A black and brown Labrador with matted fur and a bleeding paw limped down the alley between Helen’s Bakery and Debenhams Department Store. It rounded the corner onto an abandoned nook and whined at a sturdy wooden door, tattered with pigeon poop and duct-taped newspaper clippings.
The grown dog, despite its size, whined and pawed the door insistently. It spun once then sat down, its injured paw held up in front of it as the other continued to scratch the door. At the sound of jangling of metal, it stood up and wagged its tail wildly, its whining quieting immediately.
The door creaked on its old hinges and got stuck on the floorboards. A girl in her mid-twenties appeared from behind it, pushed it with her shoulder, slamming it open.
‘There we go … hey girl! How are you!’ she greeted the dog cheerfully, giving her head scratches and neck rubs. ‘I told you to stop coming from the backdoor; people will think we’re dealing drugs.’
As she went to grab the dog’s paw, it winced and began whining once again.
‘Oh no … Daisy, what did you do to yourself?’
She held out her hand, and Daisy gently placed her paw in the girl’s palm. The girl – neighborhood charity therapist and resident dentist Heidi – inspected the paw carefully. She noticed a small piece of metal dug in between her toes and into her fur.
Don’t go, just stay
Let’s stop time now
If I’m with you
I could die in this moment
‘Silly girl,’ Heidi sighed as she stood up and stepped aside, making way for Heidi to get in. ‘Look at your fur! I’ve only been gone two weeks and you’re already ragged and injured.’
‘Hey! Daisy’s back!’ her husband cheered from the dining table as the Labrador made her way to the man and started sniffing his knees. He responded by giving her head scratches and laughing. ‘Ah man, what did you do to yourself now?’
‘She has a metal thing stuck in her paw,’ Heidi explained as she grabbed a pair of tweezers from the basket atop the fireplace and sat cross-legged on the linoleum floor. Daisy limped over to her and gave Heidi her paw, which Heidi held carefully as she pried the metal out of her paw. Daisy whined and winced but waited until Heidi had successfully gotten it out and gave her the ok to set her foot down.
Heidi inspected the metal closely, holding it between the tweezer’s tips. ‘Huh. That’s weird.’
‘What is?’ her husband asked, eyes locked on his laptop screen.
‘It’s a part of a necklace,’ she observed, turning it over in the light. ‘A chain or double necklace, or something. Looks expensive.’
Heidi set the tweezers and the metal on the lamp table and got up, gesturing for Daisy to do the same. ‘I’m taking her to Jumaina. Need anything?’
‘Just half a dozen of her muffins.’
‘You had muffins yesterday.’
‘Make them her gluten-free ones.’
Heidi rolled her eyes as she put on her scarf. ‘I’ll think about it.’
She opened the door and let Daisy out, who could now slightly step on her foot. Heidi exited to the left of the department store and walked down the sidewalk to the bakery, guided by the delicious scent of cookies.
Daisy stood in front of Heidi, abruptly stopping her walking. She looked in the direction Daisy was pointing and noticed a glistening thing shimmering in the parallel alley on the other side of the road.
My reflection in your eyes
I hope it’s always like the day we met, yeah-hey
(Forever Young)
Like a flame that burns silently
Kiss me like it’s the last time, yeah-hey
‘Later,’ Heidi stated as she kept walking, and Daisy followed.
The bell jingled, announcing their arrival. Jumaina looked up from the register, her cheeks dusted with the glow of a person who’s been busy. ‘Hey there!’
‘Hello,’ Heidi greeted her, approaching the counter. A grey British shorthair cat leapt up onto the counter, approaching Heidi with interest.
‘Hello to you too, Sweetie,’ Heidi chuckled. ‘How’s business today?’
‘Same old, same old,’ Jumaina waved her hand dismissively as she made her way around the counter and gave Heidi a hug. ‘Well, not that I can complain. A Karen tried to fine me this morning.’
Heidi scoffed as she gave the cat the scratches she demanded. ‘Is it because of Sweetie?’
‘Health code violation, you mean,’ Jumaina corrected her as she, too, held out her paw to her cat. ‘You’re a violation,’ she told the cat. ‘I told her that she’s not allowed near the kitchen and that all the food is one hundred percent cat hair free.’
Daisy bonked Jumaina’s knee with her nose, silently begging for attention.
‘Oh, hello!’ Jumaina brightened as she gave the dog a pat on her nose.
‘We found a metal chain in her paw,’ Heidi explained. ‘I think it might have gotten stuck sometime last night.
My heart is flutters under the moonlight
I wanna go dance under the milky way, let’s go
Now let go, oh-oh-oh-oh
‘It’s pretty red; I don’t know if there’s an infection,’ Heidi continued.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jumaina assured her as she opened the half-door for Daisy. ‘I’ll have my sister take over as I go upstairs and check her out.’
‘I really appreciate,’ Heidi thanked her as the two of them went behind store, Sweetie trailing quietly behind.
‘Anything for our favorite neighborhood dog,’ Jumaina replied as the door clicked shut.
Heidi picked up the six gluten-free muffins and headed back, deciding to drop them off first and then going to check on Daisy.
Her husband thanked her with a tight hug, and as much as she tried to be upset, she couldn’t help but laugh as he, in a baby voice, repeatedly said, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’
As she was heading back to the bakery, standing at the red light at the intersection, she remembered Daisy’s eagerness to cross the street to the glistening object.
Heidi warmed her hands in her pocket as she waited for the streetlight to turn green. As she stepped over the striped patch of road, her confusion grew as she noticed a discarded purse tossed to the side, stuck under a protruding brick from the wall.
In front of the black-sequined purse was a broken compact mirror, a crushed lipstick, and what she guessed was some kind of fruit pressed on the ground and dried under the afternoon sun.
Let’s have no regrets when the day is gone
So that time can’t tear us apart
So that this moment can be eternal
She followed the trail of shattered mirror shards and saw a splatter against the sandstone-colored wall. Heidi assumed that it couldn’t possibly be blood, but the only other thing that left a trace like this was one a month, in her favorite orange pants.
She squatted on her toes and looked at the purse, whose top was pried open, and the silver clasp was missing.
‘Huh, so that’s what it was,’ Heidi said aloud as she realized what the metal thing Daisy tripped on was.
You light a fire in my heart
So my youth burns without regrets
‘Wait …’ she realized aloud, her smile growing by the minute. She got out her phone and dialed Jumaina’s number. ‘Hey! Daisy stepped on a broken purse. Yeah, that’s what the metal was. Good news though – it’s Sara’s! I can’t believe she’s in town and didn’t tell us.’
Heidi stood up and kicked a mirror shard, watching it tumble on the floor. She turned around and made her way to the bakery.
‘I found it across the street. Poor thing must have been jumped and robbed or something; only thing that’s left is a broken mirror and her purse. I’m surprised nobody’s cleaned it up yet. I mean, yeah, everything looks cheap, but still.’
If I’m with you like now tonight
I could die in this moment
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