Chapter 95
December 28th, 2021
The kennel farm that they were visiting that day was located North of Hartford, almost half-way to Springfield. But these little road trips of theirs were truly becoming something they enjoyed. There was the music, the conversation that never really died out because of not having things to say. When they were quiet, it was a comfortable silence. That felt liberating.
Logan hadn't heard much more from Ava after mentioning his fiance, just getting a contact to call about the hearing-impared puppy in case he was interested. The family had been already considering keeping the dog, as technically the problem wasn't genetic, but Logan was intrigued by the idea of taking on a challenge, feeling a little like an underdog in his present state as well. He'd done some research and even found videos on how to interact with dogs with hearing problems, and it wasn't impossible at all, just taking some more personal effort in the beginning by having to teach the dog sign language. But Shiba's were generally keen on learning and puppies were often very easily bribable.
The place was essentially a kennel, where dogs were brought either for doggy daycare or for dog hotel services, but they apparently also bred show dogs here - Shiba Inus and Samoyeds mostly as far as Logan had found out from their webpage. He was never too interested in the purity of the breed in the dog he would get, it was rather the personality, and that similar connection that Rory searched for in a house that he hoped to experience.
As they walked their way over to the house from their car, they noticed a pack of dogs, all in different shapes and sizes, playing, clearly enjoying themselves, in the yard, rolling and jumping in the snow. There were a few caretakers observing them, but there seemed to be little need for them. It was that kind of carefree fun that Logan hoped to experience once he got a dog. It was a whole other world Logan hadn't thought about all that much in the past and had only recently begun to dive into. This was something he was doing for him, fulfilling another type of dream that had nothing to do with monetary success. He'd defined his life for too long by that.
Already before they reached the service building, an auburn-haired woman, wearing a navy blue down vest, approached them.
"Hi there! How can I help you?" the woman asked.
"Hi, I'm here to see Ella Rangel. It's about the hearing-impaired Shiba puppy," Logan replied.
"Oh right, well I'm Ella," she replied, recalling having spoken to him before Christmas. "You must be Logan," she added.
"Logan Huntzberger," he said, offering to shake her hand.
It was strange that once the idea had been planted into his brain, he'd began to feel almost estranged from the name when he said it. Maybe he really did want to part from it?
"Nice to meet you," Ella replied.
"And this is my fiance Rory," Logan replied.
"Hi," Rory replied, feeling and looking way more out of place than Logan did in her wool coat. This was definitely not the place for fancier clothes, but Rory was relieved to have worn a pair of flat riding boots instead of her heels.
"So, let's go see Loki," Ella said, gesturing for them to follow her.
"Loki, is that his name?" Logan asked, having not gotten a lot of details on the dog.
"Yeah," Ella replied. "He's almost 8 weeks now which means that he's basically ready to leave his mother now. He's had a rough few months though, he's gotten IV antibiotics twice before he was even a month old and we weren't sure he'd make it. So his ears remain to be his sensitive area in that sense. The vet said that essentially he is not in any danger though he might need a little bit more frequent appointments to keep an eye on him, and it's suggested that during wetter months he has little cotton balls inside his ears, also there are special caps you could use. It looks a little funny, but they get used to it pretty soon. If he swims you should always dry his ears," she continued to explain, adding a number of details about infection symptoms, which Logan had already read up on.
They reached a puppy kennel, a fenced off area inside one of the buildings which looked a lot nicer than the pound he'd visited before. Each dog had their own cage, which Logan knew to be their safe space, and also a larger nursing bed for the mother. There were only three puppies in the cage, all of them sable colored as Ella explained. Ella did a little 'come here' motion with her fingers and one of the dogs approached, apparently having already begun to teach the dog a few key signals.
She lifted the dog up, the little furball loving the attention, and showed it by attempting to lick Ella's hands and face.
"Easy there," she spoke, adding, "It's so hard to stop talking to them, I keep forgetting he can't hear me," she added.
"But as I recall you said on the phone that he hears a little, right?" Logan asked.
"He hears the dog whistle that we tested. So this might be something to use when outside, when there's traffic or possibility to get into conflicts with other dogs or something like that. But generally they don't recommend overusing it," Ella replied, and led them onto the adjoining, empty room, with just a leather couch and a couple of pillows on the floor along with a bunch of dog toys.
"Here," Ella said, putting the puppy down. "You can just hang out here with him for a while, observe, interact…," she explained. "I'll be back in just a minute, I need to hand over one of the hotel guests," she added, glancing at the time.
Just like that Rory and Logan were left in the room with a puppy that was already sniffing their shoes. Rory took a seat on the couch, being a little cautious about her coat, beginning to regret that wardrobe choice, but Logan didn't hold back and sat himself in the middle of the floor. But Rory gelt like it wasn't really about her.
Loki was drawn to him in an instant, beginning to sniff him thoroughly.
"Hey there," Logan spoke, realizing just as well that it was quite difficult to stop himself from wanting to speak to the dog. "It's weird you can't hear, right? All these people keep talking to you and you don't have a clue of what they're saying…," he began, showing a side of him to Rory that even she hadn't had much chance to experience. It was how she imagined Logan interacting with a baby too - not a bad thought either.
Logan let the puppy sniff him thoroughly and lick his fingers as if searching for a treat. He wished he had some. But at one point the dog just stopped and looked at him, tilting his head a little. There was definitely something about this dog that spoke to him, like he got him. Of course it could've well just been his imagination, or maybe he just wanted to experience that connection badly enough.
"You two look cute together," Rory said, after having observed them for several minutes.
"He is cute, isn't he?" Logan replied. But so were all the puppies. "Sure you don't want to come closer and get acquainted with him?" he suggested. "You're going to be living with him too," he added.
"Sure… I just thought you wanted some space, you know," Rory explained, and took off her coat, placing it on the back of the couch. She didn't want to seem like some posh rich lady who'd made a fuss about a few dog hairs on her coat, but she loved that coat and wasn't keen on taking it to the cleaners, having planned on wearing it when they went out for New Years Eve in a few days.
Logan shook his head, smilingly, thinking Rory was just being silly. Rory got on the floor soon enough, and the puppy continued to explore her in a similar manner.
"I wonder if dogs can learn to read lips…," Rory pondered, struggling similarly to both Logan and Ella in feeling the urge to talk to him.
"So, how are we doing?" Ella asked, as she emerged.
"So far so good. He's great," Logan replied, having not found a single flaw in the puppy other than his already well-established health concerns.
"Okay, so if you are interested, we can just go through your details. We'll need to run a quick background check on you to make sure you'd make a good candidate. Of course right now you are the only candidate, but we do like our pups to end up in decent homes," Ella explained.
"Alright, though I'll have to say that a lot of our details are perhaps a little unclear just now as we're just in the process of looking for a new house," Logan said, realizing this might work to their disadvantage. "But at the same time this also means that we can take his requirements into account in our search," he added, hoping to redeem some of this uncertainty.
"Alright, let's see…," Ella said, turning a page in the clipboard she'd been holding. "Do you have any kids?" she asked.
"Yes, one, she's 4 and a half," Rory pitched in, beginning to feel more and more like this was not just something Logan was doing for himself and himself alone.
"Does the child have any prior experience with animals?" Ella asked.
"Actually yes. My mother has had a dog and she grew up visiting them a lot, and now she got another one since the other one passed from old age," Rory explained.
"Do you guys have any prior dog experience?" Ella asked.
"Just through my mother," Rory replied.
"Yeah, not a lot, but I've done my homework," Logan replied, hoping his smile would give him at least some brownie points on that.
"And the place where the dog would be living… what type of a place are you looking for?" Ella asked.
"She has a house, and I live in a rental apartment right now. But we're looking for a house with a decent sized yard, preferably fenced off. We actually just saw one like that today," Logan replied, hopefully.
"How does your landlord feel about pets?" Ella asked, directing the question towards Logan.
"She's my landlord actually, so I think we're fine," Logan replied in a low chuckle, gesturing towards Rory.
"Right," Ella said, scribbling down some notes. "Any additional people in the household?" Ella asked.
"No," Logan replied, sensing that any unborn children were not part of this particular question.
"Anyone with a history of allergies or asthma?" Ella inquired.
"Not that we know of," Logan replied.
"And the purpose of adopting a dog for you is…?" she asked.
"A companion, I like to exercise and go for walks," Logan replied, and generally that was the truth. There was only so much working out alone did for him. He liked the idea of having someone to do that with, not wanting to burden wRory who was really not that type with such things. They may have been compatible, but they were still very different people in a lot of ways.
"Who will be responsible for the dog's care?" Ella asked, while Loki had climbed on top of Logan's knee, not wanting to leave his touch, Logan having found this sweet spot on his neck that he seemed to be enjoying.
"I am. I work at home, and in case I need to go away on business, it'd either be Rory or using a kennel like yours," Logan replied, having thought these things out. "I don't expect to leave him alone at home or anything like that for extended periods of time," Logan answered her next question, figuring roughly what there was left to ask.
"You realize that a dog's lifespan is roughly 10-15 years?" Ella asked.
"Yes, I do," Logan replied, actually feeling like it was a really short time. There were a number or more questions on that list of hers. Anything from the materials found in Logan's current home, and cautioning them about pools and the importance of a good fence, coverage of vet costs and his and her occupation. There were also case exercises Logan was asked to answer, e.g what he would do in a situation where the dog behaved in a strange way, destroyed his shoes or bit someone, leaving Logan with a lot of hesitance on whether he actually knew the right answer on a lot of them.
That's it," Ella finally exhaled.
"So did we pass?" Rory joked.
"We'll run a brief background check, you know to see you're not been convicted of animal abuse or a frequent returner of dogs known to the local pounds. Ideally we would also like to do a home visit but since you're just getting a place, and you generally seem to understand well what is expected we can just leave that part out for now," she explained, Logan assuming the latter being due to his last name, which made people assumed that whatever place he was getting would be grand - in this case this was working in his benefit.
"I'm happy to have you over if you want once we're settled in somewhere," Logan suggested, wanting to appear trustworthy.
"So once we run the search, I will be in touch and I'd say this little guy here is ready to be taken home within the next week or so. So you should also then be prepared to have your home dog proofed by then," Ella explained. She handed them a list of recommended dog items to get, a transportation cage or seatbelt, a cage for the dog to sleep in to provide him his safe space at home, food dishes, disposable sheets and so on. Either way, Ella sounded fairly optimistic saying goodbye to them.
Leaving Loki had actually felt a little sad too, the puppy clearly having enjoyed their attention, which made Logan even more sure that this could really work. He really hoped it did.
As they made it back to the parking lot, and Rory began to get in the passenger seat, she was suddenly interrupted by a voice she hadn't heard in a while.
"Rory Gimore, is that you?" the female voice asked, when Logan had already sat in the car. It took her a moment to place her.
"Hi," she replied. "I'm sorry… I don't remember your name. We went to Chilton together, right?" she asked, recalling the girl she'd once pledged the Puffs with and later spent having lunch with for the rest of the year. Together, but alone - reading, listening to whatever the other was listening to.
"It's Lisa Irvine," she introduced herself. She was tall, maybe even a little taller than Rory, and darkhaired, her hair braided into a thick braid that came down over her shoulder.
"Lisa, right… I'm sorry. I actually work as a teacher now, and it's just the abundance of names around me..," she added, laughing at her own expense.
She was usually a little hesitant about telling people that she worked in teaching. It felt like it was admitting that she had really peaked in hihg school. But somehow with her, she didn't see any reason to hide it. The setting also helped, they weren't at some fancy venue, and truthfully, seeing that the car Lisa drove was just a humble, older Chrysler minivan helped too. Maybe that made her superficial or insecure - she didn't know what it was… it was just what she felt at the time.
"Funny running into you here," Lisa replied, sounding strangely nervous. "I was just taking my therapy dogs for some socializing," she added.
"We were just here about a puppy," Rory began, adding as Logan peeked his head out the car again, "This is my fiance, Logan."
"Nice to meet you," Lisa replied.
"You too, it's been a while," Rory replied. She was almost about to inquire casually into what she did for work, but Lisa got a word in first.
"Rory, I wasn't expecting to see you, but now that I have, I was wondering if we could have a word maybe?" she asked, definitely catching Rory's attention. It seemed such an odd and random request, knowing they hadn't seen each other in twenty years.
"Sure, I'll just be a minute, Logan," Rory said, excusing herself.
It was clear Lisa wanted a word in more or less private.
She took a few steps back towards Lisa's car, where Lisa just opened up her car door, her dogs clearly keen on getting out of their cages already.
"Listen, I don't know if Jess has talked to you yet, but since I saw you… I just thought it'd be weird if I said nothing. I've been sort of seeing him. I know you two have history, your daughter… and I've felt weird about the connection, honestly. And I know it's complicated but just… I hope it's okay…," Lisa said with a shrug, sounding very hesitant.
This was truly something Rory hadn't expected, and she even didn't know why Lisa was asking her this at all. It was not like she had any claim over Jess.
"Oh…," she managed to respond initially, adding, "Of course it's okay. He didn't talk to me or anything yet, but who am I to say anything. He's a grown man... I'm here with my fiance so…," she blabbered, having been caught off guard.
"Sorry, if this was weird, I tend to overthink things sometimes," Lisa apologized.
"It's okay," Rory managed to say, needing to repeat it to herself in her mind several times. She was just weirded out by this encounter and the information learned, unsure of what she was really feeling. What was she supposed to be feeling exactly? She backed to their car, excusing herself, saying she had to be off, leaving Lisa to deal with her dogs, probably not leaving the most 'fine' impression on her.
AN: Lisa was played by Madeline Zima in OS. Why did I choose her? Because she is very similar to Rory in her body type and a she'd a brunette too, and clearly likes books. I figured Jess has a type.
Also, nothing's decided about Logan's last name yet... I can take this two ways with different storylines... still thinking which one. One is a little bit more bitter and rebellious, the other maybe a little bit more healing, but at the same time the former is kind of more Rory-centric. Or maybe I'll just combine the two. We'll see.
