there's more to living than being alive

Elena was quick to take a snapshot with her phone’s camera, a few others of James with the pup, chuckling as the child let the dog lap all over his face giggling. “May I add your contact to the post?” The brunette asked, already filling the caption of the post and a location tag. The dog certainly looked like a house pet and not a stray. “I mean, if you’re going to keep him until the owner comes around.”

Sabrina, too, enjoyed the sight of the dog with the little boy. Honestly, she was just glad this woman hadn’t pulled her kid away from the duo and told him they were dirty. “Um, yeah, sure! No problem. I’m Sabrina Thomas. Here’s my number, too.” It seemed inevitable that she’d have to look after the dog now, and she had to learn how to manage her finances a little better for a bit.

“Might’ve got yourself a new pet….” He said, looking down at the dog who was staring at the woman. “Walk him round, someone might recognise him. Either that or you’re gonna have to take him somewhere, can’t leave the poor thing wonderin’ the streets on his own.”

“Oh goodness. How do you even keep up with all of this?” She took a look at the woman with a strong headshake. Taking the book from her, James smiled, “I’ll have to. I won’t be able to keep them straight otherwise.” He sighed, “Why does there have to be so many. If there was only one it would be better I think.” 

“Money, baby. Money money.” Sabrina, too, shook her head as she added another comic to her growing stack. “But I mean, sometimes the writing is so good that it doesn’t matter what storyline it is, or what universe, or whatever. The art too.” Smiling finally, she turned. “That one is good, though. It’s classic. I promise you’ll like it and it won’t be too confusing.”

Sabrina suddenly blushed, peering down at her shoes. Why did her pretty friends have to be so smooth? “Because, don’t be ridiculous. No one wants a broken toy when there are plenty of completely intact ones lying around. It’s simple math, Sven, gosh.”

“Broken toy?” He repeated and then smiled. “One person’s broken toy can be another person’s limited edition artwork. You are one of a kind. It doesn’t make you broken it makes you unique.” He said with a soft smile. “I’d date you but you dont like the preppy cute boy type I lthink you are more into the bad boy type.” He grinned. 

Closing one eye, and looking somewhat embarrassed, Sabrina rubbed her forehead with a frown. “Psh, Sven, you’re obligated to say that because we’re friends and I think your acting is the bee’s knees.” She smiled slowly. “I’m just gonna start collecting cats while I’m still young enough to take care of them.”

Oh, I actually just took my dog to the new office for a check up the other day, so I know precisely where it is. I could lead you over there if you’d like. It is actually on the way to my son’s daycare.

Oh, um... well, you don’t have to, I don’t wanna impede. I feel like I’ve probably already kept you away from important things. You can just tell me where it is?

She’s a very special dog. I’ve never tried setting her on redheads. Her last mom was blonde so I think that might have something to do with it. Yes let’s get slushies. 

I can tell. She’s really smart, too. And nice. I didn’t expect her to be as nice to me as she was when she first approached me. She didn’t even bark. You know, this store sells root beer slushies too. They’re the slushie kings.

With a little extra spending money (finally) that Sabrina had gotten from a few generous bar patrons, the woman finally decided to do a little shopping in Westbrook. Of course, it was food shopping, with the exception of buying a new pair of jeans, so her bags contained delicious snacks, and some of those fresh sakura mochi that were just so delicious from her favorite oriental market. In fact, she was eating one as she walked down the street, other hand totally full of bags when a nearby store caught her eye, and a stranger caught her shoulder, forcing her to stumble and eventually hit the ground, along with her bags. She didn’t hit the cement hard, but the impact loosened her already crappy prosthetic, causing it to sit at a very awkward angle. But she dropped her mochi. Looking between the dropped snack and her twisted prosthetic, hidden underneath long pants, she decided to do something she’d probably regret; she grabbed her knee, right where flesh ended, and yelled. “AHH. MY LEG.”

River loved working at the garage. He really did. He wasn’t bad at it either — the mechanic always was good with his hands, having picked up handyman work for means of survival since he was eighteen. He had grown to love cars, the work, the engineering, the designs that came with them. He enjoyed his work. Loved it even.

When it was clear the stranger wasn’t going to start screaming at her and kick her out, Sabrina dropped her guard somewhat, though she was startled still. “I’m... I’m okay,” she said with a quick nod, straightening up and clearing her throat before repeating, “I’m sorry.” Swallowing hard, she managed to catch a glimpse of the clipboard in his hand. Judging by the contents of the board and his stained up hands, she realized he worked here as well, and jealousy tightly gripped her heart, causing her to shut her eyes tightly.

Sabrina nodded, looking all too happy (and a little more than relieved) that this dog had an owner. “No problem. It’s not like I would shoo her out into the cold, cruel world. I know how devastated I always was when a pet of mine would go missing. It was awful.” She smiled fondly down at the dog, hands clasping in front of her. “I think she might have been scared, and I probably already smelled like a dog or something, who really knows?”

“Well that’s definitley taking the optimistic way” he chuckled, shaking his head. He actually preferred the optimists really, there was no reason to get down on something you can’t change. “Look at this cute mug? would you abandon it?” He questioned, rubbing the pup on the head. “Just don’t let my kid see, she’ll want to keep it and we already have our hands full” 

She nodded, mostly to herself, as she watched the dog. “No, I definitely couldn’t. I might not even be able to give him up if we find the owners, to be honest.” She was kidding of course, smiling all the while. “Oh man, you know how many angry parents I’ve already seen? They were either afraid the dog would attack their kids, or were mad because their kids immediately clung to him like a burr and were upset when they shooed us away.”

“Why not?” Sven asked looking thoroughly confused. “I mean you are beautiful, smart, funny and the way you crinkle your nose makes my heart melt so  I’m sure you have loads of guys who would date you.” He said and grinned. “Why wouldn’t they?”

Sabrina suddenly blushed, peering down at her shoes. Why did her pretty friends have to be so smooth? “Because, don’t be ridiculous. No one wants a broken toy when there are plenty of completely intact ones lying around. It’s simple math, Sven, gosh.”

“You are that cat lady…at least right now. Nothing wrong with it and if you think about it, cats get up to so much all their own. You lay out the food and there’s no full say if they actually eat it or getting their lunch elsewhere.” Talon reasoned with a quick chuckle and a toothless smile. “Of course the food could rot but hopefully by then one of your senses kick in.”

“Haha, you’re right, I can’t even argue. Though I think the last cat I had was eating all the food I was giving him, plus all the food everyone else was giving him, because he was chunky as ever. I mean, super chunky. Mega chunky. But he could still jump over a five foot fence like he was a springy seven month old. He was the best cat who always came home with battle scars and an intense need to be cuddled for two days straight.” Sabring sighed wistfully .”Sure miss that cat.”

I’d be happy to get you one as a thank you. I don’t feel obligated, I want to. Bear does like people, especially blonde women so I’m not surprised she sniffed you out.

Really? That’s actually pretty neat. You have your own honing device here. Can you set her to redheads? Aha, I’m kidding. I’m sorry. That was dumb. Um. Okay, so, slushies? 

Well, if I lost my dog, I would probably try the animal shelter or the veterinary office, since that is where I would take a dog if it was lost. I’d assume that either place would have it on record if this dog was chipped, thereby allowing them to find the owner. 

That... that makes sense. This is exactly why you’re doing the thinking and I’m doing the dog-wrangling, haha. Thank you! But, um... So... the old vet’s office I used to take my cat to has moved, since I passed the building a week or so ago and saw it’s empty, so do you know where it is now?

Sabrina chuckled softly, head bowing. Her being so emotional was never a trait she wanted to define her, and she was sure it didn’t, but it was also something she hoped would be forgettable. Regardless, she knew it was just a joke and lightened up about it. She sat just at the edge of the couch, knees bent, one a bit awkward in its position. “No, I say that because he’s an idiot. I... hate that woman he married. She’s... awful. But he says he loves her, and god knows I’ve loved my fair share of awful people that he tried to warn me against. I just... I just had such a bad feeling about her, and he married the woman.” Sabrina covered her face with her palms, shaking her head a few more times. “I just hope he’ll be alright.” That part was slightly muffled, considering her hands. But she dropped them, smiling again. “I wish I’d had a teacher like you back in high school. I probably wouldn’t have felt the need to skip class so much. I feel like they always got so lazy and uncaring around the end of the year, just ready to get us all outta their hair.” Her smile brightened as she looked up at Ivy, her heart filling again with nostalgic feelings of... home. “I’m so glad I’m back. I’m so glad you’re still here. I almost went to see you at the school instead,  but figured that’d be super selfish to distract you with this dumb face, haha. But no, nothing to drink. I can’t stay too long, I wanted to go by the cemetery before it gets dark.” Her expression, itself, turned a little dark at this mention. “Besides, it’s exam season!”

“We can definitely post something on the town’s Facebook page.” Maybe not many people followed it, true, and she was one of the fews who kept feeding its wall if only to make other residents aware of recent happenings, but it was something. Putting the 2-year-old down, only letting go of her son when he nodded after she made him promise not to storm off like before, Elena took her phone out. “Mind if I take a photo?  For the post.”

“Oh! I didn’t know this place had a Facebook page.” Sabrina paused, scratching her chin in thought. Not that she frequented Facebook anyhow, considering her lack of recent technology. It actually left a hole in her heart, but she knew it was a small, superficial hole and tried not to dwell on it. “Yeah, yeah! Sure!” Sabrina was definitely enthusiastic about this new prospect, and quickly bent to make sure the dog’s fur was smoothed down, out of his eyes and free of (some) dirt. “Okay! Okay, he’s ready.”