey, what was that with Shelly Wishard?”
“Oh, I somehow dropped my license, and she found it.”
“She seemed upset about it.”
He shrugged. “It’s expired. She said it put people at risk when I drove with an expired license.”
“She has a point,” Max said.
I bit my lip.
“And you are?” He offered Max his hand.
“City Councilman Max Hoover.” He didn’t bother shaking Kevin’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Councilman Hoover.”
The gate opened again, and a loud whistle blew.
I grimaced. “What is she doing here?”
Julie Salmonelli climbed onto a bench and spoke to the crowd. “Calm down, people.” She held up her hands, pressing them into the air like a Sunday preacher speaking to her congregation. “I’m not here to fight. Not now, anyway.”
“Good, because we’ve got our dogs, and you know how dangerous they are,” someone said. I didn’t recognize the voice.
Great. Poke the bear, people. Like that will make her go away.
“I’m just here to tell you I’m working to make this community better. Lord knows it needs it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to tell me, and maybe we can come to a solution together.”
“Wow,” Kevin said. “Is she a politician?”
“She’s trying to be,” I said.
“Actually, she was a councilmember in her hometown in Texas. From what I understand, her record was pretty good,” Max said.
I whipped my head in his direction. “You’re supporting her?”
“I didn’t say that. The mayor told me he’d checked her out. It’s standard procedure when someone runs for city council.”
Kevin cleared his throat. “What was her policy on the dogs before?”
“She didn’t have one,” Max said. “I learned that today.”
Kevin’s hand traveled from the middle of my back toward the far side. I stepped away when I caught Max watching.
Shelly Wishard approached Julie Salmonelli, and a string of curse words lit the park on fire. “Who do you think you are, coming in here all bleep-bleep and thinking you have any bleep-bleep chance in bleep of—”
I’d never heard Shelly speak like that, and I wasn’t sure whether to be disgusted or impressed. She had passion, I’d give her that.
Tammy Simpson patted her on the shoulder. “Please, this isn’t the way to handle—”
Shelly flung her arm back, almost knocking Tammy down as more curse words flew from her potty mouth.
“Great,” Max said, and charged over. He worked his way between the women, but it was too late. Nancy Meyer had her opinion too, and she added fuel to the flames by speaking it loud and clear.
The yelling continued, and when Shelly’s fists came out, the dogs ran to the fence, barking loudly. Thank God we’d put them on the other side, or they could easily prove Julie’s point. And what dog wouldn’t in that situation?
Julie Salmonelli blew a whistle so loud even the dogs shut up. “Enough!” she yelled. “Is this community not a civilized one? Are you people insane?”
When it came to their fur babies, all bets were off. I just didn’t have the guts to say that out loud.
“You can’t come to our city and think you can tell us what to do,” Shelly said. “We aren’t going to let you dictate our lives.”
“Yeah!” someone yelled.
“You tell her!” someone else added.
The dogs barked as everyone continued to argue. I stepped onto a bench a few feet away from Julie. “People, stop!” Surprisingly, they listened, so I kept going. “As much as I hate to agree with her, Ms. Salmonelli is right. This isn’t the way to act to get what we want. We have a plan developing already,” I lied. “Just calm down and give us some time to think it through, and we’ll handle this the right way. In the meantime, get your dogs, take them home, and enjoy them. Love on them. Show the world how great they are. If you don’t have social media accounts, make them and get videos and photos of your dog on them. This is how we make change, by showing the world the dogs we love and how they love back.”
Shelly Wishard pulled me aside and asked me to meet her at her house in the morning before going to the shelter.
“Is everything okay?”
She glanced around the group. “Not here.”
“Shelly, what’s going on?”
Leroy ambled to her and sat by her side. Kevin walked over, and Leroy’s lip curled.
“Leroy, settle,” she said, eyeing Kevin angrily. “I have to go. Leroy’s stressing.”
“Sure,” I said, feeling a sense of unease rise up my throat. “I’ll see you.” I almost said “tomorrow,” but something stopped me.
“She okay?” Kevin asked.
“I’m not sure.”
Julie climbed off her self-made pedestal and walked over to me. “Nicely done, but too bad it won’t work. I know what I’m doing, and I’ll win. You watch.”
Max stood next to Julie, and Kevin stood next to me. Max had drawn the battle line, and we were on opposite sides.
When Kevin placed his hand on my back, instead of stepping away, I inched closer.
“Good luck,” I said to Julie, but I kept my eyes on Max Hoover.