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that’s right – we didn’t know his birthday so we said –’

      ‘– Oscar Night.’

      ‘What’s wrong, boy?’ Dr Spenser said to Dempsey, ruffling him under the chin. ‘He’s certainly not his usual happy self, is he?’

      ‘Nope.’

      ‘Well, I’d like to keep him in here for a few tests.’

      ‘I brought a stool sample like you asked.’

      ‘Thanks.’

      Todd produced a small Tupperware container of dog poop. ‘Well we’ll have that analysed. You want the container back? Just kidding. Don’t look so grim, Todd –’

      ‘I don’t like seeing him like this.’

      ‘It’s probably a virus he’s picked up. We’ll give him a few antibiotics and he’ll be good as new.’

      ‘But there’s something weird about his eyes. Look. He’s not even focussing on us.’

      Dempsey had raised his head, knowing full well he was being talked about, but plainly he was having some difficulty fixing his gaze on whoever was doing the talking.

      ‘This couldn’t just be old age, could it?’

      ‘I doubt it. He’s been a very healthy dog so far, and it’s my experience that a mutt like Dempsey is going to last a lot longer than some over-bred hound. You leave him with me. Check in with me at the end of the day.’

      Todd did that. The news was there was no news. The stool sample had gone to the lab to be analysed, and meanwhile Dempsey was looking weak, perhaps a little disorientated, but there’d been no noticeable deterioration in his condition.

      ‘You can either take him home tonight or leave him here. He’ll be perfectly fine here. We don’t actually have anybody monitoring the dogs from eleven p.m. till six in the morning, but the chances of –’

      ‘I’m going to come and collect him.’

      Despite Spenser’s reassurances that there had been no deterioration, Todd disagreed. Usually when he arrived at the vet’s after Dempsey had stayed in for a couple of hours, either for a shot, or his six-month check-up, he was greeted by the dog in crazy mode, yapping his delight at seeing his boss again, and ready to be out of the door before they could stick another damn needle in his backside. But today, when Dempsey came round the corner it seemed to take a moment before the dog even realized it was his master at the door, calling to him. And when he came, though some of his old enthusiasm returned, he was a shadow of his former self. Dr Spenser had already gone off-duty for the night. Todd asked if he could have her home number, but there were some things, it seemed, even being Todd Pickett couldn’t get you.

      ‘She’s got kids to take care of,’ the male nurse said. ‘She likes to keep this place and her home-life very separate.’

      ‘But if there’s an emergency?’

      ‘I’d recommend going to the twenty-four-hour animal hospital on Sepulveda. There’ll be doctors there all night if anything were to happen. But honestly, I think it’s some virus he’s picked up out at the dog park, and it’ll just take a course of antibiotics.’

      ‘Well can I take some antibiotics then?’ Todd said, getting a little irritated with the casual way Dempsey’s case was being treated.

      ‘Dr Spenser doesn’t want to give Dempsey anything till she’s got some results from the stool sample, so I’m afraid there’ll be no drugs for Dempsey until tomorrow.’

      Dempsey didn’t eat. He just looked at the bowl of food Marco had prepared for him, and turned up his nose at it.

      Then he went to lie on the back step and stayed there for the rest of the evening.

      In the middle of the night Todd was woken by what sounded like the effects track from The Exorcist, a stomach-wrenching series of mumblings and eruptions. He switched on the bedroom light to find Dempsey at the bottom of his bed, standing in a pool of bright yellow puke. He looked horribly ashamed of having made a mess, and at first wouldn’t come to Todd to be petted, but when he did – and Todd had his arms around the dog – it was clear he was in a bad way. Dempsey’s whole body was cold, and he was trembling violently.

      ‘Come on, m’man,’ he said. ‘We’re gonna take you to get some proper Dring.’

      The noise had woken Marco, who got dressed to drive while Todd held onto Dempsey, who was wrapped in his favourite comforter, a quilt Todd’s grandmother had made for her grandson. The dog lay sprawled over Todd’s knee, all one hundred pounds of him, while Marco drove through the almost empty streets to Sepulveda.

      It was five minutes after five in the morning when they arrived at the animal hospital, and there were just two people waiting with their pets to be helped. Even so it took twenty-five minutes before a doctor could be freed up to see Dempsey, during which time it seemed to Todd that Dempsey’s condition worsened. His shaking became more violent than ever, and in the midst of one of his spasms, he convulsively shat brown gruel, mostly on the floor, but on Todd’s leg and shoe too.

      ‘Well now,’ said the night doctor brightly, ‘what seems to be the trouble?’

      Todd gave him an exhaustive run-down on the events of the last day. He then asked Todd to pick Dempsey up and put him on the examination table – choosing this particular instant to remark what a fan of Todd’s he was, as though Todd could have given a damn at that moment.

      Then he examined the dog, in a good and thorough manner, but making asides throughout as to which movies of Todd’s he and his wife had particularly enjoyed and which they hadn’t. After about five minutes of this, seeing the expression of despair and anger on Todd’s face, Marco quietly mentioned that Mr Pickett was really only interested right now in the health of his dog. The doctor’s mouth tightened, as though he’d just been badly offended, and his handling of Dempsey (at least to Todd’s eyes) seemed to become a little more brusque.

      ‘Well, you have a very sick dog,’ he said at the end of the examination, not even looking at Todd but talking to Marco. He was plainly embarrassed by his earlier show of fanboy enthusiasm, and was now over-compensating for it wildly.

      Todd went to sit on the examination table to cradle Dempsey, which put him right in the doctor’s line of sight.

      ‘Look,’ he said quietly, ‘I’m sorry if I’m not being quite as appreciative of … your support of my pictures as I would normally be, Doc. It’s nothing personal. I’m sure we could have a great conversation about it under different circumstances. But I’d like Dempsey comfortable first. He’s sick and I want him better.’

      Finally the doctor managed a little smile, and when he spoke his voice had also quieted, matching Todd’s. ‘I’m going to put Dempsey on a saline drip, because he’s obviously lost a lot of fluids in the last twelve to twenty-four hours. That should make him feel a whole lot happier. Meanwhile, you said Dr Spenser over at Robertson VCA was doing stool checks?’

      ‘She said it could be a virus.’

      ‘Well … maybe. But looking at his eyes, it seems more systemic to me. If he were a younger dog I’d say parvo or heartworm, which is a parasite. But again, we commonly see toxo in pound dogs or strays, and I’m sure he’s had his heartworm medications. Anyway, we’ll see from the stool results tomorrow.’

      ‘Wait, wait. You’re saying it could be parvo or heart-worm, but you don’t really think it’s either of these?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘So what do you think it is?’

      The doctor shook his head. ‘I’d say there’s a better than fifty-fifty chance he’s got some kind of tumour. On the brain or on the brain-stem.’

      ‘And if

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