Not difficult to do when the dogs head was so small.
“Will do,” Buck answered earnestly, beginning compressions.
Damn.The puppy was so delicate. Buck hoped he wasn’t hurting him, but what choice did he have?
“We’re supposed to keep him warm, too,” Bobbie announced loudly, and immediately several people with towels stepped forward.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Bobbie took what was offered and carefully draped the terrycloth in such a way as to cover parts of the puppy without impeding Buck’s emergency procedures.
“Come on, little one. Come on,” Buck muttered under his breath finishing up the first set of compressions, then bending down for rescue-breaths.
One. Inhale. Two.
Back to compressions.
Had that been a shiver under all that wet fur? Maybe, or maybe it was just Buck’s wishful thinking. Still, he felt the need to keep talking. “I know how you feel little buddy. I’m cold, and I wasn’t in for nearly as long as you were.”
“Thank God there was an air-pocket in that suitcase,” Mason responded, cuddling the tiniest dachshund that Buck had ever seen against his chest. “This little guy seems okay.” The tiny puppy squirmed and looked like he wanted to get down and explore.
“This one seems perky, too,” Spencer laughed, doing his best to hold onto a lively black bundle that might or might not be a black lab.
Buck glanced toward them again after giving his second rescue breaths, and saw a wobbly, all-limbs, red puppy nudging up against Bobbie’s leg after the chief had placed the whelp down gently on a towel, where it had refused to stay put.
Bobbie’s eyes grew wide. “Wow. I… I think she likes me.”
There was a look of such pure rapture on Bobbie’s face as she bent to pat the little creature, it told Buck that whether Bobbie knew it yet or not, the sweet girl-pup had probably just found her forever home.
Buck, relieved at least that three out of the four littles would be fine, turned all his concentration back to his small, white friend.
“You can do this. You can,” he assured the puppy, as he continued his ministrations.
At compression number thirteen, he sucked in a breath. A full shudder had just wracked the wee body.
“Yes!”
Buck turned the puppies small head a bit to the side, and…
Seawater emerged from the little one’s mouth.
The pup then trembled, opened his eyes, and… He sneezed louder than Buck could possibly have imagined.
Buck and everyone else laughed hard, relieved when the tiny thing stood up on shaky legs and gave a full body shake, sending water droplets everywhere.
Chief Ildavorg stood above them with arms crossed, looking over the scene with a smile of satisfaction on his face. “This was a good afternoon’s work, boys.” He turned to his two officers who’d been standing by. “I want a full investigation here. See if there’s anything in the suitcase that will tell us where it’s from, and take statements from everyone here to see if we can track down the culprit. Check business cameras on either side of the bridge and see if surveillance picked anything up.”
The pair of officers immediately took themselves off to follow orders as the chief turned to address Buck. “I’ve called a local vet, and she’s going to stay open to check these waifs out.”
“Can I…take them?” Bobbie asked.
Yup.She’d just picked up the gangly Irish Setter—if Buck were any judge of breed, that’s what it was—and he could tell there’d be no separating the two.
Buck bent and hefted up the little, curly-haired handful who, at this point, had come back to life with vigor. Buck shared a piece of his quilt with him.
The dog immediately snuggled in, then…nipped Buck on the chin.
Buck laughed.
Okay.Maybe there weretworefugees who had found new homes today.
