Fight for Life
Chapter Fifteen
The clinic looks like a veterinarian’s version of 101 Dalmations. Crates and cages line every wall, and barking and whimpering echo off the tile floor. So many dogs, and they all need a doctor. Dr. Gabe called for help when Gran and the others were still at the puppy mill. So a couple of his friends from vet school came to help, and now the whole clinic buzzes with extra hands trying to keep up.
Gran says each dog needs a number, ID tag, and a chart. The vets run around the clinic back and forth, calling out instructions and reaching past each other for supplies. Maggie knows the kids are in the way, standing around while the grown-ups work.
David sits in a chair in the waiting room, watching the chaos. Zoe heads for the kitchen with Sunita to use the phone. Just then, Maggie hears Gran calling for her help. Gran adds that she needs everyone to scrub up and go to the recovery room.
David is in charge of transporting stabilized patients to recovery. He works quietly and fast, not joking around this time, carrying each dog with careful, steady hands. Sunita and Brenna move Shelby and Inky in with the collie pups and the mutt. Sunita turns on the heat lamp so her patients won’t catch a chill. Gran instructs Zoe to stand by the oxygen cage. If anyone starts breathing fast, count their breaths and let Gran know if the dog is breathing more than fifty breaths a minute. Maggie is in charge of supplies. She drops off packages of clean instruments to each team, hurrying from station to station.
The storm rolls around them, with lightning and thunder rattling the windows. The dogs in the boarding kennels are terrified. They howl and scratch, flinching at every crack of thunder overhead. Brenna offers to calm them down. Maggie checks on all the puppies in the pen. There are more fleas here than she’s ever seen at once, but everything looks under control.
The lights flicker as lightning strikes nearby, and for a moment Maggie holds her breath. Gran says she has an emergency generator in case lights go out. The recovery room cages are nearly full, each one holding a dog wrapped in a blanket. The vets are cleaning up. It looks like they’re almost finished.
Then, Gran goes silent. The tiny yellow Lab in her hands is failing fast. Maggie says one oxygen canister is empty, and Dr. Gabe is using the other. The puppy stops breathing. Gran bends down and blows into the pup’s nose. After each puff, Gran listens to the heartbeat, her face tense with concentration.
Maggie runs to the operating room and tells Dr. Gabe Gran is doing artificial respiration on a Lab. Dr. Gabe nods and picks up the puppy on his table, and steadies the oxygen mask on its face. He instructs Maggie to bring the canister, and she hurries to grab it.
The two of them carefully cross the clinic until Dr. Gabe can set his puppy down next to Gran’s. Gran takes the small oxygen mask off of Dr. Gabe’s puppy and puts it on the one she’s helping. All of a sudden, the little Lab wrinkles her nose and coughs. She’s going to make it, and Maggie lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
It’s past eleven o’clock when Gran takes the other kids home. They’re all tired, but satisfied knowing they helped to save lots of animals. All twenty-five puppies are asleep, curled up quietly in their cages at last, but Zoe and Maggie are too keyed up to go to bed. Zoe suggests they make real hot chocolate out of cocoa, sugar, and milk.
Zoe gushes about how cool it was that they went in and saved all the dogs. She asks if it’s always that hectic around here. Maggie says it’s not usually that crazy, but they do have their moments. Zoe adds that it reminded her of an emergency-room scene in her mom’s old show. The two talk and laugh quietly as they prep and sip their hot chocolate, the warm mugs cupped in their hands.
When Gran comes in, Zoe yawns and heads upstairs to bed, happy she’ll get to sleep in the next day. Gran reassures Maggie that everyone is doing great. And Maggie was the one who got it all started. She found the puppy mill and ensured the owner was arrested. Maggie will be a great vet someday, Gran tells her.
Looking down at her cup of hot cocoa, Maggie admits that Gran was right. She’ll never be a vet if her grades don’t come up. She needs a tutor. Maggie confesses how she switched up the numbers for Mitzy’s feeding schedule, the guilt still sitting heavy in her stomach.
Gran takes a deep breath, and says it’s important to remember that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. They never could’ve managed it tonight without the other vets and volunteers. But still, Gran made a promise. As soon as Maggie’s grades are up, she’ll tell the kids they’re not needed anymore.