SEVENTEEN
“Daddy and his friend are going to talk for a couple of minutes. You are going to stay in your kennel,” Daddy explains.
“Do I have to?” I look up at him.
Daddy smiles at me sadly. “Ronal and I need to talk about something serious. It can’t wait any longer. I need you to be a good girl and stay in your kennel while we are talking. I will have my eye on you the whole time.”
“But why do I have to stay in my kennel?” I ask.
“Because Daddy said so. You need to. Daddy is also going to turn on your translator so you can’t understand what we’re saying,” Daddy says as he steps in front of the kennel.
My mouth falls open, and I shake my head. “You can’t do that to me!”
“Daddy can, and Daddy is going to. It needs to happen. We are going to be talking about something serious, and I don’t want you to get hurt when you listen,” Daddy gently says. “It’s not going to be for a long time, so don’t worry. But you won’t be able to understand anything we say. If you need anything, you can call out my name, and I will hear you.”
I push my bottom lip out as I look up at him. “I don’t want that.”
“I know you don’t, but it won’t be for long. Before you know it, everything is going to be over, and you will be able to understand me. But I need you to be brave for a couple of minutes so that Ronal and I can talk. It’s super important,” Daddy says as he runs his thumb across my cheek.
“Can you just hold me while you talk? I can go to sleep, so you won’t have to turn off the translator,” I rush out.
Daddy shakes his head and helps me get into the kennel. “I’m sorry, Little one, but we can’t do that. I can’t hold you while I talk to him because we are going to be using our hands to explain things. I don’t want to wake you up if you fall asleep. Why don’t you fall asleep in the kennel, and then you won’t even know that the translator is turned off.”
Tears pool in my eyes as I look at Daddy through the bars. “But,” but I stop myself from completing the sentence.
Even if I were to fall asleep, I would still know that the translator has been turned off. What if something happens and Daddy has to go away, and I don’t understand? There are so many things that could go wrong.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Daddy says as there is a knock on the door. “It will be over before you even know it, so don’t worry. I’m going to be over there the whole time, and you won’t have to be scared. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
I open my mouth, but before I can say anything, Daddy presses something on my collar and closes the kennel door. I blink, letting the tears fall as Daddy walks away.
“Daddy,” I whimper.
He doesn’t look over at me as he opens the door. Another man walks, and his eyes connect with mine, but he quickly looks away and starts talking to Daddy. My heart sinks when I really can’t understand what they are saying. He is really keeping me in the dark about everything.
But why?
What is it that they are talking about that needs to be so secretive?
Hurt flashes in me as they sit on the couch and start talking. I just want to be close to them and hear what they are talking about, to understand. Is it something that important that they can’t even let me, a human, listen in on? Are they worried I’m going to go tell someone?
But I don’t have anyone but Daddy to talk to. Everyone else is a stranger who I have no desire to talk to at all.
Daddy looks over at me and smiles before gesturing for me to fall asleep. I wipe away my tears and lie down, pulling the blanket over me. Does he not feel guilty?
I blink several times, trying to keep the tiredness away, but with each blink, my eyelids grow heavier, and before I know it, darkness surrounds me.
“Little one, it’s time to wake up.” A gentle voice wakes me. “Come on and wake up for Daddy.”
I crack my eyes open to find Daddy’s face on the other side of the kennel. How long was I out for?
“Come on out. Daddy wants you close to him.” He opens the door.
He helps me out and holds me to his chest as he walks over to the couch, sitting and snuggling me.
“Sorry it took longer than expected,” Daddy gently says. “He had a lot more information than I thought he was going to have.”
“What did you talk about?” I ask, hoping he will tell me something.
