Love Is the Best Medicine Read Online Free PDF Page B

named, may have sported a little Mexican fire in his blood, but deep down on the inside, where it counted, he was a miniature pinscher.

    O NE by one Sandi parted company with her children, those on two legs and those on four. Sonja met Dave, married, and was about to start a new life on the island of Bermuda. Jamie headed off to college, and, coincidentally, Sandi’s menagerie of canine and feline waifs began to dwindle until she and Jan were left with an empty nest.
    For a while this arrangement made sense. She and Jan were busy, their respective jobs necessitating a good deal of time on the road. Nevertheless, the absence of animal companionship did not sit well with Sandi. She missed the comfort and art of canine and feline conversation. Rescuing strays was such an unremarkable yet vital part of her life. Simply put, it made her feel human. Perhaps the greatest gift an animal has to offer is a permanent reminder of who we really are. And strangely, for the first time in her life, an animal in need had failed to reach out to her. Sandi never set out to help sick or abandoned animals. There was never a plan. They just showed up.
    Sandi began to wonder: If animals were not coming to her, did she need to go to them? And perhaps, more importantly, why had they stopped calling?
    Even though she had parted with cash for little Bruno, she felt like she and Sonja had responded to
his
cry for help.
    The desire for a new dog began to work itself in, starting to itch, and Sandi allowed herself to wish she could scratch it better. When Sonja finally acquired a genuine miniature pinscher, Odin (her father, Jan, was allowed to flex his Danish muscle when it came to naming pets), Sandi realized that although she was thrilled for her daughter, secretly she was jealous. She began to crave a Min Pin puppy of her own.
    Sandi’s fiftieth birthday celebration seemed like an obvious opportunity for her wish to be granted. In fact, many readers will be screaming for Sandi to take the reins, to buy a dog herself and bedone with it. Not so fast. Bear in mind the stranglehold of her childhood. The scars may have faded but they remained difficult to conceal, constricting and impeding what you and I might take for granted. Sandi grew up accepting that she never deserved attention. She was much less than special. She had done nothing to deserve reward. Buying a puppy for herself would have been pure indulgence and she would always feel like she had done something wrong, something selfish. But if one were to come to her as a gift … Laying out a minefield of hints and suggestions was the only extravagance she could manage. In the months before her birthday her excitement took hold, with Sonja and Jan conniving through a volley of e-mails and whispered phone calls as the day approached.
    On the eve of Sandi’s birthday, Sonja called her mother.
    “I’m picking you up first thing in the morning. It’s all arranged.”
    “Where are we going?” Sandi’s euphoria did not mix well with the pretense of ignorance.
    “Someplace special” was all she got in return, the confidence in her daughter’s tone a billboard that said this gift would be exactly what Sandi wanted.
    Pretending to be excited on the way there would not be necessary. But feigning complete surprise when she was asked to close her eyes, open her hands, and receive a squeaky, squirming black and tan ball of love was another matter altogether. Sandi actually found herself practicing in the mirror, fanning away imaginary vapors like a starlet about to make an Oscar acceptance speech.
    When she slid into the passenger seat of Sonja’s car, maintaining the facade became insufferable, the agony of the wait dueling with her resolve not to spoil what her daughter had so carefully planned—until they headed toward downtown London, Ontario. This was unexpected. In her mind’s eye Sandi had seen a drive to a country farm and a scrupulous breeder. By the time her daughter pulled over outside