A Pup to Rescue Their Hearts

by Alison Roberts

  Angela introduced herself as a liaison officer between the police and social services. ‘...and you’re Stephanie, yes?’

  ‘I prefer Stevie.’

  Angela’s smile was friendly. ‘It’s good to meet you, Stevie. Please, sit down.’

  But Stevie remained standing. ‘I need to know what’s happening,’ she said. ‘I don’t understand why he’s been brought in here. He’s a good kid. I know he’d never do something like shoplifting.’

  ‘Please...’

  The older woman’s gesture towards the seat was a command Stevie couldn’t ignore and, to be honest, it was a bit of a relief to sit down. Her legs still hadn’t recovered from how fast she’d run from the hospital to this police station. She was still wearing her scrubs under her coat.

  ‘You’re living on Hastings Street, yes?’

  Stevie took a breath. She knew that high-density, inner-city living wasn’t ideal for kids but it wasn’t as if she was renting an apartment in some dodgy estate where she knew she’d be putting her son in danger.

  ‘It’s close to the hospital,’ she defended herself. ‘For my job. I’m a paediatric nurse. And there was a good school—King’s—within walking distance for Mattie. We only moved here a few weeks ago.’

  Angela’s nod was sympathetic. ‘The incident occurred at the corner shop on your street. Matthew was with a group of older boys and he was the only one the owner of the shop managed to catch. They were only stealing sweets but the owner’s had trouble with this gang of lads for quite a while and he was fed up enough to call us in to try and give them a fright.’

  A gang? Her serious, responsible boy was now part of a gang? Stevie shook her head. ‘He was supposed to go straight home after school and get on with his homework. I’m paying one of the neighbours to keep an eye on him until I get home from work.’

  ‘That would be Mrs Johnston?’

  ‘That’s right... How did you know?’

  ‘We took Matthew home to start with and he told us about the arrangement but Mrs Johnston wasn’t there. She’d left a note on the door to say she was sorry but that her daughter was sick and she’d had to go and collect her grandchildren. Anyway...that was why we decided to bring him back to the station for a while. Until we could contact you and have a chat.’

  To see for themselves whether she was a responsible parent? Whether Social Services might need to be involved? Stevie could feel her hackles rising.

  ‘I’ve been a single mother for more than eleven years,’ she said. ‘And we’ve managed just fine. We’ve never been in any kind of trouble with the police or anyone else. Ever...’

  Oh, help... She needed to take a deep breath. ‘I’m not saying it’s been easy. Moving to Gloucester is a new start for us but...it’s harder than I thought it would be, to settle in a new city. I know Mattie’s finding it a bit difficult to get used to a new school. He’s missing his old school friends.’

  ‘Do you have any family nearby for support?’

  Stevie shook her head. Her mother was hours away by train now. Twice as far as she’d been before she’d taken this huge step of starting a new life in this part of the country.

  ‘Is Matthew’s father involved?’

  Stevie’s head shake was a sharp dismissal of the idea. What would Angela think, she wondered, if she told her that the only involvement Mattie’s father had ever had in his life had been to offer her enough money to get an abortion? She’d never told anyone that because she would never let her son know how unwanted he’d been by one of his parents. Despite how much the pregnancy had derailed the life she had planned for herself and how incredibly hard it had been at times, Mattie was the best thing that had ever happened for Stevie and she loved her little boy more than she’d known it was possible to love anyone.

  Imagine if she’d been telling Angela about why he didn’t have a father in his life when Mattie was brought into the room by Tim the social worker—which was exactly what happened only moments after that question had been asked.

  Stevie got to her feet, her arm outstretched to gather her son to her side, but Mattie had his head down and looked as though he was almost shrinking into himself—as if he was trying to hide? Stevie dropped her arm. He certainly didn’t look as if he would welcome a hug from his mother right now.

  Tim introduced himself and then turned to Angela. ‘We’ve had a good chat, me and Matthew. I don’t think he’s going to be getting himself into any more trouble.’ He smiled at Stevie. ‘It’s been a bit of a shock, coming here in the squad car.’

  Stevie couldn’t smile back. It had been more than a bit of a shock having had to run here, wondering if this was another blow to the dream of the new and wonderful life—like that unfortunate encounter with the chief consultant of her paediatric ward the other day. Surely history couldn’t repeat itself to the extent that she’d need to pack up yet again and find another new start?

  ‘We’ve had a talk about other things Matthew could be doing after school before you get home from work. Did you know that King’s Primary School offers an after-school programme that runs until six o’clock?’

  Stevie nodded. She also knew how expensive it was.

  ‘I happen to know there are spaces held there for special kids.’ Tim’s tone was casual but the glance Stevie received over Mattie’s head suggested that he’d read her mind. That these ‘special’ spaces were funded by some kind of charity?

  Stevie could feel herself bristling again. She’d never accepted charity.

  ‘You’d quite like to try it out, wouldn’t you, Matthew? If I can sort it out for you?’

  Mattie still wasn’t making eye contact with his mother but he nodded in response to Tim’s query.

  ‘I’ll be in touch, then. Here’s my card, if you want to talk anytime. And there’s something else I thought might possibly be of interest.’ Tim handed Stevie a pamphlet. ‘We won’t hold you up any more now, though.’ He patted Mattie’s shoulder. ‘It’s been a pleasure meeting you,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want to see you back here anytime soon, okay?’

  Stevie barely glanced at the pamphlet but she could see it had a picture of a man and a boy walking in some idyllic-looking park. She shoved it into her shoulder bag.

  ‘Let’s go, Mattie. It’s time we went home.’

  Her legs still felt strangely heavy as she got to her feet, however. Her heart was feeling a bit on the heavy side, as well. It didn’t really feel like they were heading home at all, especially with how Mattie still had his head down as he was walking, scuffing his feet and refusing to respond to Stevie’s attempts to talk to him with anything more than grunts.

  ‘I’m not cross,’ she told him. ‘I’m guessing you only did what you did because you were trying to fit in. Or make friends...?’

  Her suggestion earned a shrug, along with a sound that was equally noncommittal.

  ‘We’ll talk about it later, okay? After dinner. Don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely starving.’

  The elevator in their apartment block was out of order. Again. Stevie had already been on her feet for so long it was a real effort to climb flight after flight of stairs. At least she didn’t have to worry about hauling a pram with her these days but she’d been wrong to think that life would magically get so much easier as Mattie got older. The challenges of being a single parent to a tiny baby had been enormous but, in retrospect, they had been simple.

  Mattie was now old enough and responsible enough to be able to keep himself clean and fed and entertained but the challenges were still there and seemed to be becoming far more complex.

  At some point, preferably later this evening, they were going to have to talk about all this and she could only hope they could work together to find a new approach that might help. If she had to swallow her pride and accept assistance that could give her boy access to resources like an after-school programme that might provi
de both company and enjoyment then so be it.

  At least she had Mattie’s favourite food in the freezer and it wasn’t bad parenting to allow a meal like fish fingers, chips and maybe a fried egg for a treat, was it—even if there wasn’t going to be a green vegetable in sight?

  * * *

  This wasn’t going well.

  The lad had barely said anything during their introductory meeting so far.

  ‘This was my mum’s idea, not mine.’ He got up from his chair and went to stare out the window. The room in this downtown building looked out over a busy road. ‘I don’t need a big brother.’

  ‘She’s coming today as well, yes?’ Josh looked over the boy’s head to where the social worker, Tim, was sitting on the other side of the room.

  Tim nodded. ‘She texted to say she’s running a bit late, but if Mattie was happy, we could go ahead and make a plan for what you’re going to do next time.’

  Josh was starting to wonder if there was going to be a next time. This serious young boy didn’t look as if he was going to welcome a stranger into his life. Only eleven years old and he was clearly practised in protecting himself. How sad was that? Sad enough to remind Josh of things about his own childhood that he’d buried long ago, anyway. He got up, moving to stand beside the lad at the window. He didn’t say anything—he just wanted to let him get used to him being close—but it seemed to have an instant effect of making the boy freeze.

  It was the gasp of horror that made Josh realise that Mattie wasn’t even aware of him standing there, however, and a split second later, the screech of brakes and then a squeal of tyres alerted him to what Mattie had been witnessing. A small dog had been hit by a car that was now accelerating away into heavy traffic, leaving the animal on the side of the road.

  ‘No...’ Mattie’s face was white, which made his eyes look even darker and more horrified as he looked up at Josh. He was trying hard not to cry. ‘It’s...dead, isn’t it?’

  ‘No.’ Josh glanced back through the window. ‘Look...he’s trying to get up now. Looks like he’s hurt his leg, though. Shall we go and see if we can help?’

  Mattie’s nod was vehement and he caught his breath, poised to bolt towards the door. Josh caught Tim’s gaze to check that it was okay to go outside with Mattie, seeing as they were only supposed to be having a family meeting here at the organisation’s headquarters today. Tim was nodding.

  ‘Josh is a doctor, Mattie. I’m sure he’ll be able to help that dog.’

  There wasn’t much they could do on the street, mind you, and there was nobody who seemed to be with the dog so Josh carried it back into the building. Tim found some towels and other things that Josh requested and Mattie crouched on the floor, staring intently at what Josh was doing as he examined the small, scruffy terrier.

  ‘I don’t think he’s badly hurt,’ Josh told him. ‘But, can you see that?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The shape of his leg?’

  ‘It’s different to the other leg, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well spotted.’ Josh smiled at Mattie. ‘And smart. That’s one of the things they teach us to do at medical school when we’re trying to find out what’s wrong—to compare one side with the other to see if it’s different. What do you reckon the problem is?’

  ‘Is it broken?’

  ‘I think so.’ Josh’s touch was very gentle but the dog yelped in pain.

  Mattie reached out to stroke the wiry little head.

  ‘Be careful. Even a friendly dog can bite if it’s in pain or really scared.’

  ‘He’s not going to bite,’ Mattie said. The dog whimpered but he had closed his eyes at the touch, as if it was comforting him.

  ‘He hasn’t got a collar,’ Tim said. ‘And he’s pretty dirty. I reckon he’s a stray, which could mean that nobody’s going to want to pay a big vet’s bill.’

  ‘I’ll pay it,’ Josh said. ‘Is there a vet near here that you know of?’

  ‘I’ll look it up.’ Tim picked up his phone.

  ‘We’ll need to make this little guy a bit more comfortable to take him to the vet,’ Josh told Mattie. ‘What I’ll do is wrap a towel around his leg and then you can help me bandage it into a kind of splint.’

  ‘There’s a vet clinic just a couple of blocks away,’ Tim reported a minute or two later.

  ‘Right. I’ll take him there now.’ Josh used another towel to wrap and scoop up the dog.

  ‘I’m coming too,’ Mattie said. He was already beside the door, his face both anxious but determined.

  Tim hesitated. Josh could see he knew he shouldn’t be breaking the Big Brother protocol of a supervised first meeting but this was an emergency. It had also been enough to break through the obvious reluctance Mattie had had to connect with somebody new. If he was forced to stay behind, he might well retreat behind barriers that would be even harder to breach.

  ‘Okay,’ Tim said, finally. ‘But you stay with Josh, Mattie. And don’t leave the clinic. I’ll bring your mum down as soon as she arrives.’

  Mattie’s gaze was fixed on the face of the little dog that was all that could be seen amongst the folds of the towel but then he glanced up at Josh and the expression on the boy’s face just melted his heart. He would never let it show, in front of relatives or even his colleagues, but there were times Josh felt that desperate to help a vulnerable baby or small child who was critically ill. Because of that, he knew how important it was to feel as if you could make a difference.

  ‘This little guy’s not too heavy,’ he said quietly to Mattie. ‘And I know he trusts you. Do you think you could carry him?’

  He could almost see the inches of height Mattie gained as he straightened up and nodded solemnly. As Josh placed the injured dog carefully into the boy’s arms, he caught his gaze again and that squeeze on his heart was there even more than before. This scruffy little dog had done more than provide a way for him to connect with this lad. By trusting Mattie to help with his care, Josh had taken a big step towards winning the trust of a child who reminded him of his much younger self.

  And it felt like the best thing that had happened to Josh in longer than he could remember.

  ‘Come on...’ He held the door open for Mattie. ‘Let’s do this...’

  * * *

  It was the second time in little more than a week that Stevie had had the stress of racing through the inner-city streets of Gloucester with no idea of exactly what she was heading towards.

  At least it wasn’t a police station this time but the fact that it involved someone from Social Services was enough to generate anxiety—especially given that Stevie was now very late for the appointment to meet the mentor Mattie had been paired with at the Big Brother programme. She was hardly going to come across as a shining example of great parenting when she couldn’t even turn up on time and Stevie also had a horrible feeling that, even though she’d showered and completely changed her clothes, she might still be carrying the taint of the unpleasant incident of the vomiting child that had delayed her departure from work.

  Even more worryingly, Tim the social worker was standing on the wide front step of the address she’d been given, clearly watching out for her.

  ‘Has something happened? Where’s Mattie?’

  Oh, help...had he run away or something? He hadn’t been that keen on the idea of coming here in the first place but, after that long talk they’d had about different things they could do to help him settle in a new home, he’d agreed to give it a go.

  ‘He’s just down the road, with his mentor, Josh. It’s okay...’ Tim added hurriedly as he saw Stevie’s expression. ‘I’ll explain on the way to the vet clinic. I just wanted to tell you face to face rather than with a text message that might have worried you.’

  By the time they arrived at the vet clinic, Stevie had been given the impression that the dog’s accident might have been a good thing an
d provided a much faster route than normal for a relationship to develop between a boy who might be in need of a male role model and his mentor.

  It was a bit of a shame that the match had been made with someone that had the same name as the man she was now doing her best to avoid in her new job but she could get past that if it was going to be a good thing for Mattie. Any interaction with Dr Stanmore had been minimal since she’d been so rude to him and she hadn’t even seen him in the distance today so it was easy to dismiss anything negative that the name stirred up.

  Besides, she was focused on Mattie as they were shown into the consulting room at the clinic. She hadn’t seen him look like this in a very long time—as if it was Christmas morning when he’d still been young enough to believe in the magic of Santa Claus, with the way his whole face was shining with excitement.

  ‘Mum...look... I helped fix his broken leg. He’s had X-rays and everything and I helped make the plaster cast. And Josh let me carry him all the way here and...he doesn’t have a chip so Josh says maybe he doesn’t even have a family and...can we take him home? Please...?’

  Oh, my... Stevie opened her mouth and then closed it again. What on earth could she say? As soon as Mattie was told that there were strict rules in their apartment building that no pets were allowed, she was going to see that animation—joy, even—drain from his face. She glanced at Tim but he just gave her a sympathetic look. The vet could see she needed help, however.

  ‘We can keep him overnight,’ she said. ‘There are some animal rescue sites on social media that we can put his photo on and, who knows, maybe we’ll find he does have an owner so he won’t need to go to the pound.’

  ‘No...’

  Mattie shook his head, turning away to look up at the man standing just behind him. A moment of silent communication that covered the shock of Stevie discovering that the name of the mentor her son had been paired with was not just a coincidence. That he was none other than the most senior doctor in her department and the man she’d practically accused of sexually harassing her.