Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: SPRING (09/03/20)
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TITLE: Chester | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
09/10/20 -
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She looked up at me, tears brimming. “I’m so sorry, he came out of nowhere.”
I knelt down next to Chester, my gorgeous two-year old Springer Spaniel and gingerly felt his whole body. He yelped and trembled in pain as I touched his right foreleg. “I don’t see any blood, that’s a good thing,” I said to the woman. “You must not have been going very fast.”
“I really wasn’t. I was looking for a house on this street as I am picking my son up. But as I said, the dog came out of nowhere…”
I looked over at my house and saw, with a sinking heart, that Chester had dug yet another hole. I had so many bricks lining my fence I could probably build a dog-house, which he was firmly in right now.
I picked Chester up and reassured the lady this wasn’t her fault. Once inside, I called my vet, and 20 minutes later Dr Izard was examining him. “I don’t see any broken bones. But let’s do an x-ray to ensure there are no internal injuries.” She and her tech took Chester to the back while I waited in the examination room.
“Chester’s lucky,” she announced a few minutes later. “No internal injuries. I am sure he is just shaken up and that right front leg is bound to be tender for a few days.” Chester blinked his brown spaniel eyes at me as if agreeing with her assessment.
Two weeks later I was back. “Dr Izard, Chester is still limping significantly on that front leg, in fact, most of the time he’s not even putting it on the ground. Are you sure there’s no damage?”
She examined him closely. “Well, I really don’t think there is anything wrong, but maybe he bruised the bone. That can hurt like the dickens and can take about six weeks to heal. Just give him time.” She stroked Chester’s silky head and he licked her cheek. “I bet you’ve got Jim just where you want him, right? Is he spoiling you?”
I laughed in chagrin. “Maybe just a little. I bought all his favourite treats and he gets them a few times a day. I was so relieved after the accident to know he was ok, but now he just limps around the house. I reinforced the fence line with cement so there’s no way he’s getting under the fence again, but he’s barely interested in going outside.”
Three times over the next two months I called on Dr Izard, and each time she reassured me there was no lasting damage. And apart from favouring his foreleg, Chester became his usual Springer Spaniel self.
One lovely May Saturday morning I strolled down to the shops to fetch the paper, leaving Chester in the garden as I usually did. I slowly sauntered back to the house when from two houses away I caught sight of Chester. He had found one of his outside balls and was tossing it up in the air, springing up agilely after it, catching it as it made its descent, and then tearing around the perimeter of the fence, before tossing it up again. There was absolutely no sign of a limp, and his joie de vivre was almost palpable. “That little blighter,” I muttered, and then I called, “Chester!”
His brown and white head popped up, and as he caught sight of me, he immediately raised his right foreleg, lowered his head, and hobbled his way to the front gate. I rubbed his long silky ears and laughed as he joyfully sprung in circles around me, living up to the springer part of the breed name. “You are so busted. No more special treats for you my boy! You’re a con artist!”
We walked up the newly-bricked path (I knew those bricks would come in handy!) and I thanked God for the gift that was my goofy, but ultimately way too-smart-for-his-own-good-dog.
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Non-fiction
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