Page 18 of Zeke

I hear a loud whimper from the back, and my head snaps toward the door as the man I assume to be Doctor Peck walks in the door.

“Eden?” he asks, reaching for my hand.

“Yes,” I say, offering it up, my eyes only on the large folder in his other hand.

“I bet you’re wondering about this,” he says, holding it up for me to see. I nod and he takes it over to the wall where a light board is set up. He turns it on and shows me the image in the folder.

“Well. The good news is that it’s just broken.”Just brokendoesn’t sound all that good, but he seems to think it does, so I’ll trust him. “I’m sedating him to set the break because it already started to heal a bit and it needs to be rebroken.”

“You’re going to break his leg again?” I ask, standing up with my fists balled up at my sides.

“It’s standard procedure so it doesn’t heal incorrectly and become a lifelong injury,” Doctor Peck answers.

I chew on a fingernail and think for a moment, but then I nod. “Okay. But you said he’ll be sedated?”

“He won’t feel a thing,” he assures me, then hands me a consent form to sign. I scribble my name and hand it back to him. “Great. I’ll have him back to you in about half an hour. You’re welcome to wait, or there’s a café next door if you want to get some coffee or snacks.”

I hate the smell of this place, like blood and death barely covered by antiseptic, so I nod to Justice, who stands up beside me, and we go have coffee next door. We get a call less than a half hour later and return to the vet’s to pick him up.

He’s wobbling on his legs when they bring him out, and he’s still limping on the hurt one. It’s fully bandaged and in a cast, and he has a stupid cone on his neck.

He looks ridiculous, and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

The second he sees me, he tries to walk to me but stumbles, and I bend down to comfort him.

“You’re okay, Tardy,” I say. He looks up at me with his big, round, brown eyes and licks my hand.

“He certainly is,” says Doctor Peck. “He’ll probably be groggy for the rest of the day, but by tomorrow, you’ll probably have to force him to hold still.”

“You think?” I ask, unsure if he’s right, given how subdued Tardy’s behavior had been thus far, but I hope he is right. Seeing this sweet pup back at his best would be amazing.

“I really do,” he replies, then closes the chart. “I’ll see him back in three weeks to check if it’s healed up. You can make the appointment with reception.”

Justice carries Tardy while I deal with the business end, then we both go back to the truck to head home.

I sit in the back with him, petting him and talking softly to keep him calm, but he seems out of it. At one point, as I rub behind his ears, I catch a glimpse out of the back window and see a black truck behind us. It tickles something in the back of my brain, and I realize I’ve seen that truck already today. But when…?

For most people, that wouldn’t be something to worry about, but for someone like me, it’s a red flag that needs to be tracked. Just because I can’t remember where or when I saw it doesn’t mean it isn’t important to keep track of. In fact, if there is a slight chance of this truck following us, I need to be on high alert.

“Justice,” I say.

“Yeah?”

“I think we’re being followed,” I tell him, and he glances in the rearview.

“Black truck?”

“Yep. I need a license plate so we can keep an eye out. Can you get us close enough?”

He nods and shifts gears, changing his speed as he takes a turn down a side road. I look behind us and see the truck coming, which is when Justice makes a U-turn and drives past it, slowing down enough for me to snap a picture of the license plate.

“Go,” I tell him. He guns the engine, getting us back onto the main road, where he immediately takes a side road and blasts through a few more until we’re sure we’ve lost the truck.

It’s not until we’ve slowed down to a normal speed that I notice Tardy has been whimpering the whole time.

“Hey, buddy,” I say, cuddling him. “You’re okay. We’re all okay, and we’re gonna be home in just a few minutes.”

He licks my hand like he understands me, and I pet him the rest of the way home.

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