the floor. “Oh, I suppose you want one, too?” His tail thumped harder. Ellie reached into the cookie jar and took out a Bully Stick dog bone. “Don’t eat it all at once,” she told him. “Sit,” she instructed. He obeyed. “Paw.” He held up a paw. “Now the other one.” He looked at her. “Please.” Then he lifted it. Yep, animals are very smart.
Once the tea was ready, she grabbed a book she had started and headed to the bedroom. She fluffed up the pillows and pulled down the comforter. That was another thing she did every day. Make the bed. In essence, she appeared to be a normal person, doing normal, everyday things. That was because if she allowed herself to go down a rabbit hole, she might never return. Routine was a good stabilizer.
Buddy jumped up and made himself at home at the foot of the bed. Percy strolled in and perched himself on the chaise lounge in the corner of the room. Ellie turned on her reading light and flipped to where she had left off in the book, but she found it hard to concentrate. Ever since her phone call with Kara, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Rick and their relationship before the episode, the very thing that had blocked her memory. She was told it would come back to her, but after two years, she still strained to remember. There was a gap in her memory from when it, whatever it was, had happened to when she woke up in the hospital. She couldn’t remember any details except that when she woke up, there was an IV drip in her arm and her mother and Kara were sitting in her room.
She flipped through a few more pages and decided it was futile, so she put the book down, turned off the light, and tried to sleep. It was 3:00 A.M., and she was still tossing and turning.
Buddy was snoring, and Percy had moved from the chaise to the pillow next to Ellie’s face. He peeked at her. “I could have been working and getting paid. Darn!” she said to him.
He gave her a look that said, “And I could have been sleeping.”
She laughed at the idea that she was having conversations with her animals.
At first, she thought talking to Buddy and Percy was just another “symptom,” but she’d read that talking to your pets is a sign of intelligence. The same with inanimate objects. When Ellie had read that, she thought she must be a genius. If she bumped into a chair, she would say, “Excuse me.” The article had been published by a zoological anthropology professor, so she felt that she had permission to converse. And they laughed at Dr. Doolittle.
Chapter Seventeen
After Mitchel’s mom dropped him off at the end of his outing with Jackson, he went into the kitchen to grab a beer. Greg was sitting at the table, reading a golf magazine.
“How did it go?” Greg asked.
Mitchel popped the top and placed the beer on the counter. He leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest, something his mother often did—that is, up until today. “It was really great.” Mitchel uncrossed his arms. “Well, except for running into an old friend.” He used air quotes around “old friend.”
“Oh?” Greg opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer for himself. “Let’s go outside. You can tell me all about it.”
Greg opened the door for Mitchel to walk outside, figuring Mitchel would want to light up a cigarette. He was surprised when he handed the ashtray to Mitchel and Mitchel refused. At first, Greg thought it would turn out to be an argument and was stunned at Mitchel’s response.
“Nah. But thanks.” Mitchel pulled out one of the patio chairs from the table and took a seat. Greg did the same.
“So?” Greg clinked beer cans with his brother. “Spill.”
“OK. So you know a while back I was kinda misbehaving myself.”
Greg interrupted. “Which ‘while’ are you referring to?” Greg knew that Mitchel had not been on his best behavior for over a year.
“Hah. Funny guy.” Mitch took a pull of his beer. “In Clarkston. Benny’s Barbecue and Burger Grill.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, yes. Benny’s Grill. I recall a young lady waitress worked there?”
“You got two things wrong. She ain’t young, and she ain’t no lady.” Mitchel guffawed.
“Well, you seemed to think so at the time, if I recall.” Greg was egging him on in a brotherly way.
“Aw, c’mon. I never