Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (58 page)

“This one
look
s bad
, Ben
.
”

He
lifted the carrier out of the cab. “I’ll see what we can do with
her
.”

They muzzled her for safety, and washed the dog down. She had no visible signs of trauma other than extreme malnutrition. When they placed a small amount of food in front of her, she sniffed it and ate one bite, but left the rest.

“N
ot a good sign.
”
Joel
shook his head before taking
pictures of her from both sides, front and back, to give to the
Chief
. 
Danni
p
lace
d
her in a run and watched the dog lie down
after drinking some water
.

“What’s next?” Ben
approached one of the cages
.

Joel brushed his
hair off his forehead
.
“The younger male, and the two that were in that other pen together.
Let’s get the younger one first.
I think he’ll be easier to handle. Then we’ll take on the other two.”

“Here you go,
Danni
.” Joel turned the dog over to her. “
See if he’ll walk with you. Then put him in
a
run
with some food and water.
Don’t take that muzzle off until he’s
inside
.
I don’t want you where you can’t get away if he turns
on you
.”

She
returned
to the treatment room
.
“Magic is fed and watered and happy to sleep through the night. What else can I do?”

“How about taking over the
camera
?”
Joel
was
appalled at the injuries of the last two dogs. One had two
broke
n legs and a dislocated hip. His head and chest had numerous infected puncture wounds, and one lip was badly torn. The
stump
s of two teeth were abscessed, and one eye was swollen s
hut.
Ben
sedated
the dog
and
both vets
began to work on him.

“This one
look
s really bad.
” Ben
sutured
the lip. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to save him.”

“Let’s see how he
look
s tomorrow,
and whether his temp goes down.
”
Joe
l
continued to
set
the
broke
n legs
.

“What about the other one?”
Danni
pointed to the remaining dog
.

“I’m afraid
he’s in even worse shape. He may
have to be put down.”
Joe
l
’s voice was
matt
er-of-fact.

“How can you be so
casual
about it?”

“
Look
at him, Ben. This animal has literally been through the wars. I doubt he c
an
be rehabbed into
a
pet—or even a reliable guard dog. And, I won’t be responsible for releasing him to a family
. I don’t think you would
,
either.”

“Maybe not, but the least we can do is try.”

“We’re not going to expend e
xtra e
ffort
on an animal with such a poor prognosis. That young one
Danni
put in the back is another
matt
er. This one—and the one over there—are probably lost causes.”
Joel’s
tone made clear
the
discussion
was over
.

The next morning, the dog with the two
broke
n legs was near death
. Before
Ben
could
put him down
, he expired
.

Two hours later,
Danni
returned from walking the b
oarders. “Joel, t
he really skinny
female
pit bull
look
s bad
.”

“I’l
l
check on her in a minute.” H
e
continued
shaving a collie for a spaying later in the day.  When he went back to
look
at the animal
Danni
had mentioned, it was
obvious
the dog was not going to make it.

“Ben, could you please take care of that one?
I’ve got to
finish
this
surgery
.
”

Ben
followed Joel’s order
with difficulty. Finding the
leg
vein
took
several minutes
owing to the dog’s extreme malnutrition. After fighting to find
a vein
, he was finally successful. When the dog expired, he tossed the needle in the used needle
dispenser
, and walked outside. 
Joel
found him
later,
sitting on an upturned bucket, his head in his hands.

“What’s the
matt
er?”

“I hate putting
down dogs.
”

“
She
was dying, Ben. You did her a favor.
Sometimes it’s the best we can do, the humane thing to do.
”

“It didn’t feel like it.”

Two days later,
Joel
helped
Dick Seversen
with
Sheba’s
crate.
He
lifted the very pregnant Golden Retriever onto the
examin
ation
table. “What’s the problem?”

The older man rubbed his bald head and frowned.

“She’s t
hree
days past when she should have had
her
pups, and she’s obviously in trouble.  I hate you having to cut her to get them out—means I can’t show her
anymore
, but I don’t want her
hurting
.
See what you can do.
”
He
left the office.

Joel examined the dog.
“
W
e’ve got a
prolapsed cord
here
.”

Dannilynn
monitored the an
esthesia.
Joe
l
handed
one
pup
after another
to Ben, who massaged each tiny creature until it started to breathe on its own
, and then
placed
it o
n a heated
pad
.
Of the nine pups, eight were alive and appeared to be healthy.
The stillborn pup’s
inert body was placed away from the others. Two hours after they started on the dog, they were done
, but the bitch
had
bled out in spite of their best
efforts
.

“Dick isn
’t going to be happy about this
.
”
Joe
l
stripped off his g
love
s and removed his
stained
gown.

“
Ca
n’t he see that he
got eight gorgeous pups out
of
it? We could have lost them a
ll if you hadn’t worked so fast.
” Ben
stood over the pile of squirming
, squeaking
puppies
.

“True, bu
t this dog was his prize-winner
and a family pet,
too,
though he would never admit it. The old guy can be pretty crusty
.
I saw how his kids played with her when they were young.
Ask
Bronnie
to
call him
in
.”

Mr. Seversen returned to the clinic and gave the pups a cursory glance. “Get rid of them,” he said to
Joel
. “I d
on’t want them on my place,” and
he hauled the dog crate out to his truck.

Ben slammed
down
the instruments he was removing from the sterilizer
. “What’
s with that guy? He loses the bitch,
but
we saved all
except
one
pup
, and they’
re good dogs.
You’re not goin
g to do what he said, are you?
You can’t. That would be murder.”

“Ben, lower your voice. The c
ustomers out front may hear you.
”

Joe
l
turned to
Danni
. “You can go if you want
. I’m not going to need you f
or the rest of the day.”  H
e picked up the basket with the pups in it.

Ben
looked
first at
Danni
and then
at the senior vet
as he reached for the basket of squirming pups
. “What are you going to do?” 

“Ben,
let go of the basket
.
Y
ou’d better go home, too.”

“
I can’t let you
put them down
. I won’t let you.”
Ben
backed up against
the drawer holding the
drug
s
that would
put the tiny pups to sleep.

“Ben, go home. Now.”

He
back
ed away
and walked out of the clinic.

Dannilynn
was at
the cottage
when
Joe
l
knocked on the door
two hours later
.

“Hey, kid. Where’s Ben?”

“I don’t know
.
He didn’t come home with me.
I’ve never seen
Ben
like this.
”
She bit her lip
.

“
Think you can find him?
I
want
to talk
to
him. It’s important.”

“You didn’t put
down
the pups down, did you?
”

“You
kn
ow me better than that,
Danni
.” H
e reached out
to touch her hand
.
“Have I ever put down an
animal who didn’t need to be?
They’re
with
Bronnie
. She was
feeding them
when I left
. If you want, y
ou can take over that duty
when you come in
on Monday
. I’m taking them home tonight.
I don’t sleep
well
on my couch.
”
H
e
gave her
a tired smile. “For now, go find Ben.”

“Is he in trouble?”

“That depends
.
I’ll be at home. He knows how to get there.”

She nodded.  “I’ll tell him.”

Dannilynn
walked the beach in each direction.
Ben was nowhere to be found. She went back to the cottage and ate a
few bites of
dinner. On a hunch, she
took
her bike and rode to the old military base, where
s
he had
first
met Happy after
return
ing
from her freshman year in college
. She climbed under the fence and hiked up the hill through the woods. She was about to turn around when she heard a noise. Following the sound, she walked
dee
per into the woods. In a small meadow, she saw
Ben
hitting a tree stump with a huge branch. It had splintered and pieces of bark flew
into the air
with each
hard
thwack on the old stump.