Have you ever had to make a big decision in the place of someone else? How about choosing between life and death for someone who can’t say a word? Have you ever done that? And what if you had to do this on a day that should have been one of the best days of your life? Sucks, doesn’t it?
The day started at my Grandparents house, smelling of cooking, cut grass, flowers, and dog hair. My grandparents’ dog, an English springer spaniel puppy named Tucker, ran back and forth through the house, sniffing and licking everything in his path. One of the doors in the hallway opened, revealing my dog, Snickers, who was an interesting and very cute combination of Lab, Beagle, and Chihuahua. Tucker wagged his stump of a tail, which shook his whole body, and barged into the room, nearly knocking Snickers off of his feet. Tucker started jumping around Snickers, trying to get him to play, but Snickers was older and didn’t want to play. In fact, Snickers had gray all around his muzzle and on his thighs, which used to be black and brown. He gave a quick nip at Tucker then sunk into one of the couches to sleep. Tucker whined, but eventually gave up on Snickers and attacked a half-eaten nylon bone.
“Time to go see your new house!” my Grandma hollered.
My Grandpa dragged Tucker into his crate, and we left.
“Can you believe that your house is so close to Grandma and Grandpa’s?!” my Grandma exclaimed. “Plus, you get the biggest room in the house, even though it’s in the basement.”
I walked around the empty room. Sun was shining through the window, which wasn’t a window but an egress, showing tiny particles floating in the room. A spider hid in a crevice by the closet, its web disturbed by the sudden movement in the room. Wait, not the room, my room.
“Well, me and Grandpa are going to head home, you and the girls and your mom should go shopping to stock your food cupboards,” my Grandma said. She left, and soon after, so did our little group to go shopping.
I’m not going to say much about our shopping trip. I really don’t like shopping, and it’s not the main part of this story, but you know we went shopping, so… the next thing that happened was the call. Mom was driving to yet another store, we had already been to about three or four, and it had gone off to being more than just food we were buying, like always.
My Grandma’s voice sounded panicked on the other end of the phone. “Jill, you need to come home, Snickers is still lying in the same spot that we left him in and he’s not responding to us. It’s been hours since you’ve been gone.”
Mom looked at me. We both knew what had happened. He had had another seizure, and this one was serious.
Lately, Snickers has been having these seizures. He’s been checked by a vet but they said it wasn’t anything serious, so we just gave him something after he has one. He is usually out of it, looking like a drunk man on the street, right after a seizure, but he snaps out of it within a couple of minutes.
Mom took a deep breath and said, “We’re on our way.”
Everything that happened next seemed to be that type of moment that almost seems to be a blur, but is also crystal clear at the same time. When we got to my Grandparents’ house, My Grandma was panicking and my Grandpa looked like he was trying to handle the situation but didn’t know what to do. Even Tucker seemed anxious, as if he knew what was happening. As soon as my sisters saw Snickers just lying on the couch, wide-eyed but not seeing anything, they started to bawl their eyes out, so my Grandpa took them to another room. Mom talked soothingly as she approached him.
