Chapter 19

“What can I do for you, honey?” he asked.

“I want to adopt Tripod and give him a forever home.”

“Oh,” Keenan said as he knelt and put Tripod down. The dog immediately went to the child, who’d also dropped to the floor. She began petting him.

“What’s your name?”

“Charity.”

“Well, Charity, Tripod’s not really one of our shelter dogs. He’s actually my dog. I adopted him myself after I fixed his leg. But there are lots of dogs here like him that need someone to love them. Maybe you could look around and—”

“But I want Tripod,” Charity interrupted with a sad voice.

“Why Tripod?”

“Cuz I understand him, I was in a car accident like he was, and they cut my leg off, too,” Charity said. She stretched out a leg and pulled up her jeans to reveal an artificial limb. “I know how he feels cuz he’s different from the other dogs.”

Whoa! Keenan thought, taken by surprise when he saw the prosthesis. He looked into the little girl’s pleading eyes. How can I say no to her?