she slid into her car and drove back to her apartment building. So close and yet so far. If only she’d been able to help Corinne and her son before. When she flicked the turn signal for her parking garage, a thought hit her. Whatever made her think that they either wanted or needed her help? What a bigoted idea. She went upstairs in an elevator that worked.
A blinking light on her house phone announced a message. The building manager’s voice intoned, “There have been obnoxious people demanding to see you. I refused. Take my beater when you go out again. Beware.” The car key had been slid under the door.
Visiting a hospitalized ragtag mongrel. What a way to spend a weekend. When Dinah got home that evening, it was a good thing the day was done, for she certainly was.
Why not working was more tiring than working was beyond her, but it was true. She could spend a whole day perched on a stool at the bench, doing things no one else thought of, and it would seem like a few leisure hours. Like isolating the sulfur compounds in oysters; oh, she loved that one. Everyone from college organic classes on up knew the sulfur was there. But why? She asked why, and learning why was what got her her first major supplement, a food additive that actually worked to enhance hair growth in men and women. It was still one of the company’s better sellers. Or the time she decided to explore why cells use beta-carotene, and…
And now she was a slave to budgets and personnel management and all the headaches of heading up a company, however small it might be.
She glanced up at the ding of the phone but ignored it, along with all the other calls piling up on her answering service. She answered her cell, however.
No greetings. Just, “Be glad. A major emergency; something big enough to take over the news . You are no longer front and center.”
“Thanks, Hal.”
“By the way, I hit zero on information on the family.”
“When I picked him up this afternoon he had a change of clothes on. I don’t know if that’s his mom’s doing or his. Strange child. So we visited Mutt again.” She usually forgot bad dreams immediately, but the one she’d awoken to this morning was still stuck in her head—no oxygen to breathe when that vet entered the room. “And we bought a bucket of fried chicken, I hope his mother can eat some of it. I’m using the building manager’s Chevy, by the way. Did you suggest that, or did he come up with the idea?”
“All I said was ‘protect her as best you can.’ God Himself is keeping the hyenas from your door, but I know you don’t want to hear that so I didn’t say it, just thought it out loud.”
“Right.”
“So what does tomorrow look like?”
“We go visit Mutt; she won’t eat unless Jonah’s there, and his mother’s in no condition to take him, but perhaps tomorrow will be different. We bail her out on Monday, so I assume Jonah will go to school late. We’ve not discussed logistics yet.” To forestall more questions, she added, “I already cleared all this with April.”
“Then sleep well and turn off your ringers.”
“We’ll see.” She knew perfectly well that he knew she would not do that, in case Jonah needed her. Since when did her life revolve around a small boy and his dog, relegating the biggest success of the year to a distant second place? Life sure did change in an instant. But was it for the best?
Only time would tell.
Chapter Seven
G arret was on the third rendition of Jonah and DM, as he had come to refer to the dog.
Why could he not get the boy out of his mind?
Or the woman, either. He saw dozens of patients every day. Yet, since he’d met them, one or the other of those two had dwelt front and center in his thoughts. For both of them, it was the eyes he couldn’t seem to capture. Windows into the souls. Old souls. Souls with heavy secrets and heavier burdens. Lord God, what’s with this? You know I have a stack of stuff to do four feet tall
A blinking light on her house phone announced a message. The building manager’s voice intoned, “There have been obnoxious people demanding to see you. I refused. Take my beater when you go out again. Beware.” The car key had been slid under the door.
Visiting a hospitalized ragtag mongrel. What a way to spend a weekend. When Dinah got home that evening, it was a good thing the day was done, for she certainly was.
Why not working was more tiring than working was beyond her, but it was true. She could spend a whole day perched on a stool at the bench, doing things no one else thought of, and it would seem like a few leisure hours. Like isolating the sulfur compounds in oysters; oh, she loved that one. Everyone from college organic classes on up knew the sulfur was there. But why? She asked why, and learning why was what got her her first major supplement, a food additive that actually worked to enhance hair growth in men and women. It was still one of the company’s better sellers. Or the time she decided to explore why cells use beta-carotene, and…
And now she was a slave to budgets and personnel management and all the headaches of heading up a company, however small it might be.
She glanced up at the ding of the phone but ignored it, along with all the other calls piling up on her answering service. She answered her cell, however.
No greetings. Just, “Be glad. A major emergency; something big enough to take over the news . You are no longer front and center.”
“Thanks, Hal.”
“By the way, I hit zero on information on the family.”
“When I picked him up this afternoon he had a change of clothes on. I don’t know if that’s his mom’s doing or his. Strange child. So we visited Mutt again.” She usually forgot bad dreams immediately, but the one she’d awoken to this morning was still stuck in her head—no oxygen to breathe when that vet entered the room. “And we bought a bucket of fried chicken, I hope his mother can eat some of it. I’m using the building manager’s Chevy, by the way. Did you suggest that, or did he come up with the idea?”
“All I said was ‘protect her as best you can.’ God Himself is keeping the hyenas from your door, but I know you don’t want to hear that so I didn’t say it, just thought it out loud.”
“Right.”
“So what does tomorrow look like?”
“We go visit Mutt; she won’t eat unless Jonah’s there, and his mother’s in no condition to take him, but perhaps tomorrow will be different. We bail her out on Monday, so I assume Jonah will go to school late. We’ve not discussed logistics yet.” To forestall more questions, she added, “I already cleared all this with April.”
“Then sleep well and turn off your ringers.”
“We’ll see.” She knew perfectly well that he knew she would not do that, in case Jonah needed her. Since when did her life revolve around a small boy and his dog, relegating the biggest success of the year to a distant second place? Life sure did change in an instant. But was it for the best?
Only time would tell.
Chapter Seven
G arret was on the third rendition of Jonah and DM, as he had come to refer to the dog.
Why could he not get the boy out of his mind?
Or the woman, either. He saw dozens of patients every day. Yet, since he’d met them, one or the other of those two had dwelt front and center in his thoughts. For both of them, it was the eyes he couldn’t seem to capture. Windows into the souls. Old souls. Souls with heavy secrets and heavier burdens. Lord God, what’s with this? You know I have a stack of stuff to do four feet tall
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