"Albino": a new short story at Guernica Magazine

Four years ago in October, I returned to New Orleans and began volunteering every day at a warehouse on the Westbank that had been set up as a temporary shelter for the Louisiana SPCA. One of the many dogs that showed up was an albino Doberman that a man brought in after coaxing it into his car. The dog had been showing up at his house on a regular basis and wasn't very friendly, but the man gained his trust and brought him in, and then put a sign up along the Westbank Expressway to try to find his owner. Meanwhile, a young volunteer at the shelter recognized the dog--a friend of hers had a photo of the very same dog that had been given to her by a young man that came to clean her pool. I was fascinated by the fact that we had all of these clues to the origins of this dog, yet no one could make a connection. The dog itself was a bit wild; he seemed unpredictable, although one of the staff discovered that he had been taught with hand signals. It was possible that the dog was deaf, which would also explain why he was so freaked out at everything that had unfolded around him.

The owner was never found. The dog was sent to a sanctuary. And four years later, here is a totally fictionalized account inspired by the mysterious albino dog.