A Masterpiece Gone

Chapter Nine

Jessie thought a ten hour flight back home would seal the deal to force some information out of Brendan in regards to his secret conversation with Jenny, but the flight left her nothing but confusion, exhaustion, and anxiousness.  The same afternoon Jenny popped in, Brendan did not even lie about Jenny stopping in to drop off the cargo net but he said nothing more and Jessie just had to leave it as that.  She did not want to start meddling in her husband's privacy, even if she felt she had a right to know what they were discussing in regards to her, as she would not want the same down with her own privacy.  However, she would not be honest with herself if she thought she was not the least bit curious of this Gianna that she was hearing for the second time now.  For a short while, though, Gianna had taken a temporary backseat in her mind as her closest furry companion took first place over everything.

"He's still not eating much," Jessie remarked as she sat with a decrepit Jackson outside on the patio.  Although there were houses in the far distance, the endless masses of healthy green grass beyond their property really made it feel like they were in the middle of no where on this warm May afternoon. 

Brendan finished the last third of his bottle of peach iced tea in one shot before setting it down on the glass end table next to his white wooden rocker.  "We've only been back for almost a week," Brendan remarked.  "You know how he gets when we're away from him."

Jessie stared down at Jackson's watery eyes that did not even seem to register their conversation as they stared vacantly at a covered BBQ set in the distance.  Gently patting his back, Jessie looked up at Brendan.  "This is far worse.  Mum said she noticed his lack of appetite towards the end of our trip, but like you figured he just missed us.  He barely wants to even move about.  I thought this laser therapy was supposed to be miraculous.  We were able to fit in the required three for the week so where's the change?"

Brendan looked at Jackson sympathetically and deep down was a bit concerned himself.  "You heard what the vet said at the first sessions.  It's a gradual process where change is evident after a few weeks," he reminded her.  "He's older now.  He perhaps isn't adjusting as well anymore when we leave him with your parents for so long.  When was the last time we had to do that?"

As she really thought about it, she realized that with her being on tour that it had perhaps been a good year and a half at least when she and Brendan had last been in New York together.  She knew while she was away on tour on the days where he had to travel a few days apart, Jackson stayed home with one of Brendan's dog expert acquaintances checking in on him.  "A really long time I suppose, but he didn't have arthritis back then.  What if he's just giving up, Brendan?" she asked fighting back tears.  

Feeling hopeless, Brendan slid down from his rocker carefully and took a spot on the multicolored Roterra slate tiling across from Jessie.  "He's getting up in years, but I think we really need to make a regular vet appointment if he stops eating and drinking all together," he concluded as he gave Jackson's body long strokes down his back.  "He seems to be drinking normally in spite of eating slightly less and always goes on the pad or outside with no accidents.  Usually really ill pets just lose control of their bodily functions."

While Jessie knew it was too soon for Jackson to just simply go from old age, she knew Brendan had a point.  She did wonder, though, if like humans animals could suffer from depression.  Maybe you can come with me for counseling, Jackson, she jokingly thought in her head to force away the water still threatening at the rims of her eyes.

"I just thought being outside here would help now that May just started and we've had an actual warm day, but he's even more listless out here it seems," she observed as Jackson continued to remain put with the same pained expression.