The Pool, Wednesday Late Afternoon

[nottrivial]

Alec knew what he had been expecting when he arrived at the dorm pool late this afternoon: a pool. With chairs. Maybe a towel rack. Probably without any other students swimming. But all in all, a normal pool environment.
 
He hadn't been expecting to find all of the above, plus a scruffy, friendly-looking golden retriever puppy happily treading water in the shallow end.
 
The puppy didn't look hungry or scared about being in the water -- it seemed quite content to be where it was. True, the lack of anyone around who might own the puppy was disconcerting, but some uncertain inspection revealed to Alec that the dog didn't have a collar at all. Just a whole pool to itself, apparently.
 
It seemed happy to share the pool with Alec, if its happy panting was any indication. But there seemed to be an unspoken agreement about which side was Alec's and which side belonged to the puppy, and Alec was happy to comply with the rule.
 
He dove into the water and started doing his laps, glad that he and the dog were on the same page.

[[open! this is my apology for being depressing on Twitter today.]]