Chapter One

Devon was working on his projections for his Accounting firm, but his dalmatian kept behaving weirdly. He was rotated between barking and licking Devon.

Ruff! Rough! RUFF!

“Dustin please stop! Please! I need to get work done!”, shouted Devon.

Devon had about an hour more of work to do. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Denise said that “hey can I come in?”

“Ya, come in Denise”, said Devon.

“Are you ready? we were supposed to go to the movies tonight at 8pm with Dale and his wife Dawn. It’s almost seven. I do not want to cancel or postpone. We have postponed and cancelled for months now”, asked Denise.

“Ya, don’t worry, I’ll get ready. We still have time, if Dustin stops bothering me. Just take him for a darn walk so that I can get some work done. I will be able to do much more work if he’s gone. He’s fun and everything to have, but there is a time to work and a time to play. I cannot be productive, let alone be fruitful and you know how big I am on being productive and fruitful.”, said Devon.

“Devon, I get it. Don’t worry I got your back. So, be back in an hour? That sounds like a pretty long walk”, said Denise.

“Denise, its only 15 minutes longer than what you are used to with Dustin. He can handle it”, responded Devon.

“Okay, okay, call me when you are done, then I will leave straight away and head home”, replied Denise.

“Thanks, Denise”, said Devon.

Thirty-five minutes had passed, and Devon finished his report for Accounting firm. He picked up his cell and called his wife Denise.

Denise picked up.

“Ready, darling?”, said Denise.

“You bet. Come on home Denise”, replied Devon.

Denise drove what she felt was ultra-fast, because of she was strongly anticipating them getting to hangout with their friends. Back in university they used to hang out weekly. Now its been months. She was sick of cancelling her appointments. She wanted this.

Chapter Two

Denise rang the doorbell, and Devon came down slowly. He opened the door.

Denise walked in saying, “hurry, they are already there waiting. I saw my phone once I stepped out off the car. They texted us. They are early as usual.”

Holding in his hand was a tray with: one super-sized me box (32 ounces of popcorn), one medium sized popcorn box (eight ounces), and one Pepsi cola 351 ml drink Devon had bought using Door Dash, which is a delivery service that was hooked up with Cinema Theaters.

“Relax, it only takes five minutes to drive there, we got fifteen minutes. Where is Dustin?”, said Devon.

“I dropped him off at the sitter’s house”, said Denise.

“Okay, good”, replied Devon.

“Where did you get that tray of goods from it?”, responded Denise.

“I used Door dash to buy from Cinema Theaters”, answered back Devon.

“Okay, whatever, just put it in the car, quickly.”

Devon carefully sat in the car holding the goods and put on his seat belt. Denise speedily followed. She started to drive.

“Wow slow down, you’re going 40% faster than you ought to. We do not need to rush. It’s not an emergency”, said Devon.

“I don’t want to be late; we haven’t seen them in so long and we are always late when we do. It’s so embarrassing when we are. We should be ashamed. Its bad manners” responded Denise.

“I don’t care, I rather arrive in one-piece than arrive on time, besides we will arrive on time—with ten minutes to spare too!”, spoke up Devon.

“We still have to buy our tickets”, reacted Denise.

“Don’t worry, I already ordered bought our tickets, printed them out for you”, countered Devon.

Denise started to slow down, but by the time she did she and Devon had already arrived at the theater. Devon came out the holding the tray of goods. Waiting by the door was their friends, Dale and Dawn.

“Hey how’s it going?” said Dale.

“We’re blissful”, said Devon.

“Wow, you guys are prepared”, responded Dawn.

“We sure are” said ecstatically, Denise.

“Come on let’s go in now” cheerfully said Dale.

They walked into the main area and shown their tickets to the employee their who did their job ripping the ticket and said, “theater number five, all the way down to the left.”

Chapter Three

Halfway through the movie the sitter, Duke DeSousa, called Devon.

“WHAT!”

He was enjoying the movie and it was getting to the best part.

“I am sorry, but I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but your dog is rather sick. I need you to come pick him up and there are some legal documents and you need to bring to the vet that only the owner can have. Also, you need to sign a few things. I cannot help you there.”

Devon stepped out briefly to speak to him, since it obviously was important.

“Seriously? What is wrong with him?”, he replied.

“Devon its pretty serious, I spoke to vet on the phone and they want me to bring in the dog as soon as possible. From the way I described your dog, they think he might have Leukemia. If he doesn’t get an operation soon, he might die today.”

‘OH SHIT! Okay, I’ll head there as soon as possible. Text me the address”, he responded.

“Okay, Duke”, replied and then relayed the address via text.

Devon walked back into the theater and tapped on Denise’s shoulder. She turned to him.

“Come out of the theater room I really need to talk to you about something. It’s significant” said Devon.

Denise walked out slowly.

“Duke, called me and said Dustin has Leukemia, we have to drive home and get some legal documents. Come let’s go right now so we can get the surgery done for him today, because if he doesn’t get it, he will die”, said Devon.

“Great, just great, just on the one day that we actually finally get to see Dale and Dawn, your STUPID DUMB dog is dying with Leukemia. Now I must leave this movie. It was just getting good. I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Now we must cancel and leave again! I am so sick of this stuff! This is all your fault! How did you not know this?”, said Denise.

“Its not my fault. I do regular walks; I look for the optimal food. I ask my questions at the pet store. I do my research. I do so many things for him, so just give me a break! Please! I really want you to come with me. If you don’t want to then go stay with your friends here in the movies and I will go, but regardless whether your staying here or going I am going to vet to save Dustin. You understand?” said Devon.

Denise sighed.

 “Ya, sorry, I understand. We need to go. It’s just that today meant so much to me because we were planning this for a while, or at least it feels way because of the cancellations. Let’s go. I’ll tell Dale and Dawn I think they will understand”, said Denise.

“Ya, they will, Denise, just hurry up. I don’t have all day, and neither does Dustin”, said Devon.

“Yes, yes, okay”, said Denise.

She tried kissing him on the lips.

“None of that now, go!” Devon pushed her away.

 “We need to tell them we are leaving. Tell them about our dog” replied Devon.

Denise walked back into the theater and tapped Dale on the shoulder. Dale turned to look at him, and Dawn happened to do so as well.

Denise whispered “our dog has leukemia, we must go, if you want to see him later you can. This might be our last day with Dustin.”

Dawn’s eye’s opened and her jaw dropped.

Dale said, “Oh wow, we better go with you to the vet. Come on honey”, speaking to Dawn.

Dale and Dawn got up and walked out off the theater with Denise.

“I am sorry we had to do this to you guys, but we must be the unluckiest couple in the world to experience this and to keep experiencing things like this”, said Denise.

Denise and the other three walked to their respective cars and they started to drive to Denise and Devon’s home to pick up the documents.

While still being in the car Devon said, “Looks like there was actual reason to hurry, but its on the way back not the way to.”

“What do you mean?”, said Dale.

“Oh, don’t worry about it Dale. I was talking to my wife Denise just now. We were arguing earlier. It wasn’t a big deal, but this clearly this urgent. It was supposed to be between me and her only”, he replied.

“Oh, I apologize”, said Dale.

“No worries”, said Devon.

“I concur”, said Denise.

Minutes later, Denise and company arrived at Denise’s home. Duke was waiting there outside patiently but staring at his wristwatch with Dustin, because he had him with him. He gave Dustin to Dale and Dawn to monitor. While Denise and Devon rushed to their bedrooms while Dale and Dawn waiting downstairs. After five minutes of searching they found the needed documentation to go the Vet. The drive to Vet only took 12 minutes. They checked in and paid the dues of $5,000. They took their dog, Dustin to the surgical room for the surgery.

After several hours the Vet came out with Dustin and announced, “Dustin will be just fine, but he needs a lot of rest at the same time, eat Dog’s Wellness's dog food, and drink a lot of water throughout the day.”

Chapter Four

Merrily, Denise and Devon took home Dustin. They headed the Vet’s advice for years and no symptoms persisted. Then one Summer’s day, when Devon was working on a Statement of Cash flow for an AGM report, he noticed Dustin overheating, fever, and vomiting. He could not even walk up the stairs without feeling tired much more than usual. Then he dropped into a violent seizure.

“Denise! Denise! Come quick! Dustin has Leukemia again. We need to take him to the vet again”, said Devon.

Devon forgot that Denise wasn’t at home at the time and realized later only after shouting this that she wasn’t available to him, so he hustled to the car with Dustin. Devon drove safely to the vet. When he arrived, he walked up with Dustin to the receptionist to pay for the $5,000 fee.

“Hello, I am Devon, here to pay for my fees for my pet. He has Leukemia. Here are my documents, and the $5,000.”

The receptionist, Donna said for what you need to get done it costs $7,500. So, sir you have two choices pay us in full now or have your dog put down”

“This is all I have! I have no emergency fund. I thought this would be enough. I has always been more than enough, and at the very least enough. Isn’t there a way that you can take the $5,000 now and I pay the rest later? —like an installment plan? This is the only Vet in the State”, he hollered at her.

“I am so sorry, but we don’t offer any other choices its $7,500 in cash, $7,500 in debit and we do not accept credit card, so no partial payments, unless it is between cash and debit card”, said Donna.

“If you put him down, how much will that cost?”, said Devon.

Donna said, “It will cost only $100.”

Devon responded: saying “can I be there when it happens?”

“For sure”, said Donna.

“Okay do it”, replied Devon.

He slammed a $100 note on the table and walked with Donna to the place where they put pets down. In a few short moments the process was finished, and it was a quick and painless death.

He left the vet’s place of business and sat in the car sobbing for a few minutes, then picked himself up and was no longer beside himself, so he drove himself home. He tried to show no emotion when he opened the door to his wife.

Chapter Five

“Where is Dustin our dog?”, said Denise.

“I had to put him down. I didn’t have enough to pay for the process to save his life, so I was forced to put him down Denise” he responded.

“You must be feeling very sad right now, hey? I got a few surprises for you that will cheer you right up. First things first, your boss called and said he is giving you that promotion. Now you will make $140,000, as the Director of Human Resources, not being a Human Resource Manager making $80,000. Second, we are officially home-owners and have no credit card debt. We were being stupid, by not investing and saving enough for a rainy day, for an emergency fund. Now that is going to change. I promise you we will work on this behaviour together. We need to. Now we have resources to change. And we will honey. We will. Lastly look at these”, said Denise.

Denise showed him the two puppies that she had bought from the pet store that very same day. They were the same breed that that Dustin was.

She continued “They said the mother normally only gives birth to one baby, but this time she gave birth to three, so I bought two. Happy birthday.”