A Christmas Tail by Stacey Broadbent

Author:Stacey Broadbent [Broadbent, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter nine

Tuesday morning rolled around and Melinda was on her way to take Barclay for his walk when her phone vibrated in her pocket with an incoming call. Fishing it out, she saw Justin’s name scroll across the screen, and smiled.

“Hey.”

“There’s something wrong with Barclay.” Justin’s words tumbled out, his voice strained.

Melinda stopped walking, giving him her full attention. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“He’s not eating. He didn’t touch his dinner last night, or his breakfast this morning, and he’s lethargic. I’m really worried. Do you think he’s been poisoned?” There was a muffled sound then she heard the sliding door open and close.

“Is he drinking?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“Okay. See if you can get him to drink and I’ll be there soon.” She hung up and picked up her pace. There were only a few things she could think of that would cause such a drastic change in him, and one involved surgery.

She ran up Justin’s drive and straight through the door without knocking. “Where is he?” She stopped and fell to her knees when she spied him curled in a ball on the floor.

He slowly raised his head to look at her, his tail giving a slight twitch.

“Hey, buddy. You okay?” She cradled his head in her hands.

“He’s been like this all morning.” Justin paced back and forth. “He keeps shaking, and he’s been licking his paw like crazy.” He pointed to his front paw, which was wet with saliva.

Melinda pursed her lips. “He might have something stuck in there.” She turned her attention to Justin, noting the way his hair stood on end, as if he’d been running his hand through it constantly. “I’m going to take a look at it, but I need you to hold him. If he’s sore, he might not like me prodding at it.”

Justin’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I know he wouldn’t intentionally, but injured animals can be unpredictable.” She showed him what to do then gingerly lifted Barclay’s paw to her lap so she could inspect it. “Oh, buddy.” Her mouth turned down. “No wonder you’re out of sorts.”

“What is it?”

“He’s cut his paw on something. It looks infected.” She shifted his foot, and Barclay whined, pulling back. “Alright, bud, I won’t touch it again.” She stroked her hand down his back. “We’re going to need to get him to the vet. He probably has a fever from the infection, and he'll need antibiotics.”

Justin raked a hand through his hair. “I haven’t even signed him up to one yet.”

“That’s okay. I’ll take you to the one my parents use.” She stood, coaxing Barclay to his feet. “Let’s go.”

Together, they managed to get him into the back seat of the car, and Melinda directed Justin to Evolution Pets. Rhylee had been her family’s veterinarian for as long as she could remember, and she had every faith she’d know what to do.

When they arrived, Melinda went ahead and spoke to the receptionist, while Justin wrangled Barclay out of the car and into the waiting room.

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