Chapter 18
"I think it's unfair that I have to do this," Patricia protests, wrinkling her nose while tilting her head back and forth.
Carlota, who's finishing setting up the shelter's fold-out bed after taking out the containers they brought and preparing the appetizers, turns toward Patricia trying to hold back her laughter.
"I can't do everything, we have to split the tasks," she says, biting her lips to contain the laugh that threatens to escape.
"And why do I have to prepare grapes for the dogs with their little meat cans? Do you know how bad this smells?" she asks while rolling little balls with her hands as if making homemade meatballs.
"Because we drew lots and you got picked," Carlota reminds her while lowering the volume of the speaker she turned on with her Christmas playlist as soon as they arrived.
"I think you cheated," Patricia continues protesting.
"Stop complaining and think about how happy they'll be when they can eat the grapes with us, just look at Coco."
Patricia shifts her gaze to her left, where Coco sits next to her with his right paw on her foot while wagging his tail frantically. The other dogs are on her other side, drooling with the same anticipation.
"I don't know how you can like this food when it smells so bad," Patricia says, talking to the dogs, "but then again, you're little pigs who would eat poop, who am I to judge?"
Three hours later, both women have long finished dinner and, while Carlota arranges the small plates with grapes and meat balls on the table waiting for the twelve bells to strike, Patricia opens party favor bags and places little party hats on the dogs. A powerful thunder makes the shelter's windows rattle, reminding everyone that it's raining outside. Peluco, one of the dogs, howls nervously because loud, sudden noises frighten him, but Carlota solves it by turning up the music.
"One minute left," Patricia says, filling two champagne glasses.
After that, they each grab two plates of meat balls and, as soon as the first bell strikes, they excitedly place them in front of the dogs while grabbing their own plates with grapes. While they try to keep pace with the bells, Coco licks his chops after finishing ahead of time, and when the last bell rings, Patricia and Carlota kiss and hug amid barks while thinking they couldn't have chosen a better place to start the year.