Charlie cringed on the poor wolf's behalf. Between the cold water, the rough scrubbing, actions conducted without any sensitivity to the poor animal- really, why were Phillip and Vicki working for an animal shelter when it was clear that neither of them had a taste for animals to begin with?
The girl wrinkled her nose distastefully. "This is getting ridiculous," she said to no one in particular. "Any second that wolf is liable to start another riot, and this time, I really wouldn't blame her." She shot a quick glance at her wolf, looking every bit as anxious as she felt, gazing at his companion with clear concern in his golden eyes. "We've got to do something about this before she really does cause any more trouble."
Charlie reached for the pole her wolf's rope was lashed to, and untying the knot, the pair made their way toward the adjoining station. They passed Jake on their way, already heading toward Charlie's parking spot with another dog for washing, but she hurriedly passed him in her haste toward the shelter employees.
Phillip was the first to notice them. He looked up at Charlie holding onto her wolf's leash, not realizing that in doing so, he was pointing the cold stream of water directly into the female wolf's face. Something Charlie didn't miss.
"Hey, Phillip, you might not want to point that in her face," she said cautiously, not wanting to upset either of the two. "Animals typically don't like cold water sprayed right in their faces."
"Wha- oh. Whoops." The young man adjusted the hose so that it was dumping water on the russet wolf's hind quarters.
His partner, Vicki, looked up at Charlie and glared. "We can handle one stupid little dog. We don't need your supervision."
Charlie's voice went cold. "I'm not supervising, I'm just helping," she said curtly. "I just came over to ask if you would mind me taking this one off your hands."
"Why? So you can show off to your boss?"
"Of course not!" Charlie snapped. "Because that's not a dog, it's a wolf, and Doc would explode if he saw anyone handling her."
"Oh, puh-lease," Vicki said, rolling her eyes. "This ain't a wolf! It's just a scrawny stray from the street. Probably one of our mutts from the shelter."
"No, she's not one of ours, Vicki," Phillip corrected, turning toward her. The hose drifted again, stopping just short of the wolf's eyes, and Charlie resisted the urge to snatch the thing out of his hands entirely.
"Phillip. The hose."
"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry." He moved it again.
"Look," Charlie began again, trying to reign in her rising temper. "I'm not trying to 'steal' anything from you. That is a wolf, whether you believe me or not, and she happens to have a rather mean temper. I just want to get her back in the shed before either one of you gets hurt."
"I think we know how to handle animals, Miss Know-it-all," Vicki spat, yanking the hose from Phillip's hands and aiming it at the ruff of the female wolf's neck. "You're not the only Dr. Doolittle, you know."
"Vicki, I'm not going to pick a fight with you!" Charlie said. No matter how much I'd love to punch you in your perfect little nose right now. "Just let me take the wolf and I'll be out of your stupid, root-dyed hair! You really don't know what you're messing with!"
"Yeah, right," Vicki hissed, and turned her back to Charlie and her wolf entirely, ending that conversation. The pair could only watch helplessly as she went back to "cleaning" with new vigor, attacking the matted fur and scabbed flesh with far more pressure than was really needed.
Charlie bit her lip, agitating the flesh nervously. "Damn," she muttered, glancing down at her wolf. "At this rate, I may have to go tell Doc himself." She made a face that effectively summed up her opinion of that idea. "Either way, he's still going to kill me."