𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘖𝘩, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦.

I couldn’t even hear myself think over the excessive barking and rattling of the dog cages, even from the break room. Was it always this loud? Was this a job I wanted to do for months on end? It’s not like I was in a hurry to get a job but there was no way I would be lounging around the whole summer. Yes, I was excited because it was the first real job and I got to be surrounded by animals, the labor I didn’t mind. It was still better than a 9-5 office job.

In the break room, I sank down in a nearby chair with my head in my hands along with a sigh. One of my coworkers looks over at me, growing concerned.

“Rough start?” They ask softly.

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘻𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯?! 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I failed to notice my body was trembling. The only reason I removed my tear stained face was because the coworker placed their hand on my shoulder and gave a warm smile.

“Hey, what exactly happened in there?”

“I may have…created a…puppy orchestra.”

The person raised their eyebrow at the ridiculous response but then couldn’t help but chuckle. I then told them about how I was in the process of cleaning the puppy cage’s then the fire alarm went off.

They clasp their mouth shut to hide a laugh, which made me blush out of embarrassment. How did you set the fire alarm off?”

“Um, so I tried to turn on the pressure hose on, and I was right under the alarm. It went off…then all the puppies howled in unison.”

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥! My thoughts threaten to spill out as the tears began to blur my vision again. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵…? 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. It doesn’t matter now because the look on the employer’s face was enough. As I continue with the mental battle, I felt a pair on arms wrap around me gently.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. But hey, at least you’ll leave a statement.”