For Love Of A Dog. Janice Carter

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СКАЧАТЬ she called. “It’s almost time to head up to the road.” He turned her way but didn’t move. She knew he wasn’t the kind of kid to instantly react to such reminders, so she waited just long enough to see him reluctantly head toward the kitchen door before she went inside.

      She sipped her coffee while Thomas ate his cereal and thought perhaps she ought to change her mind about taking him with her to the hospital. She knew he’d been missing his grandparents and his mood this morning might not be just about going to school. When he slurped up the last of the milk in his bowl, she said, “Would you like to take a day off school and come with me to pick up Grandpa and Grandma?”

      He just nodded, but she’d seen the instant spark in his eyes. “Okay, I’ll walk up the road and tell the bus driver while you go make your bed.”

      The early-morning rain had already vanished, and the sun was breaking through the cloud cover by the time she’d walked out to the main road and back, her sweatshirt sticking to her. Thomas was waiting patiently on the stoop leading from the kitchen. Kai’s father’s old Buick was parked in front of the two-car garage adjacent to the farmhouse. Just as she was opening the driver’s door, Kai noticed Amigo lurking near the garden. There’d been recent evidence of a groundhog, and the dog must have caught its scent.

      “Um, maybe we better put Amigo in the garage while we’re gone. I don’t think he’ll wander off, but I can’t be sure.”

      Thomas’s face revealed his displeasure at this, but he beckoned to Amigo, who was watching them from his sentry point in the garden. Kai marveled again at how the boy seemed able to communicate with the dog without uttering a word. It was almost as if the two could read each other’s minds. Amigo trotted over to them and followed Thomas into the garage. From the drooping tail, Kai guessed he was as unhappy at this development as Thomas.

      She revved the engine, made a creaking turn and drove down the gravel lane toward the highway leading to town. Rolling down the window to let in some fresh air, she was struck again by the huge silence of the countryside—except for the crunch of tires and the ominous tick-ticking of the engine.

      Silence. She’d lived with it for a month now and found it oppressive. There were days when she wanted to shake Thomas and cry, “Just speak to me. Say anything. One word. Please.” But there was no point. He’d come around in his own time. Or so the psychologist who’d been treating him since David’s death claimed. Elective mutism, he’d called it. A way of controlling something in a world that seemed out of control to an eight-year-old who’d endured the loss of his mother when he was five and then the trauma of his father’s death two years later.

      “Don’t push him,” was the constant phrase and Kai was almost sick of hearing it. She couldn’t help thinking that maybe Thomas needed a push. But then she’d look at his small, pale face, so like her brother’s at the same age, and the pain of all that the family had suffered these past three years would fill her up again, followed by the inevitable guilt. She’d been gallivanting all over the world while her aging parents had lived with that pain and the tangible symbol of it—Thomas’s silence—staring them in the face each moment of every day.

      * * *

      MARGARET PLACED THE folded pajamas into her husband’s duffel, set the toiletry bag on top and paused briefly to stare down at the slippers on his feet. They’d be all right for the ride home. Besides, she hadn’t bothered bringing his shoes to the hospital. He’d only begun walking again—if one could call the shuffling gait that—in the past few days. She zipped up the bag and smiled at Harry.

      “Well, this is it. The day we’ve been waiting for.”

      He looked up at her and mumbled a garbled reply that kept her guessing for a few seconds. She couldn’t blame him for feeling negative. His stroke was not only unexpected but grossly unfair, especially considering the cycle of bad luck the family had endured for the past three years. And she couldn’t help but see the dark humor in her current situation. One at home who wouldn’t talk and now another who couldn’t.

      There’d been times the last four weeks when she’d just wanted to curl up in bed and stay there. Let someone else take charge. Although she’d been grateful and relieved to have Kai come home, she knew her daughter well enough to realize that her presence was temporary. In fact, she was waiting for Kai to announce that she’d soon be returning to New York. As Harry used to say of his daughter, “Dust doesn’t get a chance to settle on her.”

      Now that’s enough self-pity, Margaret Westfield. There’s an eight-year-old boy—an orphan—counting on you. Even if he doesn’t show it.

      There was a light tap on the opened door. “Your daughter’s parked outside and wants to know if you’d like her to come in and help with Mr. Westfield or if you can manage.”

      Margaret smiled at the young nurse’s aide. Don’t kill the messenger, she reminded herself. How typical of Kai not to realize a bit of help would be appreciated without having to ask. “I can manage if you’d be able to wheel Harry out for me.”

      “Of course.” The aide unlocked the wheelchair and pushed it out of the room. Margaret followed, carrying Harry’s duffel and her own bag, and rolling the fold-up walker that Harry would be using at home. She’d been boarding at Janet’s house since Kai came back to look after Thomas. Thank goodness for old friends. That gift had hit home for her and Harry after David’s death last year. Kai had been in some exotic country or other and hadn’t even received word of the accident until days later. When she did make it back for the funeral, she’d made it obvious her stay was going to be as brief as possible.

      Margaret caught up to the aide and Harry at the elevator just as the door opened, revealing Kai and Thomas.

      “I found a parking space after all.” Kai’s anxious expression flicked back and forth from Margaret to Harry.

      “Just in time,” Margaret said. Wanting to make up for the slight sarcasm in her voice, she focused on Thomas, who hung back behind Kai. “Look who’s here, Harry.”

      Harry managed a lopsided smile and extended his good hand. Thomas hesitated and then moved into that outstretched arm to hug his grandfather. Margaret teared up and saw that Kai, too, was close to tears.

      “This is a lovely surprise,” she said. “Even if you’re missing a day of school, Thomas.” Something flashed in her daughter’s face that made Margaret add, “Thank you for that, Kai.”

      The elevator ride was silent except for the occasional snuffling from Harry, his right hand clutching Thomas’s. This is another side of the new Harry I have to live with, Margaret thought. An emotional one, with a sensitivity he’d never shown in their forty-three-year marriage. The doctor had explained these changes were to be expected after a stroke. They might persist or disappear as his health returned. Right now, she’d take the old Harry no matter how irritating and insensitive he used to be.

      Getting Harry into the car wasn’t as difficult as Margaret had feared, though it took both Kai and the aide to help him to his feet and slide him into the passenger seat. The physiotherapist had advised Margaret to get him walking every day. He’d need a wheelchair for excursions to the mall—fat chance of that, thought Margaret, who couldn’t get Harry to a mall when he’d had the use of two legs—but the walker would suffice for indoors. Anyway, Margaret knew the drill. Walk, talk and use the brain as much as possible.

      She scarcely heard Kai chattering about the latest at the farm or what groceries she’d stocked up on for their arrival home. Instead, her mind was busily making plans for the days and weeks ahead. The physiotherapist and the СКАЧАТЬ