Batman: Finding Solace

It was all I needed. A new pup, just barely 6 weeks old, holding a loving gaze and victoriously wagging his tiny tail. I sipped my coffee from my plain black mug and felt the cool dew on the grass between my toes. This was the last morning I was going to do this alone.

"Where are you from?"-I asked the pup. While I knew an verbal response wasn't going to be possible, I crooked down to check for injuries. He stumbled into my front lawn just at daybreak from across the street with a chewed leash attached to an uncomfortably tight collar. I gently fingered the fastener on his collar and he flinched. "You okay? I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you, buddy. I just wanted to make sure you weren't choking. That collar-" LAP. Right in the mouth. Puppy breath. Fuzzy mustache. Velvet ears. Tiny bark. Ugh.

I stood up and called my mom, who is my best friend and number one person I call when I need guidance. Unavailable. I looked down at the little boy puppy and saw that he had large paws and missing fur on one small patch where mites might live. His belly was swollen from possible abuse from the home he ran away from or was released from. Hopefully released...

"STOP!"

I sloshed my coffee mug and tossed my cigarette at a speeding car whipping around the corner. A puppy with the tiniest bark stopped in the middle of the street, terrified. The car didn't stop, only veered. People never pay attention to anything when they drive. I searched for the puppy in the street and began calling it to me so it wouldn't risk it's life trying to cross. Immediately, the color left my face.

I grew up in a broken yet functioning home. We were always moving, always getting hit by our dad, always questioning why other kids didn't understand adult situations. Always saying goodbye. It all boiled down to when I was 19 years old and homeless with my dog, Bella. A black lab mix. To finally have a home, I had to rehome her or "give her up". I was forced to give her up. I still remember her solemn brown eyes full of pain and confusion as we drove off from the rescue...I had betrayed her. No one understood her like I did.

"Oh boy. You're going to be expensive," I muttered to the young pup, hiding my smile behind my coffee mug. I bent down to scoop him up and he stood on his back legs, waiting for my embrace. I carried him towards the backyard.

"You need a name, huh? What about Pinhead?"-he wanted to be set down to run around the yard. "Nah, that's too crazy. What about...Sasha?", he stopped running around the yard and looked at me from the back door. I want something more clever than that for his name. He fought his way to me, he arrived in the morning. What is my favorite nocturnal superhero?

"Bruce Wayne?"

I was standing at the gate of the fence and he leaped to me and back to the porch. His face lit with adventure and I felt fear start to diffuse from my muscles. The universe brings us chances to correct our wrongs in the best and most fulfilling ways. The best part is, these new chapters of our lives come at the most random time...until you look back one day and know it was perfect timing. It was time to ready Mr. Wayne with a quick vet visit and a new collar.