Chapter 49: The Bottle and the Three-Meter Ban
Leonard continued his speculation: "Someone didn't want to keep him, but abandonment is illegal, so they drove out to a remote area, and when no one was looking, they tossed him out of the car. That stretch of mountain road was the 'perfect' dumping spot. Stop the car, open the door, throw the dog out—the whole thing probably took less than ten seconds—and then they just drove away."
This analysis made the atmosphere slightly heavy.
Penny gently stroked the feeding puppy, then looked up and asked David, "So, David, what are you planning to do? Are you thinking of keeping him?"
David answered honestly, "Although I think puppies and kittens are really cute, honestly, I've never been interested in having pets. Also, even though it's unlikely, we still have to consider this—he might be someone's lost pet. What if someone's desperately searching for him?"
"Then it's obvious what we should do," Leonard interjected. "We'll take him to the animal shelter tomorrow. They'll scan for a possible microchip to find the owner, and they'll also look for new adoptive families for animals whose owners can't be found."
Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling that handling it according to standard procedure was the best option.
After the puppy finished his milk, David picked him up and walked out of Penny's apartment with everyone else.
He looked at the still-closed door of Apartment 4A across the hall and said with a wry smile, "I wonder if Sheldon's 'Decontamination Operation' is finished yet."
Leonard replied, "Regardless, I doubt any of us who've come into contact with a 'Suspicious Organism' will be getting through that door tonight."
Howard, refusing to be deterred, stepped forward and knocked on the door: "Hey, Sheldon, it's us! Open up, it's freezing out here!"
Immediately, Sheldon's uncompromising voice came from inside: "Anyone who has directly or indirectly contacted that unvetted stray pathogen vector is absolutely forbidden to approach within three meters of my person until you have completed standard disease control testing procedures or undergone a minimum 72-hour quarantine observation period and confirmed the absence of acute infectious disease symptoms! This is a final, non-negotiable decree!"
Howard turned back and shrugged at everyone: "Alright, he wins. See you guys tomorrow."
Howard and Raj headed downstairs together, while David, holding the puppy, went upstairs with Leonard to Apartment 5A.
He set the puppy down on the living room floor.
The puppy's eyes began to look around curiously and timidly.
"Leonard, do you think we can give him a bath now? He's pretty dirty."
Leonard scratched his head: "Uh, I don't know. He looks really young. I think I heard somewhere that very young puppies can easily get sick if you bathe them?"
"You're right, we can't risk it." David stood up and walked toward the bathroom. "Without a vet's advice, we have to use the safest method."
He brought back a clean damp washcloth and a large, dry, soft towel.
He carefully wiped the dust and debris from the puppy's fur with the damp cloth, especially his paws and belly.
The puppy was initially resistant and trembled slightly, but David's steady handling and gentle murmurs gradually calmed him down.
After wiping a section, he immediately wrapped him in the dry towel, rubbing gently to ensure the moisture was absorbed and his body temperature maintained.
During this process, the puppy seemed to fully sense the goodwill of the human caring for him.
He stopped trembling and instead actively rubbed his head against David's busy hand.
As David wiped his face, he even stuck out his tongue and licked David's finger.
The dampness and warmth of that moment made David pause slightly, and a wonderful feeling of being trusted and accepted quietly sprouted in his heart.
After the cleaning was complete, the puppy looked clean and fluffy.
David used a cardboard box that had held textbooks, lined it with an old, rarely-used bedsheet, and made a temporary bed for him, placing it at the foot of his own bed.
Late that night, David got up to use the bathroom. When he groggily reached his feet out to find his slippers on the floor, his feet touched something soft.
Startled, he quickly turned on the light.
He saw the puppy, who had somehow climbed out of the cardboard box, now curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly right next to the slippers he'd taken off before bed.
David stood still, quietly watching the scene.
In a completely unfamiliar environment, the puppy had chosen to leave his comfortable bed and seek out something that carried David's scent for comfort.
An inexplicable feeling struck David's heart without warning.
When he lay back down on the bed, he remained awake with his eyes open in the dark, and it was a long time before he fell asleep again.
The next day, because they had to take the puppy to the shelter, David and Leonard had to postpone their planned deep data analysis work at the university.
The two drove the car, taking the puppy to the Pasadena Humane Society.
An employee named Anna received them.
She expertly used a scanner to check the puppy's entire body—if the puppy had been pre-implanted with a microchip containing owner information under his skin, the chip would activate during the scan and transmit the stored identification code back to the scanner. However, the result was as expected: no microchip was found.
"This is pretty common," Anna said, setting down the scanner. "Statistically, less than half of all pets have microchips. A lot of people still don't think about it."
David immediately followed up, asking, "In a situation like this, what's the usual procedure?"
Anna explained, "Even without a chip, he'll still be officially taken in by us and enter a legal 'stray hold period,' usually 3 to 5 business days. During this time, we post his information and photos on our website and social media. If the original owner doesn't come forward to claim him after the hold period expires, then regardless of whether he was lost or abandoned, he officially enters the adoption process and becomes available for public adoption."
David then asked, "What if... I'm just saying 'what if'... he isn't adopted for a long time? What would be the ultimate outcome?"
Anna paused briefly, then replied in a calm, professional tone: "Animals that remain unadopted for extended periods legally become the property of the shelter. When our space and resources reach capacity and we can't accommodate the continuous flow of new arrivals... we have the legal right, and sometimes the necessity, to perform humane euthanasia. It's considered a compassionate release."
"NO!"
David and Leonard exclaimed almost simultaneously, their faces filled with shock and distress.
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