The first being that comes to me it’s a small dog, it comes running at full speed and starts jumping around me, asking for attention. I kneel and bury my hands in its long grey hair, scratching behind its ears and baby talking to it. Its tail waves franticly and it makes me laugh.

“Hey you,” I say still playing with it.

“This is Lulu,” Orlando explains. “She’s been here four months and she’s not a year old, so she’s full of energy.”

“Oh hi there, Lulu. Aren’t you a cute one, look at that tail moving and moving. Oh yes, you’re a cute one,” I tell her as she puts her little paws on my knees and tries to lick my face. I lean in closer and offer her my cheek that she immediately licks. “Oh kisses, how lovely. Thank you very much,” I say and it seems that my words make her even happier.

“She likes you a lot,” Orlando tells me. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the other guys here.”

I stand up but Lulu stays next to me, demanding attention once again and I can’t take a step forward without her trying to make me fall so at the end I grab her in my arms and she’s so happy that the only way she finds to thank me is to give me more kisses. I just laugh and follow Orlando.

He introduces me to every one in there. Amelia, Rick, Stuart, Noelia, Leah and Derek. Amelia and Derek are Uni students like me, Rick and Stuart have families and regular jobs —Rick is a teacher and Stuart a policeman— and Leah and Noelia go to college. They are all nice and I can tell they love animals as much as Rosalind and Orlando do, which is wonderful. They also introduce me to every dog and cat around, but they are many and I can’t remember all their names immediately. Needless to say, Lulu monopolises me and I know that when I get home today Oddie will be jealous. He will smell Lulu’s scent and will steal my trousers or something. Like when I met Charlie, Mila’s dog, Oddie stole my trousers and slept on them. At least he didn’t try to pee on them like Charlie when Mila met Oddie.

There are many cats and I think Havi and Moni would be so happy here. Mila would also go nuts with all the cute dogs here. If they come to visit I’ll bring them here, I’m sure they would love it.

After a while, Rosalind comes back and when she sees me playing with Lulu, making her burn all the energy, she smiles happily at me.

“You having a good time?” she asks and I smile back.

“A great time. Lulu’s been demanding my full attention, though. She doesn’t let me play with the others.”

“Oh yeah, she’s quite possessive,” Rosalind laughs. “She also likes… him quite a lot. When he comes to help Lulu is all over him and he can’t do much. She follows him everywhere,” she chuckles as she tells me the story and I would like to imagine him playing with Lulu but I have no idea what he looks like. I only see a blurry silhouette of a guy wearing normal clothes. Does he have long or short hair? Blond, brown or black? Maybe he’s bald.

“Will you come back with him later? I bet Lulu would be ecstatic to have you both here. Or maybe she could pass out, when dogs get too excited they lose control sometimes,” she tells me and I chuckle, not because I don’t believe her because I do, once I saw a video of a dog passing out due to her sheer happiness, but because I don’t know what else to do.

“I want to come back,” I say but I don’t know if I’ll come back with my stranger.

H —if H is the letter with which his name starts— is doing all this for me but nothing grants me that once we meet we’ll keep in touch. We might never speak again or maybe we’ll go back to the post-its because that’s the only way this works. Maybe once we meet we won’t have anything to talk about or it’ll be too awkward.

“You can be a volunteer. You come when you can and help with how much you can help,” Rosalind explains and I nod, not thinking of being a volunteer —that’s something I’ll do for sure—, but of my stranger and what might happen after today.

“I’m nervous…” I whisper and for a second I think she didn’t hear me in all this cacophony but I feel Rosalind kneeling by my side and soon her hands are on Lulu, too.

“He’s a great lad, with a heart the size of England, I swear. I promise you on my life and every animal’s on this shelter he won’t harm you and he just wants to make you happy. He’s been working so hard to make all this for you. He constantly talks about the post-it girl and how he feels you’re special. I’m maybe saying too much and it’s none of my business, but I swear to you, he has the best intentions.” I don’t reply, I just keep petting Lulu. “I know it’s normal to be nervous, but don’t be scared, okay? You’ll be fine and I’m sure you two will get on perfectly. I mean, now that I’ve met you I understand him.”

“Do you really think so?” I ask because I’m starting to get afraid. He’s done all this for me, introduced me to all these wonderful people. He’s planned all this for me and what happens if he only gets disappointed? “What if I can’t meet his expectations?” escapes my mouth and I feel so embarrassed that I said that.

“Oh, Maca, don’t worry about that. I’m sure you’ll exceed his expectations. Really, don’t worry, just enjoy this day,” she says and this time her hand grabs mine and squeezes it gently. “Look, here’s his letter. I’ll leave you to read it, okay? Maybe he’ll make you feel at ease again.”

Rosalind hands me an envelope and then stands up to leave me alone. By now Lulu is a bit more relaxed so I take her in my arms and go to sit somewhere else with her on my lap, dozing off. I take a deep breath once I’m comfortable and decide to open the letter. It’s not strange that I feel so unsure and nervous, in fact it’s weird that I didn't feel like this from the beginning. At first I was nervous because I was going to meet a stranger, now I’m nervous because he might be disappointed when he meets me. He’s doing so much and I’m just me… I’m nothing special.

Dear Maca,

I hope you had a wonderful time in the shelter. Aren’t all the people there amazing? I enjoy every second I spend there among all those animal lovers.  There’s something unique from people who only want to help others without receiving anything in return, and it’s even more wonderful when it’s to help those creatures that have been abandoned. I hope you loved the shelter as much as I do and I hope you’ll feel inclined to come again.

Do you wanna know why I chose the shelter for you? Because every time I’m there I feel only love. There’s a lot of tragedy, some animals can’t make it and never get better, but most of them do get better and it’s so wonderful to see them like that. Seeing them jumping, smiling and grateful for a new opportunity. I wanted you to feel that love because don’t we all deserve to feel like that? In the shelter there’s a special one, Lulu, who’s the loveliest of them all. She’s so full of love and it’s like she actually smiles at you and her whole face lights up. I wanted you to meet her.

You’re always so grateful for the post-its I leave for you that it makes me wonder how often you feel loved. I know you have a family and friends, but sometimes we are blinded and take for granted the love of those who are always with us. Or maybe we’re just too used to notice. That’s why kindness from a stranger touches us so deeply. I wanted to show you kindness from many strangers and from animals because there’s no purer love than the one from an animal or a child, don’t you think?

Well… isn’t this letter a deep one? I also think so. I’m not all smiles although I draw them everywhere (: (: (:

Anyhow, this journey doesn’t end here so even if you love the shelter (I bet you do) you can’t stay there the whole day. We can come back together one day if you want. But as for now, you have a new destination!

In one of your post-its you told me about Doctor Who and how it’s your favourite show and I must admit, I didn’t watch it until you mentioned it. Now I’m proud to say I’m up to date with the show and not only that, I met a peculiar group of whovians. Would you like to meet them? It happens that today they have a meeting and I might or might not have told them about you. Okay, I totally told them about you but shh!

If you’re up to a meeting with some whovians, you find the directions in the next page. They are waiting for you. There, ask Sarah for the next letter. And if when she introduces herself you tell her “like Sarah Jane!” she’ll give you a treat. I promise.

See you soon, Maca. I look forward to finally meet you. There are so many things I wanna talk about I can’t barely contain myself!

Have fun and don’t forget to smile (:

PS: the next letter is D. I hope no one has spilt the beans for you yet.

When I finish reading the letter I look down at my lap and find Lulu sleeping. My smile is natural and my heartbeats steady, strong but steady. This letter had a completely different vibe, deeper and it had more feeling. I’m so happy that my stranger decided to bring me here, that he made me meet all these people and all these lovely animals. I’m glad he brought me to Lulu. I’m so happy that he’s doing all this for me and yes, I’m still scared, I’m terrified that I’ll disappoint him, but I want to meet him so much. I want to talk about so many things with him, I want to ask him why, why he’s doing all this for me. How he can feel how the kindness of a stranger touches me so deeply. I know I’m loved but I still feel so lonely all the time, but the kindness of all the people I’ve met today so far has moved me in a way that I’ve never felt before.

Even if I’m scared that I might not meet his expectations, I just can’t go back because I’m already in this boat and it sailed long ago. I can’t only go forward, it’s the only way. And, isn’t he trying to make this day memorable? Isn’t that what he told me at the beginning? We could’ve just met but no, he’s doing all this and even if we don’t ever meet again after today, this is a day I’ll never forget. Even if we can only talk though letters and post-its, this day will stay with me forever.

A handkerchief appears in front of my eyes and, surprised, I look up to find in front of me Rosalind smiling at me. Only then I notice I have tears rolling down my cheeks. I don’t know exactly why I’m crying this time. Maybe it’s my insecurity, maybe I’m just overwhelmed with all the love and kindness in this place and his letter. Maybe it’s just everything.

I accept the handkerchief and smile at her as I wipe the tears away. I’m not actually sad, it’s something different. Rosalind doesn’t say anything, she just stays there by my side and it’s incredible how comforting that is. It’s better than if she had said something, so I’m grateful. She gives me a bit more of time before she actually speaks.

“You can stay a bit longer if you want. I don’t know where you have to go next but if you’re not ready or you don’t want to go, you can stay here,” she offers but I shake my head.

“No, I’ll go,” I reply. “I really want to go and meet these people and eventually meet him.”

I smile at the letter, happy that he remembers I love Doctor Who and that he’s taking me to meet other people who love the show. It’s always wonderful to be with people who share a passion, whichever this may be. And I’m also happy that my stranger, because of me, now also loves Doctor Who.

“Excellent. So why don’t we take a picture before you leave?” Rosalind proposes and I nod enthusiastically.

Rosalind asks Leah to take a picture of me with the dogs and the other volunteers. She tells me it has to be Leah because she hates pictures and she refuses to appear in one, no matter the circumstance. It’s quite the adventure to take this picture because the dogs are all so hyped, even Lulu now that she has waken up, but we manage and by the time Leah finally snaps the picture I’m actually laughing, not just smiling, laughing out loud because Lulu and Smithy —another dog— both lick me at the same time. The tears are gone, the anxiety is still here but also the excitement. It’s been wonderful here, but there’s a new place I need to go now if I really want to meet my stranger.

I say goodbye to everyone in the shelter with the promise of coming back. Lulu even whines a bit so Rosalind has to take her in her arms. I leave with my heart filled with love and excitement. It’s time to meet some whovians.

-:-:-

Did you find the whole experience cute? It was so fun to write! And I have to tell you, I'm really happy with your response. I'm happy you're liking this story. It's a very special one. So keep voting and commenting!

Next update at 321 votes (I really like that number hehehe) so I have more time to write it.

Bel, xx

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