Chihuahua Karma
Page 25
Epilogue
I would like to say that CJ, Larry and Zoya shared a spot in hell. But, in fact, Larry was in possession of certain information that guaranteed him a silver-tongued lawyer with high-level connections. While CJ split rocks in Joliette, Larry languished in a cushy white-collar establishment in rural Minnesota. He spent the next three years gazing at cows and lifting weights with former politicians. By the time he was released on good behavior to do community service, he had finally managed to get rid of that annoying baby bump.
Zoya now works in the Russian Tea Room where she grudgingly pushes beet salad and blinis at overfed tourists.
Suzie moved to California with her baby’s father and, to Mrs. Lins’ great joy, became a receptionist in a strip-mall optometry office.
Don Paco and Veronica have vanished, their atoms happily scattered to the winds of the universe. Even in Don Paco’s absence, Mrs. Dichter continues to thrive. The zombies never tire in their quest for garbled information from the other side. Everyone is replaceable, and she was rewarded with another equally gifted spirit guide.
And on the last day of winter, Richard, Lucille, Sugar and I walked across the park to Nathan’s Bar and Grill—the most pet-friendly restaurant in the city, as Nathan liked to remind us. There, surrounded by Richard’s favorite patients and their human companions, we were married. The setting sun shone through the bar’s stained-glass windows. Nathan had filled the room with enough candles to impress even Cristoff. Our little group gathered in the glow of crackling logs laid in the old stone fireplace. Lucille and I wore velvet dresses, hers the color of the flames behind us and mine matching the wine we were about to drink. One of Nathan’s City Hall friends led us in reciting the traditional vows. Those lovely promises have been made by thousands of hopeful couples, and yet the words never lose their poetry or their power to bring tears. Lucille and Edmund were ring bearers. They also, in a feat worthy of Firefly and Magnus, kept all the canine guests happily entertained. Sugar, although dressed in an expensive new outfit from Chi Couture, whined inconsolably throughout the ceremony. After the rings were exchanged, Nathan played “Auld Lang Syne” on the piano, and we sang goodbye to our old lives and welcomed our future.
Did we live happily ever after? The best fairy tales always pair a poison apple with the prince’s kiss. We worried constantly about money. There was never quite enough. I replaced Richard’s assistant Sally and worked alongside him. We had a reputation for never turning a sick animal away, which meant that we were often overworked and underpaid. When Lucille wasn’t in school, she helped out too. As she watched Richard, she became fascinated with animals. She had a rare gift of empathy that cats and dogs instinctively loved and responded to. She still dreamed of an Olympic medal, while I imagined that someday she would be a wonderful vet herself.
Sugar spent her days with us at Richard’s office. Although Lucille and Richard couldn’t possibly have imagined the adventure that Sugar and I had shared, they understood that she was special. We each tried in our separate ways to make her part of our family. As I grew into Charmaine’s body, I hoped that her soul would find another home and that someday Sugar would really be just a very tiny dog.
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