Luke's Tale by Carol McKibben

Author:Carol McKibben
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dogs, family relationships, dogs pets, dogs and unconditional love, dogs and women, dogs and wisdom, dogs as teachers, dogs and men, drama and romance, family and love, cancer and hope
Publisher: Troll River Publishing

Chapter Eight – The Therapy

Sara couldn’t wait to tell Ashlundt the good news. We burst straight into his home office. “Honey, we did it! Luke’s a therapy dog!”

Ashlundt looked up from behind his desk and flashed her a toothy smile. “Congratulations,” he offered in a low voice and patted me on the head. “Good job, Luke.”

“Yes, it’s exciting. We practiced a whole lot to make this happen. And you should have seen Luke. You would’ve been so proud. He was perfectly obedient… well except for when they put the food out.” She danced around me in a display of happiness.

Ashlundt laughed at that. “Luke’s such a chow hound. He probably gets it from me.”

Sara seemed anxious to tell him more, but he had already gone back to organizing some paperwork.

“Hey, don’t you want to hear all about it?” She moved closer to his desk. “I tried to call you. What’s so important you can’t talk to us for a minute?”

Ashlundt dropped a stack of pages on his desk, then looked back up at Sara. “Sorry. Just need to finish up this new client interview. You can tell me about it at dinner, okay?”

I had begun to notice that Ashlundt seemed somewhat distracted once and awhile again. It didn’t make much sense to me. He and Sara were now happily together. Ashlundt’s practice was back to being busy. I couldn’t understand his occasional uneven behavior. I hoped everything was all right.

Sara shrugged it off and took me out for a rewarding long walk in the woods. I worried as we left, but then was soon distracted by the smells and sounds of the forest.

********

Our identification cards and vests arrived in the mail fifteen evening meals later. Sara signed me up with Northridge Hospital, a short drive from our house, for our initial visit. “Just twenty minutes from here, Lukey,” Sara assured me. As if I was counting.

The next morning, Sara gave me a thorough scrubbing with baby shampoo so that I would look and smell my best. I didn’t realize this was going to be part of the deal before each visit, but I guessed there had to be good and bad with any job.

I was a little nervous as we drove to the hospital that afternoon for my first day. I wanted to help sick people, just like Ashlundt had helped Sara get better when she was recovering from her surgery. I hoped I could do a good job and make people happy. But unlike Ashlundt, I couldn’t cook people breakfast, do their laundry or dispense their medication. What tasks lay ahead for me were unclear.

We parked in the visitor parking lot and went into the newly redecorated facility. I could smell the fresh glue holding up the new wallpaper. The scent of newly installed carpet was overpowering. The lobby was decorated with real plants and had a large painting of an angel as we entered. A lot of men and women were sitting in leather chairs. One woman appeared to be showing her husband a small Teddy Bear that she’d found in the gift shop.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.