The Wager (8 page)

G
us Gustafson kept a close watch on the dogs frolicking in the mouth of the river at the Dog Walking Park. He had brought Inuvik and Gigi to the park for exercise. Malcolm Brooks was still in the hospital. Surgery had been performed on his broken leg. Gus missed him. Art Maloney was standing with him watching his Greyhound, Bookkeeper, swim about with Inuvik and Gigi.

Loud barking alerted Gus and Art to the fact that they were no longer alone. Pegasus, Esther Goodenough's Wheaton Terrier, and Cleo, Linda Daniel's Doberman, joined Gus and Art as their mistresses reached him. Gus marvelled that Esther, an eighty-year-old lady, had managed to raise the big Wheaton Terrier.

Gus yelled as Inuvik lunged to chase one of the Blue Herons that frequented the river mouth. Inuvik immediately stopped his pursuit and joined the other dogs. Gus turned his attention to Esther. He realised that she was having great difficulty holding on to her Wheaton Terrier long enough to free him from his leash. Linda Daniels had let go of Cleo and the large Doberman was heading out into the water. Pegasus was lunging, trying to join her.

Suddenly Pegasus pulled forward and to Gus's horror the older woman lost her footing and crashed onto the rocky, barnacled strewn sand. She finally let go of the leash as Pegasus

plunged into the water pulling Esther with him. Art Maloney flew to the woman's rescue.

Gus and Linda reached Art and Esther at the same time and were relieved to hear their dog walking friend laughing ruefully. Art helped her to her feet and noticed she was having great trouble with her right knee.

"Oh no, it's snapped out again," Esther laughed. "Third time this month I've done a pratfall in front of witnesses."

"Are you all right?" Linda questioned the older lady as Art supported her weight.

"I'll be all right," Esther reassured her. "The knee takes a while to snap back. But my clothes will dry."

"You need one of those electric leashes," Art told Esther.

"I need more than that, " Esther laughed.

Esther took a step but her right knee wasn't up to it. Art prevented another fall by grabbing her firmly around the waist and holding her up.

"However did you raise that big dog of yours?"

"It wasn't easy. That's why my right knee is damaged. My large dog is forever putting pressure on it when he pulls and particularly when he lunges."

"Remember Turk saying radio collar leashes were for sale somewhere Gus?"

Gus Gustafson reached for his wallet and pulled out a card.

"The Giant Dog pets store in the Metropolitan Mall."

"All right Esther my dear, we are going to go and pick up one of those leashes for Pegasus. Right now!"

Linda and Gus watched in amazement at Art, who was himself eighty-five years old, half carry Esther toward the parking lot. Fortunately Pegasus spotted her leaving and moved away from Cleo to swim in to shore. Art whistled for

his Greyhound, Bookkeeper, and the dog dutifully headed to shore as well.

Gus and Linda stared at Art and Esther disappearing down the walkway with Pegasus and Bookkeeper galloping joyfully in front of them. Art had his arm firmly around Esther's waist to support her.

"Gloria's at it again, isn't she?" he confronted a startled Linda Daniels.

"At it again?" Linda bluffed. She felt her face redden with embarrassment.

"All these couples. Tyler and Honey, Art and Esther, and I nearly fell over in shock when I spotted Frank Simpson having lunch with Virgie Kelly in my favourite restaurant the other day. I swear they were playing sex games under the table."

Linda tried to avoid Gus's direct question by suggesting that it must be the Mistletoe everywhere for the coming Christmas Season.

"Who's she got you linked up with?" Gus queried with disbelief in his voice. "Malcolm Brooks, I bet."

Linda swallowed hard. She did not want to admit that she had been spending day after day with Malcolm at the hospital. Particularly after his leg had to be operated on.

"Oh, we're just friends," Linda sputtered. She didn't want to share her private longings for Malcolm with anyone, particularly Gus.

"Sure," Gus said, "friends like Tyler and Honey, I suppose."

Angie looked in the direction Gus was pointing. Honey Pratt and Tyler Thompson were kissing passionately down by the park entrance.

"Oh, I think he took her to a Dixieland Jazz Festival. They must have hit it off. I guess it all does seem rather suspicious."

"What's the wager this time?" Gus demanded.

Linda could feel the heat creeping into her face. She imagined it must be bright red with embarrassment. She could not bring herself to tell Gloria's husband the terms of his wife's wager.

"Let me guess?" Linda's face turned even redder as Gus continued to interrogate her.

"A large sum to the person or persons who get a new boyfriend by Christmas?" Gus queried.

"How did you know?"

"Gloria's incorrigible. Every time the dog club members start grouping according to their sex, Gloria starts up one of these wagers."

"Is it true that you and she have an open marriage?" Linda asked.

"Oh, she told you that too, did she? And what else is different about the bet this time?"

"You're included in it."

Gus snorted. "My God, Linda are you interested?"

Linda choked. "Uh, actually I'm rather tied up with Malcolm right now, just as a friend, but you know who is interested in you."

"I can't wait."

"Esther."

Gus looked astonished.

"Esther is interested in me!"

Linda told Gus that Esther had insisted on his name being included in the eligible men for the wager.

"Right."

Linda relaxed slightly as Gus scanned the horizon looking after Esther and Art Maloney disappearing in the distance.

"Missed my chance did I?" Gus laughed.

Fifteen minutes later Art pulled into a parking stall at the Metropolitan Mall. Esther was still brushing the sand and barnacles off her clothes.

"The pet store is inside."

Art got out and opened the door for Esther.

"How about lunch first?"

"Why not?" Art was surprised at Esther's invitation. "The dogs will be all right. They're in the shade."

"You can bring some water back for them from the restaurant."

Esther limped noticeably as she headed in the direction of the restaurant. Art immediately put his arm around her waist to steady her. Esther smiled as she realised she had gotten the attention of one of the eligible men. She leaned against Art and thanked him warmly. Art noticed that he felt glad to be having lunch with another human being.

"I'm spending far too much time on the stock trends on the Internet," he confessed to Esther. "I'm afraid I'm becoming rather obsessive about predicting the stocks that are going to rise."

"You really should make an effort to get out more," Esther said to him as they rounded the corner.

"Perhaps you'll let me show me how the electric leash works?"

"I'd be delighted, Arthur, my dear. How about tomorrow morning at the dog park?"

The next morning Esther spotted Art waiting for her in the parking lot of the dog walking park. She noted with approval that Art was dressed in a sporty track suit that had him looking years younger. He was standing with his Greyhound, Bookkeeper on a leash and holding the electric leash they had purchased in his free hand. Esther released

Pegasus who careened over to Bookkeeper and she limped over to Art.

"How's the knee?" he asked.

"A little better. You look very sporty in that track suit."

Esther noted Art's smile broaden considerably at her praise.

"Lunch after our session?"

"Thank you, Arthur Dear, I'll look forward to it."

Esther smiled herself as Art queried whether she was free or lunch or dinner every day that week. She quickly agreed and he beamed some more as he attached the radio collar and electric leash to Pegasus and beeped a warning for Pegasus to stop pulling. Pegasus lunged after Bookkeeper again and Art pressed the buzzer that sent a mild electric shock through the radio collar of the attached leash. Pegasus stopped suddenly and moved toward Art. The large dog gave him a puzzled look.

"No pull!" Art directed. He moved forward again in the direction of Bookkeeper who was heading for the ocean access. Pegasus watched Bookkeeper disappearing and whined but he did not tug on the leash.

"He's getting the message unusually fast. Smart dog."

Twenty minutes and two shocks later Art handed the leash to Esther.

"You try it."

The dog started to pull toward Bookkeeper who was barking at him from the ocean. Esther pushed the warning button. It beeped and the large Wheaton Terrier stopped in his tracks.

"He's got it," Art Maloney shouted. "Start walking toward the parking lot."

Esther obeyed Art and was amazed to find her dog moving

with her. He matched his gait to hers and although whining to go back toward Bookkeeper, did not lunge.

"Success!" Art Maloney rushed up to Pegasus. He removed the electric collar from his neck and the large dog looked at him as if asking if he could go after Bookkeeper.

"Go join him," Art motioned toward the water and the dog bounced away. Within a minute he was frolicking with Bookkeeper. Esther put her arms around Art and thanked him.

"We'll give them twenty minutes and then we'll go for lunch."

B
ea Broughton came back to consciousness again with a shock. As the drowsiness caused by whatever drug they were giving her wore off again her eyes started to focus and she stared at the white walls and white furniture in the room she was in with disbelief. Horror filled her mind as she recognised she was back in the Agitation Room of the Down Memory Lane Care Home Alzheimer's Wing. B e a flashbacked to her original tour of the Extended Care Facility her son had brought her to and experienced again the horror and betrayal she felt when she found out her son and daughter-in-law were taking advantage of her signed Power of Attorney to place her in the home against her wishes.

"They keep drugging me," the petite woman realized. "I wonder how long I've been here now." She realised she was still wearing her watch. She stared at the digital date. Panic struck and nausea gnawed at her stomach.

"It's over three weeks now!"

Intense negative emotions overcame her as she relived again her shock and horror at what happened at the end of the guided tour of the home. John and Orphelia had disappeared and she had been taken to the Director's office and told that her son and daughter-in-law were placing her here for her own good.

Beatrice shook at her memory of the event and of her

shouting in defiance that there was no way she was remaining in the home. She remembered the Director coldly showing her a copy of her Power of Attorney and telling her to appreciate her son's thoughtful actions. Bea remembered loudly demanding to phone her lawyer and the Director pushing a button on his desk. Her mind chilled as she remembered two staff members seizing her, a syringe being pushed into her arm and losing consciousness shortly afterwards.

"I've got to get out of here somehow!" Bea felt herself going into a frenzy again. "Every time they catch me trying to escape they drug me."

Bea went over her attempts to get out of the building. At first they had left her cane but took it away when they spotted her out in the parking lot. She had been heading for the woods behind the lot not far away in the distance. The second time she had used the wheel chair they had left her in at the hair dressing room. She had made it down the elevator when the hair stylist had vacated the room but the receptionist had intercepted her as she tried to leave through a side door. The third time she had pulled herself into a laundry chute when she had been left in the bath tub alone. Despite her situation Bea broke into a hearty laugh as she remembered the expression on the fellow removing laundry from the chute when she landed in the care home laundry one floor below. He had pressed the care home alarm and the myriads of staff members who had come running had witnessed her stark, naked self being forcibly removed from the laundry room.

Bea's heart palpitated rapidly as she went over her daughter-in-law's last visit. She had not even seen her son or her grandchildren since he had placed her in the home. Orphelia had told her that John could not bring himself to visit unless she could tell him that his mother had finally seen the light

and agreed to remain in the care home. Orphelia also told her that she would even bring her grandchildren to visit provided Bea would at least pretend to be happy with the place.

Bea realised that she was being blackmailed and that her future appeared to be in Orphelia's hands. She shuddered at the thought and she forced herself to take a deep breath to try and stop her heart palpitations. Adrenaline shot into her bloodstream. It gave her the courage to raise herself in the bed.

"I'm not wearing a restraint vest this time," Bea realised. She looked around the room but there was no sign of her cane.

"They realise I can't go far without that cane," Bea noted with more panic filling her mind. "They've removed it again." Then hope lit up her heart as she spotted her purse. It was on one of the end tables.

"They've finally returned it."

Bea slithered out of the bed, clutched onto the furniture and agonizingly made her way over to the end table. She collapsed into a chair and looked into the purse hoping to find something that would help her get out of the place. Turk O'Brien's card he had left her fell out. His phone number was on the card. Bea frantically ran her eyes over the room looking for a phone. She sighed as she spotted a phone on another end table. Bea stood up holding the card but her leg gave way. She fell to the floor. Bea used her arms and one good leg to slowly crawl over to the end table. She reached up and managed to grab the phone. It came crashing down to the floor.

Bea picked up the receiver, heard a dial tone and dialled the number nine hoping to get an outside line. Another dial tone came on. Bea dialled Turk's number. Her hopes sank as the phone kept ringing. Finally a voice mail instructed her to leave a message.

"Turk, it's Bea Broughton. I need your help. My son has placed me in the Down Memory Lane Care Home against my will. Please get me out of here." Bea found herself breaking down into uncontrollable sobs. She managed to replace the phone on the end table and tried to pull herself together. After several minutes she managed to drag herself over to the end table where her purse was and placed Turk's card back into her purse.

"They'll search that," she anticipated. "If they realise I've made a phone call. I've got to remember the number."

Bea repeated the phone number to herself continuously as she dragged herself over to the bed. She managed to pull herself back into the bed with the help of the bed clothes. Just as she made it back into the bed the door came crashing open. Bea kept her eyes closed hoping they would think she was still sleeping.

"You must have been mistaken," Bea recognized the Director's cold voice.

"I'm sure her phone light on the switchboard was lit up."

"Give her another shot. And remove that purse. We don't want her contacting anyone."

Bea forced herself to remain motionless as a hand seized her arm, a prick reached her consciousness and deep sleep overtook her again.

At the Tyneburst Cafe Turk O'Brien had a strange feeling that something was very wrong. Dogzilla seemed to sense a problem, too, and the large Rottweiler broke into a whine. Trump licked his face in sympathy. Turk reached for his cell phone and called his own phone at home. He coded in his remote access for his voice mail and chills ran up and down his spine as he listened to Bea's frantic message. Turk lost his appetite as the seriousness of Bea's plight reached him when he

listened to her sobbing. As the voice mail ceased Turk O'Brien jumped to his feet, left enough money to cover his uneaten dinner, freed Dogzilla and Trump from around the base of the table and ran toward his car.

"Something's come up," he shouted at the amazed hostess as he fed the restaurant. Once in his car Turk phoned the Directory Service and asked for the phone number of the Down Memory Lane Care Home. He punched the numbers in with his big fingers. A woman's voice answered.

"Do you have a tour of your facilities?" he asked. "I'm looking for a place for my widowed father?"

Turk left a fictitious name as the female voice gave him an appointment for the next afternoon. Turk asked for directions to the facility and his heartbeat slowed somewhat as he realised that at least he finally knew what had happened to Bea and where she had disappeared to.

"It's my fault," Turk blamed himself. He felt mortified. "I should have tried to find out what had happened instead of believing she had rejected me." Turk turned on his ignition and moved off in the direction of Bea's house. He made it in record time but was horrified as he drove into Bea's driveway. A large "For Sale" sign was on the front lawn. As Turk opened his door and got out a dog's howling came from behind Bea's fence. Turk realised that Bea's Pomeranian, Angus, was out in the backyard. There were no lights on in the house or any sign of movement. The front driveway was empty..

Turk freed Dogzilla from the back seat but kept Trump in.

Angus wailed again, a long, eery wail.

"Fetch Angus," Turk commanded. He pointed in the direction of the wailing. The large Rottweiler approached Bea's fence and looked back at his master as he reached the edge. Angus barked frantically.

"Fetch Angus" Turk commanded again. Dogzilla went back toward Turk, turned and made a rush at the fence. He cleared it with a single bound. There was a yelp from Angus from behind the fence. Turk's heart warmed as seconds later his dog reappeared with a silent Angus held firmly in his mouth. The little dog seemed to know that Dogzilla was trying to help him and was staying absolutely still. Turk took the little fellow in his arms and stroked him. The dog whined pitifully. Turk realised he could feel Angus's ribs.

"He's not been eating."

"Good Boy!" Turk praised Dogzilla. He looked around to see if any of the neighbours appeared to be watching. No one seemed to be in sight. Turk placed the dogs in with Trump in the back seat. Angus whined pitifully and Trump licked his face. Turk pulled out of the driveway rather sedately for him.

"Don't worry, Bea. I've got Angus and I'll get you soon," he vowed to the absent women.