Chapter 2 - What The Mother Chose
A tan-and-white dog’s muzzle appeared through the gap first, damp with condensation, her breath thin and dry. Daniel raised the lid farther, expecting her to leap out, but she did not move toward freedom. She stayed curled at the bottom, her body wedged against the metal walls, turning instead toward a dark sweatshirt trapped beneath her stomach. She pawed at it with almost no strength, dragging at the cloth with her teeth as if pulling it into the light mattered more than air. Daniel and Mallory exchanged one startled look. Then Daniel crouched lower and unfolded the sweatshirt. Inside, two newborn puppies lay tucked against each other, so small and weak they looked more like warm shadows than living things. The mother had pressed herself over them all night, keeping their bodies away from the freezing metal with what little warmth she had left.
When Daniel reached for the nearest puppy, the dog put her mouth around his wrist. She did not bite. She only held him long enough to make her point. “I’m taking them with you,” he told her. Her jaw loosened. Mallory pulled open her patrol jacket, and Daniel lifted the puppies one by one into the warmth against her chest. Only then did the dog try to stand. Her legs folded almost immediately. Daniel slipped one arm beneath her chest and lifted her out. She twisted in his arms, searching frantically until Mallory opened her jacket enough for her to see the two tiny bodies moving inside. The dog touched each puppy with her nose and then collapsed against Daniel’s uniform. At the emergency veterinary clinic, Dr. Hannah Bell said the puppies were dehydrated and dangerously cold, and their mother was suffering from exhaustion and oxygen deprivation. “How much longer?” Daniel asked. Dr. Bell looked toward the oxygen chamber. “Maybe two hours,” she said. “The puppies might have had less without her body covering them.” Daniel stood there longer than he had to, watching the dog breathe behind clear plastic, and realized she had not just survived the freezer. She had chosen it—if that was what it took to stay on top of her babies.
