Day 17

Moffitt thoroughly checked to make sure he was alone in the house before opening the refrigerator and taking out the pitcher of iced tea that Jules had made the day before. He would only admit to himself that it had gotten too warm to stick with only hot tea for the day, and he didn't want Vanora, Jules, or Anah to poke fun at him after all the times he said he wouldn't drink iced tea. After Tully had made him try it years ago, Moffitt swore he would carry the secret of his enjoyment of iced tea to his grave, but the other Rats insisted they could see his enjoyment of it in his face. Oh, well. He would rather have this as his secret than something more detrimental, and he would take iced tea over soda any day. Iced tea didn't cause "unpleasant bodily functions."

There was a pleasantly fruity smell from the tea when he poured it into a glass, a sweet blend of berries and hibiscus, with the light tartness of lemon. Moffitt used a small glass, not wanting the decrease in the pitcher's contents to be noticeable, but he filled the glass all the way to the rim without spilling. After putting the pitcher away, he picked up his glass and savored his drink, all while watching a gray and white blur running back and forth outside the kitchen window.

Livna was a young Siberian husky that Moffitt had adopted the previous year. She had the run of the backyard, looking as happy as a dog could look. She paused once to look at Moffitt once she realized she was being watched, and smiled at him with her tongue lolling out. Moffitt grinned back, glad that Livna wouldn't tattle on him for drinking iced tea. The dog then proceeded to resume racing around the yard, while Moffitt continued enjoying his guilty pleasure.

He stopped when he heard a pained yelp, and set his glass down to sprint outside and see what happened. Livna was flailing her front left leg around, looking panicked. Moffitt couldn't see what the problem was, but did see one of the roses from a bush had fallen to the ground. He cursed under his breath before trying to get the crying husky to calm down. She was far too startled to listen to him.

"Livna, please, let me see your paw!" Moffitt knelt, unsure of what to do. He couldn't communicate with her the way he could a snake, and it made frustration and desperation build rapidly in his chest. No! If I panic, that won't help her calm down! He struggled to stay calm, moving closer to Livna and trying to put his arms around her so he could take and inspect her paw. He winced at hearing her cry out, but knew reacting in turn wouldn't help. A choking sensation rose in his throat when Livna turned to face him. "Come on," he said. "Let me see. I'm going to help, I promise."

He breathed a sigh of relief when the husky limped over to him, and worked quickly to pull the thorn out of the largest pad on her left paw. Fortunately, it hadn't embedded itself too deeply, but Moffitt was still firm about getting Livna inside to get her wound clean. He led her into the bathroom, and opened the medicine cabinet. "Alright, Livna, stay. Stay." Moffitt crouched on the floor. "That's it. Lie down. It's okay." He was gentle while cleaning Livna's paw pad, then put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. "Good girl. Stay."

Moffitt's own adrenaline was beginning to come down the longer he sat there. This was so minor. Why was I upset? He slowly removed the paper towel, checking to see if Livna's paw had stopped bleeding. When he saw the bleeding had indeed stopped, Moffitt picked up the kit to start dressing the dog's paw. "Am I doing a good job?" he asked while wrapping a bandage around her paw.

Livna's only response was to look at him.

"You trust me?"

Nothing. Not even a soft whine.

Moffitt sighed. "Why did I think this was a good idea? I don't understand dogs." He made sure the bandage was secured before leaning back against the bathtub, feelings of failure and inadequacy crashing over him. He had similar feelings with Jules for the first few months after Jules's birth, but they were magnified by Moffitt's persistent guilt at the time. Things turned out alright, didn't they? He was pulled from his thoughts by Livna putting her head on Moffitt's right knee. "Be honest with me, am I doing a good job with you? Do you think you're in a good home?"

Livna sniffed his face before licking his cheek. Moffitt had never been fond of the fact that licking was how dogs showed affection, but it wasn't something he could change. At least Livna wasn't offended by Moffitt's grimacing each time he was licked. He gently hugged the husky. "Well, as everyone likes to say to me, a dog's love is unconditional." He looked Livna in the eye when she rested her head against the front of his shoulder. "Where were you all my life? Maybe my feelings of guilt wouldn't have been so bad if I had just… let a dog in, but I refused to listen to anyone who suggested it."

They both looked outside the bathroom when the front door opened, and Vanora called, "Jack! We're home."

"Hello, darling," Moffitt said as he stood. "How are you?"

"Doing well." Vanora glanced down at Livna when the husky and Moffitt entered the kitchen. "Oh, no, what happened to your paw?"

"She stepped on a thorn outside. I took care of it."

"Should we bring her to the vet?"

"I don't think we'll need to, but we should still keep an eye on her, just in case."

Vanora looked out the kitchen window at the garden. "I should've been more diligent with the roses."

"I don't think that's your fault. It looks like some insects got to it and weakened the stem."

"Still." Vanora looked up at her husband. "At least nothing too terrible happened. Are you sure you're alright, Jack?"

"Yes. Why?"

"You have that nervous look on your face again."

Moffitt waited until Jules had gone into the bathroom to say anything. "I panicked when trying to help Livna, and I started questioning if I had made the right decision to get her in the first place, because I'm not exactly well-versed with dogs."

Vanora looked down at the husky, who was now leaning against Moffitt's leg. "I think that tells you that you made the right choice. We're all glad to see you've changed your mind about dogs."

"Not every dog," Moffitt said. "Need I bring up North Africa?"

Vanora sighed. "Jack, you're going to be bringing up the dog from North Africa for years and maybe even decades to come."

"Of course I am, because that was an example of a very bad dog." Moffitt leaned down to pet Livna. "And this is a very good dog."

Jules left the bathroom about a minute later, and entered the kitchen to get the pitcher of iced tea from the fridge. He paused upon seeing the small glass of slightly warm tea on the counter, and gave his father a lopsided smirk. "Hey, Dad, is this yours?"

Oh, blast. Moffitt's face turned red. "It… um…"

"The fact that you actually like iced tea isn't a secret, love," Vanora said.

Moffitt couldn't come up with an argument, so he snatched up the glass and finished its contents in a couple of swallows. After putting the glass in the sink, he said, "Forget you saw anything."