This is a true story, the story of my life, before and after I was adopted. The men found me running the streets, lost, with nowhere to go just like a vagabond. That fateful day seems like it happened yesterday. Suddenly, they chased me into a corner down a narrow alley, and I had nowhere to run. Then, they kidnapped me, threw a net over me, and threw me into the back of a truck. What's going on, I wondered; I was so scared, confused, and trembling all over. Finally, the truck stopped after what seemed like an eternity. They threw me out of the truck and into a cage—a dirty, stinking filthy place. All I heard was screaming, barking, and crying. I wasn't sure where I was, but it seemed like hell, and I didn't want to be there.

Days and days went by; I just wanted my old life back, even though I didn't have a home, at least I was free, free to run the streets and not be locked up in a cage. Suddenly, I heard the men talking about me, saying things that weren't true, like she's mean and ugly, no one would want her. Just because I'm scared and tried to bite the mean man that came in my cage and kicked me one day. I'm not the mean one, he is, but I have no way of taking up for myself; I'm at their mercy. Please, please I think to myself, let me go! Then they said, “she's not adoptable,” no one would want her. Just look at her; she's a mess, nasty, dirty, stinky, and ugly. She's on our list for today—the kill list.

What can I do? I'm locked in a cage with no way out. I just lied down and cried, but there was no one to listen who cared. I gave up. Suddenly, I heard footsteps; they didn't sound like the normal ones, not like the mean man who doesn't like me. These steps are different: softer, quieter, slower, and then they stop. I looked up and saw an angel, her name was Rhonda. She actually speaks to me in a soft, sweet voice like the sound of an angel. She asks the man, “what about her?” “Oh, no, she's not adoptable, she's mean and bites people and she's ugly.” Rhonda looked at me for a long long time, looked past my dirty and matted hair and trembling body and growling, and saw what I could be. “I'll take her,” she said. Thus started my new life, from the cage to the castle. 

Rhonda took me home with her, cleaned and groomed me, fed and watered me, petted me, loved me, and I actually didn't growl or bite anymore. Months went by, and I got used to my new home at Rhonda's Rescue. Then suddenly, there was a phone call, a couple was coming to see about adopting one of us. They wouldn't want me I thought. Even though I did look kinda cute all cleaned up, I still had my buck tooth that stuck out in the front. Rhonda only had nice words to say about me. Me? She said I would be perfect for their family, me perfect? No one had ever said that before. Well, that nice couple believed her, adopted me into their family, and now I have a great life. They love me, spoil me and often wonder what if, what if Rhonda had not taken me that fateful day? Suddenly, they shiver in disbelief that my life could have ended so soon. My life is great now; I love people, other dogs—not cats so much—but hey, nobody's perfect!