Page 15 of Smoke and Mirrors

“Cindy!” I wave as I approach, and she stands to her feet with a broad smile.

“Lily, I’m so glad you could make it.” She embraces me tightly.

I adore Cindy. It’s funny seeing as she’s my boss, Steven’s ex-wife. Every time I see her, I can’t help but wonder how two polar opposites like them could have been together for as long as they were.

Cindy owns half of the vet clinic where I work, and it’s written into my employment contract that each staff member will spend time at the rehab center working with the people there and Cindy and Steven’s dogs who are therapy certified. While they are separated now, Cindy and Steven never had children so they split their time with their dogs. It reminds me that Steven does, in fact, care about animals despite his atrocious attitude at work.

Beau nuzzles my hand, and Cindy immediately passes over his leash. “Looks like he knows who he wants to work with today.”

I giggle, crouching down and scratching behind his ears while he pants happily. “You gonna be my man today?” He nuzzles in close, and I take that as a yes. “All right, let’s get going.”

We wander through the building, the staff greeting us and occasionally stopping to say hello to the dogs.

“Today we’re working in the amputee part of the hospital,” Cindy explains as she guides us through. “The hospital actually called and said they had a new patient who had admitted himself, but so far, counseling and other therapies haven’t been successful to bring him out of his shell.”

“That’s sad.”

Her lips tighten, and her head bobs. “He doesn’t have any family. They think he’s lonely, and even his background and medical records are a little hazy. So maybe the idea of a companion like Beau will bring him out of his shell.”

I push my shoulders back slightly and look down at Beau as Cindy walks over to the nurses’ desk to arrange for us to be signed in. “You ready to do some good?”

He lets out a bark, and I brighten. “Good boy.”

I follow Cindy and the nurse into the recreation area. There are tables and food set out along with games, cards, movies, and exercise equipment. Large windows off to the side look out over the street, not a great view but something at least.

“I’ll introduce you to Max, Lily,” the nurse says while Cindy gives me an enthusiastic thumbs up. “If you get anything out of him, you’ll be doing better than the rest of us have done this week.”

“What’s his story?” I ask curiously, pulling back an eager Beau.

The nurse sighs. “We aren’t even sure. His medical records are vague, to say the least. We suspect he was in the military, but he won’t confirm. He just came in one day and said I need help. And while it’s obvious he does, he doesn’t seem to be benefitting from anything we offer.”

We stop, and she gives me a supportive smile.

“Max, this is Lily and the therapy dog, Beau. They’re going to sit with you for a while,” she announces. He continues to stare straight ahead, looking out the large window in his wheelchair. “I’ll leave you to it,” she whispers, patting my arm softly before she turns away.

“Nice to meet you, Max,” I say, pulling a chair from a neighboring table and setting it next to him. I drop onto it, and Beau squeezes in between us, his wet nose nudging Max’s hand. When he doesn’t respond, he goes for a quick lick, and I have to hold back my laughter.

“He likes you,” I say simply. “Have you had dogs before?”

I give him a few minutes, but he doesn’t answer, and Beau’s still fighting for some kind of affection. So I figure if he wants to do this the hard way, then the hard way it will be. I have no problem telling my life story to someone until they either get to know me and become comfortable, or they get so annoyed they start to shoot back.

I shrug. “All right, so my name’s Lily. But we already discussed that. I’m actually a veterinarian nurse, but my boss and his ex-wife, Cindy, have been doing this for years. So all of us who work at the vet clinic take turns helping out,” I rattle on. “I grew up on a farm, you know…” then I chuckle to myself, “… no, you don’t know I guess since this is the first time we’ve met. My parents have horses and cattle and even some chickens. I never liked collecting eggs, though, those assholes can be vicious sometimes.”

I look out the corner of my eye to see if I’ve caught any reaction from him, but his face is just stern and severe.

Tough crowd.

Max is handsome. I guess maybe he’s in his late fifties. His hair’s short and light, but you can see the slightest streak of gray running through it. He’s clean-shaven with a strong jawline and deep-set brows. His clothes are casual—dark wash jeans that cover what the nurse had explained was a right leg amputated at the knee.

I know that can’t be easy. People like to stare and whisper at things or people that are different from them. But growing up with my brother, I guess I have an understanding of what it’s like to be different, and it’s made me look at people with disabilities or abnormalities as more than just what you see on the outside.

My brother isn’t diseased like many people like to think. He has Down syndrome. An extra chromosome that makes him a little different. But that’s it. We’re all different. We all have various looks and personalities. We learn at different rates and believe in different religions, but that doesn’t make us weird. It makes us unique.

The difference with Max, though, he no doubt has suffered some kind of trauma in his life to be left like this. And that’s what I’m here to help with. I’m not trying to help him deal with being different because he shouldn’t have to worry about that. What I want to help with is to ease the pain he’s going through because of that.

We continue to stare out at the quiet street in silence, Beau looking up at me like he can’t understand why he’s not being doused in love as usual.

A Volkswagen Beetle catches my eye as it pulls to a stop at the lights below. A smirk catches in the corner of my mouth, and I push back the voices that say no, this is not a good idea.

---