Love Is the Best Medicine Read Online Free PDF Page A

restored.
    Pets were never so fickle in their emotions. They were always there for her, reliable, trusted confidants, attentive to a whispered secret and sworn to a vow of silence. They shared her moments of happiness and licked away her tears of sadness or the pain of a scraped knee, hugged away her loneliness. They became her most important social outlet and she engaged them in conversation regarding all the events of the day. One of these pets was Rocco, a beagle that had belonged to a neighbor of Sandi’s aunt, a dog on death row, guilty of competing for his family’s time and affection after the arrival of a new baby. Sandi lobbied, pestered and eventually sprung the dog, rewarded by an affectionate and loyal hound. Unfortunately, in one memorable incident, the depth of Rocco’s appreciation proved hazardous to his health. Losing out to a squirrel gifted in the art of street fighting, Rocco sustained a significant injury to his manhood, a vicious bite that necessitated a visit to the vet and a number of carefully placed stitches. Every day Sandi rushed home from school to attend to her latest patient but as the days passed, the wound refused to heal, the stitches repeatedly splitting, tearing through the delicate tissue.
    “God damn it,” shouted her mother, “I’m not spending another penny on that stupid dog, do you understand?”
    Of course Sandi understood, but what she didn’t understand was why little Rocco felt compelled to show her his injury, in a frenzy of excitement that blossomed into unintentional, full-blown, and damaging arousal, every time she returned home from a day at school.
    Afraid of what might happen, Sandi returned to the vet, describing the ritual of their daily reunion.
    “Here, try these,” said the vet, keeping a straight face as he poured a handful of tranquilizer tablets into a labeled plastic container. “Tell your mom to give Rocco a pill about half an hour before you come home from school.”
    The panic in Sandi’s face at the idea of asking her mother for a favor, let alone one involving an animal, must have radiated across the examination room.
    The vet bit into his smile, squatting down to align his gaze with hers.
    “Just tell her the medication will make sure Rocco doesn’t cost her any more money.”
    So Sandi did, and Rocco took the drug, the antidote to his emotional Viagra, thereby giving him a chance to restore his delicate sensibilities to full health.
    Then there was a rough-coated Saint Bernard that went by the name of Sony who was liable to demonstrate a powerful protective streak when it came to Sandi, contesting the teenage advances of male suitors by attacking the flesh of their buttocks with robust and drooling jowls. And there was a stray white short-haired tomcat who would become Sandi’s constant companion for nineteen years. This cat became privy to some of the most important firsts of her life—first crush, first kiss, first boyfriend, first breakup. When Sandi realized she had met the man she was destined to marry, this cat was the first to know. When she was pregnant with her first child, the same cat received the news before her husband. Like any new addition to Sandi’s menagerie, all domesticated recruits were subjected to intense scrutiny by her mother, their approval always in some doubt. However, from the first encounter with this particular tomcat, Sandi sensed there was something special between them and she was unwilling to chance his rejection. She thought long and hard about how to guarantee his acceptance and when the answer finally came, Sandi knew she would always derive a certain pleasure from turning a cruel recollection to her advantage.
    “There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” she told her mother, producing the sleek blue-eyed cat, sweeping back his soft ears, turning him into a miniature seal pup with each stroke of her hand.
    Sandi’s mother said nothing—a good sign. And he was awfully cute.
    “What’s his name?”