Page 18 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘What if he gets stuck?’
Alex was back in the room to hear Billie’s question. ‘He’s got a tractor and a Land Rover – he won’t get stuck.’ He went to Grizzle’s basket and stroked his head. The dog gave his hand a listless lick in return. ‘He said he’d come straight away, so we’ll just have to sit tight.’
Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Alex rushed from the table to get it and returned thirty seconds later with Victor and a blast of cold, fresh air.
‘Right then,’ he said briskly, kicking off his boots and sending a brief nod to Zoe and Billie before going straight to Grizzle’s basket. Ordinarily, the dog would have made some sort of fuss at Victor’s arrival. Alex always said he wasn’t much of a guard dog, but he’d always mark the arrival of a visitor by a lot of barking that was more excited than fierce. ‘Let’s have a look.’
He spent a few minutes examining Grizzle with more obvious purpose and experience than Alex had done, asking Billie questions about where they’d been, what she could remember seeing at the location, what his vomit had looked like afterwards and how long he’d taken to show symptoms. Eventually, he seemed satisfied, gave Grizzle a brief fuss and then stood up.
‘Sounds like he’s had a chew on something off the fields he shouldn’t have done. But he’s taking water, you said. Looking a bit sorry for himself but alert enough. I’ve got a little potion with me that I use for our Penny’s dogs when they stick their nose where they shouldn’t – I’ll leave it for you. As he hasn’t eaten for a few hours, it should be all right to give him a drop shortly. Try him with some little slivers of ice, and when he perks up tomorrow, give him some boiled chicken and rice instead of his usual food. I’d say it’ll do the trick, but if he looks like he’s getting worse…say tomorrow morning he still doesn’t want to eat, then of course you’ll need to ring the vet. You’ve got someone local? Because if not I can recommend a chap. He mostly deals with farm animals, but he’ll take a look at a dog just the same, and he’s very good.’
‘That’d be brilliant, thanks,’ Alex said. ‘We haven’t quite got round to registering him with someone local yet – you know how these things slip down the to-do list when you’ve got a million other things to take care of. I kept meaning to, but…’
‘I understand. You’ve got a lot on.’ Victor took a fizzy drink bottle from a deep coat pocket and gave it to Alex. ‘Only a mouthful at first, just to see how he goes.’
‘What is it?’ Billie asked, her eyes wide, torn between wanting to trust Victor’s assessment but clearly sceptical of what might be in the bottle.
‘This and that,’ he said. ‘Mostly electrolytes and a spot of ginger – pretty much what you’d give to a person who was vomiting.’
‘And that’s it?’ Billie asked.
‘What else do you want to be in it?’ Victor asked in a practical voice, not offended, but confident in his remedy despite Billie’s obvious doubts. ‘I’m sure the vet would come out and do something fancier, but he’d charge you an arm and a leg for it, and in the end, this will do just the same. It’s never done me wrong yet with any of ours.’
‘We appreciate it,’ Alex said, shooting a glance at Billie that was obviously meant to reassure her. And it seemed to because she bent to fuss Grizzle and said no more about it. ‘We really appreciate you coming over. I’d pay whatever it took to get him well, but even then we’d have to wait for hours for a vet to arrive.’
‘Aye, that’s true,’ Victor said.
‘Do I owe you anything for what’s in there?’ Alex asked.
‘No, not a penny. It was all lying about the house, and to be quite honest, we’ve so much ginger lying around right now, I’m glad to be giving some of it away. I love Corrine’s baking, but even I’m sick of gingerbread now!’
‘So she’s still practising like mad?’ Zoe offered Victor a mug of tea.
‘I’ll say. She’s not competitive, mind; it’s not like that, though folks round here will say it every year because she always wins the contest. She’s just a perfectionist. Likes to get it right. It’s not her fault that her perfect is better than everyone else’s.’
Zoe laughed lightly as she sipped at her own drink. ‘No, I don’t suppose it is. When you bake as much as Corrine does,you’re bound to be better than everyone else. I’m going to have a go for fun, but I don’t expect to place at all.’
‘What’s this?’ Billie asked.
‘The gingerbread house competition,’ Zoe said. ‘They have it every year here. And Corrine will win, just like she always does.’
Victor scratched his head through his hat. ‘I don’t like to say, but I’d save your money at the bookies if you’re thinking of betting against her,’ he said with a lopsided grin that was full of pride.
‘From what I hear, I doubt you’d get good odds betting on her either,’ Alex said.
‘I’ve never made a gingerbread house,’ Billie said. ‘I’ve never even made gingerbread. Is it hard?’
‘It is for me!’ Zoe said with another light laugh. ‘Still, the fun’s in taking part, isn’t it?’
‘You fancy a go?’ Alex asked his daughter, who shrugged.
‘I might. Something to do, isn’t it?’
‘We could bake together,’ Zoe said.
‘That’d be good, wouldn’t it?’ Alex said to his daughter, who shrugged again.
She’d never been big on expressing her true emotions, and so it was hard to gauge her level of enthusiasm for the plan, but she hadn’t outright rejected the idea, so Zoe saw that as a win. Anything that gave her an excuse to spend more time getting closer to Billie, for Alex’s sake if nothing else, was something to be welcomed.
