Joel
I’m accidentally-on-purpose walking past the vet’s practice where I used to work. I do this at least once a week. Don’t ask me why.
Maybe I’m pretending I still work there, that I’m about to pass through the swing doors like nothing ever changed. Say hi to Alison on the front desk, pause to chat with Kieran on the way to my consulting room.
I spot him in the car park. He’s outside the rear door with his back to the brick wall, taking five.
I cross the road and head over. Raise a hand as he sees me.
“Hey.” He straightens up. “How you doing?”
“Good, thanks.” I nod like it’s true, though we both know it’s not. “You?”
“Needed some fresh air.”
Joining Kieran against the wall, I steal a glance at his navy-blue uniform. It’s identical to the one back at my flat. The same uniform I was proud to wear, once.
We tip our faces toward late-September sunshine. “Bad day?” I ask him.
“Not great. Remember Jet Mansfield?”
“Sure.” The deaf Border collie, with an adorable ancient owner, Annie. She adopted Jet shortly after her husband died. The pair of them were devoted to each other.
“I amputated his front leg six months ago. Sarcoma.”
I look at him, take a guess. “And now it’s back?”
“Just had to break the news to Annie.”
“How’d it go?”
“About as well as you’d think.”
“What’s she going to do?”
“Fortunately she agreed with me.”
Max pain relief, I think,and a comfy bed.
“I doubt he’s got longer than a month.”
I picture Annie taking Jet home. She’ll be doing her best to pretend everything’s normal. Shaking food into his bowl as she tries not to cry. “You okay?”
“I guess.” Kieran smiles faintly, looks at me. “Sort of nice having you out here again. Feels like the old days.”
I’ve kept Kieran in the dark about my dreams: I always feared him assuming mental instability, pitying me. Thinking privately, even, that it was a good job I left.
Since he’s my friend and ex-boss, Kieran’s respect means everything to me. It’s part of the reason I quit, jumped before I was pushed.
I force a smile. “Yeah.”
“Fancy a job?”
I keep the smile but shake my head. “Too much on right now.”
“Yeah,” Kieran says, “you do strike me as a guy with a really packed schedule. Just wandering past, were you?”
“Yep,” I say, straightening up, clearing my throat. “Speaking of which, I should get going.”
