Monkey Wrench by Liza Cody Page B

someone threw on the floor. She had a nasty discharge and it smelled bad.
    Crystal said, ‘We thought you’d know what to do.’
    â€˜She’s not right, is she?’ Justin said.
    â€˜Her babies are okay though, aren’t they?’ Crystal said.
    â€˜There was too much blood,’ Justin said. ‘There shouldn’t be. With dogs, I mean. She tried too hard, poor thing.’
    â€˜Eat yer soup,’ Stef said.
    â€˜What you think?’ Bella said. She was leaning against the window with her arms folded.
    â€˜I think Justin’s right,’ I said. ‘This ain’t normal.’
    â€˜Poor old girl,’ Justin said. He leaned forward and stroked her head very gently.
    I watched carefully. Queenie’s eyelid flickered and the muscles at the base of her spine twitched. She wanted to wag her tail but she wasn’t strong enough.
    Ain’t that amazing? The poor old bitch was dying but she was still grateful Justin stroked her.
    â€˜What you going to do?’ Bella said from the window.
    â€˜Get a vet,’ I said. ‘She’s too far gone for home nursing.’
    â€˜I haven’t got any money,’ Justin said. ‘You’ll never get a vet to come here.’
    â€˜Wanna bet?’ I said. I stood up.
    â€˜Eat yer soup before it gets cold,’ Stef said. ‘Eva’ll look after Queenie.’
    â€˜Keep her warm,’ I said, ‘and try and get some water down her.’
    â€˜She won’t drink her tea,’ Justin said sadly.
    â€˜Try and get some water in her mouth,’ I said. ‘She looks as if she’s drying up.’
    â€˜She can’t hold her head up.’
    â€˜Use an eye dropper or something,’ I said. Honestly, I have to think of everything. Justin had no right to give up on Queenie. Not when she was using her last bit of strength to show she loved him.
    Bella peeled herself off of the window.
    â€˜I’ll get something from the chemist,’ she said. ‘What about a douche bag? Will that do?’
    â€˜How would I know?’ I said. I went downstairs with Crystal and Bella.
    â€˜You just want to drip some water in her mouth and down her throat,’ I said. ‘You don’t want to choke her.’
    â€˜Okay,’ Bella said. ‘What about a gravy baster.’
    â€˜Jesus!’ I said. Because I never seen a gravy baster. I never seen a douche bag either. Bella was just saying it to make me feel ignorant.
    â€˜Only an eye dropper seems awfully small,’ Bella said. ‘And Queenie’s a big dog. Suppose she bites it and ends up with broken glass in her mouth?’
    â€˜Don’t you go near her,’ I said. ‘Whatever you get, you let Justin do the business. Right?’
    â€˜Right,’ she said. ‘I don’t like big dogs anyway.’
    Which showed what sort of woman
she
was.
    â€˜Where you going?’ Crystal said.
    â€˜Phone.’
    â€˜Who?’
    â€˜Vet.’
    â€˜Oh,’ she said. ‘Yeah. You know, we could do with a phone.’ And she got that look in her eye which meant some poor bugger from the phone company had better watch out.
    And I thought about Flying Phil.
    â€˜Portables,’ I said.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Portable phones. I was thinking, like, for the girls anyway. And personal alarms.’ Because Harsh was right really. Those scrubbers had about as much idea of self-defence as those whiskery little mice. And you know what was going to happen to those whiskery little mice, don’t you? They was going to get eaten alive. If the best they could do was squeak, they better learn to squeak loud. Very loud.
    â€˜Lord love us all,’ Bella said.
    â€˜What?’ Crystal said.
    â€˜Old Bucket Nut’s been thinking.’
    â€˜Shut up, Bella, Eva’s got a point.’
    â€˜No, I mean it,’ Bella said. ‘I’m touched. I could’ve sworn she never gave us “slags”