Chapter 11 Rosie
ROSIE
“Now, if you just fill out these forms, we can start your tour,” Carol, the receptionist at the shelter, told me as she snapped her gum. She had a cute pixie cut and couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but she seemed friendly, if not a bit bored.
“Oh, I already did that. If they are the same ones online, that is.” I handed them to her and grabbed my ID at the same time, since the website also said they needed a copy of that.
“Perfect. Usually, no one is this prepared. Gives me a good feeling about you,” she told me as she started making copies and scanning things into the computer.
“Do you know what you’re looking for yet?
We have a few kittens we got about a week ago.
They are already fixed and have had their first round of shots. Or we have some older cats…”
“I’m not exactly sure. I was reading something online that says sometimes, when you know, you know. I was hoping that would be the case for me,” I told her.
“Yeah, we get that a lot.” She just shook her head up and down like it made perfect sense.
A scraping sound came from a little down the hall and to the left. I looked and saw nothing, yet the sound was becoming a little bit louder. I turned back toward Carol and raised my eyebrows, wondering if she also heard what I did as it continued. I looked back, and—holy shit, what is that?
“Uh, what is that?” I asked.
Carol rose from her chair and peered over the desk. “Oh, that’s just Lionel. I forget what he looks like to some people. He’s a long-term resident here after his owner passed away.”
“What is he?”
“He’s an African spurred tortoise,” she said, like he wasn’t damn near 200 pounds and magnificent.
“He’s amazing.”
“Usually, he stays in the shadows. He isn’t the biggest fan of people—or being here, really. He’s always trying to break down the front door. And if he weren’t extremely slow, he would succeed.”
I kept staring at him as he made his way toward us. She was right; he was slow, but I couldn’t help grinning at him like an idiot. I’d never seen anything like him.
“Ready to start your tour?” she asked. I wanted to tell her no, but I just nodded instead.
“Sure. Let’s go.”
Carol led me down a hallway and started halfway, giving me a tour of the place as we walked through it; dog ward, bath area, where they had outside kennels for playtime and exercise. All the while, I kept hearing the scraping sound behind us, and so did Carol.
“How odd. Sometimes, I go days without seeing Lionel, and now, we can’t seem to get rid of him. He isn’t allowed near the cats. He gets annoyed and chompy.”
I love him.
“Here we are.” She led me into a room with kennels on one side, and what looked like a play area for the cats that was separate from the kennel area, with cat trees, toys, and an area for people to sit.
Carol walked me through the cats and kittens they had, and they were all really cute.
One in particular, named Sassy, interested me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Lionel.
After a half hour or so, I told her I was done and had made a decision. She clapped her hands and started to ramble about paperwork. When we exited the cat room, Lionel was waiting outside, giving me a look like, how could you?
“So weird. I wonder what his deal is. I’ll grab him some snacks from the fridge after we get you sorted.”
“Actually…I’m interested in Lionel. You said he was a long-term resident, so…He’s available for adoption, right?” I asked.
Carol turned around, blinking slowly at me like she was trying to understand my words. “You want Lionel?” she questioned.
“Yes. Lionel.”
“The tortoise?”
“Is there another Lionel?” Speaking of him, he finally made his way next to me and stayed still, as if he had also made his choice. Her eyes toggled between us, almost in astonishment.
“I, uh…I need to call my boss. No one ever wants Lionel.” She flew away from me before I could say anything else, clearly wanting to call whoever she needed to make sure it could happen.
“Don’t worry, buddy. I know how that feels, and I want you.”
I looked down at him, and his head was tilted up. His black eyes seemed to be following me, and I reached down to pat him on the head.
“He gets chompy!” Carol all but screamed from across the room, where she was making her phone call. But Lionel just bowed his head and let me rub it. I continued until I was scratching his shell, and he started moving his body like he enjoyed it.
I love him.
“He’s literally letting her pet him,” she said, and I swear, Lionel shot me a no shit look. “Yeah, I’ll make sure. I’ll double make sure. Okay, okay. Bye.” Carol hung up and walked over to me.
“You know how much work it takes to have one of these guys? They need outdoor access, the right heat, humidity. It can get expensive. He’s expensive. And they live forever, and have a very specific diet.”
“That’s cool. I’ll buy whatever I can here and then go to the store.”
Her mouth hung open, like she had expected me to back out, but there was no way Lionel wasn’t coming home with me.
“Okay…Okay. Let’s go over everything, and then we can get him packed up and go over what you need to get.”
She kept looking at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t think I could have been happier.
And Jeanie could suck it, because I did, in fact, not get a cat that day.