Rain confuses a dog. Cold water falling from gray skies coats all the colors with a film of silvery flash. Rain smears all the scents and washes them underground. There are no more scent maps, after the rain; the past is carried away, and finding your home after a rainstorm is difficult.
That’s why lost feels like rain.
This pack, the Abeyta pack, makes me feel rainy.
I’m not useful here.
I’m not useful at all.
If I’d been useful to my first pack of humans, if I’d fought other dogs like they wanted me to, my pups would be okay today. They’d be fighters, which would break my heart, but they’d still be with me.
Now the Abeyta pack will take me back to the shelter. I’ll have another fourteen sunrises before I head through the Bad Side door. Unless someone else finds my use.
I can’t blame them. It’s dangerous for a pack to keep a member who has no use.
Today is a rainy day.