The old woman gasped, clasping the wattle at her neck. “How dare you!”
The driver pointed one arthritic finger in Tully’s face. “You, off.” He pointed at Mr Fluoro. “And you.” Then at the Asian woman. “You too, Miss. All of you. Off.”
Mr Fluoro jumped to his feet. “What? I didn’t do anything!”
Tully didn’t wait to hear the rest. She grabbed her canvas bag with shaking hands, shoved past the driver, punched the button for the door release and stomped down onto the street. The sun was eight-o’clock-bright by then and she squinted against the glare. She heard twin clacks of high heels as the Asian woman hopped down to the baking pavement behind her.
Tully turned, but the masked face had vanished.
* * *
Ku melted from one stark shadow to the next, avoiding the blazing sunlight as best she could while still keeping the woman in the jacket and cargo pants in sight.
After several minutes, the woman turned left past a sign that read “Gordon City Animal Management Centre” and disappeared through a set of steel gates.
Ku heard the dogs before she saw them. They were like a musical round: one baying animal would set off one group, then the next, then the next, until her eardrums ached and her skin throbbed. She hissed and forgot not to scratch at her cheeks. One dog she could charm, but here, there were too many. Ku watched helplessly as the woman walked across a dusty carpark, yanked open the door to the grey brick building and entered. Ku hovered at the gate. She took a step forward, but the dogs started up again. With a sob, she cast one last glance at the door, stepped into the shadow of the gate and faded.
* * *
“Hello? Hello?”
Tully straightened from behind the counter and raised an eyebrow at the woman who’d wrestled a bounding Labrador into the waiting area. Tully was halfway through a stocktake of donated blankets and cat food. At this rate, it would take her until the end of the day to finish.
“My husband bought the dog.”
At least the woman had the good grace to look embarrassed.
“We thought it would be good for the kids to have a pet, but we just can’t control him.”
The Lab spotted a shelter volunteer trotting past the glass windows with a leggy greyhound in tow and yanked the woman sideways. She hauled the Lab back by force and shoved hard on his backside. He fell against her legs and slathered the hand holding the leash with licks.
She brushed ash-blonde hair from her face with a grimace. Another dog was walked past, and the Lab jumped up, barking.
“We have a really good obedience class,” Tully yelled over the noise. “It runs for six weeks and we get excellent results—”
“Shut up!”
The woman dragged the dog backwards. He dropped into slobbery panting.
“Not you, sorry.” She sagged. “No, thank you, we just haven’t got the time to spend with him. It wouldn’t be fair. We both work”—he jumped up on her and she kneed him hard in the chest—“and with two kids, we just haven’t got the time.”
Tully glared. They weren’t supposed to make any comments or judgements, but this was the third surrender this morning, each excuse just as lame and self-serving.
The woman flushed, her mouth a hard, thin line. “Look, if you won’t take him, we’ll have to get him put down. It’s as simple as that.”
“Leo!” Tully snapped over her shoulder.
Leo lumbered out from the area behind the Perspex. The woman blinked at his hulking size and facial tattoos. He usually handled pit bulls, Malamutes, and the like. Tully could have easily managed the Lab, but she didn’t think she’d be able to control her temper on the other side of the counter. Leo knelt in front of the Lab and allowed the dog to sniff his massive hands.
“What’s up, lil’ bro?”
The Lab broke into a grin and wagged his tail. Leo took the leash from the woman with the same sad solemnity he always did and led the dog off towards the kennels.
Surprised, the woman blinked and opened her mouth. “Bye, bye, Archie.” She raised her hand in a wave.
Tully cleared her throat and slapped the surrender papers on the counter.
* * *
Ku followed the woman in cargo pants when she left the shelter. Night had fallen, thick and airless. The woman’s shoulders were slumped from the day’s work. Her gaze was turned inwards as she walked, and she did not see when Ku melted from between the glow of one streetlight to the next.
Despite the heat still baking off the pavement, the woman shivered, zipped up her jacket and shoved her hands deep into her pockets. Ku hesitated. Hackles crawled up and down her spine. She almost turned and walked the other way. But she couldn’t. That wasn’t how this went. Instead, she kept her distance and kept pace.
When the woman got to the front door of a small, ugly brick bungalow, a yellowed porch light flickered on and a furious, booming racket erupted from inside. The woman unlocked the screen then opened the wooden door an inch. A black snout that looked like it belonged to a medium-sized bear snapped and growled at the gap, spraying thick strings of spit. Ku faded almost completely, until she was no more than a thought at the back of a mind. The woman held out her hand to the snout.
“Shut up, dummy, it’s me,” she snapped.
In an instant, the barking stopped. The snout took a deep snuffling inhalation at the woman’s fingers. She opened the door fully and a thick-bodied dog bounded out. Its eye sockets were two sunken pits, and it swung its head past where Ku hovered without registering her. The woman thumped his side with a palm and led the way inside.
Ku made herself thin and slid in behind them through the closing gap in the door.
* * *
Abraham crowded against Tully, tail wagging furiously. He dropped and rolled over, presenting his belly for a scratch.
Tully locked the door behind her and stepped over him. “Do you have to do that right there?”
She walked into the kitchen and dumped her bag on the counter then realised her dog hadn’t followed. She went back to the hall.
“You coming?” she called.
Abraham was still sprawled on his back, hind leg twitching as if someone was scratching his belly.
Tully frowned. “Come on.”
His head popped up, a guilty expression on his face, then he scrambled after her. As his thick tail whacked her across the thighs, frigid air swirled after him. Tully rubbed at her arms and shivered.
She toed off her boots then padded down the hall, losing her bra with a sigh. She dumped it in the laundry and made for the bathroom. Steam billowed up the mirror as she filled the sink. Tully dunked her face, allowing the heat to soak away the fury. She should have gone to check on her fosterlings first—they’d been alone and crated for over ten hours and needed to be walked and fed—but she needed this. Needed the warmth after a day like today.
She held her breath until she heard Abraham’s nails on the tiles behind her. Tully came up with a gasp.
“Why are people such arse—”
In the fogged mirror, something pale flitted across the dark doorway behind her. Tully spun.
“’Bram?”
Abraham scuttled down from the kitchen, bumping along the wall. He paused at the bathroom, his eyeless gaze turned towards the direction the something had gone.
Tully paused. “Where did you come from?”