Image compliments of https://pixabay.com/photos/two-running-dogs-raging-dogs-puppy-750570/

When Eli woke up, he was drenched in sweat.  This was the second time this week, and the fifth time this month he dreamt of Ada, his sister.  This dream was much like the others; vague, disturbing, and so real that he had to sit up and clear his head before he realized he was awake and had been dreaming.  Ada was gone for five years now; a tragic bicycle accident took her life at just 21 years of age, now Eli, her fraternal twin was still as guilty feeling as the day it happened.

Eli and Ada had finished college with two-year degrees; Ada went into healthcare as a nurse and Eli as a surgical tech. His degree was actually a few months shy of two years, so he started at the local hospital and put in a good word for Ada once she was finished.  She didn’t need his recommendation; the personnel she worked with during her clinicals fell in love with her.   The two hung out often, even went on double dates together; they were best friends.  The day it happened, they were planning on training together for a mini triathlon; they had just finished their run and were on the second leg in which they would ride their bikes for five miles before ending up at the local lake to finish their swim to the other side.  Eli can still see the blue car coming around the corner too fast. He instinctively swerved out of the way looking behind and yelling to Ada, but it was too late; she hadn’t seen the car until Eli swerved and by then she couldn’t avoid the carnage that happened next.  Eli remembers her body being thrown through the air and landing on the pavement with a sickening thud that woke him up at night.

Sitting in bed, sweating, and tears going down his face, he tried to recall the dream.  Ada was telling Eli to tell Frank, her boyfriend, that she was sorry.  When Eli asked her what she was sorry about, she just disappeared.  Not all dreams were like this; some were happy memories of childhood where he and Ada were playing touch football with all of the other neighborhood kids.  Eli and Ada grew up in the poor part of town.  Their neighborhood had skin colors ranging from lily-white to black onyx with every color in between.  The kids had nothing in common, culturally, but their common thread of living in the poorest part of town was enough to bring them together in the streets to play dodge ball, kick ball, touch football, or any other game they could do without spending money and would keep them outside from the dreariness of their run-down homes.  During school, none of them hung out together; they each had their own groups they associated with. It was like an unwritten code that they didn’t try to mingle during school; not they did anything to cause trouble with each other’s groups, they just didn’t associate with each other until evening or summer breaks.  Once school wasn’t part of the picture, they were just a clan of kids trying to make it through the oppression of being poor.  Some of them still kept in touch, but most went their separate ways.

Eli remembers the neighborhood dog that became another thing that wove the kids together.  Spike was a black and white mutt that showed up in their neighborhood, one hot summer night. Spike earned his name from the eldest kid on the block, Fernando.  Spike had a tuft of hair on top of his head that wouldn’t lay down and Fernando thought it looked like a spike. The kids learned that Spike loved to join in on any of their games that involved running and chasing, especially when they were lucky enough to find a ball to play with.  None of the parents would commit to keeping a dog as it would be one more expense they could not afford.  The kids were attached to Spike so they each took turns using part of their meals to feed Spike. If they found spare change, they put it into a jar until they could afford to buy real dog food. They even nominated a treasurer, Jane.  Jane was a pasty white girl with red freckles and red hair to match. She was shy and kind of gangly but had a heart of gold.  When she was with the clan, she came out of her shell.  She cried when they all voted that she was the smartest and most trustworthy and wouldn’t lose the money.  Spike lived with them, in the neighborhood for two years, before wandering off. They never knew what became of him, but they found his collar in the woods a few weeks later; it had blood on it. Eli couldn’t bear to think about it for years; he had always wanted a dog and Spike was the only chance during childhood that he had.  If only he had tried a little harder to keep Spike in the house.

In college, he and Ada lived in a house with two other girls and two other guys. It was a large house with six bedrooms, three baths, and a large backyard.  Similar to what happened with Spike, a brown scruffy dog showed up on their porch one day.  They took her to a vet to see if she was microchipped and when they found out she wasn’t, they put an ad in the local paper.  They even hung signs to see if the rightful owner was looking for this scruffy dog, but no one ever claimed her.  They all agreed that she would be the house dog and received permission from the landlord to keep her.  They named her Gracie and took turns buying dog food, walking her, and going to the vet to keep her up to date on shots.  They had even had long conversations about what to do with her once they all graduated; they knew she needed to stay with one of them but didn’t know how to be diplomatic and fair about who was lucky enough to keep Gracie.  Little did they know, they wouldn’t need to make that decision.  One hot summer night, in July, they were all sitting out in the backyard, having a small party.  Someone in the neighborhood started lighting fireworks and Gracie started to panic.  She was running all over the yard, slamming herself into the fence in sheer panic.  They each tried catching her, but she smashed through the gate, out into the street and was hit by a car.  She was killed instantly, and they were all devastated; they had no idea she was so fearful of fireworks, or they would not have let her outside with them.  Something inside Eli died a little with Gracie. Eli couldn’t explain what made him so attached to Gracie any more than he could explain why Spike’s disappearance hurt him so.  Maybe it was the unconditional love that animals gave so freely.

 Eli and Lenore started dating the same year Ada and Frank had and had decided on marriage the year after Ada’s death.  Their four years of marriage were good; Eli knew that Lenore’s love was as close to unconditional as a human could have for another spare a parents love for their child, so he couldn’t understand the emptiness he felt other than missing his sister.  He and Lenore had decided against children.  Lenore had the Huntington’s gene in her family and did not want to risk passing it on to offspring; she wanted it to end with her.  He was fine with their decision; Lenore was the love of his life and understood the close relationship that he and Ada shared.  Other girls he dated had some sort of jealousy of Eli and Ada; they didn’t like that Ada could complete Eli’s sentences and in some sort of strange way, they thought Eli chose Ada over them.  Lenore understood their sibling relationship and welcomed it; it had been the same with Frank and Ada.  Eli tried to keep in touch with Frank, but it was too painful for him, so he moved out of state and didn’t leave a forwarding address. Frank even changed his phone number so as not to keep in contact with anyone.

Lenore turned to Eli “what is it sweetie, another dream”?  Eli just shook his head yes.  He told Lenore about it, and they talked about what could make Ada want to apologize to Frank.  Eli thought he knew; Ada wanted to stay in their hometown and raise children, but Frank wanted to travel before they settled down.  In the end, and before the accident, Frank turned down a job that would involve travel. He told Ada it was a once in a lifetime chance, but she meant more to him than any travel or bonuses he could get from a job.  Three months after he turned the job down, Ada was gone.  Eli heard a rumor that Frank contacted the company, but they had moved on and told him they weren’t interested. Having lost a fiancé and the opportunity of a lifetime career, Frank left town without looking back and without saying goodbye.

“Talk to me about the dream the other night, Eli, what happened in it”? Inquired Lenore. “I was sitting in our yard when I heard someone whisper my name.  Next thing I know, I am in a dog shelter looking at puppies that look like what I imagine Spike and Gracie looked like as puppies.  I looked next to me, and Ada said you should get them, take them both home.  When I talked to the animal shelter person, I told her I could only take one of them, so she said I had to choose.  I was in agony over which one to choose so I closed my eyes and grabbed one of them.  When I opened my eyes, it was the one that looked like Gracie, and when I looked in the kennel, the other one was lying there dead. The assistant told me he died of a broken heart”.  Eli described.  “That’s awful honey, what do you think it means” asked Lenore.  “I don’t know, and it probably doesn’t mean anything, but I know I have to do something more than go to work and live selfishly”.  Eli explained.  “I know” said Lenore excitedly, “let’s go volunteer together, at the shelter. I will help with the cats, and you go walk the dogs. Together, we will make a difference, make it a date night, and maybe decide to bring one home”.  “I don’t know Lenore, I can’t get out of this funk, and if we bring a dog home, it will be alone all day while we are at work. It doesn’t seem responsible to keep a dog crated all day while we are at work” explained Eli.  “Well, what if we have an area outside that is sheltered and the dog could stay out there or go back and forth in the house and outside” countered Lenore.  “I know how much you want another living creature in the house beside me, and Goldie doesn’t count” continued Lenore as she pointed to the goldfish.  “Let’s just go to sleep and talk about animals in the morning” Eli said as he kissed Lenore and rolled back over to sleep. 

As morning began to rouse Eli and Lenore, another dream started.  “You should take two” said Ada as she pushed two cards towards Eli.  Ada looked beautiful; Eli couldn’t recognize her, but he knew it was her by her voice.  She told him she was fine, that she was in a place where there were no scars from her accident and that she was with Mom and Dad, and Gracie and Spike. She told Eli that he needed to go on living and give back.  Eli woke up and didn’t know what he was supposed to give back, but the dream felt calming as he awoke.  Lenore was still sleeping so he decided to go make coffee and breakfast. It was Saturday and he decided they would go to the local shelter after they finished their morning run.

Eli and Lenore were finishing their cleaning at the shelter for the day. They had signed up two weeks ago, did their orientation, and committed to one night per week and two Saturdays per month.  When Lenore was finished with the cat section, she came to help Eli finish the dog walking schedule.  When they finished with the adoptable dogs, they went to the back where the new intakes were waiting to be cleared for adoption.  As they turned the corner, they saw a kennel with two dogs inside. The dogs were sitting together towards the back. When the dogs saw Eli and Lenore, their tails wagged and walked up to the front of the kennel. One was blonde, the other was black and white; both looked like over-grown mutts.  “What’s the story with these two” Eli asked the Lead attendant that was cleaning the cages. “They were left behind in a move.  A neighbor called about three days after the moving van pulled out because she heard the dogs barking.  When we went to their home, the dogs were dehydrated and frightened. They probably couldn’t understand why someone would abandon them, as near as we can tell, they were inside dogs, they are house trained, and they are fixed. The problem is, they are at least six years old, large breed dogs, and they need to be adopted together. It will be hard to adopt them out” explained the worker.  Eli looked at Lenore and she barely moved her head.  Eli looked back at the worker and said, “You know, my wife told me I needed to adopt a dog; I’ll take two”.