Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (56 page)

The
boy
nodded, and pressed one hand
against her neck. “Quiet, girl.
”

Ben pointed to her hind quarters and the older Scanlon placed his hands gently on
the dog’s
back and upper leg.

“I’
ll be right back.
” He went into the
lab
and
spoke
to
Joe
l
. “I need you to confirm what I think I just found.”

The two men
entered
the
examining
room. “Goldie.
”
Joe
l
petted her silver
y
head. “It’s been
some time
since
she’s been in
.
How’s her arthritis,
Shane
?”

“No real change,
Doc
. She has trouble in the morning, but after she’s been moving around a
while, she seems
okay
.
I hate to watch how she
gets up the stairs
.
But
, lately
she has trouble getting down at night
and she’s off her feed—has been for
about a week now
.”

“H
m
m. Ben here says you noticed some
lumps.
”

Shane
nodded.

Ben watched as Joel
felt the lumps
,
pal
pat
ing
near the
edge of the
liver
and
dee
per in
the dog’s
abdomen
. “W
hy don’t you take
Eric
in the back and show him the baby raccoons that were brought in the other day while I talk to
sam
e
here.”

Ben
took
the hint and motioned for the boy to follow him.

“It’s bad news, isn’t it?”
Eric
asked after they
watched
the baby raccoons
tumbling in play in a large pen
. Ben
looked into
the boy’s
brown eyes
, his expression solemn
. “I can take it
,” the boy said
.
“
Tell me
what’s wrong with Goldie
.”

Ben
placed
his hand on
Eric
’s shoulder
.
“Let’s go back and hear it together.”
They
returned
to the examining
room.

Eric
’s father was petting the dog, his eyes shiny
when he looked up a
s
Ben and
Eric
entered the room
. “
Okay
,
Doc
. If you think that’s best.”

“Tell me,
Dad.
I want to know.”
Eric
grasped his father’s hand.

Joe
l
kne
eled
down to the boy. “Goldie’
s in bad shape
, son
. You know how
hard
it is for her to get up in the morning and all.”

“But she
runs with me when we play ball.” H
e wiped
one
arm across his face.

“I’m sure she does. She
love
s you and has always played ball with you, right? She would n
ever let you down by not wanting to play with you
.”

Eric
nodded
, his chin quivering
.

“Well, now she has a bi
g problem, one we can’t fix. It seems she has cancer—and i
t
’s going to get worse and worse. Pretty
soon she’s not going to be able to play ball with you. Your dad here said she doesn’t eat like she used to, either.” He paused. “I think we need to help Goldie not be in pain anymore. Your dad agrees, but we want to know how you feel about that.”

Eric
put his arms around the dog’s head. “I
love
you, Goldie
. I don’t want you to hurt
.”
His chin quivered and tears cascaded down his face
.

When
the boy
’
s sobs had subsided
, Joel continued
. “If you want, you can
stay
with her when w
e put her to sleep. Or, we can
do it and let you know when it’s over.”

Shane
looked
down at his son
.
“I’ll stay
with her
,
son
. She’
ll just
go to sleep and not wake up. What do you think?”

Eric
nodded. “
I
want to stay
, too
.
Can I hold her paw?”

“Of course you can.
”
Joel
prepared the syringe, turning his back
to
the boy as he did so. “Ben, why don’t you help me here?”

Ben
positioned
himself
so that
Eric
c
ould not see the needle when
Joel
inserted it into the dog’s
leg
vein.

“Now,
Eric
.
You just
talk to Goldie
.
She likes
to hear your voice
.”

While the boy did so,
Joe
l
administered the drug and Ben used his stethoscope to verify when the dog’s heart had stopped. The boy’s sobs filled the room and reflected the sadness
the
three men felt.  When it was over,
Ben
slipped the dog’s collar of
f
her neck and handed it to
Eric
.

Shane
shook
Joe
l
’s hand. “Thanks,
Doc
. I figured you’d know what it was.”

“I wish it had been something else.”

“I know you do. Come on,
Eric
, let’s go home.”
Shane
led
his son
out to their car.

“Putting dogs down
has to be
the worst
part of this gig.”
Ben
lifted
the dog’s
lifeless
body off the table.
“
I don’t know how you do it year after year.”

“
I try to think on the bright side, like when we help at the beginning of life.
W
ould it have been better to let her suffer
? Y
ou felt th
os
e lumps.
She was riddled with
tumors, throughout
her abdomen
. I’m surprised
she was eating anything at all.
”

“You’re probably right,” but
the slant of
hi
s
shoulders
told Joel how
Ben
felt.

Late afternoon the
next day
, a call came in
demanding
the attentions of both men.

“We’ll be right there.
”
Joe
l
hung up.
“Come on, Ben. W
e’ve got
to check four horses
in a trailer accident
,
on the old Coast Road
.”

When they arrived on the scene, the
multi-horse
trailer
was on
its side
,
halfway down a
steep
slo
pe and they
could hear
the horses screaming.

It
took
several minutes before Ben and Joel, with the help of the police
officers
already on the scene,
managed to open
the
jammed doors
.
The
yearling was dead, and one of the mares had two
broke
n legs. When the halter ropes were cut, t
he gelding slid out of the back and when he
managed
to scramble
to his feet,
they could see that
one ankle was shattered and a
gaping
shoulder wound was pouring blood. Within minutes, he went
down
to
his knees.
Joe
l
rummaged in his mobile stockpile stored in the trunk
of his car
and pulled out the
drug
s
and needles
to put down the wounded mare and the dying gelding.

“Do we have to do that?” Ben
asked, as he
held the headstall of the
one
uninjured
filly
. “Can’t we get them back to the clinic and at least give them a chance?”

“
Look
at
them, Ben. There is no way that
gelding’
s going to
make it.
Find
a vein and
do what needs to be done
.” 

He
followed
Joe
l
’s orders
. The young woman
,
one of the owners, watched
him,
her
own
head bandaged. She wept over the horse, holding his head
in her lap even
after Ben
verified the horse’s heart had stopped and he
withdrew the needle
.

Joe
l
took
care of the mare and
talked to
the
police
about removing
the horses’ bo
dies from the side of the road
before approaching
the driver of the
horse van
and
sp
eaking
quietly with him.

“I think
this
last one
will be
okay
. She’s shaken up, but doesn’t appear lame or injured. I suggest you walk her tonight and tomorrow and if she goes off her feed, bring her in
or call me
. H
er heart is strong and I see nothing wrong with her, though she may be
reluctant to go into a
trailer
for a
while. You may need to retrain her for that.” 

The man put his arm around his
weeping
daughter. “
Okay
,
Doc, we’ll let you know. Thanks
for taking care of the other two
.” He detached
the truck
from the ruined trailer
and parked
it near
where the uninjured horse was tied
. 

“
I’ll be back in five
minutes
after I pick up one of my men. He can walk the
filly
home while I take Cassie to the hospital to see about her head
.
Can I put my attorney in touch with you? He’ll want a copy of your report
about
my horses’ injuries.”

Joe
l
nodded. “Have him call me.”

Joel
and
Ben
were silent a
s they
drove back
to the clinic. It was the worst accident they h
ad seen on that stretch of road.

“The whole island’s going to know about
thi
s one before the week’s out,
”
Ben sai
d.

When
Joe
l
entered his office, Bronnie was closing the front door.
“Is there a
ny
body
left for
us
to see
today
?”
he asked.