Blinded

As I burst through my apartment door, I breathed a sigh of relief. The visit with my mother had brought up the same topics as usual. It seemed she was still unable to accept I didn’t want to settle down yet. Our argument was short lived thanks to Basil’s presence. Mother nagged him a bit before the two said their goodbyes and I left a short time later. Lucas seemed all too happy to be home. There was a bounce to his step on the way through the door. Now that I was home I was able to go through the packages mother had sent me home with. The first few were sweets, my favorite being the sugar cookie, I was very unhappy to see my worse fear. Liver. My mother knew all too well how I felt about liver. Still, she insisted it was good for my health.

“Ugh,” I said and immediately moved to cover it back up. A motion from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Lucas’s ears had perked up suddenly. Just barely, I noticed the flaring of his nostrils. “Do you want this?” I swore I saw a slight nod of his head, and it gave further confirmation that Lucas understood me on some level. I placed the other containers in the fridge while Lucas, in an interestingly delicate matter, devoured his meal. “You are one strange dog,” I mumbled before patting his head and heading to my bedroom to change. “After you are done we will head out for a walk.

When I came back into the small kitchen Lucas was dutifully waiting by the door. The cold temperatures were making the visits to the park in the evening shorter and shorter. Once engulfed in the comforting heat after our walk I took to my nightly duties. Thanks to the morning news I was forced to watch each morning, because of a certain possessive dog, I was aware of the high winds and frigid temperature moving in through the night. Since Lucas refused the comforts of a warm bed in the warmest room of the apartment I took a couple extra blankets from the closet and placed them on the couch for Lucas.

“It’s supposed to get cold so if you want you can come into the bedroom,” I explained, feeling only slightly stupid.

After flicking the switches to darken the rooms, I hopped into bed and covered over. Through the doorway I could see Lucas’s deep amber gaze was the only glow lingering, other than the alarm clock on my nightstand. I found comfort in watching the orbs pierce through the darkness, until I fell asleep a short time later. Part way through the night, I felt the cold penetrate the room. A shiver woke me from my deep slumber and I immediately sat up. The room was freezing, and when I looked over to my clock I found it dead.

“Great, just my luck,” I whispered.

My left hand groped for the nightstand beside my bed where I kept a flashlight. As my hand reached across the blankets it came to a sudden stop from something furry. With a high pitch ‘eep’ I leapt back, nearly falling out of the bed. I gradually focused on a large shadow beside me. It became clear I had nothing to fear. Two eyes opened lazily. Lucas had made his way into the bed at some point in the night.

“I think the power is out.” It was an obvious statement and Lucas tilted his head to the side as if to reprimand me for it. I felt talking would calm the excessively beating of my heart. “That means the heat isn’t working.” I shifted and raised the covers. With a pat on the mattress I encouraged Lucas to come under the blankets. Slowly at first, he rose and moved out of the way to climb under the covers. His head rested against the extra pillows and I found that his body warmth was enough to keep warm. With no need to get out of bed anymore, I settled back down, and cuddled next to Lucas. “Hopefully it’s back on in the morning,” I whispered before falling back to sleep. “Good thing it is Sunday tomorrow, or else I would have to figure out how to wake up in time for work.”

Every night after that Lucas began sleeping next to me. He took up the extra side of the bed where friends had usually slept when I had been going through school. I had no social life with the hours I was racking up at work and the time I spend at the park with Lucas and so it wasn’t like I would be sharing my bed with anyone else any time soon. Mother would be absolutely horrified if she found that out.

“I have a few late evenings coming in order to keep up with the cases I was handed. We’re a little shorthanded.” I stood by the calendar, hanging on the living room wall, with a pen in hand. “I will have to adjust our walks a little. I can still keep your morning walks the same. Evening walks will have to be a little later for a while. Oh, I nearly forgot, we are trying to plan out a family vacation this year, maybe a trip to the cottage or even camping in the woods.”

A growl filled the room and this gave me a reason to turn around. The last time he had growled he had taken off. I had almost forgot we were inside and there was nowhere for him to run. I eyed Lucas and then turned to face the calendar again. This time my pen hesitated over a box quite a few weeks away. After a moment of thought I finally filled it in with: my birthday. Despite acknowledging it I knew I wouldn’t make any plans. The day was a hard one because of how close it was to the death of my father. It was best just to celebrate at a later date. If I celebrated at all.

“Okay, I got to go to work. Be good while I am gone.”

I headed to the chair where my purse and packed lunch sat. On my walk to the door I gathered my keys from the kitchen counter. The door was barely opened when something black dashed between my feet and into the apartment. A quick glance told me it was some form of animal but I didn’t get a chance to figure out what it was before someone was at the door pushing it open.

“I am so sorry Kale...” the landlady could say no more as a growl alongside hissing filled the room..

The fight became a blur in my mind. My dog was taking a protective stance against the cat. The black haired creature was lacking in size but not in spunk and was trying to bat at Lucas. I mentally noted the stupidity of the small cat taking on a dog fifty times his size. Afraid for the safety of the smaller animal I intervened and reached out to grab the cat just as Lucas snapped. The timing could have been better on my part. I didn’t think Lucas was aiming to actually bite the cat. He snapped his jaws closed in the space between them and I happened to have my hand in the way. Lucas instantly let go of my hand. Blood was already oozing from the few punctures. With cat in hand I rose from the floor and handed him over to his owner.

“Are you alright? I am so sorry. I didn’t realize he had escaped before it was too late; my boy left the apartment door open. Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?”

“Nah, I will just clean it up and bandage it. I really must be off to work,” I waved my good hand to dismiss the long hassle.

“I don’t know, it looks pretty deep. Maybe you should see a doctor. Bites can get infected easily. Please let me make it up to you by taking you to the hospital. What if you need a stitch or two?”

I looked at the clock, and then at the cut. Blood was seeping slowly out of the gash, oozing along my palm and downward towards the wrist. The touch of something warm shocked me and I looked to see Lucas licking my hand. He had risen up on his hind legs to get a bit more height.

“Hey,” I pulled my hand out of reach, “Don’t do that.” I looked back to the landlady and sighed. “I guess I better tell work that I won’t be in today.”

“I’ll drive you, just let me put this nuisance back in the house and I’ll meet you outside.”

“Thanks.”

“My cat caused the problem, it’s the least I could do.”

I put my lunch in the fridge and grabbed a cloth to wrap around my bleeding appendage. Lucas tailed me from the kitchen to the bathroom where I washed the wound and then wrapped it up. “Don’t worry,” I finally said, “I know this wasn’t your fault. You didn’t mean to bite me. I will be home shortly.”

Back at the door I picked up my abandoned purse and keys. I found the landlady waiting in a beat up rusty car and dug out my cell phone from a pocket as I took a seat. I would call work and hope I could be in and out so wouldn’t fall too far behind in my work schedule.

I looked at the clock for the hundredth time. It seemed that was passing very slowly. Each second was an eternity when I couldn’t do anything. My hand was no longer bleeding and I blamed the swelling for that. A pain shot up my arm whenever I bent my fingers. They couldn’t wiggle much at all now.

“You don’t have to wait with me,” I told the woman next to me for the second time that hour. “I can get a ride home. I have a few friends in the area.”

“I just want to make sure you are okay. It was my cat’s fault.”

“Please don’t blame yourself Lynda. I am not blaming either animal. Shadow was probably scared and Lucas can be mighty protective.”

“Nevertheless,” the woman began with a stern look in my direction, “I will be staying with you until the end.”

At long last a nurse turned the corner and called my name. I rose from the seat and headed towards the nurse in blue. Lynda was still seated in her chair. “Come on then. You’d better keep me company.”

With a smile Lynda followed. The smile was contagious and I was grateful for the tag-a-long. It was nice to have someone with me and if anyone mentioned a needle Lynda would be a good distraction. In the examination room we waited another little while for a nurse to appear and take the initial diagnoses. I never did understand the purpose of telling the nurse anything if the doctor was just going to come in and ask the same questions all over again. I obliged anyway. We were left waiting alone for short period. When the door to the room opened a second time it was not to the same chatty scene as the nurse had entered. I was trying to keep my hand as still as possible for any millimeter of movement burned. The pain was nothing I had felt before. In the last ten minutes my hand had suddenly decided it was going to increase in pain tenfold. Lynda attempted to keep my thoughts away from my hand. Her effort, sadly, fell flat. She opted to soothe me by rubbing my back and telling me to hold on a little while longer.

“I take it you are Ms. Kale. Want to tell me what happened?”

“I have a dog, I was worried about Lynda’s cat, so I sort of got in between them.” I didn’t realize how little sense that made. I opened my mouth to add to statement but clenched my teeth closed when the doctor touched my hand.

Lynda sat quietly in the corner. I glanced towards her and saw she was staring at the man examining my hand once it had been unwrapped from its makeshift bandage. When I peered at the doctor I saw why Lynda was so quiet. The man was quite beautiful in a masculine way. His features were dainty and his piercing blue eyes could stare right through you. Suddenly I felt quite nervous around the doctor. His hair was so black, it faintly looked blue. It was on the longer side and held back out of his face with a braid down his back. Guilty of staring, I turned back to Lynda in time to see a wink.

“I don’t know if I would describe the incident as sort of. You were certainly bit, and quite roughly. I assume from the puncture the dog that bit you was large?”

“Yeah, he is pretty big.... he didn’t mean to bite. I mean I have never had an incident with him and Lynda said that she has no complaints. I don’t have to have him put down right?” I was more than a little concerned. What if Lucas was branded a dangerous dog? What if someone told me I had to take certain measures, measures I didn’t want to take?

“When it comes to fights between animals, you really should leave them be. It’s best for them to fight it out in order to allow them to see who can take the title of alpha,” the doctor replied.

I smiled at first. It took a moment to apprehend he wasn’t joking and my smile faded before turning into a frown. “I don’t think you understand. This is a very big dog. The cat was like a nibble to him. I couldn’t risk something happening.”

The doctor didn’t say anything before Lynda added her two cents. “You know I think I have heard that before, I don’t think it matters now anyway. I live in a separate apartment from Kale and her dog.”

“Is your dog up to date on his shots? Either way I am going to give you a couple vaccines and an antibiotic with some pain killer. After we get this cleaned up we can stitch the largest puncture, the others are already sealed and healing. The swelling will go down in a couple of days. As for your dog, this is a family matter, you shouldn’t need to take any action against him. I will be right back.”

My eyes followed the doctor out of the room and Lynda was rising as well. “Where are you going?”

“Sorry Kale, I don’t do needles.”

“I don’t either... I hate them with a fiery passion. Please stay?” I pouted, not ashamed to use the same techniques as my mother in times like these. I exhaled the breath I had held in with relief when Lynda sat back down. She mumbled something about there being some candy to look at. That was another common term used these days. Candy, as in eye candy, someone who was very easy on the eyes.

The doctor arrived back in the room with a tray of supplies. He explained the first needle as precaution. It was the second needle I feared since it would have to be inserted in my burning hand. “This will also help with the pain for a while until it wears off. Hopefully by that point it won’t hurt as much. To be safe I will prescribe some pain killers. I recommend staying home for a couple days just to be safe. The swelling may take a couple days to go down and I recommend minimal use of your hand.” I gritted my teeth as he reached for the needle. The doctor seemed to notice and stopped. “Do you need a moment?”

“No,” I mumbled, “just get it over with.”

With a nod the doctor proceeded. I flinched as the disinfectant was poured over my hand. I tightened my lips to prevent biting them when the needle was stabbed into the swollen skin. After the first injection the second one wasn’t so bad. Before I knew it my hand was numb. The ache and burning sensations that had me on the verge of tears moments earlier faded. Of course I didn’t want to see the stitches being made and turned to Lynda who gave a small, sad smile.

“What kind of dog do you have?”

“Um... to tell you the truth I don’t know. He has an all-white shaggy coat, with the deepest amber eyes you’ve ever seen. His ears are the fluffiest things with big tuffs of fur on each one and he’s big... really big. If he wanted to he could tower over me while on his hind feet. Still, he’s a good dog. He listens to my complaints and he is slowly warming up to me.”

“You sound like you are in love with him,” the doctor replied casually.

I nearly turned to face him. I stopped when I remembered what he was doing. I couldn’t feel any pain, only the pressure of his hands on mine. “He is family, of course I love him,” I argued.

“Shouldn’t you be obsessing over boys? Surely a girl your age wants nothing more than to chase after one man or another and not a dog.”

“Men are pigs,” I stated bluntly, only then forgetting who I was talking to. That sort of remark was something I would tell my mother and I was so used to speaking openly on the subject that I forgot my audience today was male. “I mean... not you per se. I sort of meant in general... no, no, no, I mean most, not all, of the male population tend to act selfish and are incapable of maintaining certain values. I wasn’t talking about you or suggesting that...” Lynda and the doctor were both chuckling at me and so I frowned and took a deep breath. I was just about to say something more when the doctor finally spoke up.

“I could agree with your opinion, though for the female population as well. Except perhaps you, there’s something different about you. I’m finished by the way,” he added while releasing my hand carefully. “The antibiotic I prescribed should be taken twice a day for ten days. Make sure you finish the bottle no matter how much better you feel after a couple days. I would like for you to return in a couple weeks to have the stitches removed at my clinic. You can set up an appointment with the receptionist at this number.”

I reached over to take the card he was offering. With the visit close to finished, things seemed rushed along. I was out the door and into Lynda’s car with little more than a goodbye, see you soon, and a couple sheets of paper. As I buckled my seatbelt Lynda pulled out of the parking spot and brought up the one thing I hoped she wouldn’t.

“I think the good doctor was hitting on you.”

“No way,” I brushed off and turned to look out the passenger side window.

“Indeed he was. Should be interesting to see what happens when you return.”

“I think you are looking too much into this. You’re just like my mother.”

“Speaking of which, are you going to call and tell her or shall I.”

It was the one bad thing about having the landlady as your mother’s friend. This woman was the reason my mother knew I wasn’t seeing anyone. “I will tell her. Once I get all these sorted,” I held up the prescription papers.

“We’ll get them on the way home.”