Romy shifted on the cushion and a faint whiff tugged at his memory. It had been a long time since he had thought of that scent; sweet, white powder that his owner-woman had put on the hind end of her single-litter male child, right after she had bathed him in the huge white bowl in the tiled room. He didn't like to remember those days. Soon after the human child came, he had been moved outside to the cold, to the wet, to the darkness. The doghouse had been too small, and no light came in to form the light circle that he liked to stretch out in. After he chewed his rug there was only the hard, bare wooden floor.

They used to give him water in the evening and put dry food out, but sometimes they forgot, and sometimes he didn't feel like eating, although he didn't know why. He would watch the lights in the windows for his owner-people's shadows, but they never came back out. Except once. The last time. They put him in the van and took him to a place like the kennel he had visited before for a short time, and once, when the man had done that cutting thing, that had changed his licking pattern forever. But this place didn't smell the same as the boarding kennel. His neck felt empty because his man-owner had removed his red collar when he left.

In the new place there was a quietness that settled in the air like dust that has filtered through fear. He had lain on the concrete floor the first day, with his nose pressed against the bottom metal bar of the chain fence. He had waited for his owner-people to return. Instead, a man in a dark uniform, with letters on it he couldn't understand, had stood at his cage and watched him. There had been no kindness in his voice, but it had been gentle and calm. You're too big for most people, buddy. Just too big. You'd think people would consider that before they get a giant like you.

After a while the man had gone away and before the next food was delivered, a woman came. He had heard her steps on the painted cement walkway long before he could catch her scent, and he knew somehow that she was coming to him. His nose flared in the kennel air as he arched it to separate all the scents that came his way. Familiar smells from a long time ago, before the owner-people, before the edges of his memory even, when there was just a feeling of warmth and softness.

He didn't look at her at first, not until she knelt in front of him with her eyes only inches from his. Hers were the same color. He felt the smile in her eyes reach through the links. "Phil was right, you are a Great Dane." He didn't know how long it was after that, but after two food bowls she was back with a collar and leash, and she took him out of the run. He couldn't look into the other cages as they walked out to her van. There was another woman waiting for her and they talked fast and loud while they made the car vibrate and move down the road. Some of the words did not make sense but he thought he had heard some of them before... "sores on his elbows ... ears not maintained ... malnourished ... abandoned."

Before the van stopped Romy heard the barking of his own kind. He crept out of the crate and tried to stand behind the driver woman as he searched the fenced area behind the human house. There were three fawn faces, like his own, that looked through the wooden white bars. Romy was walked over to the fence to sniff at the group. The females were cautious, but interested, and fluttered the tips of their tails in greeting. Romy answered with hind-end twitching wagging until he glanced at the taller being standing just behind the girls. Romy froze momentarily and then instantly relaxed his bones and lowered his gaze, borne from some basic instinct that all creatures seem to know when in the company of royalty.

"Titan is usually good with other dogs if they know their place, but I think we'll keep Romy by himself for a few days before we even let the girls in with him.

"Is that is name? Romy?"

"Yeah. Phil said the owners thought he looked like a great general so they named him after Rommel. And you've got to admit, he looks like he's been through a heck of battle."

"Yeah, he sure does."

Romy was taken into the house to the room where all the humans ate from their flat bowls. It was a large room and Romy noticed the raised wooden tray that held a dog bowl of water. He dipped his head and put his mouth in the water but didn't drink. It was cool on his muzzle. The woman called him and patted a cushion on the floor next to a window. Romy stepped on it tentatively and glanced up at the smiling woman. He circled the mat and then sank onto the center, quietly, searching everything with his watchful eyes.

"Ray just made a trip to the Burlington outlet and got a couple new baby mattresses. Some of the club people find them at used sales for only ten or twenty dollars. I'm not usually that lucky, but I think they're worth the money and you can usually wash them off easily, and the crib sheets help keep the house clean and then I just throw them in the washer."

'Speaking of washing,"do you want me to help you give this guy a bath? It's hard to say when the last time he had one was, if ever."

"No, I filled the baby pool before I went to the shelter. It should be warmed-up a bit by the time Ray gets home. I want to take it slow for the first few days. Hey, but you can hold him for me while I get the Bag Balm to rub on those elbows."

Romy jerked his head up as the women came over with a small green can that smelled like his bandage from when he had cut his foot on the screen door. He tensed, but quickly relaxed when the cooling salve was lightly rubbed onto his raw sores. The woman of the house pulled a circle of sticky paper from her pocket as Romy licked the salve residue from her fingers.

"He is such a sweet, boy. I think if I put a few bands of masking tape around these ears the muscles will work a bit more and get stronger, and then his ears won't wilt."

The woman stroked Romy's head and he closed his eyes and leaned toward her just a bit. Romy spent the afternoon on the cushion watching the activity of the house. The other dogs had been brought inside and were sleeping somewhere down the long hallway in an unknown realm. The feeding room had a small wooden gate across the doorway, but he could see through to the next area. There were pictures of royal ones on the walls. The great ones. Their Apollo bodies molded against blue skies being awarded golden treasures. The house smelled warm and another memory tugged at him, but he couldn't focus on the images that ran through his mind like running dreams.

The afternoon sun glanced off his bed and warmed the soft fawn hair on his neck and back. He relaxed and let his bones expand and lengthen in the light and then slept. As the sun went behind a tree in the back yard, a man came through the screen door. Romy raised his head and tightened the pads of his feet. The house-woman came to greet him and they both came over to Romy.

"Isn't he beautiful? He is the sweetest thing. He has just stayed on his mat all afternoon not making a sound."

Romy cocked his head as she scratched his ears and rubbed his neck. The man sat down beside the big dog and smiled into his face.

"Hey fella. You've had it a bit rough lately, huh?"

The mate of the house-woman stroked Romy's muzzle and chin. It's going to be alright now. The man looked up at his mate.

"You were right, Helen, he's great."

They took Romy outside to the fenced yard that stretched down the hill past a row of bushes. Romy wandered over to a small flowering plant, sniffing the blooms to find the scent of the noble leader of the house. He hesitated and then moved to the grass and relieved himself on the new blades.

There were several bones and balls next to the smooth patio and the wonderful smell of wormy dirt. Romy twitched as he thought of hours of digging in the soil, and rolling in the soft grass. He was brought back to the present by a gentle tug of the collar as he was lead to a huge container that smelled like a bowl he had once chewed up. Romy balked as the house-woman pulled his collar forward to the container, which was filled with more water then he could drink in one day, but he tentatively put a leg in the warm water. He looked up at the human pair, who were smiling with more than their eyes, so Romy walked into the small pool and stood in the center with his head stretched high on a beautifully arched neck. The man dropped a couple of towels a few feet from the pool as the woman poured a full cup of the warm water over his shoulders. Romy watched the water droplets run off his chest and fall into the warm pool. He blinked once at the image in the water before it cleared and he could focus again on the fawn dog looking back at him. The stilled image was that of a great dog.