The notice asked residents only to report sightings.
A frightened, injured animal might run into traffic if surrounded.
Reports arrived.
Tan dog near a rail yard.
Brown pit bull behind a grocery store.
Injured Labrador near an apartment complex.
Most were different animals.
One sighting led us to a dog matching the description, but both ears stood upright and no scar crossed his muzzle.
Noah studied every photograph.
“Not him.”
His certainty frustrated Marcus at first.
“How can you know from one picture?”
Noah pointed.
“The eyes are wrong.”
On his twelfth hospital day, Noah’s fever resolved. He began walking the corridor and completed breathing exercises without complaint.
The respiratory therapist placed a photograph of the unknown dog near his incentive spirometer.
Each completed set moved a paper paw print across the wall.
Noah wanted to leave the hospital because he believed searching could begin only when he went home.
