Cara Mia Delgatto and the Bye-Bye Birdie, Part 1

Note: We've had so much fun with serialized stories that I'm trying my hand at one again! Here's the first installment of a new adventure for Cara Mia Delgatto and her friends. Enjoy!

Summer was coming to Florida. Daylight now extended nearly to my bedtime. The sea grapes had blossomed, scattering tiny white flowers across the grass. Snowbirds, our visitors from the northern states who flee to the South to escape bad weather, had all gone home. With them went their wallets, forcing me to be more and more creative as I tried to think up ways to keep the cash register at The Treasure Chest ringing. Every day, I spent time on Pinterest and Etsy, hoping to conjure up new ideas for turning trash into treasure.

"Cara, dear? Do you have a minute?" Honora tapped me in the shoulder, forcing me to tear myself away from a Pinterest board featuring cool ideas for Cinco de Mayo.

"Of course," I said, pushing back from my desk. "What's up?"

Honora adjusted her glasses and patted the gray bun of hair resting on her collar. Even though the days had grown warmer, she still dressed formally, favoring seersucker shirtwaist dresses with narrow white patent leather belts. "I have a favor to ask. Rather a large one, I'm afraid."

All sorts of ideas flitted through my mind. Did she need to borrow money? Did her daughter EveLynn need a reference for her soft goods business? Did Honora need a few days vacation? However, my father taught me it's better to stay silent than to plunge ahead and stir up trouble.

So I waited.

Honora slipped into the chair facing my workspace. "I have a friend. A very, very dear old friend. Her name is Helen Berger.  Like me, she's facing the twilight of her life. But sadly, her health is also declining. Recently Helen was diagnosed with inoperable cancer."

I swallowed hard. My own mother had died of breast cancer. The months after the diagnosis had been grim, and the last weeks of her life had been ghastly. "I'm so sorry."

"Yes, well..." Honora reached into her pocket and withdrew a linen handkerchief. Slowly, she rubbed her glasses' lenses clean. "She's moving from her apartment into assisted living. A prelude to hospice, really."

I bit my lip rather than charge ahead. Probably Honora was going to ask if I'd buy up Helen's worldly goods. After all, that's how our shop got started. The old owner, Essie Feldman, bought goods from estate sales. I might be interested, but only if the price and merchandise was right. My mind bounced figures around, thinking of what I could budget, when Honora interrupted with...

"And she has a pet that needs a home."

"A pet?" This wasn't at all what I expected, but it wasn't as unusual as I'd predicted. My friend and co-worker Skye had been teasing me that I was running an animal shelter as well as a haven for misfits and second-hand junk. I didn't mind her jokes. Jack, my rescue Chihuahua is my constant companion, often sitting in my lap while I work at the computer. Luna, the gray cat who was given to me when her owner died, likes to sit in our display window and sun herself. She's pretty aloof except at night when she curls up in the crook behind my knees.

"Yes. A bird. A cockatoo."

I frowned, because I'm not really a bird person. In fact, they sort of terrify me.

 

~ To Be Continued Tomorrow ~

Grieving the Loss of Your Pet

In Memory of Victoria Slan

Special Tribute to Victoria by Sally Lippert

Have you ever lost a pet to illness or accident?

Or were you forced to give one away or leave one behind?

We all felt Joanna's pain last week when she could no longer watch poor Victoria suffer. Joanna made the painful choice to release her pet. As her vet told her, "This is the right thing for Victoria; the hard thing for you."

I visited Joanna's house a few days before she decided to let Victoria go, and I could sense as I sat next to her that the dog's life force was leaving her physical being. There was something about the way she moved, her lack of response and interest in the world around her, that signaled her withdrawal. I've seen the same behavior from my clients when it's their time to die. I've also been amazed at how pets would respond near the end of their masters' lives.

Most stayed in the bed snuggled up to their human's body.

They wouldn't eat, drink, or leave to go out especially if they had been with them a long time.

The family would call me several days later to ask what could they do for the surviving pet.

Most don't understand that animals grieve like people.

I asked Joanna how Rafferty, her other dog, is doing without Victoria. She said he is very quiet, but he seems calm. When she took Victoria for her last trip to the vet's office, he didn't whine to go with them. It was almost as if he knew.

I reminded her that it was probably stressful for him to see her failing. At some point he's going to realize that she is not there anymore, and his behavior might change yet again. I suggested that she give him extra TLC over the next few weeks.

The that I spent time with the dying was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I was able to share their final moments and a curse for the loss that I had to experience. Most of all, my work in hospice served to remind me that life doesn't last forever. Never regret the time spent with those you love--whether it be human or an animal, their memory will leave footprints on your heart.