She wasn’t sure.
13
Sunny let her father chat with Mrs. Martinson for a while, and then she and Mike returned home. As they opened the door, Shadow came out of the living room and strolled over to give them a sniff. Apparently, they didn’t bring home any interesting scents. The cat just turned around and searched out a new patch of sunlight to nap in.
“That looks like a pretty good plan,” Mike said, looking down at Shadow. “But maybe we could have some lunch first.”
They sat at the kitchen table, making some inroads into the sliced turkey that Sunny had bought.
“Pretty interesting, what the 99 Elmet Ladies are trying to do with that food pantry,” Mike said in between bites of his sandwich.
Sunny nodded. “It looks like practical help that a lot of people around here need.” She found herself thinking about the story Mrs. M.’s friend had told about the family torn between getting treatment for the dog or paying the rent. What had Carolyn Dowdey talked about? Intravenous treatments and surgery? With the salary Sunny made at MAX, how would she afford something like that if Shadow got sick? He’d been lucky enough to bounce back quickly from his misadventures so far, and it helped that Jane seemed to feel she owed Sunny favors. But if Shadow really got knocked down by some illness, how could she watch Shadow suffer?
“Earth to Sunny.” Mike waved a hand in front of her eyes. “You’ve been sitting there for a couple of minutes, looking at that sandwich as if you wanted to strangle it.”
“Sorry.” She looked over at him. “I was thinking about that family with the sick dog. Could Jane do something with the animal fund to help out people like that?”
“It’s not easy, getting people around here to accept charity,” Mike said slowly. “I bet it must kill some of those folks, just going to the food bank, and Helena and the other ladies try to keep it as nonofficial as possible. What you’re talking about, there’d have to be hoops to jump through—
Sunny thought about that for a minute. “I can see what you mean,” she said finally. “But then, people get awfully personal about vets. That’s something else I should talk to Jane about.”
She got on the phone to see if Jane was busy and got an invitation to come over and visit the pet hospital. Jane let her in and led Sunny to what she called “the observation wing.” It was just a room equipped with cages for patients who had to stay overnight. Jane did some housekeeping chores and gave quick checkups to the three dogs and two cats who were in residence.
“I have a suggestion for you and Tobe to consider,” Sunny said as Jane worked. “Could Martin have been killed by a dissatisfied customer?”
Jane sighed. “There are certainly enough of them.” She put on a pair of heavy gauntlets to deal with a hissing cat that kept making clawing gestures at her. “And not this kind either.”
She succeeded in calming the cat down and checking her vital signs. When Sunny complimented her, Jane replied, “That was easy compared to dealing with the humans. They come in half hysterical because their pet is sick. And if you make the animal better, well, that’s your job, isn’t it? But if, God forbid, poor little Bobo doesn’t get better, well, then you’re a worthless quack. Worse, you’re a money-grubbing quack.”
She shook her head. “Look at you and Shadow. I suggested a treatment that you could take care of by yourself. In a lot of cases like that, people will come back to me with a pet that’s still limping. They ‘couldn’t find the time’ to take care of the animal. I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised. Most people can’t find the time to take care of themselves. So many of the illnesses among people today could be treated with diet and exercise. Heck, a lot of them could’ve been avoided in the first place with diet and exercise.”
Sunny nodded, thinking of her father.
“Instead, though, people wind up going to the doctor to ask for a pill.” Jane looked disgusted. “I try to see if the animal’s human partner can be depended on to help in treatment. Martin, who had a lot more experience, automatically wrote the humans off. He’d do procedures that hurt the animals a lot more than home treatment would.”
“Because of money?” Sunny asked.
“Maybe—in later days,” Jane admitted. “But he also had stories of patients coming in much worse because their owners couldn’t follow a simple course of treatment. Martin argued that he was merely protecting his professional reputation. He put a lot of money, training, and time into his practice. He said he didn’t want to depend on some civilian who might screw up even simple instructions.”
