“Savannah!” Dax called as he jogged towards the alley between the day-care and Bean There. “Thanks for coming.”
I turned to see a middle-aged woman with long white hair walking towards us with a beaming smile.
“What have we got here?” she asked, her tone far too sunny for the situation.
Didn’t she realise this was an emergency?
I thrust the box of chocolates into her hand. “She ate this. I don’t know how much. And now she’s like this.”
Savannah checked Taco’s ears and gums before unlocking the door.
“Let’s get inside and see what we can do,” she said. Her voice still sounded as if she were giving out raffle prizes.
I followed her down a narrow hallway into the clinic room, where she placed Taco on a stainless steel table.
“She’s looking better than some who come in after eating chocolate. Good colouring. I'm going to administer a charcoal solution to help her bring up what's left in her stomach, and then we'll go from there.”
My eyes welled up with the fear that Taco's old body wouldn't handle the induced vomiting.
"I knew Breeze's mother," Savannah said, squeezing my hand unexpectedly. "I know Taco well. I won't do anything she's not strong enough to handle."
I nodded even though my brain screamed at me not to trust this stranger. An echo I was familiar with.
"Why don't you take a seat out in reception and I’ll come talk to you shortly."
It felt impossible to leave the room without the furry heart stealer, but I forced my feet to back away. Everything felt heavy as I sat in one of the soft green chairs. It wasn't until that moment that I realised Dax hadn't followed us inside. I felt the briefest relief that I didn’t have to share any more of this with him than was necessary before the reality of the situation filled me again. I didn’t want to call Breeze and worry her when I didn’t know what the prognosis was yet. On the other hand, it felt wrong to keep her in the dark.
I got up twice in the next ninety minutes just to make sure the clock was working. My phone and watch confirmed it, but I was certain we'd stepped into some kind of space-time continuum that had bribed the minutes to stop ticking by.
“Riley.” A sunny voice interrupted my fuming, and I looked up to see Savannah with her beaming smile. I noticed the deepcreases that lined her face as she stepped behind the reception counter.
"Little soldier got through great. She's perkier now but exhausted. I'd like to hook her up to fluids for a couple of hours and then you can come back and collect her, all going well."
I nodded.
After hours. Fluids. Another two hours of monitoring. This was going to be expensive.
"I recognise that look on your face," the white-haired woman said. "Tell me how much you can afford, and we'll make it work."
My cheeks flushed, and if I had any dignity left, this was the moment it died.
“How much would this usually be?” I asked.
Savannah tapped a few keys.
“Six hundred. Mostly for fluids and monitoring. Then there’s the charcoal, and some pain relief for later, if needed. Plus, it’s after hours.”
I nodded again, thinking of my bank balance. My entire life savings and only money for the foreseeable future was less than that figure. And there was no way in hell I was letting Breeze pay a penny of this.
"I could do four-hundred and fifty?"
Savannah leant forward to better hear my embarrassed whisper. Four-hundred and eighty-three was all that kept me from destitution now, and I’d have given it all over for Taco, but instinct warned me to keep a bit to feed the Vitz. I was learning to listen to that voice when it called, even if I wanted to cut its head off with a battle axe right now.
Savannah leaned forward and gently squeezed my hand, making me look into her eyes. Something I’d been avoiding since I spoke my offer.
“Because Taco’s a friend of mine, let’s call it an even four hundred.”
Sweat prickled in my eyes. At least that's what I’d call it if anyone asked.
