Page 89 of Something Like Forever
“Now youknow why it took us so long,” Ben replied. “Change of strategy.Forget small. Make a list of everyone you would like there,regardless of inconvenience or expense. I bet it’s not far from thenumber we’ve already reached.”
He was right. Once othernames were added, they were closer to thirty-six, which Ben feltwas still reasonable. Especially since the wedding would take placeat their home. Not needing a venue would save money. The guest listand location decided, they were still left with a tremendous amountto do. Ben helped where he could, secretly relieved that somematters were out of his hands. Like finding the rightoutfits.
Jason and William leftearly in the day to go shopping, giving him downtime to relax andrecharge. Ben’s work schedule often allowed him slow mornings. Hewas officially a speech-language pathologist now. After earning hismaster’s, he had found a position at a grade school, which Benloved, since he felt children could benefit most from what he hadto teach. He also freelanced, visiting private homes or communitycenters to help people regain a skill they had once possessed. Withchildren, he had the potential to give them a better start to theirlife, so that’s where he preferred to focus.
His schedule was clearthis morning until eleven, so Ben spent much of it yawning himselfawake and drawing out breakfast as long as he could. Even once hewas showered and dressed, he made himself another cup of tea andretreated to the back patio. Chinchilla kept him company, sittingnext to him and surveying the yard.
“Betterenjoy it while we can,” Ben said. “This time next week we’ll be upto our knees in decorations. You can help me plant some flowers.That should be fun, right? Digging around in the dirt. You alwayslike that. Maybe this time we can keep the flowers alive longer.”Just the thought of so much work made him yawnagain.
Chinchilla’s mouth wasopen too as she panted. She got down on her belly, probably hopingthe stone patio would help her cool off.
“Ormaybe we can hire someone to do the work for us. We’ll still takecredit though. I can keep a secret if you can.”
Chinchilla spread her legswide, stretched out her neck, and coughed. Then she licked her noseand continued panting, except this time, it soundedragged.
“Are you okay?” Benasked.
He got down and sat on hisknees, which was normally enough to excite Chinchilla. Instead ofstanding, she remained flat on her belly, her breathinglabored.
“Are you too hot?” Benasked.
Occasionally she wasstubborn and stayed out too long, or in rarer instances, they wouldforget to bring her in when the temperature started to rise. Insuch cases, Tim would hose her off, or put ice in her water bowland encourage her to drink. No matter what, she was always broughtback inside to cool down and rest.“Youneed to chill out!”Tim would joke eachand every time. Except it wasn’t very hot out at the moment, andChinchilla never made such a gravelly noise whenbreathing.
“Okay,” Ben said, tryingnot to panic. “Let’s go inside. Come!”
He stood. Chinchillaremained where she was.
“Do you want a treat?Let’s go! Come get a treat!”
That did the trick. Shegot to her feet and hobbled toward the door, but she didn’t soundany better. Once she was inside, she sat down again, when normallyshe would have led the way to the kitchen to get what she’d beenpromised. Instead she coughed.
“I’llturn up the air,” Ben said, his heart racing as he moved to lowerthe temperature. Should he call Tim? Or load Chinchilla in the carand take her to the vet? Once cool air was blowing through thevents, he went to the kitchen, deciding to see if she still had anappetite. He returned with one of the soft meaty sticks she was sofond of and nearly cried out in relief when she trapped it betweentwo paws and started chewing. She took breaks to rasp in betweenbites, but she seemed more lively. Maybe she just swallowed a bugor something. Or perhaps her age was finally catching up withher.
Ben swallowed, thenchecked the time. If he didn’t head out soon, he would be late forwork. He couldn’t leave her here. At the very least, he could dropher off at the vet on his way to the school. While there, he couldask how serious it was and decide if he should call in ornot.
First he pulled his carout of the garage and parked it as close to the front door as hecould manage. Then he went back inside, grabbed the leash from nextto the door, and followed the ragged sound to where Chinchilla sat.She had finished eating and now seemed focused onbreathing.
“Come on,” he said. “Wannago for a walk?”
This made her perk up.Chinchilla strained to get to her feet, which wasn’t so unusual.She was an old lady now. The hip dysplasia had begun a few yearsback, but nothing too serious. Not compared to what he had readabout online. She was stiff when first waking up and needed moretime to get around. Once she warmed up, it was just like oldtimes.
“Goodgirl,” Ben said, encouraging her to follow him to the front door.He didn’t bother with the leash. Chinchilla wasn’t likely to sprintaway from him in her condition. She understood that they were goingfor a ride when she saw the car. Tim drove her around often enough.The only struggle was lifting her rump to help her into thepassenger seat. Once she was settled, Ben got behind the wheel andcranked up the air conditioning to the max. She had a body like apacked sausage. Maybe the day felt hotter to her.
Ben kept looking over ather during the drive to Austin. Perhaps it was wishful thinking,but her breathing seemed to steady and sounded less forced. By thetime he needed to decide which way to turn—toward the school or thevet’s office—she appeared perfectly fine.
“Don’t scare me likethat!” he scolded.
Now his biggest concernbecame what he was going to do with her while he worked. Luckilyhis job allowed him to make use of a variety of tools. Not justtablet computers or his singing, but anything to get the studentsexcited about learning. Chinchilla would have to be his assistant.He arrived at the school with time to spare, so he parked anddebated calling Tim again. His husband didn’t do well with thingslike this. If anyone asked Chinchilla’s age, Tim always found someway of avoiding the question. When her hips had been particularlybad one winter, necessitating medicine, Tim had only referred tothe pills as vitamins and came up with a lot of theories about whythe veterinarian was wrong, especially when the treatment hadworked. “Couldn’t have been a hip problem. She’s finenow!”
Ben decided to callsomeone else who knew a thing or two about animals.
“Can’t we just wear normalclothes?” Jason said when answering the phone.
“Up to you,” Ben said,managing a smile. “Shopping isn’t going well?”
“I blameWilliam. He looks good in everything. He’s like the mannequins theyhave on display. Most people don’t have all his curves and bulgesthough. By that I mean muscles, not uh…”
“I getit,” Ben said. “And I know exactly how you feel. Whatever youchoose, make sure it’s comfortable and that you actually like it.Who cares what anyone else thinks?”
