In the Middle

Gracie's tooth is rotten. She lost part of it and the vet pulled a chunk of wood about the size of a pinky nail that had been embedded in her gums. The wood came from the doorframe of my breezeway that she tore apart because of separation anxiety due to the abrupt departure of a premarital asset, my other dog, Sebastian.

On the way to the vet, I had the windows down because the odor from the rotten tooth had already made me throw up twice in the past day or so, and I wasn't about to do it all over myself in the car. When we got to the vet, he was closing shop but agreed to let me bring her in. He examined her mouth and told me I was looking at just under a thousand bucks to get the tooth pulled and all the medications necessary for her good health. I shrugged my shoulders, fought back tears and asked if it was any cheaper if I just got her put to sleep because there was no way I could afford a thousand bucks. I explained the financial situation (i.e. divorce) and the look he gave me was so sympathetic that I had to turn away from him. A few seconds after taking Gracie into the back room to extract the tooth, he walked into the room smiling from ear to ear. He said, "It's fortuitous that when I reached in to examine her mouth, her tooth and the chunk of wood came out on its own. You're just looking at the cost of antibiotics." I beamed in response and when he shook my hand to bid me farewell, he said, "There is light at the end of the tunnel, even though you're swimming in darkness right now." (He had gone through a divorce six years earlier).

On the way home I thought about the darkness I was feeling and started to get sad again. I sat at the red light, thinking. I looked out the driver's side window and saw a long white limousine with "just married" ribbons on the antenna. I chuckled sardonically and turned to my right, and saw a little boy with big tears, and red-rimmed eyes sitting in the backseat of the car that was following a hearse. And I cried.

My truck, smelly with rotten teeth, is the vehicle of choice and I found solace in the middle of the road. It looks like synchronicity is creeping forward.