Page 13 of Scout Takes the Lead
“Do you need anything else?” she asked.
“No, I’m good.”
“OK, then. I’ll see you Saturday.” She walked away, and I kicked myself. What was it going to take to get me to ask her out? She could always say no, right? Especially now that I’d admitted to her I had some PTSD. Of course she didn’t know how bad it was, and I wasn’t about to tell her.
After Scout and I got home from shopping, I popped my evening pills, then turned on my computer and began to take calls. Scout settled down beside me with one of the sweet potato chews Grace had recommended.
My first client was a man who said he suffered from anxiety, and that he needed medication to keep him on an even keel. I could relate to that. “How can I help you?” I asked.
“When I tried to use my health care spending card to pay for my pills yesterday, it was rejected. Why?”
“Let me pull up your account,” I said. It took a minute or two but I was able to access his records and see that he still had money available. “You say you wanted to pay for a prescription but your card was rejected?”
“Not a prescription. My pills just went generic so I wanted to buy the off-brand.”
“Your account doesn’t let you use your card for non-prescription sleep aids and sedatives,” I said. “I’m afraid you’ll have to stick to the prescription ones if you want reimbursement.”
I had an idea. “Hold on and let me check something.”
I’d had a client the other day who asked about using a medical discount card she got in the mail. I found a link to it and found that if he used it, he could pay a lower copay for the prescription drugs, and use his spending account.
I went back to him and explained it. “I thought those cards were a scam,” he said.
“I’ve had other clients use them,” I said. “But do your due diligence, and don’t give out any personal information. They’ll get whatever they need from the pharmacy.”
He thanked me and I went on to the next call.
It felt good to be productive, to have information that people needed and be able to pass it on to them. Not all the calls ended so well. Sometimes people had run out of funds on their card even though they insisted they couldn’t have. Or there were screw-ups with their employers that I couldn’t fix.
I was hoping that having Scout around would reassure me enough that I could get back on a normal sleep schedule, and then maybe even get a job that was better suited to my qualifications.
I loved the work I did in the Army, constructing bridges, clearing barriers with explosives, and detecting and avoiding mines and other environmental hazards. I discovered that I had a knack for quick and creative engineering solutions, constructing fighting positions, fixed and floating bridges, and building obstacles and defense positions. I wasn’t sure how much demand there was for that kind of thing in the real world, but once I was emotionally stable I’d start to investigate.
I worked steadily for about six hours, until it was eleven o’clock on the West Coast and most of the call volume had died down. Scout and I played tug-a-rope for a while. His jaws were getting stronger and so were his legs, so I didn’t have to hold back and we could really tussle. After a while, though, he gave up and went back to sleep.
I turned to the doll house. It was calming to cut and sand the wood, fitting pieces together, making sure there were no sharp edges or nails to hurt tiny fingers. So far I had the basic frame—back wall, roof, and several levels of floors. It looked like a hurricane had hit, knocking off the front wall and blowing out all the furniture. Kind of like my life, which was a work in progress.
Scout had already helped a lot. I didn’t get so nervous when I was out with him, and it was relaxing to pet him and groom him. And hey, I’d already had a real conversation with a cute girl, even if she was probably being nice to me because I was her training client.
I began building furniture for the dollhouse. Some pieces that were too small and fussy for my big hands would have to come from online sources, but I measured the bedrooms and sketched out where I could put furniture, then built a couple of tiny beds and nightstands. I found a beautiful scrap of black walnut and made a dining room table.
In the morning, I’d stand up and stretch. I pulled on a pair of board shorts and, because the air in the house was already hot and humid, a sleeveless T-shirt. I moved over to my exercise mat, and looked around at my free weights.
One morning, I was bored with working out on my own. In the Army, I’d always had workout buddies. We’d motivate each other to add weight or reps, and critique each other’s form. I missed that. But could I handle being around other people? Would I freak out at a loud noise, or someone making contact with me the way that guy on the street had grabbed my biceps?
I was pretty sure that I couldn’t take Scout with me. What would he do, anyway, while I worked out?
There was a twenty-four-hour gym a few blocks away on Hollywood Boulevard, and I’d often peered in the big windows as Scout and I passed. It looked clean and welcoming, with lots of different kinds of machines, from treadmills to leg presses to rowing machines. I’d be able to vary my workout. And it would be a good step toward my goal of getting my life back.
Scout seemed surprised when I tried to walk out of the house without him. He crowded me at the front door and barked a couple of times, as if he was saying, “Hey, did you forget about me?”
I pushed around him, though, using my leg to hold him back. I walked quickly to the gym, afraid that if I slowed down I’d lose my nerve.
The guy behind the front desk was about fifty, very buff, with sleeve tattoos down both arms. “I’m Frank,” he said. “Welcome to Power Fitness.”
He reached out to shake my hand. I hesitated, but then shook it. “I’m Alex. I’m thinking about joining.” Frank looked me up and down. “You look like you’re already in great shape. But we have a lot of terrific equipment here, especially if you’re looking to vary your workout.”
“That’s exactly what I want.” He went through the plans, and after a couple of minutes I started to feel comfortable. I signed up for a trial membership.
