Clan Dog: Day One, Part One

The day dawned bright and sunny, and the pup who called herself Seven of Nine woke up both excited and scared. Afraid her brothers and sister would think she was crazy, she kept the night's events with the glowing dog named Pepsi to herself. It was a good thing, too, because by the time lunchtime came and went, she was convinced she'd dreamt the whole thing.

But shortly after two o'clock, while she and her siblings were playing in their outdoor kennel, the door to Inside opened. Two of the shelter workers led two women into the yard. "There they are ... to your right," they were told.

The workers opened up the kennel and suddenly there were puppies everywhere!

"Which ones are the females?" one of the newcomers asked.

The shelter worker laughed. "You'll just have to look, I guess."

And the chase was on! Puppies ran everywhere, and several boy-pups grabbed an unattended purse and dragged it under the steps to chew the strap into submission. The pup who called herself Seven of Nine, however, was focused. Watching intently to figure out which of the women was her New Hoomin Mom, she finally decided to approach the closest one. Quietly, she waited to be picked up in the midst of the chaos and didn't even blush as her "girl goods" were checked out.

"This one's a girl, Karen!" the woman in pink said, passing her over to the other.

Arms closed gently around her, and the pup who called herself Seven of Nine snuggled in close. This was going to be her Forever Mom. And it felt good.

"Deb, have you seen my purse?"

* * *

"So, do you know what you're going to name her?" the shelter worker asked as she filled out the forms on the computer.

"No," New Hoomin Mom replied sheepishly. "We talked about the whole way up, but none of the names I had seem to suit her." She shifted the puppy to look at her face. "Gypsy? ... Kiltie? ... Nessie? ... Seven? ..." And none of them seemed right.

"This might help," the male shelter worker said, passing over a "name your puppy" book.

The puppy was passed to the woman now known to her as Auntie Deborah, her dogmother, and New Hoomin Mama started flipping through the pages. "I had my heart set on Gypsy," she sighed, "but my husband really didn't like it. And since he's such a 'go with the flow' kind of guy, the fact that he said anything at all means a lot." Flip, flip, flip. "He's really in touch with his Celtic heritage, and I'm pretty involved too, so he wanted a Scottish name ..." Flip, flip, flip ...

And then the right name leapt from the page. It was absolutely the right one. New Hoomin Mom looked over at the puppy no longer known as Seven of Nine, and, grinning wildly, called her by her new name.

"Piper?"

And at the sound of the name that had seemed like it had always been hers, Piper sighed. Today was the day she was going to her forever home.