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“Bernard. It’s important you understand you’re not only sharing the joy of this gift, you’ll also be sharing the burden. It comes with responsibilities.”

Bernard frowned so hard his forehead almost twisted into a question mark.

“I want you both to understand how much effort is required to take care of another living thing. I want you to appreciate the sacrifices I make to take care of you.”

I jiggled with impatience. “What’s in the box?”

Mum opened her mouth to speak, but then the box barked.

I looked at Bernard’s glee-filled face, a mirror of my own, and we darted forward, pulling open the lid and peering inside. A black and white bundle of fur stared back at us with eyes bright like shiny black pebbles. A tiny pink tongue flapped from its open mouth.

“A puppy!” squealed Bernard. The puppy barked again and jumped up at the side of the box, its sharp claws tearing into the cardboard.

“What shall we call him?” I asked, already shortlisting names in my head.

“Shealready has a name,” said Mum. “She’s called Pyg.”

2

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Alice rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands and hard-blinked when they came away black with the remnants of her mascara. The pink dawn glow backlit the hospital’s multi-storey car park, blurring the straight lines of its brutalist concrete mass. Even her shitty little Ford Fiesta looked almost pretty in this early morning light.

Searching for her car keys, Alice rooted around in her Tardis-like tote bag until her fingers latched onto the source of the jangle. She chucked her bag onto the passenger side, hitched up her coat, and folded herself into the driver’s seat. Condensation covered the windows from the late-night drive and the sweaty exertion of lugging the man into her car, but the heater would clear them soon enough and she’d be on her way. A hot cup of tea, followed by a shower. Then bed, where she could sleep away the rest of this disastrous weekend.

Alice turned the key in the ignition.

One false start.

Followed by another.

“C’mon, old girl.” Alice gave the dashboard a coaxing rub. She turned her head, squeezed her right eye shut and gently twisted the key again. The engine spluttered and wheezed… then nothing.

“For fuck’s sake,” Alice screamed and lobbed the keys across the car. She collapsed over the steering wheel as drained as the car’s dead battery. Exhaustion washed over her, leaving her too spent to even cry.

A light tapping sound roused Alice back to the present. She raised her head and could make out an outline through the steamy window.

“Alice, is that you? Are you okay?”

Doctor Khurana.

Alice groaned with the effort of manually winding down the window. The doctor’s face jerked into view with each turn of the handle. She peered through the gap at Alice with tired eyes that radiated kindness.

“I heard screaming and, well… duty of care and all that.”

“A spot of car trouble. Nothing to worry about. I’ll er, call my brother-in-law in a while. I’m sure he won’t mind popping out on a Saturday morning to give the old girl a jump.” Alice shuddered at the thought of having to call Markus.Prick.And Maggie would be annoyed that Alice had still done nothing about replacing her shitty little car.

“Where are you headed?”

Alice sighed. “Home.”

The doctor raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Leamington.”

“I probably shouldn’t do this, but I’m headed that way too. I can give you a lift, if you like? You look like you could do with some rest, and you could come back for your car later.”

“Really?… I mean about the lift, not the rest. I can only imagine I look a state.”