Lost & Found - Jacqueline Sheehan [66]
“There he is, there’s the good boy,” said the man.
Cooper gave a polite show of interest. He rose and sniffed the man’s hand.
“You remember me boy, don’t you?” he said.
“Rocky, this is Ed and Jan Townsend. This is our Animal Control Warden who saved Cooper and has been taking care of him for the past month or so.”
“I’m sorry about your daughter,” said Rocky. She remembered to say this when she saw the familiar grip of grief in the man’s eyes. Jan looked more complicated; her lips were pressed together in ancient anger and Rocky suspected that the strong aroma of cigarette smoke came from her. Her husky voice confirmed it.
“Thank you for taking care of the dog. It hasn’t been easy closing an estate with someone like Liz. We’ve had to take care of a lot things that Liz tried to destroy,” said Jan.
Rocky knew that the relationship between mother and daughter had been ruptured by Liz’s disorder, but she had expected death to soften her. Rocky was jolted by the anger that washed over the woman.
“Do you mean Cooper’s injury? No, no. I’m sure that Liz didn’t harm Cooper, if that’s what you mean. I was just up in Orono yesterday and spoke to a friend and the vet who took care of him. Liz loved this dog—” said Rocky.
“You don’t understand,” said Jan. “Our daughter was very sick. She had a bipolar disorder. Manic depressive. You don’t know what we have gone through with her since she was first diagnosed when she was nineteen years old. Hospitalizations, calls at three A.M., our credit cards maxed out,” said Jan. Neither one of them moved to take off their coats.
“When was the last time you spoke with your daughter?” asked Rocky.
Jan had not made one move to the dog even when Cooper sniffed her shoes. When he attempted to sniff her crotch, she pushed him away.
“I don’t see the point in this, but we hadn’t talked with her in nearly two years. We offered to let her live at home so we could monitor her medications and make sure that she attended therapy. Once Ed’s father died and left the house in Orono to her, we didn’t have as much leverage. We had to set boundaries with her to keep our own sanity. She refused to abide by our rules and we had no choice,” she said.
Ed cleared his throat. “We’re going back on the next ferry, so if you could hand over the dog, we’ll be on our way. We can manage from here.”
Cooper sat down with his haunches wedged against Rocky’s feet. Her running shoes still held the sand and salt from this morning’s walk. Her hand went automatically to his head and she rubbed the loose skin of his scalp. The cat, in a moment of rare congeniality, rubbed up against Cooper’s leg. The dog tilted his head to one side and peeked down at the cat in surprise.
“I suppose there are vet bills to take care of. How much do we owe?” said Jan.
“That bill was taken care of. I paid it, well most of it. We got a deal from the vet. He lives on the island,” said Rocky.
Isaiah rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know that you paid his vet bill.”
“I’ve gotten sort of attached to this guy and I want to let you know that I would be willing to keep him. If you two don’t really want a dog, I mean, they’re a big responsibility, and not everyone really has time for a dog like this—”
“We take care of our own. We’re cleaning up after our daughter and this is part of what she left,” said Jan. Had Liz’s illness washed all the life out of this woman? Or had Jan always been this way?
“Cooper is not part of a mess. He’s a dog who loved your daughter and was loyal to her. If you think that you’re not going to have time for him, I’ll take him. He likes it here. He likes me,” said Rocky
Ed unzipped his jacket several inches. “This might not be a bad idea, honey. He did overpower the house the last time he was there.”
“No. I just hired someone to put a run in the backyard and we have