“Dayee,” he said softly, one small hand cupping the stubble on my chin before he rested his head in the crook of my shoulder.
“Owen, shhhhh,” I told him softly.
He turned his head back and forth to get comfortable and then rolled fully onto his side. Sarge let out a sound in his sleep, and then he too was snoring again softly. I mentally went over my safety plan. I’d checked all the doors and windows twice. Even though I didn’t tell Tina I was checking closets, we didn’t keep ours closed unless Owen was running around, and I’d gone through them pretending to be looking for something. Then I’d made sure my pistol was in the keyless safe next to my bed. I felt on top of it, on the piece of felt and foam rubber I used to keep the pistol’s finish clean when I was working the safe or reloading a magazine. It had been put away. In fact, I hadn’t even carried it to the reception.
With Owen in bed with Tina and me, I went over everything. After a few minutes of listening to everyone sleep, I was convinced with my mental checklists that everything was safe. I closed my eyes in the darkness and was soon close to drifting. It had to be late night or early, early morning, but I wasn’t for sure. All I knew was everyone was here and in the room with us, if not on the bed. Opus no longer wanted to sleep on the bed with us, but Ophelia had no problems taking his place. She’d become like glue to me. It was funny, when I’d first met Opus, he’d taken to me quite well, and Tina had accused him of being traitorous.
I think Ophelia realized that Opus had been just keeping me happy and it was her job to watch over me now. She sure acted like it and never let me forget that she was on the job, even if she didn’t talk to me as much as Opus. I still needed to learn her body language a bit, or she needed more Opus lessons.
A phone call in the dark had me almost shooting up, but I felt Owen’s weight and held myself back.
“Tina,” I said, patting her shoulder.
“I’m on it,” she said sleepily.
I extricated myself from under Owen as she found the landline cordless phone and answered it.
“Hello?” she asked.
I waited, but it sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher was on the other end of the line.
“Oh no… yes, yes… Don’t you worry, Annette.”
I sat up and snapped on the light, making all of us squint and causing Ophelia to roll off the bed in an undignified flop. She huffed her displeasure.
“What’s going on?” I asked sleepily, pulling a pillow to block Owen from rolling off my side of the bed.
“It’s Bud,” she said, one hand over the phone.
“Don’t you worry, we’ll be right up. Uh huh… I know, you just have to… yes. I know you are. I love you too. I’ll see you in a few hours,” Tina said with tears in her eyes. “Yes, no, no don’t… You… Trust me, we’ll be there. Uh huh. I promise we’ll drive safe. See you soon.”
I was already adjusting the running mental list that went through my brain like the green letters flashing across the programmer’s screen in the Matrix movies.
“How bad?” I asked her.
“They took him by ambulance. His heart stopped. She’s waiting to hear from the surgeon,” Tina said, walking over and sitting on my lap.
Opus got up and stretched as Tina wrapped her arms around me. Bud. He’d cheated death, and by all accounts should have died when he’d had his stroke two years ago. Now he was… was he dead? I wanted to cry too, and I rested my chin on top of her head and held the tears back. Opus walked over and put his head on both of our legs and let out a low whine, a mournful sound.
“He knows,” Tina said, starting to sob.
“He can understand people,” I told her, our shorthand on how he understood English.
“I… I told her that we’d—”
“I know. We need to get Owen changed, pack the diaper bag, probably a week’s worth of diapers and wipes… I’ve got go bags in the van, but we need more clothes.”
“We left clothes in War Wagon,” Tina said, turning her head to look up at me.
“Yes, but we’ll need some warmer stuff. I think we just left jeans and t-shirts.”
“You don’t mind?” she asked me.
“Hell no,” I told her and then stopped as Owen made a sound.
We both cringed and looked, but the little tyrant let out a soft burp and cuddled into the pillow where I’d just been laying.
“What time is it?” I asked her.
“Almost 3am,” Tina said.
“Half hour to pack, we’re mostly loaded, have food at the RV… water?” I asked her.
“We can always fill our containers up there to save time,” Tina said. “Bud and Annette said if we ever needed…” She started sobbing again, and I pulled her close.
Ophelia belly crawled across the bed, careful not to disturb Owen, and rolled on her side. She put a paw on Tina’s leg. She looked down and smiled, despite the tears. Sarge, by this time, had woken up as well, but he sat at the door, looking a little confused by what all was going on.
“Ok, let’s get it all going. I’ll do the baby furniture if you want to get his clothes and diapers all set.”
“I can,” she said, steel in her voice, as she slid off my lap and onto her feet.
“I just hope we have enough time—”
“We can always pray,” Tina said.
With that, I went and started tearing down the Pack-n-Play under the watchful gaze of the dogs.
“Sarge is sick, real bad,” I told Opus, who was eye to eye with me.
Opus chuffed, then put his wet nose behind my ear and gave me a gentle lick. He knows, he understands. This, of course, got Ophelia’s interest and she came over and tried to see what Opus had been up to. I finished the Pack-n-Play and then put it on top of the changing table, so I could get clothes out of the closet.
3
Opus
Opus was confused at first, hearing the second name of the old human he liked. He knew his humans had to be talking about him because he could hear the old human’s mate speaking. She sounded upset, and that made something in him ache almost as much as the old bullet wound that he would bite and itch at when the water fell from the sky and bright lights lit up the night with a sound like his human’s guns.
He could see sorrow and fear in the faces of both, and saw the littlest human pup still sleeping. Knowing he was needed, he walked over to Rick and stuck his nose in his neck and gave him a comforting lick, then turned to the rest of the pack he ruled over. Using body language and almost sub-audible vocalizations, he let his mate and pup know that his humans needed tending to, and he thought they were going to be on the move. Maybe even up to where the evil squirrel army lived. Opus was unsure if the squirrels would be out in this cold, but as long as he could keep an eye on his humans, he might get a chance to chase one down.
The little brown things with big rear legs were easier to catch and far more abundant, but Opus remembered the mocking chitter as acorns rained down on him after his jaws closed on a squirt of fur that had just escaped.
He shook his head, seeing Rick putting the human pup’s gear up, and focused. He was so tired, but he knew it was time to sleep soon again. Sarge pup almost tripped up his human woman, Tina, and he gave him a low growl and a nip near the back leg. Sarge spun, but saw he wasn’t playing. Instead, Opus followed Rick out of the room to the front door, and his mate Ophelia followed. She was younger, but never missed an opportunity to try and make Opus jealous of the human she had adopted. She was trying to help him now as he wrestled the door open.
“Ophelia, no,” Rick said, pulling the end of the Pack-n-Play out of her jaws.
Opus sneezed in amusement, and Rick locked gazes with Opus and rolled his eyes. Ophelia let go, and Opus chuffed to her. She sneezed back. With a sigh, he shot out the door after Rick. The screen door hadn’t banged shut yet, and he heard two bodies hit it and the scrambling of paws to match his.
“Bud had a heart attack, or a stroke or…” Rick told them as he got the side d
oor open to the big green vehicle Opus loved to ride in. In it, his humans carted him around like the king he was.
Opus let out a whining note of concern and got in. His usual spot was split in half with a large contraption that held the smallest human pup, called Owen, in place. He got in on the other side as Rick slid the baby cage behind the seat.
“You going to stay in here or come on back in?” his human man, Rick, asked.
Opus laid down next to the big seat, making himself fit.
“Ok, I’m going to leave the door open. Not sure I can leave these other two goofballs alone out here. You guys go potty, it’s going to be a long ride.”
Sarge let out a happy bark and started wagging his tail so hard he almost fell over in excitement over the word ‘ride’. Opus let out a sigh and looked over at Ophelia. She’d found something interesting by the fence to sniff and though he was tempted, he sat there. He would go investigate before more packages and the little human were loaded. For now, sleep. Dream. Go to the place where his side didn’t ache, and the bad men didn’t keep him from protecting the humans he loved.
“Rick, you know… this was good practice on how long it takes us to bugout,” Tina said quietly.
“I know,” Rick told her. “I just worry that we took too much time—”
“It’s ok, we haven’t heard back from Annette. No news is good news,” Tina interrupted.
Opus shifted, feeling relaxed and more awake than he had earlier. He yawned and slid off the bed, barely missing his pup. Sarge let out a loud yawn, complaining about being woken up, but Opus ignored him and pushed his way to the front between his humans. He got his ears scratched by the woman and laid his head on her leg, swaying with the movements of the big green van.
“We’re almost there, buddy,” Rick told him, adding a hand to his back, scratching in the spot that made his bad leg dance.
He couldn’t help it, it was sore, but it felt good and soon his leg was thumping, inches from his mate’s head. She let out a moan and then moved to jump up in the spot Opus had occupied. He decided to sit.
“Actually, this is our exit,” Tina said.
Opus leaned against the seat with the coming movement of the vehicle and waited. Soon he would see the old couple he loved to visit so much.
4
Rick
We’d left both Ophelia and Sarge in the van for the time being. I’d unrolled two of my sleeping bags and neither of the dogs had had a problem burrowing inside of them to warm up. Tina and I had gotten out of the house in record time and while she’d gotten the baby unhooked from his car seat, I had gotten the other two dogs ready. I’d put their bowl down and added half a bottle of water. Both just looked at me like they were upset that they had to stay behind. I understood that, and I probably would have taken Ophelia in with me if it wasn’t for Sarge. He wasn’t as trained and polished yet.
Opus, on the other hand, had been volunteering with Tina in hospitals and she had a special harness with tags and paperwork showing that he was a certified therapy dog. I could see he was getting older by the way he moved. The bitter cold must be hell on his old injury, or he was too stiff. In a way, it was heartbreaking to see him slowing down. But I’d slowed down a little bit myself. Not the writing so much as mentally. I was now an adult. Married, with a baby man.
“Hurry,” Tina said.
“I need to figure out where—”
“I know where to go,” Tina said, Owen in her arms.
We hadn’t brought the stroller in with us; Tina had grabbed the little tyrant, and I’d snagged the diaper bag. I had the leash stuffed in the pocket of my coat, but Opus wasn’t leaving Tina’s side.
“We need to go to 302,” Tina said to the guy sitting behind the counter of the ER intake area.
“I… family?” he asked.
“Yes,” Tina lied, though it was a small one.
“Go ahead,” he said and hit a button somewhere under the desk.
The door buzzed, and Tina already had it open.
“Ma’am… never mind. I see his vest,” he said as we both darted through, following in Tina’s wake.
Opus chuffed, then whined.
“I know, buddy,” I said, power walking to keep up with her. “We’re all worried about Bud.”
He let out another whine and went ahead of me a bit to keep up with Tina. I worried that she was going too fast while holding the baby and that if Opus got under her feet… But that didn’t happen. She stopped at an elevator and pushed the button for up.
“How do you know this place so well?” I asked her.
“The last time. Same layout, same floors. Annette gave me the room number, but I don’t know if he’s in there yet.”
“Oh, I hadn’t realized he had a room. Maybe it’s—”
Annette stepped off the elevator, her head down. Tears streaked her face, and she walked right into me. I dropped the diaper bag and caught us both before we could tumble down.
“Sorry, I—”
She looked up and saw me. She started sobbing and wrapped her arms around my chest. Tina had turned, and I saw something in her break as a tear fell down her cheek.
“Bud?” I asked.
“It was his time,” she said between sobs.
I looked around and saw a bench about ten feet back and made a head nod. Tina nodded back.
“Opus, with me,” she said before scooping up the dropped diaper bag.
“Gammy!” Owen shouted cheerfully.
“Hi there, Master Owen,” Annette said, wiping her eyes.
“They got his heart restarted in the ambulance. They think he was in a coma, but he didn’t survive the operation,” Annette said after her third cup of coffee and an hour of sitting on a hard bench. We’d since moved to the cafeteria, but she’d been too upset to do much talking until now. Her eyes were red, but she kept making faces at Owen once in a while and he’d get a grin out of her.
“I’m so sorry,” Tina said for the hundredth time.
Annette was sitting between Opus and Tina with baby Owen walking and crawling all over the spot we’d staked out in the cafeteria.
“I... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dump this all on you guys. I just—”
“Bud was like a father to me,” I told her. “I just wish I had visited more.”
“He knew and appreciated all of it,” Annette said, reaching over and patting my hand.
“I just…” Tina started.
“It’s weird. Doctor Brett said he never should have survived the last time, but he did. We knew from that moment on that his time was short. Heck, his COPD was getting worse.” She paused to take another sip of the industrial grade sludge the hospital claimed was coffee. “But knowing it was coming and thinking I had everything in my mind…”
She put her head down. Owen took the opportunity and pulled at a lock of her hair, oblivious to what had caused her to lean over.
“Gammy,” he said, pushing himself further between Opus and Annette. “Gammy sad?” He asked in baby speak, though everyone could understand.
She reached down and pulled him into her lap. He let out a surprised squeak and then leaned in close, putting his head on her neck. I saw one eye looking my way, and I gave him a sad smile. He opened and closed his tiny hand. An Owen wave. Tina caught my gaze, and there was something in her eyes that I could only identify with as a feeling of great loss. I felt it too. Annette wrapped my little guy in both arms and hugged him back.
“I’m sad right now, Bubba, but I won’t be forever. Being able to hear you talk so clearly is helping me cheer up though.”
“Owwwwwwwwwwn,” he said wiggling, “yuce.”
She lowered him, and he came over my direction. I had the diaper bag and was feeling inside the insulated pocket and found one of several cups Tina had packed. I handed him the cup and he sat down and leaned back, sipping.
“I wonder how much he realizes is going on around him?” Tina asked, probably trying to distract Annette and herself from the sadness t
hat was going on around them.
“I bet almost all of it,” Annette said. “And after that hug, I think I’m feeling better.”
She got to her feet, careful not to step on the little man. Opus turned and sat up, his head cocked to the side.
“You too,” Annette said, rubbing his head.
“I’m going to go talk to somebody in charge,” Annette told us. “I don’t know what happens next.”
“Want some company?” I asked her.
“Teenky!” Owen said, suddenly putting his cup down and pushing himself to his feet.
“What’s stinky?” Tina asked.
The little tyrant snickered.
“Ok, I’ll take diaper duty. How about you go with Annette and I’ll catch up in a few?”
“Oh you don’t have—”
“We love you like family. If you need us, we’re here to help,” Tina said, “I just need to call Char and ask her to manage the shop today, and I might as well take Opus outside and let the other yahoos out.”
“Call me if you can’t find us,” I told her Tina.
My phone buzzed as Annette was signing a form. I looked.
All done. Dogs are restless. Where R U?
First Floor, almost done. Meet you in atrium?
KK
“Is that Tina?” Annette asked, her voice rough with emotion.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said, pocketing my phone.
The funeral arrangements had been decided a long while back after Bud’s first scare. A quick phone call to them would get the rest of the ball running from here on out.
“No, it’s ok. I’m just glad you were here. I’m not sure…”
Her words trailed off and the administrator gave her a gentle pat on the hand. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said simply.
Opus Adventure Page 2
