I clutched Hemi closer to my chest and gasped in pain.
“C-can y-you c-come over? P-please?” I cried out.
I heard the sound of a car door slamming shut, and then the roar of an engine as it sped off in the background.
Normally, I’d nag at him about going too fast, but I was about ten seconds away from losing it, and I needed him here. Fifteen minutes ago.
“What’s going on, Vid? What happened?” Trance asked urgently.
He sounded like he was in a tunnel or something, which meant he’d put me on speakerphone. Which also meant he was at work, ‘cause he couldn’t be caught with a cell phone to his ear while he was driving his police issued vehicle.
“Hemi’s vet called. They told m-me he h-had cancer and he needed to be put to sleep. I knew it was something bad, but I couldn’t take him in until today. I didn’t have a ride, and Paul refused to take him for me.” I cried.
Oh, God. What was I going to do without him here? He was my best friend!
Hemi had started acting strange a few days ago. After several frustrating attempts to get my boyfriend, Paul, to take me to the vet so I could get Hemi checked out, he still refused. My sister was on vacation and there was no way I’d call her to come home for this. She and her husband deserved a little alone time before their baby came in a few more months.
This morning, when I’d finally gotten frustrated and called a cab, I’d never dreamed that it’d turn into this. First, the cab had nearly refused to transport us due to company policies about pets, but when the dam on my emotions broke, he’d relented, but only barely.
Then, as soon as we’d walked into Dr. Tucker’s door, they’d yanked him away from me so fast my head spun. I could practically feel the condemnation pouring off them at the state he’d been in. Yet, I’d called the vet numerous times in a vain attempt to get one of them to pick him up, and they’d said they didn’t offer those services.
That was when I started calling other vets, but with him being a new patient to them, they’d refused as well.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. I’m on duty in the residential district right now, but it shouldn’t be more than ten minutes at the most.” Trance’s velvety deep voice said through the receiver.
Mellifluous.
That was the word that came to mind every time I heard it. So deep. Smooth. Rich and flowing. I wanted to put my lips up against his throat to feel the vibration that poured out with each word that was let loose from his mouth.
Trance was a very good man. When I’d had the privilege of being in his company, I felt alive.
It wasn’t often that I got to see him, though. He was a very busy man. He was a member of the police department as well as a member of the local motorcycle club, The Dixie Wardens.
“Thank you, Trance.” I whispered and then hung up.
Hemi was a nine year old English Setter with the silkiest fur I’d ever felt. He was a gentle, mid-sized dog with curly locks around his ears, flank, and face. I’d been told that he was snowy white with brown splotches, but that wasn’t what made him beautiful to me.
What made him so perfect was the way he’d help me wind through the house, moving little things that might trip me up. On our walks, around the apartment complex I’d just moved into, he’d steer me in the right direction, and always lead me back to our door.
He never barked unless someone was at the door, and always stayed close to my side.
Until he started acting weird.
He still stayed by my side, but he didn’t move as easily. I’d gone to fill his food bowl up and found it still just as full as it was the night before, and the day before that. Then his bathroom habits started to dwindle. He was going out more and more, staying out longer.
Then, yesterday, he stopped drinking water.
Now, Hemi had his head pillowed in my lap as I stroked his coat, and tried to do my upmost best not to freak him out with my crying.
“Oh, Hemi. I don’t want you to leave me.” I cried, tears dripping down my cheeks and most likely onto his face.
Fifteen minutes on the dot, after my phone call to Trance, I heard the front door open and Trance walk in.
The click-click of nails on the hardwood floor let me know that Radar was with him, too.
I could feel his presence like a shock, and knew instantly when his body was close.
He hunkered down beside the couch where I was sitting with my legs folded underneath me. Hemi’s tail thunked furiously on the couch beside me, making the whole couch vibrate with the intensity of it.
I felt the glasses covering my eyes lift to rest on the top of my head, followed by Trance’s thumbs wiping away my tears. “I’m here, baby.” He said reassuringly.
Any and all hope of not crying my eyes out fled, and I curled down until my head was buried into Hemi’s fur.
“What am I going to do without him?” I cried.
I could feel Trance as he stroked Hemi’s head, and finally Trance moved, shifting me and Hemi until we were both situated on either side of him.
I curled into his side, moving as close as I possibly could.
My head was pillowed on his chest, one arm around his back and the other around his front, clutching at Hemi’s head.
Then I felt Radar’s head lay
