Not the Best Day (2 page)

I
WENT
to a couple more specialty shops and had just about finished my list, but I was running out of doorways. I had about all the packages I could carry anyway. I was just about ready to give up and stop by the mall or one of those chain stores—which was what I was trying to avoid—after all. But I happened to see a novelty place on the corner directly across from where I was standing.

What the hell
, I thought,
I can probably find something in there for Jake and Mark. They’re quirky enough. They’d like that stuff.

So I stood at the corner, waiting to cross, and I saw my little buddy again. The young dog was sniffing the ground between the parked cars on the other side of the road. As if glancing at her was a signal, she looked up and, I swear, made eye contact with me. Then she started running across the road.

Unfortunately, Jackass Trapper Hat chose that moment to come back around, doing whatever it was he was doing while going round and round the various blocks.

“No. Stop!” I yelled. Whether it was to the dog or Dick Wad, I wasn’t sure. Neither of them listened.

I didn’t know which of the next things happened first. Everything occurred so fast. Brakes squealed. There was a god-awful wail from the dog. People screamed. Horns sounded.

It was a cacophony of noise and a flurry of motion. Without even realizing I was moving, I was in the road beside the dog. She was whining pitifully, but at least that meant she was breathing. A right back leg bone had a compound fracture, the bone sticking out through the skin, making her back end a bloody mess. One leg and hip were obviously broken. I didn’t know about the other side or her back. She wasn’t moving anything below her ribs. It was pitiful. She was trying to crawl away, using her front paws, and wasn’t getting very far because even the slightest movement of her back end made her scream all the more. Which, I guess, was actually a good sign. At least she could feel it—or some of it.

Poor thing, I didn’t know what to do for her.

Trapper Hat came to the front of the car and squatted down. I guess he didn’t want to get his pristine slacks dirty, so he didn’t kneel, like I was.

“I didn’t see him.” He tried to rationalize. “He ran out in front of me.”

I knew exactly what had happened. Both of those things were true, but so was something else. “You weren’t looking, jackass. And it’s a ‘her,’ by the way.” My voice sounded more accusatory that I wanted to let on, but not more than I felt. Then I had an idea. “Make it up to her and take her to the vet’s.”

He glanced at me, then at the dog, and scanned the area. “I can’t.”

I was incredulous. “You can’t? What? Your shopping is more important?”

“I’m not shopping. I’m…. Well, I just can’t leave yet. We… I can’t give up yet.”

“Give up what?” Some brief spark that wasn’t mad as hell latched on to that and felt there was more than met the eye, but there was too big a part that was just plain pissed off. “You know what? Never mind. Get back in your damned car and go ride in circles. But start watching what the hell you’re doing before you run over a person.”

There were people around us. When they had appeared, I had no clue. I had been so focused on the dog and Ass Hat.

“You can’t just drive away. We need to call the cops or something,” one man said.

“The dog wasn’t on a leash. The driver didn’t run a red light or otherwise violate any traffic laws. There’s nothing the police can do,” another man said.

“This other guy says he wasn’t paying attention,” the first man said.

“Even if anyone could prove that, there wasn’t time to stop. The dog ran out directly in front of him. It wouldn’t have made any difference if he
was
paying attention. Anyone would have hit the dog.”

The two of them got into an argument about what could or could not be legally done to Jack Ass. I just wanted to get the dog some help and said that.

“Can anyone just give me a lift to the nearest vet’s?”

One lady in her forties or fifties stepped forward. “Sure, honey. My car is just up the street. Let me go get it, and I’ll take you and the poor thing to Lander’s Veterinary Clinic. It’s just five miles or so from here.”

“Thanks. That sounds great,” I agreed.

I was so pissed off at Ass Hole I couldn’t see straight. I didn’t bother talking to him, or anyone else for that matter, until the lady got there with the car. I couldn’t have told anyone what Jerk Face did after he refused to take the dog to the vet. Did he get back in his car? Did he wait till we cleared the scene? Hell, he could have jacked off in the middle of the street and I wouldn’t have noticed. If there were any god in the heavens, I would never have to see the creep again. He was a harbinger of doom, and I’d seen him enough to last a lifetime. I was done.

I took off my coat, laid it on the ground, then doffed my sweater and wrapped it around the poor, bleeding dog. Then I put my coat back on because, damn it, it was freezing. I placed my bundle into the car, got in alongside her, and the lady headed straight for the vet. We were almost there when I remembered something.

“Shit,” I said, then apologized for cussing and continued. “I left my presents back there.”

“Oh no, honey. That’s not good,” the lady answered.

“I don’t guess there’s any possibility they’d still be there if we turned around and went back for them.”

She grinned. “I doubt it. But we can try if you want.”

I thought about it. We were almost at the vet’s, and the poor dog was in such pain. With all the one-way streets and traffic lights, it would take forever to get back, and she was right. They probably wouldn’t be there. I shook my head. “Great, that was just about my entire Christmas budget, and I have nothing to show for it.”

“I can drive back by after I drop you off and see if they happen to be there. I’ll check in the stores around the site. Maybe someone turned them in,” she offered.

I appreciated the sentiment, but I didn’t hold out much hope.

She added, “I’ll call the vet’s if I find them and let you know, or I can just bring them back here.”

I just nodded. I knew she’d be doing no such thing. First of all, I was pretty sure they weren’t there anymore. Second, there was no guarantee she’d actually even go search, let alone come back out here to bring them. And third, I couldn’t help thinking of that little old lady that cheated me out of the last big-eyed lion. I wasn’t sure I believed too much in the kindness of strangers right then. Though this lady was going out of her way to help me get the dog to the vet, so who knew.

We were there quickly enough, and I climbed out with the dog wrapped in my sweater.

“What do I owe you?” I called back into the car.

“Oh, you don’t owe me anything.” She appeared shocked that I even asked. “Just see if you can get that little dog better. And I’ll call the vet, one way or the other, about the presents. So you don’t think I forgot to look.”

I had to grin. It was like she could read my mind. Of course, by this time of day, on this particular day anyway, the skepticism was probably showing on my face pretty plainly.

I
WENT
into the vet’s office and told them what was going on. They led me and the little dog to a small back room, and we sat for a couple of minutes until the technician entered and I got to tell the story all over again. And just for good measure, one more time when the tech came back with the veterinarian after taking X-rays.

“Well,” the older gentleman said. “She definitely broke her leg and pelvis, but none of her vertebrae are broken, and her spinal cord is intact. She’s going to be laid up for a while. I can take her into surgery right away. We’ll get her to stay the night since it’s already pretty late. Does she have a place to go while she’s healing? I won’t just release her onto the streets, and if she’s going to go to the pound, well…. Instead of operating, if she’s going to the pound anyway, we might want to just euthanize her here, and—”

“No,” I interrupted him. I couldn’t let the dog be put down, and I knew what he was saying. The pound always stayed so full, they wouldn’t have time to nurse back to health a dog this badly injured. They’d just move her to the front of the kill line. Getting a dog into a no-kill shelter took too much time. What was I supposed to do? “No, I’ll take her. I have a backyard, and I’m allowed to have pets at my place. I’ll just have to pay a pet deposit. I hadn’t really wanted a dog, but…. Go ahead and operate, and I’ll be responsible for her.” Of course, as soon as I said it, I realized it meant I’d be responsible for the bill too, but again, what choice did I have?

I stepped out into the waiting room to call my sister and explain why I was not only going to be late to the party but would now show up without a gift to boot. I took care of part of the dog’s bill and arranged to set up payments for the rest when we found out how much the final total would be. Oddly enough, the lady from the car had called the office and left a message for me, telling me the packages were nowhere to be found. I wasn’t surprised at the last part, but the first part restored a little of my faith in humanity. I called a cab, went back to the parking garage, and drove home. Between the filthy sludge on my pants and the dog’s blood pretty much everywhere, I was in no shape to show up to a party.

I showered and changed clothes and almost called Erin back and just told her I wasn’t coming. But I kind of liked my arms and legs where they were, and I had to be in enclosed spaces with her for the next two days, so I decided to go to the party.

A
S
PARTIES
went, it was okay. I didn’t know very many people, so they left me alone after Erin introduced me and they ran out of pleasantries. Erin said I was giving off “Leave Me the Hell Alone” vibes. I figured that was a good thing since that’s what I was going for… this time at least.

The party didn’t have an ending time, but I knew I wouldn’t be excused until everyone else had gone, so I almost audibly growled when a straggler showed up numerous hours later. I
did
audibly growl when I recognized that damned red and black scarf. At least he had taken off the ridiculous trapper’s hat.

“You have got to be shitting me,” I said to no one in particular.

Erin was all smiles. She bounced up to him and was leading him right this way. I heard her talking to him on the way over.

“This is my brother I was telling you so much about. You two have so much in common. I just
know
you’re going to hit it off.”

Shit Head took one look at my glare, and his smile almost literally fell off his face. I swear, if smiles
could
literally fall off a face, his would have.

“You again,” I snarled. “You couldn’t leave your precious shopping, or whatever you were doing downtown, to take an injured dog to the vet, but you can come to a party?”

Erin seemed confused. “You know Clint already?”

“Not exactly,” I barked, “But that’s probably about the one good point in my day.”

Erin remained puzzled but got her stern “big sister face” on. “Henry, you can at
least
be civil.”

“Why? Remember all of the lousy things I told you happened to me today?
He
was the cause of most of them.”

Now she appeared doubly perplexed but turned toward Dick Head. Well, I guess his name was actually Clint, but I thought mine fit him better.

“Weren’t you working today?”

He nervously ran his hand through his hair and nodded. Then Erin looked back to me.

“Those were crappy things to have happened, especially this close to Christmas, and you may have even had to
call
the cops about some of them… even though you didn’t say you did. But what possible way was any of that
caused
by a policeman?”

Now it was my turn to be gob smacked. “Policeman?” You’d think a cop would have been a little more responsible when he hit the dog. But wait. “You said you were working? How were you working? You were downtown all day?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Undercover.”

He seemed a little uncomfortable, and Erin jumped in.

“Is this one of those things you can’t tell us about?”

He grinned a small, crooked smile. “No. We actually broke it.” He turned to me. “That’s the big reason I couldn’t leave. We were so close. We finally got the guy. But someone from inside the department must have leaked it, because it was already all over the Internet before I even left the station, so it wouldn’t be breaking confidentiality to tell you the parts the chief is going to clarify in the press conference.” He glanced at his watch. “Probably already has, in fact.”

I’m sure I still looked incredulous, because that’s how I felt. But Erin was all excited.

“I knew you had something big going on that would help some of my kids.”

Erin was a social worker and often worked with children and teens that were mixed up in juvenile justice system somehow. She turned to me and clarified.

“That’s how I met Clint. He’s been the arresting officer for several of my kids, and he really goes the extra mile to try to get them help instead of just throwing them in juvie. The judges don’t always go for his suggestions any more than they go for mine, but it’s nice to have someone else on the kids’ side.” She smiled wide at him and then addressed me again. “And you both are gay and have so much in common….”

“Oh, for crying out loud, Erin. You invited us both so you could hook us up?”

She shrugged, and Ass… no, we were calling him Clint now… positively blushed.

“And you knew about it?”

He turned even redder. “Well, I figured it was worth a shot. It’s difficult to find available gay guys when you’re in law enforcement, and I’m not the nightclub type. Erin’s brother sounded perfect.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Bad timing, though, I guess.”

“Bad timing didn’t knock me down in the toy store, buddy, or mess up my dress pants, or run over the dog. You did that. Because you’re an irresponsible jerk who wasn’t watching where he was going.”