Lazarus Heart by O'Sullivan Mary

Author:O'Sullivan, Mary [Last, First name]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iguana Books
Published: 2020-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Pets Allowed

In February of 2002, my grandson Connor decided to throw Chris a surprise birthday party. Connor was three years old, so he decided on a Spider-Man birthday cake, balloons, and streamers, hung up with masking tape because that was all we could find. I found a banner saying “BONNE FÊTE” (Chris later explained that it is not pronounced “boney feet”). We set it up in the downstairs kitchen while Chris lurked around the rest of the apartment pretending to be oblivious. When we were ready, Chris came in looking surprised (his version of surprised anyway, which looked as deadpan as any of his other facial expressions, but he did try). We sang “Happy Birthday,” and Chris blew out the candles; then he relit them because Connor wanted a turn. We ate birthday cake with inedible red icing and large, chewy blobs of candle wax. Connor gave Chris a present from the dollar store and a card he had made himself, of people who looked like water bugs: the big one was Chris and the little one was him. Chris told me that this had been his first birthday party since his mother died. He didn’t say much else about it, but the “BONNE FÊTE” banner was up on the kitchen wall for months.

Chris had the basement to himself since Dana had moved in with her boyfriend. He had taken over the family room, with the fireplace and built-in bookcase. It was homier than the spare room, but still pretty empty after he had spread out his few possessions. It was also pretty isolated; I was worried about him being down there by himself, especially at night. After talking it over with my husband, I asked Chris if he would like a pet to keep him company.

“You really mean it? You would really let me have one?”

“Would you want to get a kitten? They aren’t much work, and Nika’s used to cats. I used to have one.” Our husky, Nika, used to follow our cranky old tomcat around for hours, with her nose practically up the cat’s butt. When the cat would turn around, Nika would look away innocently; when the cat walked away again, Nika went right back into stalking mode. She loved that cat, but she nearly gave him a nervous breakdown. But I didn’t think Chris needed those details right then.

Chris was deep in thought. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to get a dog. I always wanted a dog, but my mom was allergic. All she let me have was goldfish.”

“I’m game, but a dog is a lot more work. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Chris nodded furiously. “Absolutely I can do it! But you’re serious? You really mean that I can have a dog?”

And thus began one of the most nerve-wracking weeks of my life. Every fifteen minutes — you could time it by the clock — Chris would thank me for getting him a dog. And ask me when we could get the dog.

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