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Following her to some supply room, I asked, "What? Can't take reality?" My plan was to give her second thoughts. From my experiance with mom, I knew that caregiving was a large undertaking that required commitment, time and other things I didn't think Natalie could provide Dad.

"If by reality you mean twisted half truths then yeah..." She deadpanned whileopening a cabinet toget a box of latex gloves."I know for a fact that your grandfather's incapacitation was temporary"

"My grandma was still overwhelmed." I told her calmly.

"Don..."

"What makes you more qualified to make these decisions on Dad's behalf?" I asked. Come on! I knew Dad way better than she did.

Before she could answer, a vexed young woman in kitten scrubs ran into the room.

"A Mr. Grot demands to see you."

"Oh...?"Natalie tried to have a facade of calmness, but her eyes showed her worry.

"About what?" I asked.

"Mostly to complain"the young womansaid vaguely.

"What's going on?" I asked. Was Natalie doing something shady in her line of work?

"Nothing..you just can't satisfy everybody" Natalie replied.

"Tell him Dr. Core will be right with him" I told the young woman.

"Uh..okay" she scampered off.

"What the hell did you do?" I ran all sorts of things in my mind. I had to know, this was the woman my father gave power of attorney too.

she closed the door and whispered."Sometimes, people want their pet put down for frivolous reasons, and refuse to take no for an answer or even think about giving the animal up for adoption."

"So you sedate the animal,and giveit to someone else" I guessed. How else would she fool the man?"While taking people's money"

"I can't in good conscience euthanize a healthy animal!"

"It was healthy?"

"Yeah!"

"What was the owner's reason, then?"

"over agressive behavior. He feared it would bite someone"

"That wasn't the case?" I asked.

"No! It was just lack of good training. The new owners have taken the dog to obediance school, and are doing great!" How could she know that the dog wasn't over agressive based on a short visit?

"No offense, but you don't live with the dog." I pointed out andasked . " And Why didn't you just say no upfront?" . I'd want my vet to do that"Or suggest other options.? "

"I did, but he wouldn't listen, so I pretended to agree"

I demanded"How am I supposed to trust that you're not gonna blow off dad's final wishes?"

She looked offended. Not that I gave a damn."What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me?" I repeated with scorn. "Maybe it's the fact that my father's wishes are going to be ignored by someone who think she knows better"

"Don..."

"What if that Dog bites someone in the future? You ever think of that?"

She argued. "Don, people lie, animals don't. That dog growled, and barked alot, but wasn't a danger. The owner said that line of B.S to manipulate me into agreeing."

"Did he now?"

"Look, Don, unless they taught you about animal behavior at Quantico, you gotta trust me on this, if nothing else. I've worked with animals almost half my life."

I hinted. trying to keep my cool,"Well, they did teach me about something called, fraud"

"Come on! I did what I had to do to save the dog!"

"You're treading on very thin ice here." I told her and wondered if she had done this before. My guess was yes.

She countered "I know, but something had to be done"

I got an idea;,that could rectify the situation with this power of attorney thing, especially for Dad's sake. He deserved better than to have Natalie as his medical proxy. Something had to be done.

I said carefully, after a pause"Come to think of it...I might be willing to help you smooth things over..."She'd probably need some help, staying out of trouble for this.Natalie couldhave problemswith the law, and even have her clinic's reputation ruined. That could be enough incentive to get her to accept my proposition.

She folded her arms."Something tells me that this favor isn't going to come cheap"

TBC