.

      “I don’t want to be the one to say I told you so, but I told you so,” said Matt with a smile on his face.

      Christina looked at him and chuckled while she buried her head into Matt’s chest. His arm draped around her shoulder. Nothing could stop the peace of the moment but one thing. In that moment Christina heard a sound—not the crackling of the fireplace, but the sound of scratching on wood. Christina raised her head up to listen closer.

      “Matt, do you hear that?” asked Christina.

      “Hear what?” replied Matt.

      “That sound.”

      “Are you messing with me? There’s a sound coming from the fireplace from the fire?”

      “No, it’s not the fire. It’s almost like a scratching sound.”

      “Maybe it’s mice?”

      The couple listened quietly for the sound when they heard it again.

      “Is…is that coming from the front door?” asked Christina

      “Is it? What the hell could it be?” replied Matt.

      “I don’t know.”

      “Well, stay here I’ll go check it out.”

      “No, no, it’s fine I can go check it out. It’s probably a raccoon or squirrel or something.”

      Christina got up from the couch and walked toward the front door of the cabin. She could still hear the faint sounds of scratching coming from the opposite side of the door. The scratching was coming from the bottom of the door though, not near the door knob or above the door knob. Christina finally was face-to-face with the front door, only a few feet away.

      “Chris, I’d feel better if you grabbed a knife before you open the door. Just in case,” said Matt.

      Christina gave Matt a weird look for recommending such a thing. Finally, Christina grabbed the door knob and slowly unlocked the deadbolt in the door and then the door knob. She turned the knob and slightly pulled the door open toward her and looked out. There on the front porch she saw a dog—a border collie with black and white coloring. The dog was completely filthy, dirty from mud and debris, and looked skinny and frail. The border collie saw her and walked toward her, panting, shivering from the cold autumn night air.

      “Oh my god,” exclaimed Christina as she swung the door wide open.

      “What is it?” asked Matt.

      “It’s…it’s a dog.”

      “A dog?”

      “Yeah, a dog…the poor thing…he looks lost and near death. He’s just skin and bones.”

      “Well, bring it inside. Does it have a collar or chain on it?”

      “Yeah, it does.”

      “Well, does it say anything about his owner? What does it say?”

      “It just says ‘Max.’”

      “Max?”

      “Yeah, Max. That must be his name.”

      Christina brought the dog in to warm up, shutting the door behind her. She took the dog to the bathroom.

      “What are you going to do with it?” asked Matt.

      “Well, first I’m going to give it a warm bath. This poor thing looks like he’s been living out here for a while now. He’s so docile.”

      Matt pushed himself from the couch and back into his wheelchair. He wheeled himself toward the bathroom where Christina was drawing up some water for the dog. The dog jumped into the tub and began to drink from the water.”

      “Poor thing, I wonder if he’s been living on his own for a while now,” said Christina.

      “He doesn’t look too clean. I wonder if he’s had his shots.”

      “Well, there’s no telling. The only tag on his collar just has his name on it.”

      “I’m going to go see if we have something for him to eat. We can just give him some luncheon meat until we can get back to Port Angeles and get some dog food I guess.”

      “You’re right. I don’t know what else we can feed him. I wasn’t planning for there to be a random dog running around out here in the middle of nowhere.”

      “I wonder if one of the summer campers had lost a dog, back down there toward the town from that RV park?”

      “Maybe?”

      The bathwater eventually filled up enough warm water in the tub for Max. The dog continued to drink from the tub water.

      “Poor thing must have been thirsty,” said Christina.

      “Well, good thing we have wood floors. Probably piss all over the cabin tonight,” said Matt as he wheeled himself toward the kitchen to find something for the dog to eat.

      Christina began to splash water onto the dog’s back. She stood up and grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom cabinet and began to wash the caked-on mud off Max. Matt had come back with a large mug from the kitchen and handed it to Christina. She began to collect water from the tub and pour the water over the back of the dog, washing the mud off the dog’s body. Matt wheeled himself back to the kitchen to look for food for the dog. Finally, Max was completely clean and free of mud and debris of small twigs matted in his hair. The water in the tub was now a murky brown color. Christina pulled the plug in the tub and ran some more water in the tub to clean the mud out of it. She continued to draw warm water from the bathtub faucet and collect it into the large mug, pouring warm water over the back of the dog, getting the last of the dirt and gravel particles out of his coat. Christina set the mug down on the edge of the bathtub and turned the bathtub’s water faucet off. She stood up to grab a towel from the linen closet when the dog shook vigorously, splashing water all around the bathroom and onto the mirror by the bathroom sink.

      Christina came back and wrapped the dog in a large soft towel and proceeded to dry him off. Once he was as dry as she could get him, she set the dog down on the floor and the dog left the bathroom and went back out into the living room. There Matt was sitting in his wheelchair with some ham luncheon meat he had brought out from the kitchen. The dog walked up to Matt who began to feed him slices of ham one at a time. The dog graciously took the meat and ate it right there by Matt’s side. Christina walked back into the living room area. The living room was warm from the fire in the fireplace.

      “What should we do?” asked Christina.

      “Well, I guess we can ask around town or if there are any campers left if they may have lost or know someone who lost a border collie this summer?” replied Matt.

      “That’s the only thing I can think of doing too. So if no one comes to claim him, Matt, then what?”

      “Well, then we just made a new member of the family I think. Are you okay with that, Chris?”

      “I am. I’m certainly not going to kick him out of the cabin, especially this time of year. It’s too cold and wet out.”

      “Well, when you go back into town tomorrow, you can ask around and see.”

      After Matt had finished giving all the ham to the dog, Matt pushed himself off the wheelchair again and back onto the couch. Christina sat by his side. The dog, however, also jumped up on the couch and laid next to Christina on the other side of Matt. The dog spun around twice and laid down, laying his head on Christina’s lap.

      “I suppose this is our dog now then,” said Christina.

      “If no one comes to claim him, it sure will be,” said Matt.

      “I almost don’t feel like asking anybody in town about him. It’s like this dog was meant to be our dog.”

      “Hey, this could be our child.”

      “Oh