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“Ranger! What is it? No one can understand what this is about.”
He runs around the back of the house and then returns. He barks and makes the run again. I don’t understand what he’s trying to say, but this is Ranger. He doesn’t do this over nothing.
“Please, Ranger,” I plead. “Give me something more.”
Ranger takes my pantleg in his mouth and pulls me around the back of the house, then leads me along the side, back where we came from.
Now I see it.
There’s only one thing that runs along the side of the house in this exact same configuration.
The gas line.
“Mrs. Bondar! Call the gas company!”
* * *
I’m exhausted and late for work, but catastrophe has been avoided and no one is hurt. That is more important than every other inconvenience of my day.
“Such a good boy.” I muss his fur as we drive together to the office. “A real hero.”
He pants, his dog mouth turned upward in the closest thing to a smile a dog can do. It’s not that he’s proud—he’s satisfied.
“That’s my boy.”
I’ve barely pulled the car in when a congregation of people streams out of the dog spa, waving their arms and cheering. No one has ever greeted my being late to work with such celebration.
“Terence! Terence!” Rita the receptionist waves her arms over her head. “Amazing news! Thank goodness!”
“That was incredible.” Amelia, the vet in training, shakes her head in disbelief.
Dr. Tom, the primary vet, steps forward. “We saw it all. It was on the news.” He extends his hand, and I can’t help noticing what a dapper guy he is. “Well done. Ridley News Today covered it all.”
Ranger and I were leaving as the Ridley News Today crew pulled in. They took a couple clips of Ranger and then focused their attention on Mrs. Bondar (who had dressed by then) and the gas company. They asked me a few words about who I was and what I do, and then I was happy to get out of there.
“Without Ranger, that lady could have died.” Dr. Tom nods. “You two are heroes.”
“That was all Ranger,” I say to the group of ten or so staff who’ve gathered around. “He’s the one who deserves all the thanks.”
“Where ees our beeeeeg star?” The voice gives it away. Miss Chardonnay comes running in a silk jumpsuit. It’s a miracle the way she moves across the ground without the point of the stiletto sucking her into the gravel below. She claps her hands together. “You have brought heroic fame to ze Dog’s Paw Dog Spa!”
“Uh, I did what?”
“On tv.” Rita smiles. “You said you’re the accountant at the Dog’s Paw Dog Spa.”
“Already, we have had calls from all over the state.” Miss Chardonnay opens her arms to the sky. “New clients eager to discover all the Dog’s Paw has to offer. We must celebrate zees wonderful news. Champagne aperitif for everyone tonight at five!”
A final round of applause, then Ranger and I are free to go into the office.
Knowing we did a good deed for Mrs. Bondar and the community is enough. But I can’t help thinking that Ranger may have also helped set me up for the business proposal of a lifetime.
I can’t wait to tell Alli.
“Ranger.” His ears perk from the corner where I set his dog bed. “You may have saved more than the day.”
His tail wags even though I know he has no idea what I’m saying.
I laugh. “You’re a good boy.”
