“But I’ll give you a hint,” I tell Gorman as we start sizing up Steve Farley, tall and distinguished under his thatch of salt-and-pepper hair, all hard lines and sharp angles. That’s who Steve Farley is, inside the walls: He’s a Humane Society volunteer. We’re surrounded by hundreds of dogs and cats, all deserving of a forever home, all sheltered here for now, fed and walked and cared for by Caitlin Gorman and her volunteers. The lives we’ve lived, the twists and turns, don’t matter in this moment. “I’ve never talked to you about your private life!” With so many people for Gorman to coordinate, it occurs to me that, like Margarita and Cooper and Tiny Tucker, she doesn’t know who Steve Farley is. She’s the Hamilton Humane Society’s volunteer coordinator, managing a roster of about 700 active volunteers each month. Just a few minutes ago, before he started walking past kennels and wishing good morning to Daisy Duck and Doodle Bop, Steve Farley was introducing me to Caitlin Gorman. His daily highlights used to be different. “That’s a highlight of my day,” Steve says as we get closer to Colt’s kennel. He’s about to get his belly rubbed by the best darn belly-rubber in Hamilton County.
Today is not that day for Colt, but it’s just about the next best thing. Hoping they’ll be adopted, that they won’t be there the next time he’s at the Humane Society facility on Hague Road. Steve scans the list every week, looking for his friends, hoping to see names like Oliver and Doodle Bop. He won’t get his name into the weekly email that goes to Steve Farley and the rest of the Hamilton Humane Society’s nearly 1,000 volunteers, a list of dogs and cats who recently found their forever home. Somewhere down the hall is Colt, a charcoal-colored Terrier Pit mix, and Colt doesn’t know it, but this is his lucky day.
Steve walks past their kennels inside the Humane Society for Hamilton County, waving to Sadie Lady, tapping gently on Woodstock’s door.
He’s never told them, not that they’d listen. They don’t know who he is, outside these walls. FISHERS – Steve Farley is saying hello to some friends, to Duke and Daisy Duck, to Margarita and Cooper and Tiny Tucker.
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