Hush, Puppy by Sigmund Brouwer

Author:Sigmund Brouwer [Brouwer, Sigmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2022-03-23T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Just after the clinic opened on Wednesday morning, a short woman with short hair came in and approached the counter, where Charlie sat near the phone. She had a large glass bowl in both hands and a worried look on her face.

“Hello,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Charlie,” he answered. “I assist Dr. Dembinksi.”

“Hello, I’m Lizzie Stanton. Call me Lizzie. And this is Jenny.”

Lizzie set the bowl on the counter. The bottom third of the bowl was filled with dirt and small twigs and stems of dried grass. In the center of the dirt was a huge tarantula. It was on its back, with all of its legs flat. It was not moving. It seemed like it was wearing a loose blanket of skin, with legs sticking out from the wrinkled skin.

“Are you afraid of spiders?” she asked Charlie.

“Not dead ones,” he said.

“Jenny isn’t dead,” she told him. “I looked it up on the internet. If Jenny were on her stomach with her legs curled up beneath her, you would know she was dead. But Jenny is on her back. So are you afraid of live spiders?”

“Not ones in a glass bowl that don’t move and look dead,” Charlie said.

“Well, I’m terrified of spiders,” she said. “I’m taking care of it for my daughter, Olivia, while she’s on vacation. It looks like Jenny is stuck in the middle of molting. If this spider dies, it won’t break my heart, but it will break Olivia’s. Since I’m very afraid to touch it, I thought maybe Dr. Dembinski could help me.”

“Dr. Dembinski has been called out to help a farmer with a horse. She’ll be back in about an hour and a half.”

“Oh no. The forums on the internet all agree it’s important to help Jenny get unstuck as soon as possible.”

“Jenny? Unstuck?” Amy had just walked into the waiting area from the back of the clinic. She was wearing rubber gloves. Charlie was glad to see that her gloves were clean.

Amy looked into the bowl. She jumped back and screamed.

She took a deep breath. “Sorry! Hairy death machines do that to me.”

Amy leaned in over the bowl, took a closer look and shuddered. “Even dead hairy death machines.”

“It’s not dead,” Charlie said. He pulled his notebook out of his back pocket and began to write. Rule 88. Tarantulas on their stomachs with Tarantulas on their stomachs with their legs curled beneath them and not moving are DEAD. Tarantulas on their moving are DEAD. Tarantulas on their backs and not moving may still be alive and trying to get out of their skin.

That was the thing about Charlie’s rules. You never knew when you might need one.

“But it may be dead soon,” Lizzie said. “I’m Lizzie. What’s your name?”

“Amy Ma. No h in Ma.” Amy looked closer at the tarantula. “Charlie, while you’re writing, maybe you should add this to your rule. ‘Step on no pets.’ ”

That made sense to Charlie when it came to tarantulas that didn’t move. He wrote, Step on no pets.

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