The next day, a burly man wearing black leather comes to Dogtown. After all the other dogs ignore him, he finally gets to Geraldine. The two hit it off, and Chance is pleased to see that “Geraldine ha[s] found a home” (143).

The man leaves on a motorcycle without Geraldine because the dog won’t fit. All afternoon, Chance waits for the man to come back, worried that Geraldine will have been euthanized by the time he returns.

The man doesn’t come back. However, five minutes before closing, an older woman arrives, brushing past the front desk worker when they tell her that Dogtown is closing for the night. She goes straight to Geraldine’s cage, pets the dog, and says, “I had a Saint Bernard when I was a kid. Best dog I ever had” (149).