Waiting

Veterinarian’s office redux. I have brought Winchester back for a bandage change. It is usually no more than a half an hour visit as he only sees a tech and has a cursory viewing by a vet. It is hopping in there this Thursday morning. Dogs and cats abound and there is nowhere to sit.  The pet owners shift to new distancing/personal space positions with each new arrival. Win desperately wants me to sit down somewhere so that he can cling to me in my lap, but we must wait for an opening.

A young girl with a rottweiler mix of some sort is close to us, but her dog is well behaved and quite sweet.  Win has turned his back to her as if he is scanning the seating area in the hopes of an opening. There are two ladies on the first bench. One with a West Highland Terrier mix and one without a pet. They are chatting and looking at phones. I assume they are together.

A schnauzer gets a room and we hurry over to the seat. Win leaps into my arms and begins to press himself deeply into my chest. Making sure that I am aware he is not too thrilled to be here again. A cat to the right of me gets its turn and the Rottie and owner sit down next to us.  I smile and say, “Cute dog.” And she smiles back. The tech comes for Win and we detach his paws from around my neck to send him back.

The two ladies on the end are jabbering away and it becomes clear that they have just met and are sharing dog pictures with each other. Nothing wrong with that. It passes the time. Although I have to say it looks like these two will be exchanging numbers and having play dates.

The Rottie girl is tattooed on much of her body. She appears to be in her mid-twenties. As I pet her dog, I find out she is there to be spayed. The dog is two years old. I think that is awfully old but say nothing.  About this time, the lady with the West Highland mix is called back leaving her bench buddy alone.

“Two years is the perfect time. People have dogs spayed too soon. You were right to wait.” she tells the girl. Her attention now all ours.

We find out she too has a Rottweiler and some other small breed dog which she proceeds to show us. It is not the best photo and the new me does not ask for more information. I smile, murmur appropriately and disengage. Rottie Girl has a bit more to say and then we go back to our respective bench borders.

“I had hoped to be able to go home and go back to sleep before work,” Rottie Girl says to me. “It is taking a long time. Well, at least my boyfriend is sleeping late. That will make things easier for me.”

In a nano second, I am processing that comment. What does she mean? That she can get more done? Is he abusive or unkind if he is tired? Does he not like the dog? Are they safe to go back home? Should I ask?  I choose to just smile as the warning bells continue to ring in my head and say maybe there will still be time. She could be next.

Just then her dog gets up and shakes a bit and we see a small spatter of blood. We look around to see where it might have come from.  We check the Rottie’s paws and mouth. We are instantly an investigative team, hunting down the clues. That is when chatty, Lady No-Pet says, “She’s probably in heat.”

Rottie Girl is immediately crestfallen, and I am impressed that she came up with that, while still not believing her.

“Look and see if she’s swollen. That’s usually a sign. My Rottweiler has this happen. One minute nothing and the next I am putting on a diaper.  Don’t let any male dogs near her.”

Rottie Girl immediately puts her hand at the dog’s rear end and does a quick scan of the waiting room.

“Oh, do you think they can still spay her today?” she asks me.

Before I can answer, Lady No-Pet says it is not advised. There is some story about another of her experiences. Rottie Girl looks at me with big eyes that are tearing up. I wonder if this will cause what I have now chosen to believe is her abusive boyfriend to lose it, when Lady No-Pet comes over and shoves her phone in our faces.

“See, it says here that it is not recommended. If they tell you to go ahead, I would be suspicious.”

Then there is another story about some other pet experience she has had. They are becoming white noise to me because I have to figure out how to help Rottie Girl not only get the dog spayed, but leave her boyfriend, when I hear, “Yup, she’s swollen. She’s in heat.” from Lady No-Pet.”

My new project, sighs deeply and says, “I don’t know what to do…..”

And before I have a chance to engage my superpowers, we hear “Rosy. We are ready for Rosy.” And off go Rottie Girl and Rosy. Lady No-Pet wishes her luck as she looks back and I wave and smile. Within a minute I am called back to go over paperwork for Win and when I leave, none of the players are still in the waiting room.  I will never know if Rosy stayed. But I now know that the Codependents Anonymous meetings are held daily at my vet’s office.