"You can come in," I say, pointing to the drop-off area.
She slowly walks in. Her old yellow lab follows her even more slowly. I watch her silently,feeling the woman's own sorrow start to enter me. Suzi* comes and stands next to me.
"I-the-I called the vet," tears start running down the woman's face as she speaks. "he said that-it-he has liver and bladder failure and I-"
Suzi jumps in, cutting the woman off to attempt to save her more tears. "I spoke to you on the phone, right?" The woman nods miserably. "You want to put him down, yes?" The woman nods again.
I watch as Suzi tries to fill out the paper work as quickly as she could. When she was done, Suzi carefully takes the lab on her leash. Suzi takes a couple of steps and gently tugs on the leash for the lab to follow her. It stiffly follows Suzi to the Back. Suzi comes back and holds something out to the woman. Her eyes filling ever more with tears, the lab's woman takes her fated friend's collar in her hand. I watch as Suzi -Suzi who always acts like she hates people, Suzi who plays the mean role, Suzi who always acts strong for the rest of us-walks to the other side of the counter, reaches out to touch the lab's woman's shoulder, hesitates for a fraction of a second and finally wraps both arms around the lab's grieving woman. And I am not the least bit surprised.
After the lab's woman leaves, Suzi wipes her own tears from her eyes and looks at me. "I hate to do that. In this place, you can't do hat for anyone, or you can't be here. But... But she got to me."
"Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off, discouresously,
For I have loved you well and long,
Delighting in your company."
Another Depressing Ending
*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
