won’t run when I see all the police dogs now.”
“Why are you doing this? Most people would think, hey, I don’t see scary dogs that often. I can live with that. But you go out of your way to confront the one thing that scares you the most.”
“I guess I’m just stubborn that way.”
Kelly polished off his sandwich. “Are you sure you’re okay? Some of those spines were buried pretty deep.”
“I know, it still stings like crazy. Thanks for coming out. I’m sorry I had to drag you away from work. I hope it wasn’t something important.”
“I can catch up.”
“Do you want some help? You can put me to work.”
“No, just take care of yourself. Tell Rusty ‘hi’ when he gets home.”
“Will do.”
Kelly headed to work and I quickly put my jeans into the wash before Rusty could see them. Then I showered, trying to erase as many of the scratches and scabs as possible. I felt every one of the little scratches and puncture wounds when the water hit them. They stung like fire. I scrubbed anyway and by the time I was through I was exhausted. I’d had enough pain for one day and flopped down on the bed to rest. Amos walked over and dropped a tennis ball on my stomach.
“You just don’t know when to stop, do you?” I scolded the dog.
I had to admit, Amos didn’t strike fear into me whenever he approached. He was big and powerful, but he liked me and he trusted me and I was starting to feel the same way about him. He eyed my shoes sitting on the floor by the bed.
“Leave it!” I told him and he lay down with a huff of disappointment.
I was moving mighty stiffly when I got up to make dinner. Each little puncture wound rubbed my jeans the wrong way and I debated whether to change into shorts. I decided to put off the inevitable questions from Rusty and kept my jeans on. I made a simple meal of tacos, hiding the meat in the microwave and the toppings in the refrigerator until Rusty got home. I had a long list of things I was supposed to do that day but none of it sounded like much fun after taking a run through a cactus. I took the jeans from the washer and put them in the dryer and decided to ignore the list.
Rusty came home and gave me a big hug and kiss just like usual. Then he went to his office to put some files away and then to the bedroom to hang up his coat and tie. I warmed up the taco meat again and started frying taco shells.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“You mean besides my daily disaster?”
“No, including.”
“Oh, then it was lousy. But now that you’re home it’s improving remarkably. How was your day?”
“I got into a little bit of a sticky situation, but it all worked out.”
“Sounds like my day too.”
The evening was quiet and peaceful which left us wondering if perhaps too many of our evenings were becoming a bit too quiet and peaceful. Typically Rusty came home from work and we would eat dinner. Later Rusty usually went over some files from the station. I either worked with Shadow or Amos or found something else to keep me occupied. We decided, before heading for bed, that an evening in town was what we needed.
That night I kept the lights dim hoping Rusty wouldn’t notice the hundred or so little puncture marks that covered my legs. I thought I’d managed to put off the inevitable until he wrapped himself around me and I gave a startled jump. Every time he touched a spot where we had pulled out a cactus needle it stung sharply.
“Mmm, this isn’t the way you usually react to me,” he said softly.
“Sorry, my sticky situation is telling on me. Where were we?”
“We were going to turn on the lights so I can see what you’re hiding from me.”
“Rusty, it’s not that big a deal.”
“That’s the magic phrase that confirms my worries.”
I’d have to remember not to say that again. He flipped on the light and I lay there in all my red, scabbed up glory.
“Cassidy! What did you do today?”
“I took Amos for a walk. We chased a rabbit.”
“You look like you’ve got localized chicken pox.”
“Okay, now that you’ve seen my legs and you know it’s nothing, lay down with me and I’ll tell you about it. By the way, Kelly says ‘hi’. I had to call him because Amos and I were covered in cactus needles. I felt so sorry for Amos. He didn’t understand what he’d done at all. One minute he was chasing a rabbit and the next he was full of cactus spines and he couldn’t move without them hurting. I had to pin him down so he wouldn’t hurt himself worse and then Kelly and I had to pull them all out.”
“You felt sorry for the dog.”
“Don’t worry so much. It was just a cactus.”
“I’m calling Kelly in the morning. I want to know how much you’re not telling me.”
“Please don’t. You’ll get mad at him, but he didn’t have any choice. You know I wouldn’t let him take me to a doctor. He tried, but I just started pulling them out myself, and he was forced to grab a pair of pliers and make it go faster. He didn’t want to pull them out, but when he saw me doing it, and how long it would take me he started pulling them out, too. So we finished faster. He did what he could. So don’t get mad at him.”
“Why wouldn’t you go to a doctor?”
“Because it hurt. I’d have had to walk home with those needles in me and ride to town with needles in me and then they would just do the same thing that we did out in the hills. So it seemed smarter just to get it over with. Some things you just have to toughen up and get through. It hurt, but it wasn’t serious. It just had to be done, so we did it.”
“Find a way to lay down where it’s comfortable. Just let me hold you without hurting you. Why didn’t you call?”
“I knew Kelly was closer and Amos knew him. I thought he could handle the dog better.”
“Why didn’t you call me afterwards?”
“Should I? I didn’t want you to worry and there wasn’t anything you could do.”
“I could have been here. I’d have felt better just being with you.”
“I can’t call you for every minor disaster that happens to me. You’d never get any work done. And there is a plus side to all this. I’m not afraid of Amos anymore. After pinning him down and wrestling with him to get out the cactus needles I mostly just felt sorry for him. There wasn’t any time to
