“I’ll check on him,” I say.
June stands and holds out her hand to me.
“I’ll pull you down.”
“I’m stronger than you think,” she says.
God, I hope so.
I pretend to let her help me up.
We check in Callie’s bedroom. He’s not there. So we peek our heads in the other bedrooms, including Rupert’s, while calling, “Here, kitty, kitty.”
“I’ll check Rupert’s office,” I say. “You check the kitchen.”
“Okay,” June says at the bottom of the stairs.
I don’t reach Rupert’s office door before June calls my name. Spinning around, I head to the kitchen.
“Oh, dang …” I say, staring at multiple piles of vomit which look tinged with blood.
June is squatted by the fridge where Loki’s on his side.
“His breathing feels a little labored. You need to call Callie and Rupert.”
“Yeah,” I slowly nod, counting the areas of vomit while pulling my phone from my pocket. “I’ll text her first. In case she can’t answer her phone.”
Flynn: We found Loki in the kitchen. He’s vomited in multiple places and there’s blood in the vomit
My phone immediately buzzes with a call from Callie.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Where is he? How’s his breathing? How much vomit? Is there a little blood or a lot of blood? Are you sure it’s vomit and not diarrhea?”
“Uh … it looks like bile and stomach stuff more than poop, so I’m guessing it’s vomit. It’s not a lot in any one spot, just like five or six areas. Not a lot of blood, just like streaks. He’s on thefloor by the fridge, and June thinks his breathing seems a little labored.”
“Okay. I haven’t taken him to our vet, but we have one from when we had Sally. He’s actually our neighbor’s son. I’ll call him right now and text you the address. Can you take him for us? We’re at a dedication, and I have to speak in a little bit. I’m so sorry to ask this of you.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “Just let me know what you find out.”
“Thank yousomuch. I really owe you.”
The couple who could send me to jailoweme? Hardly.
“No problem.” I slide my phone back into my pocket and pick up Loki. He gives me a weak “meow.”
June grabs the roll of paper towels and a bottle of cleaning spray.
“June. No. No. No. Leave it. Get up. I’ll clean it,” I say.
She lowers to her hands and knees. “It’s fine, Flynn.”
“Here, hold Loki. I’ll do it. Callie’s calling her vet. But I might need to take him somewhere to get checked out. Callie is getting ready to speak at their function, dedication, whatever. So she can’t come home right now. Here.” I hold out Loki.
She blows her hair out of her face as she stands and frowns. “You fixed my sink. I’m capable of cleaning cat vomit.” She takes Loki from me.
“I invited you to spend the evening with me. Not this. I’ll take you home.”
