“This is Teeto,” said Fran, the veternary nurse, showing Mara his dog tag. “He’s just been brought in by ‘Animal Control’.

“Oh,” Mara said, taking a step back. It was her third day working at ‘Peninsula Pet Shelter’. She was on four-hour shifts, three days each week for the next six weeks. Mara held her hand over her mouth. “This isn’t what I expected,” she added, her eyes flicking between Teeto and Fran. Sixteen-year-old Mara loved animals, which is why she signed up for voluntary work at the shelter over Christmas. She found herself humming and smiling more just being in the presence of animals. Visualisations and dreamy wishes twinkled through her mind every night as she snuggled into bed.

“Pet shelters always need volunteers,” said Mara’s mum, “you should give it a go; you can put it on your résumé, everything helps. You want to be a vet, right?”

Mara noticed Teeto’s fur was matted, and he sat hunched into the corner of his cage--his tail, bald in places, wrapped tightly around him like a protective shield.

“What’s that on his fur? It looks funny.” Mara asked Fran. Feeling woozy--her stomach tightened--she thought she might vomit.

“Teeto’s been the victim of animal cruelty. We think somebody’s burned the hair on his tail. See here?"

Fran pointed at sections of his tail that were hairless; the skin reddened. “These red spots are burned skin.” Teeto growled as the nurse’s gloved finger hovered over the inflamed area.

“I need the toilet,” Mara whispered quickly, and ran from the room. This wasn’t what she signed up for. How could anybody treat an animal like that? Mara hoped she’d be helping to feed baby kittens or brush a labrador's fur to a high shine. Mum hadn’t warned her about this; nobody had.

“Mara, are you alright?” Fran called out from the bathroom door.

Mara had broken into a sweat as she leaned over the toilet bowl, her body weak with shock.

“Are you in there?” Fran’s voice filled the silent space a second time as she tapped on the door.

“I’m fine,” Mara called back. Her stomach had settled a little but she was still too weak to stand. “I just need a few minutes.”


That evening, Mara huddled on her double bed, her back against her favourite, pink, frilled tri-pillow. She’d been home now for a few hours. Her family were eating dinner—roast lamb—which normally had Mara’s mouth watering. But, the thought of eating seemed so linked with the vision of poor Teeto. Because of her nausea at the sight of his wounds, eating brought flashbacks of his bald tail and his pitiful growl.

She thought back to the shelter and to when Fran had left her alone in the toilet. After her wooziness settled and she was able to stand, she’d come out of the cubicle and wet down her face, studying herself in the mirror. As she sat on her bed now the same thoughts ran through her mind as at that time. It was as though she’d really seen herself for the first time, in that moment.

What a weakling, not the tom-boy she’d thought herself to be. Mara had cultivated this identity, having admired people like Claire or Bridie Mc'Loud from Mc'Loud's daughters, who had every opportunity to work with animals, and who wore cowboy hats to tame their stubborn, wild masses of hair.

“Everything okay?” her mum asked, poking her head in the room.

“Fine. I’m just feeling yucky in the tummy, that’s all.”

“Oh, looks who’s come to say hello.” Her mum opened her bedroom door wider and allowed Furry-face to enter, his big shaggy tail wagging back-and-forth.

Mara sat forward in quick motion, “Get him out of here, Mum,” she yelled.

“Mara, that’s enough. There’s no need to yell.” Her mum’s face was stern and formidable. “What’s gotten into you? If this is what happens when you go off to work then maybe we should put a stop to it.”

“Maybe we should, suits me just fine.” Mara leapt from her bed and thrust her pointed finger toward the bedroom door, “Out, Furry-face,” her eyes glared at him, “out, now!”

Furry-face trotted to the door, his tail beneath him, he looked back once as though checking to see if Mara had changed her mind.

“Come-on, Darling,” Mara’s mum cooed as she patted her thighs, “come-on, boy.” She looked up at her daughter, “Don’t bother coming out until you’re nice enough to be around.”


The following week, Mara’s mum called down the hallway to her, “Mara, it’s time to go, are you ready?”

“For what?” Mara yelled back, but made no effort to move from her desk where she was scanning ‘facebook’ statuses.

“Did you hear me?” her mother asked moments later, popping her head through the door, brow creased.

“What?”

“I said, are you ready to go?”

“And, I said where?”

“Where do you think, Mara?”

“I have no idea.”

“Okay, I’ve had about enough of this. Put your coat on, it’s time to go.”

“I’m not going.”

“So you do know what I’m talking about?”

“Leave me alone.”

Her mum entered Mara’s room and sat on her bed.

“What’s happened? Please tell me, Mars.”

“I don’t want to work at the shelter anymore.”

“Did something happen to you?”

“No, nothing happened. It just wasn’t as fun as I thought it’d be.”

“But, on your first couple of days you were so happy when you came home. You said you cleaned out cages and pens, helped get one area ready for a batch of kittens that’d been brought in. You were beaming when you came home. I just don’t get it, and now you won’t talk about it.” Her mum stared at her, her eyes moving over Mara’s face, “Please tell me.”

“It really is nothing, Mum, it’s stupid.”

“It can’t be stupid if it’s affected you so strongly.”

Mara’s shoulders slumped and she cradled her face into her hands. Her mum came over to her and rubbed her back gently, “Mara?”

“They had to put a dog down last Wednesday.”

“Why?”

“He was too vicious. He kept growling and wouldn’t let anybody near him.”

“That’s really sad. Were you there when they put him down?”

“No, they don’t let us into the surgery.”

“Well, you know some animals have to be put down; there isn’t always another option, especially when the animal's very sick, or as you said, too dangerous to be around. I mean, you’re behaving more strongly now than how you did when we had to put Snuggles down. What’s the difference this time?”

“You should have seen him, Mum. When they brought him in he was shaking and angry. His tail had bald patches and he had open sores, wounds from being burned.”

“Do you mean he was abused?”

Mara nodded and began to cry, “It was awful, Mum.”

“Oh, honey. It is awful; really, really awful. Do they know who did it?”

“No,” Mara shook her head. “I can’t go back. I don’t want to see any animals like that, again.” She cried harder. “I really had my heart set on working with animals. What am I going to do, now?”

“Well, Mara. You know, your feelings about things change as you get older.”

“But I don’t want to do something else.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean, when you’re older, you might not have such a strong reaction to this kind of thing...”

“I will never be okay with people hurting animals, never.”

“Mara, listen to me. Of course you’ll never be okay with it. If you were, there’d be something wrong with you. I mean, if you do still become a vet, you’ll be a lot older. You will still be disgusted by animal cruelty, but you may be able to stomach being around the animals; helping them to feel better.”

“I don’t think so, Mum.”

“Alright, but there are other things you can do with animals. Maybe you could become a ranger, or work in a zoo. There would be far fewer instances of animal cruelty in those types of jobs.”

Mara listened while her mum talked to her about those options. They sat together for a while and her mum continued to rub her back.

“I’ll give the shelter a call and let them know you won’t be back. Oh, and that reminds me, I saw a job advertised in the 'Journal' for a shop assistant at the local, pet shop. Maybe that’s something you’d be more interested in over the summer break?


Weeks had passed since Mara had worked at the shelter. Today was her first day at ‘Pet World’.

“Go get ‘em, Hon,” he mum said squeezing her in a big hug, “you’ll be fine.”

Mara entered the shop in her new uniform—black pants and a green shirt with an embroidered motif of a dog and a cat sitting next to each other.

“Hi Mara, I’m Emily. We’ll be opening shortly. Come with me and I’ll show you how to get the kitten display fresh and ready.”

Mara smiled brightly, “I’d love that.”

Picture from: http://www.superhappypetproducts.com/images/dog_hiding_behind_curtains.jpg

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.07.2010

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