FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #9

It was the thing he'd always loved about her.  

 

It was the thing he’d always loved about her. When he came home, even if he’d been gone only an hour or so, she met him at the door with something in her mouth; a dirty sock, a glove, one of the grandkids toys---it could be anything small enough for her to hold in her mouth. She never chewed or played with the object. It was a gift for him, plain and simple.

Dan had never had a dog before. Before she died, his wife Peggy had owned a cat---her favorite cliché had been that the cat owned her. The animal escaped from the house and ran away soon after Peggy’s death and he never saw it again. Shortly after that he found Sadie wandering around the neighborhood, half-starved, and out of pity he took her in. He made valiant efforts to find the owner, partly because he didn’t want a dog, but had no luck. He took her to a local vet after a while hoping for help in identification, but although the vet found that she needed to be wormed, he didn’t know who the owner was. “More than likely” he said, frowning, “she was dumped.”

“Why would anyone dump a good-looking dog like her?” Dan looked at the vet with a suddenly panicked expression, “You don’t think she’s pregnant, do you?”

“Well, I really don’t. She’s not very old, not a year yet I think. And if you’re worried about that, we can do something about it.”

Dan waited a while, thinking that he didn’t want to neuter a dog that didn’t belong to him, but eventually, as he came to think of the dog as his own and to care about her, he gave her a name and had it done.

As the years passed, Dan couldn’t imagine life without Sadie. He talked to her as if she were a person, sometimes even reading aloud a bit out of the paper. Then he’d look at her looking at him, head cocked sideways, tail thumping gently, and laugh. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you, old girl?” Then, pointing his finger at her, which caused her to get up and come over to bury her head between his knees, he’d say, still laughing, “You can’t replace Peggy, you know, but you’re sure giving her a run for her money.” Then he’d end up apologizing, “I’m sorry Peg. I didn’t really mean that. Just don’t pay any attention to me.”

On his seventy-fourth birthday, when Sadie was about nine, Dan’s oldest son stopped to visit, as he often did. He set a six-pack of beer on the table and greeted his father with a smile, “How ya doin Dad? I thought we might have a couple of cold ones to celebrate your birthday. Sorry I haven’t been by lately. I’ve been traveling a lot on business and you know how it is.”

“Oh, that’s okay, Frank. I keep myself busy enough. And that beer is sure going to hit the spot. Get some glasses out of the frig, there. In the freezer, there.”

They sat at the table, drinking their beers and talking, with Frank carrying most of the conversation, telling about his travels while Dan smiled and nodded and occasionally commented. After an hour Frank stood up to leave, yawning and rubbing his face, “Well Dad, I think I’ll go. I need to get some sleep. Okay?”

Dan nodded, then said abruptly, “You know, I never go anywhere anymore. I haven’t been out of this house in weeks.”

Frank looked at him in surprise. “But that’s not right,” he said slowly. I called Jim earlier today and he said that he and Dana took you to church Sunday and then to their house for a barbeque. Isn’t that so, then?”

“Oh, sure. Sure. I’m a little forgetful now and then. Yeah.”

Frank sat down. He looked at the dog. “I noticed a while ago that Sadie didn’t have any water to drink. Have you been remembering to feed her and all?”

“Well, of course I do. What do you think I am, stupid? I take care of this old girl.” He fondled the dog’s ears, “Don’t I, Sadie, girl?”

Frank sighed. “I didn’t mean that you didn’t .”

Dan looked at him belligerently, “Another thing, I never see the kids anymore.”

“What kids?”

“My grandkids, who else?”

“Well, they went along to church Sunday, didn’t they? Weren’t they at the barbeque? I mean, they live there.”

“I don’t know if they were there. I didn’t see them.”

Jim sat at his kitchen table, nervous, smoking an unfiltered cigarette. He glanced at Frank. “I can’t take Dad here. I work, Dana works, the kids will be in school soon. How would it be any different than what he’s doing now?”

Frank stared at the floor. He shrugged, “I know. But what can we do?”

“He’d probably burn the house down if he’s here alone,” Jim flicked his cigarette in the ashtray and looked glum.

“Famous last words,” said Frank.

Jim frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing. Just that you ought to quit smoking.”

“Damn. Between you and Dana…”

“Forget it. We need to get this settled about Dad. We could try to get him into one of those assisted living places. But they won’t take a dog. What would we do about Sadie?”

“After a while he might not even remember that he had a dog, you think?”

“Are you kidding? He won’t forget her. I’m afraid that he doesn’t remember to feed her, but he thinks he does. It’s a good thing she can find water to drink.”

“Where’s that?” Jim looked puzzled.

“She drinks out of the toilet. I saw her do it when I was there the other night.”

Jim shook his head and looked up at his thirteen year old daughter who had just come in the room. “What you need, Claire?”

But she had heard the last part of the conversation and was staring at Frank in elaborate dismay. “Yuck! She drinks out of the toilet? I petted her and she licked my hand when I was over at Grandpa’s last week. That’s disgusting.”

Frank chuckled. “Well, sweetie, they do worse than that. Dogs are dogs, you know.”

“Yeah.” Jim grinned at Claire. “They find a half rotten critter in the yard, what do they do? They eat it.”

Frank chimed in, “But first they roll on it so they smell good. Kind of like dog perfume.”

Claire watched the two men, a half smile replacing her look of disgust. “You two are really gross,” she said.

“Or,” Frank continued, watching her face, “they might carry it around all day, then lay it at your feet as an offering.”

“And if you don’t accept it, they try to bring it in the house,” Jim winked at Frank.

“So, added to all the sniffing and licking they do, they pretty much act like animals.” Frank was chuckling continually under his breath, now. “Even those little doll-dogs people have aren’t as dainty as they look.”

“You know, Frank, if people were more like dogs, maybe we’d all get along better,” Jim said solemnly.

Claire wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Repull…ssive, that’s what men are.”

“So babe, what’s up?” Jim asked.

“Missy wants me to come over and play kickball. Her cousins are there so we’ll have enough.”

“Sure, go ahead, but be back by five-thirty. We’re going over to help Grandpa cut his grass, after supper. Maybe you’ll be able to play with that disgusting dog, some more.”

Claire punched him in the shoulder with her fist and went out the back door to the sound of a rolling belly laugh.

Jim looked at Frank and grinned. Missy lives just down the street. Her cousins are three boys. I think Claire has a crush on the oldest one, who is all of fourteen.  He's not ree...pullsive like we are."

“Well, she sure lightened up this discussion. I’m glad she came in, but I guess we haven’t solved anything yet.”

“What I can’t understand is that this happened to Dad so fast. Do you think it’s Alzheimers disease?

“I don’t know, but we’ll have to see that he gets to the doctor pretty soon. And I don’t think it happened as fast as it seems. If you think back, he’s been getting more forgetful all along. You know, doctor appointments, bills, some other stuff he’s forgotten lately.”

Jim nodded. “This spring he forgot to pay the water bill and they cut him off. At the time I just figured that could happen to anyone, once in a while.”

“Anyway, I’m going to start looking around for a place for him, said Frank. Why don’t you do the same?”

“All I can say, Frank, is, you’re the salesman. You sell him on the idea of moving into a home. And leaving that dog behind.”

“Oh, Lord,” said Frank.

And so it was that three months later, Dan was moved to an assisted living facility. Sadie went to live with Jim and his family and Dan saw her every week. But he was unhappy not having her with him all of the time, and Sadie moped continually. Things went on in this vein for two months, during which time Dan’s family prepared to sell his house to help pay for his care.

But, as is the nature of things, sometimes, an odd thing happened. Dan began to get better. His mind became sharper and he no longer seemed to be in a fog. The time came when he demanded that he return to his own home. Frank and Jim were in a quandary. What to do? They couldn’t figure out what had happened, why he seemed his old self. A person didn’t just recover from Alzheimers.

Enlightenment came when the director of the home asked them to come in for a talk. Mrs. Hood didn’t beat around the bush. “We have a long list of people who need to be in this place and your father really doesn‘t, anymore. The reason he got in so quickly is that we had just opened and there was room. That is no longer the case. But we really can’t just kick him out. Would you consider taking him home?”

Frank and Jim just looked at her with their mouths open.

“B..but, why?” sputtered Jim, at last. “Why is he so much better?”

Mrs. Hood consulted her notes. “I believe that it was a case of the wrong or a too strong medication. Also, I think that one of the medications he was taking was causing an interaction with another. The doctor here took him off of one of them almost immediately after he arrived here. He is a very good doctor who believes that less is more, if that makes sense.”

The two brothers stood outside the “Elders Resort” facility, slapping each other on the back and laughing.

“Can you believe it?“ shouted Frank. “How lucky can you get?”

“I’m just glad that we never got that house sold,” said Jim, grinning from ear to ear.

“I’ll bet Sadie will be one happy dog.”

back to Contest #9