Page 28 of Family Affair

Chapter 7

When Coco got up the next morning, ready to take Chap outside for his morning walk, she immediately knew that he’d taken a turn for the worse. Without delay, she called the vet office and took the first available appointment. She then texted Aaron about taking the day off, stuffed Chap into his crate, and fired up Lucy’s car to give it a workout in her absence.

The line at the animal clinic moved slowly. Coco idly rubbed Chap behind his ear watching the traffic through the large window and inhaling the musk ox aroma inherent in all vet offices. Sprawled on her lap with all the gracefulness of a roadkill raccoon, Chap projected the air of great suffering. She imagined it wasn't entirely an act.

After what felt like a month, an assistant wearing cheerful scrubs with Vinnie the Pooh characters invited them in.

“Okey-dokey, let's see what we can do. Awww, poor baby. Put him right here. When was the last time he had a bowel movement?”

Coco deposited him on the exam table. “Ten days today.” She felt like she had committed an act of gross negligence by leaving the chocolate on the coffee table.

“Oh, sweet Lord, ten days...”

Chap looked at Coco with silent reproach in his disjointed eyes. Guilt lapped at her in waves.

“Let’s see here…” The nurse went to work and expertly stuck the thermometer into Chap’s rectum. He bore it like a champ, to be sure, but looked at Coco with an expression of such undisguised loathing that she hastily dropped her eyes.

“Is it because of the chocolate? He ate a piece of chocolate,” Coco asked quietly.

“How much did he eat?”

“A small piece. It was mostly wafers covered in chocolate.”

The nurse palpated Chap’s abdomen. “Chocolate is more likely to cause diarrhea. Maybe he swallowed a lot of hair while grooming.”

“Maybe,” Coco said dubiously, eyeballing Chap’s recently trimmed torso.

“I see he gained some weight. How active is he?”

“Weeell…”

The nurse smiled a knowing smile. “He needs to exercise more often. It helps a lot with digestion.”

To Coco’s profound relief, Chap’s condition turned out not to be life threatening. He received fluids through an IV, a dose of strong laxative to help with the current blockage, and a prescription medication to help prevent his relapse.

Soon, Coco was standing back at the registration window, holding Chap's crate in one hand and her credit card in another.

A girl rang her up. “That’d be two hundred and fifty, ma’am.”

She cringed. Goodbye that portable birch easel she had her eye on. With the meager salary Aaron paid her, it wouldn’t be hers for a good while.

All the way out to the parking lot, she lectured her mother’s piece of fluff. “Look what your laziness cost me, Chap! Exercise, did you hear? You need to get off your butt and walk around more. And the candy! It was mine. Moreover, I had to explain to Aaron why I was taking the day off. You know him, he gets funny about things like that. Not a dog lover, our Aaron. Well, to think of it, not a people lover either.”

She deposited Chap’s crate on the back seat, got in, stuck the key in the ignition, and turned. The car issued a grating noise but didn’t start.

“You’re kidding, right?” She carefully pulled the key out and tried again. Nothing. She tried again, and again, and again. The engine whirred and wheezed but failed to catch. “Crap.”

She flopped back in the seat. Just her luck, to have the battery run out of juice.

She considered calling Stella, but decided a more manly assistance would be more appropriate. She pulled out her phone and tapped Dan’s contact.

“Hi, love, what’s up?” He sounded tired or maybe sleepy. And slurry.

“Hi, Dan. I really hate to bother you, but I’m having car trouble.”

“Say what?” he slurred back.

Great, the reception was spotty. “I’m having car trouble,” she shouted into the phone. “I think the battery’s dead. I can’t start the car.”