*
As I was getting dinner ready, Chloe hollered down the corridor, running into the kitchen. ‘Mum! Mum! Callie’s sick!’
‘Oh dear, you didn’t feed her any of your junk food, did you?’
‘No, Mum, she’s really sick! Her eyes are rolling around and she’s foaming at the mouth!’
I dropped my oven mitts and ran through to the conservatory where Ben and Jessica were kneeling over her as she convulsed and yelped at the same time. I ran back and grabbed the throw from the sofa and wrapped her up in it, but she showed no signs of quieting down or even recognising us.
Even Minnie, who had been slurping at her water, stopped and stared at her, turning her head in confusion, sniffing her, and then hunkering down next to her, as if to offer her support.
‘Ben, grab the keys, we’re driving her to the vet’s. Chloe, Jessica,’ I said as I reached for my bag, ‘I’m calling Jack from the car so he can come and stay with you.’
‘Why can’t we all come?’ Chloe called out the front door as I settled Callie in Ben’s lap and rounded back to my door.
‘Because Emma is due later to drop Chanel off, remember?’
‘Mum, it’s okay, we don’t need Jack to babysit us anymore! We’ll be fine!’
I got behind the wheel and called back through the window. ‘No, I’m sending you Jack.’ He wouldn’t allow the girls to be left on their own, even if he was angry with me. Always assuming he was in the vicinity.
‘Call us!’ Jessica said as I took off, flooring it. This poor little pup had already had a crap life. When we found her she had been beaten, neglected and God knows what else she had been through in her young life. I wasn’t about to let her go down without a fight.
I looked down as Ben caressed her head, his tears plopping down onto her. We had all fallen in love with her the very day she had loped into the front garden one evening a few months back, starved, dehydrated and emotionally derelict and had immediately found a place in our home. After an initial sniff here and there, our dog Minnie had decided that she was harmless, and not big enough to take up too much space in our hearts.
‘Keep talking to her in a calm voice, love,’ I said in soothing tones. ‘She needs to know she’ll be okay.’
‘You hear that, Callie Coo? We’re taking you to a nice doctor who’s going to make you feel as good as new…’
But the poor pup just continued to roll her eyes.
‘Mum?’ Ben whispered.
‘Yes, darling?’
‘I’m scared.’
‘Oh, sweetheart, don’t be. It’s probably just a bug. I’ve had loads of dogs go through this when I was a kid. She just needs a good vet.’ And a miracle, I thought to myself, as I had omitted to add that I had lost that load of pups this same way.
Poor Callie. From the moment that she had entered our front garden, that little drenched tail between her skinny legs, and collapsed at my feet with those huge, sad eyes begging for help, I knew none of us would ever be the same again. Ben and Chloe had helped me nurse her back to life, and in the space of a few months Callie, who had been a nameless stray, had become a trusting, loving and happy member of our family with her very own clean water bowl, food bowl, basket and loads of chewy toys, and who sometimes royally pissed off Minnie, our baby number one.
I reached for my mobile and hesitated. I really had no one else who could come running.
Alf was busy at the Post Of ice and the Ice Cream Club ladies would take too long to get there. Annie had a tea room to run and Emma was in bloody Truro.
I only had one choice. Despite all that had passed between us, I knew he wouldn’t say no. So I called him, my heart in my mouth, hoping he wouldn’t avoid me.
‘Jack?’ I said, relieved he was still answering my calls at least.
‘Nina – what is it?’ he answered, slightly alarmed, because he, too, knew it would take something serious for me to contact him after the last time.
‘I’m so sorry to bother you, Jack, but I can’t ask anyone else. Callie is convulsing and I have had to rush her to the vet’s and I have Chloe and Jessica home on their own.’
Pause. Please don’t hang up on me, I silently begged, but knowing that he wouldn’t.
‘Where’s Ben?’ he asked.
‘He’s with me.’
‘I’ll be there in five minutes,’ he said and I sagged against the steering wheel in relief.
‘Oh, thank you, thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
‘All right, then.’ No good luck or anything. But I supposed I was asking for too much now. He was coming, and that was good enough for me.
‘Four minutes,’ he informed me. ‘I’m already in the car. Go. It’ll be okay.’
‘Oh, bless you, Jack,’ I said and rang off, flooring it even more now.
When we got to the vet’s, they gave her a sedative and we sat and waited for about an hour.
‘Best to leave her overnight,’ the vet suggested. ‘I’ll call you in the morning.’
‘Is she going to be okay?’ Ben whispered, stifling his tears and patting Callie’s head as my own lower lip trembled.
‘She’s been poisoned, but we’ve pumped it out of her system, so now we’re rehydrating
