George gets up to go to the bathroom and sees that Alex’s bed is empty. Alex is not in the bathroom, and George knows that Alex has taken Moon. George screams and wakes up Robert, Suzanna, and Emily. Emily starts to cry because George doesn’t yell. Robert tries to understand what George is screaming about. Suzanna sees the empty bed and realizes that Alex has sneaked out and taken Moon. They go to the corral and Moon is not there. George is hysterical, and the depth of emotion from their “thinking” child shocks his parents.
Robert knows how George feels. He organizes his little army into a search unit. Suzanna, holding Emily by the hand, finds Alex. She immediately picks up Emily so that Emily is facing away from Alex. Suzanna calls out, “Robert, come to the sycamore.” Does she protect the small child in her arms from the possible death of the brother, or does she go to the older child? She stands and talks to Alex as though her every word is being heard. The words are heard by the small child who can only believe her brother is hurt. When Robert arrives with George, Suzanna takes Emily to the house where she can call the doctor and put Emily to bed.
For Emily, the nightmare is not over. She saw her brother, she saw the blood, she heard her mother. She is four and tries to understand. Emily heard her mother's conversation with the doctor. Emily believes Alex is dead and wants to keep her mother from knowing the truth. Emily will not stay in bed. Emily pats her mother to show she is loved. She says, “It’s okay, Mommy, everything is okay.” Suzanna takes Emily into her lap and rocks while she waits for this night to end.
The doctor calls an ambulance, and doctor and ambulance arrive at the same time. Suzanna wants to direct them to the tree, but stays at the house with her daughter. Robert and George have been waiting and talking to Alex, who has not responded. Robert is talking to keep himself from dealing with the possibilities. George thinks Alex is dead because from the first moment that he saw his brother, there was the joy of his being dead: the revenge. George has never seen Alex this still. Even in his sleep Alex was a mover, a wild dreamer.
The doctor comes and takes Alex’s pulse, and he says, “Thank God, he’s still alive.” Robert begins to sob with relief. George feels the guilt of having wished his brother dead, and the relief of it not being so. When the doctor saws off the branch so they can move Alex and the stub, George begins to retch and Robert must return to being a dad. He has George take care of Moon so he can return to his thinking mode.
Robert goes to the hospital in the ambulance and George begs to go, too. Suzanna packs up some food and a bag of toys for Emily and the two of them follow in the car. They wait for the doctor to tell them about Alex. He tells them that two specialists will have to be brought in, one to save the eye and the other to reconstruct. Alex is in the hospital three weeks.
(continued)
Going to the Dogs
▼
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 6: The Fall
Brother Alex is six on this first great night of the stars and the horse. Two years later, as the middle child, the younger brother to the organizer/planner/schemer/horseman, Alex at eight is the doer. Alex wants to ride like the wind on Moon, George’s large brown horse with a crescent on her forehead, but George won’t share Moon. Moon is his only escape from being the older brother.
Alex climbs down from the second story of the Mayfields’ house via the willow tree, to visit Moon in the middle of the night. Moon is waiting. Alex has been told to stay away from Moon without Dad being there. Alex has been warned to stay away from Moon by George or George will tell Mom and Dad about how the fire behind the garage started when Alex was trying out a cigarette he stole from the purse of one of Mom’s friends. But it is night, and Moon is waiting. He shimmies down the tree without incident. He walks across the grass under a full moon. He approaches Moon with soft words and an apple. Moon takes the apple, and while she is munching, Alex puts his bare foot on her hock and quickly throws his right leg over her back. Alex and Moon sweep off into the night, across the farm’s open acres. As they approach the lone sycamore tree, a wind howls; a large branch breaks in the wind, cracks, falls in the path of horse and boy. Moon instinctively jumps and clears the branch. Alex, however, doesn’t see the branch, as his head is raised to the sky in exaltation.
When he feels Moon starting her jump, Alex bails out. He’d rather be in control of his own destiny (read ‘fall’) than trust the horse. Moon clears the branch neatly, feels the absence of her rider and stops to wait.
Alex is not so lucky. His bailout takes him right onto the fallen branch. A sharp stub of the branch rips through Alex’s face, leaving a gash that ends in his left eye socket. Alex faints from the pain and shock.
(continued)
Alex climbs down from the second story of the Mayfields’ house via the willow tree, to visit Moon in the middle of the night. Moon is waiting. Alex has been told to stay away from Moon without Dad being there. Alex has been warned to stay away from Moon by George or George will tell Mom and Dad about how the fire behind the garage started when Alex was trying out a cigarette he stole from the purse of one of Mom’s friends. But it is night, and Moon is waiting. He shimmies down the tree without incident. He walks across the grass under a full moon. He approaches Moon with soft words and an apple. Moon takes the apple, and while she is munching, Alex puts his bare foot on her hock and quickly throws his right leg over her back. Alex and Moon sweep off into the night, across the farm’s open acres. As they approach the lone sycamore tree, a wind howls; a large branch breaks in the wind, cracks, falls in the path of horse and boy. Moon instinctively jumps and clears the branch. Alex, however, doesn’t see the branch, as his head is raised to the sky in exaltation.
When he feels Moon starting her jump, Alex bails out. He’d rather be in control of his own destiny (read ‘fall’) than trust the horse. Moon clears the branch neatly, feels the absence of her rider and stops to wait.
Alex is not so lucky. His bailout takes him right onto the fallen branch. A sharp stub of the branch rips through Alex’s face, leaving a gash that ends in his left eye socket. Alex faints from the pain and shock.
(continued)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 5: The Horse
When Emily’s brother George was nine, he asked his parents for a horse. On a horse, George knew, he could run like the wind. He and the horse could compete in all sorts of athletic events, and he would be as capable as any of the other boys.
Robert was quick to respond favorably to George’s request for a horse, much to Suzanna’s surprise. Robert had bought the farm for Suzanna, so she could live in a quiet, peaceful place where she could have her flowers. He has never been around animals, but he has always been fascinated by horses. He feels some kind of spiritual attachment to horses, the way they move and their grace and power. When George asks for a horse, the request triggers a long-held longing in Robert that he has never spoken out loud. Now he can act on that secret longing, and be a good father for doing so. Robert is delighted. He buys George a mare and brings her home utterly without any planning or warning. Or food. Or shelter. Or fencing.
Suzanna is more than surprised. Suzanna is blindsided. Here is this mare, this excited little boy, and this incredibly proud-of-himself father. What to do? Suzanna gets a length of clothesline rope and ties the mare to the clothesline pole. Then she scrubs out her mop bucket, fills it with water, and places it next to the clothesline pole so the mare can’t knock it over. There is grass (lawn) for the mare to graze on, water for her to drink, and a tether that will keep her from getting lost or hurt during the night. George wanted to sleep outside with his horse. Robert wanted to sleep outside with his son and the horse. Just to keep the boy safe, of course.
Six-year-old Alex and two-year-old Emily are also clamoring to sleep outside with the horse. What to do? Suzanna has all the guys gather sheets and blankets. They spread a HUGE pallet on the lawn, about ten feet beyond the reach of the horse’s tether, and the entire Mayfield clan sleeps under the stars and under the smell of the new horse.
That night is the earliest memory of Emily's life. It is mainly a memory of smells, the fresh grass and the horse and Emily’s mother’s body. But there are sounds with this memory as well, the soft snorts the horse made during the night and the whispers of Suzanna and Robert when they thought the children were asleep. And the stars, bright sparkles against a pitch black sky. To this day, Emily welcomes a clear, moonless night sky with a sense of peace and safety.
(continued)
Robert was quick to respond favorably to George’s request for a horse, much to Suzanna’s surprise. Robert had bought the farm for Suzanna, so she could live in a quiet, peaceful place where she could have her flowers. He has never been around animals, but he has always been fascinated by horses. He feels some kind of spiritual attachment to horses, the way they move and their grace and power. When George asks for a horse, the request triggers a long-held longing in Robert that he has never spoken out loud. Now he can act on that secret longing, and be a good father for doing so. Robert is delighted. He buys George a mare and brings her home utterly without any planning or warning. Or food. Or shelter. Or fencing.
Suzanna is more than surprised. Suzanna is blindsided. Here is this mare, this excited little boy, and this incredibly proud-of-himself father. What to do? Suzanna gets a length of clothesline rope and ties the mare to the clothesline pole. Then she scrubs out her mop bucket, fills it with water, and places it next to the clothesline pole so the mare can’t knock it over. There is grass (lawn) for the mare to graze on, water for her to drink, and a tether that will keep her from getting lost or hurt during the night. George wanted to sleep outside with his horse. Robert wanted to sleep outside with his son and the horse. Just to keep the boy safe, of course.
Six-year-old Alex and two-year-old Emily are also clamoring to sleep outside with the horse. What to do? Suzanna has all the guys gather sheets and blankets. They spread a HUGE pallet on the lawn, about ten feet beyond the reach of the horse’s tether, and the entire Mayfield clan sleeps under the stars and under the smell of the new horse.
That night is the earliest memory of Emily's life. It is mainly a memory of smells, the fresh grass and the horse and Emily’s mother’s body. But there are sounds with this memory as well, the soft snorts the horse made during the night and the whispers of Suzanna and Robert when they thought the children were asleep. And the stars, bright sparkles against a pitch black sky. To this day, Emily welcomes a clear, moonless night sky with a sense of peace and safety.
(continued)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 4: Brothers
Emily's father Robert Mayfield is an ibid. He got all three of his academic degrees from the same university, where he also has worked all his life. Robert is an innocent. It never occurs to him that he has never functioned in the world. For him, the university IS the world.
Emily's mother Suzanna becomes a mainstay of the local 4-H club. She shepherds girls and boys alike through various 4-H programs: home economics, gardening with an emphasis on flowers, and cooking. Suzanna is quite firm about boys learning to cook, regardless of the original resistance from the community. Suzanna herself always wins the bread-baking contest at the county fair.
When they had been married about a year and a half, Suzanna and Robert’s first child was born, a boy, George Robert, named for Suzanna’s father and for Robert. Just for the record, Robert was too modest to request a junior, but he was quite pleased that Suzanna insisted that their first child carry his father’s name.
George Mayfield was born with one leg shorter than the other. Consequently, he had a bit of a time learning to walk, and didn't walk until some weeks after his first birthday. Sports were difficult for George. He wasn’t able to run fast or move with much agility.
Suzanna and Robert's second child was born three weeks after George’s third birthday. Child number two is also a boy, Alexander Jacob Mayfield. Alex and George were close enough to be buddies, and also close enough to be competitors. Wherever George went, baby Alex wanted to go, too.
When George was seven and Alex was four, child number three was born to Suzanna and Robert: Emily McKinley Mayfield, named for her mother’s best friend, her mother’s family and her father.
(continued)
Emily's mother Suzanna becomes a mainstay of the local 4-H club. She shepherds girls and boys alike through various 4-H programs: home economics, gardening with an emphasis on flowers, and cooking. Suzanna is quite firm about boys learning to cook, regardless of the original resistance from the community. Suzanna herself always wins the bread-baking contest at the county fair.
When they had been married about a year and a half, Suzanna and Robert’s first child was born, a boy, George Robert, named for Suzanna’s father and for Robert. Just for the record, Robert was too modest to request a junior, but he was quite pleased that Suzanna insisted that their first child carry his father’s name.
George Mayfield was born with one leg shorter than the other. Consequently, he had a bit of a time learning to walk, and didn't walk until some weeks after his first birthday. Sports were difficult for George. He wasn’t able to run fast or move with much agility.
Suzanna and Robert's second child was born three weeks after George’s third birthday. Child number two is also a boy, Alexander Jacob Mayfield. Alex and George were close enough to be buddies, and also close enough to be competitors. Wherever George went, baby Alex wanted to go, too.
When George was seven and Alex was four, child number three was born to Suzanna and Robert: Emily McKinley Mayfield, named for her mother’s best friend, her mother’s family and her father.
(continued)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 3: Parents
Emily’s father, Robert Mayfield, met Emily’s mother, Suzanna McKinley, in college. She was majoring in home economics, and Robert was studying economics.
Suzanna worked in the university kitchen and had a small room in the top floor of the women’s dorm. Robert was an instructor at the university. He lived in a basement apartment just one block off campus. The apartment smelled funny, so Robert spent most of his free time in the library, which is where he met Suzanna. He was a Ph.D. candidate, finishing up work on his dissertation and preparing for his defense. He came up for air one day, and there was Suzanna, looking wise and soft and caring.
Both worked their way through school. By the time they graduated, he getting his Ph.D. and she a baccalaureate degree, they were grownups, independent and self-supporting and living away from home.
Their wedding was held the day after their graduation, since all the family members were in town anyway. Suzanna wore a dress she made herself. In fact, her wedding dress was her senior project. She got an A on the dress. Robert wore the only suit he owned. It was black and a little shiny. He bought a new tie for the wedding.
Suzanna’s maid of honor was named Emily.
Robert became a professor of economics at the University. This allowed him to have the summers off to tend the farm, and to hire his students as workers.
Suzanna has put her degree in home economics to good use tending the home, raising four children, tending Robert and his laborer-students, and—Robert’s specialty notwithstanding— managing the household budget and finances.
Robert is a tall, gaunt man, kept stringy by all that dealing with the laws of supply and demand. That and working the fields. Suzanna is a dumpling of a woman, soft and nurturing to Robert’s lean spareness. They complement one another in physique as well as personality.
Robert is an idealist, a theoretician, a dreamer of worldly dreams. He thinks he’s practical. His specialty is the stock market, and he NEVER invests his personal money. On paper he has made over three million dollars during the course of his career. He is very proud of the fact that he has never lost a penny on the stock market.
(continued)
Suzanna worked in the university kitchen and had a small room in the top floor of the women’s dorm. Robert was an instructor at the university. He lived in a basement apartment just one block off campus. The apartment smelled funny, so Robert spent most of his free time in the library, which is where he met Suzanna. He was a Ph.D. candidate, finishing up work on his dissertation and preparing for his defense. He came up for air one day, and there was Suzanna, looking wise and soft and caring.
Both worked their way through school. By the time they graduated, he getting his Ph.D. and she a baccalaureate degree, they were grownups, independent and self-supporting and living away from home.
Their wedding was held the day after their graduation, since all the family members were in town anyway. Suzanna wore a dress she made herself. In fact, her wedding dress was her senior project. She got an A on the dress. Robert wore the only suit he owned. It was black and a little shiny. He bought a new tie for the wedding.
Suzanna’s maid of honor was named Emily.
Robert became a professor of economics at the University. This allowed him to have the summers off to tend the farm, and to hire his students as workers.
Suzanna has put her degree in home economics to good use tending the home, raising four children, tending Robert and his laborer-students, and—Robert’s specialty notwithstanding— managing the household budget and finances.
Robert is a tall, gaunt man, kept stringy by all that dealing with the laws of supply and demand. That and working the fields. Suzanna is a dumpling of a woman, soft and nurturing to Robert’s lean spareness. They complement one another in physique as well as personality.
Robert is an idealist, a theoretician, a dreamer of worldly dreams. He thinks he’s practical. His specialty is the stock market, and he NEVER invests his personal money. On paper he has made over three million dollars during the course of his career. He is very proud of the fact that he has never lost a penny on the stock market.
(continued)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 2
Emily is forgetful about things and people but never about the animals in her care. She forgets her mother’s birthday but remembers that it has been more than three weeks since she was supposed to take out stitches from a Pomeranian. The Pom worries her.
Emily’s brothers have all done well. George is a lawyer. Alex is a dermatologist. Jerry is a studio musician and loves it. Jerry has the same passion for music that Emily has for animal care. George and Alex are married (Alex for the second time) and have six kids between them. Jerry is living with an older woman who has teenaged daughters. They all try to get together at Christmas, but it is difficult. Still, they try. It is usually Emily who has to leave to answer a page.
The Mayfield Animal Hospital and Clinic is open every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s only open for an hour and a half on Sunday so boarders may be picked up. Emily is hoping one of the interns won’t turn out to be a complete idiot, and he/she can begin to take over some of the hours and duties.
She lives in a small two-bedroom house on a large piece of property. She has three dogs and three cats living at home. The cats stay indoors. Each of them has been abandoned at her office when the medical care exceeded some person’s notion of the worth of an animal. She knows she spoils her animals. They each adore her. They are also comfortable as old shoes to have around. Emily’s only social life revolves around her practice and the opera. Emily loves the opera and attends whenever possible.
Emily is practical in her work and her life. She cooks for herself, mostly on Sundays. She wears practical clothes. She is an amateur collector of old medical books, and her collection brings her great pleasure.
(continued)
Emily’s brothers have all done well. George is a lawyer. Alex is a dermatologist. Jerry is a studio musician and loves it. Jerry has the same passion for music that Emily has for animal care. George and Alex are married (Alex for the second time) and have six kids between them. Jerry is living with an older woman who has teenaged daughters. They all try to get together at Christmas, but it is difficult. Still, they try. It is usually Emily who has to leave to answer a page.
The Mayfield Animal Hospital and Clinic is open every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s only open for an hour and a half on Sunday so boarders may be picked up. Emily is hoping one of the interns won’t turn out to be a complete idiot, and he/she can begin to take over some of the hours and duties.
She lives in a small two-bedroom house on a large piece of property. She has three dogs and three cats living at home. The cats stay indoors. Each of them has been abandoned at her office when the medical care exceeded some person’s notion of the worth of an animal. She knows she spoils her animals. They each adore her. They are also comfortable as old shoes to have around. Emily’s only social life revolves around her practice and the opera. Emily loves the opera and attends whenever possible.
Emily is practical in her work and her life. She cooks for herself, mostly on Sundays. She wears practical clothes. She is an amateur collector of old medical books, and her collection brings her great pleasure.
(continued)
Friday, February 12, 2010
Emily Mayfield, part 1
Dr. Emily Mayfield has no time for fools, and she sometimes feels that she gets an abundance of fools interning at her very state-of-the-art veterinary hospital. She saves all of her love for the animals that come through her facility. She has infinite patience with her animal charges. Dr. M. frequents the clinic all hours of the night. This is when she gets to really know the personalities of her charges.
Emily was brought up on a small farm with her three brothers. She was next to the youngest, and was going to be the last when her mama had a change of life baby when Emily was thirteen. She felt as though her younger brother, Jerry, was born for her alone. Emily had always been a tomboy. She saw her older brothers, George and Alex, as worldly, loyal, handsome, protective, and slightly magical. They tended to view Emily as a science project. They didn’t harass her as they might have a younger brother, but they did keep her with them on most of their adventures. From her brothers, Emily learned to walk around on the roof before she was six, to climb trees, to fish, to find bugs, and to take care of animals. She learned caring by taking care of Jerry.
It was a rainy spring morning as she was pushing baby Jerry in his stroller that she encountered her first real animal emergency. A prized mare gave birth to a spindly foal. The birth had been very hard on the mare, and Emily saw the relief on her dad’s face when the foal was finally delivered. The magic of the birth did not capture Emily as much as the appreciation of the worry and pain her dad had been enduring while his beloved mare struggled to produce this comical offspring. Emily shared her dad’s abiding love and respect for animals. And that day she knew her future would involve helping animals like her dad’s mare. She would be a veterinarian. She knew her future at that moment and nothing ever came between her and that decision. Nothing. She had lost one fiancé when she started vet school. She lost another, years later when she was finishing. There would be no third. Not for Emily.
She has her animals. They are what take up all her time. She can’t imagine a husband understanding her having to get up at 3:00 in the morning because someone's pet is starting to have her babies without benefit of medical attention.
(continued)
Emily was brought up on a small farm with her three brothers. She was next to the youngest, and was going to be the last when her mama had a change of life baby when Emily was thirteen. She felt as though her younger brother, Jerry, was born for her alone. Emily had always been a tomboy. She saw her older brothers, George and Alex, as worldly, loyal, handsome, protective, and slightly magical. They tended to view Emily as a science project. They didn’t harass her as they might have a younger brother, but they did keep her with them on most of their adventures. From her brothers, Emily learned to walk around on the roof before she was six, to climb trees, to fish, to find bugs, and to take care of animals. She learned caring by taking care of Jerry.
It was a rainy spring morning as she was pushing baby Jerry in his stroller that she encountered her first real animal emergency. A prized mare gave birth to a spindly foal. The birth had been very hard on the mare, and Emily saw the relief on her dad’s face when the foal was finally delivered. The magic of the birth did not capture Emily as much as the appreciation of the worry and pain her dad had been enduring while his beloved mare struggled to produce this comical offspring. Emily shared her dad’s abiding love and respect for animals. And that day she knew her future would involve helping animals like her dad’s mare. She would be a veterinarian. She knew her future at that moment and nothing ever came between her and that decision. Nothing. She had lost one fiancé when she started vet school. She lost another, years later when she was finishing. There would be no third. Not for Emily.
She has her animals. They are what take up all her time. She can’t imagine a husband understanding her having to get up at 3:00 in the morning because someone's pet is starting to have her babies without benefit of medical attention.
(continued)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Welcome to the theatre
Let us sing the praises of veterinarians. The tall ones and the short ones. The young ones and the old ones. The dusty ones dragging their boot heels through the far pasture. The crusty ones closing their office door to privately celebrate a patient’s hard-won recovery. The quiet ones and the loud ones. The ones who cradle a newborn pup brought forth by caesarian. The ones who speak in soft voices to rattled reptiles.
Let us sing the praises of veterinarians. They are physicians to the furred, the finned and the feathered, the scaly and the scary, the four-leggeds and the no-leggeds. They are counselors and guides for those of us lucky enough to share our lives with beings of an animal persuasion other than humankind.
Welcome, dear reader, to the singing and the praising and the eaves-dropping-upon and the sharing of the life of our particular veterinarian: Dr. Emily McKinley Mayfield. Welcome to Going to the Dogs.
It’s a bloggo-sitcom.
It’s theatre in your mind.
It’s the dogs and cats and parrots and iguanas that depend on Doctor M to keep them healthy. It’s the cage-cleaners and food-pourers that tend the wee critters in the clinic’s back rooms. It’s a saucy receptionist.
Most of all, at the heart of it all, it’s Doctor M and her clinic.
Come on in and make yourself comfortable. The door is open, and there’s an empty chair right here. You might as well meet the characters who bring this place to life … who bring life to this place.
Let us sing the praises of veterinarians. They are physicians to the furred, the finned and the feathered, the scaly and the scary, the four-leggeds and the no-leggeds. They are counselors and guides for those of us lucky enough to share our lives with beings of an animal persuasion other than humankind.
Welcome, dear reader, to the singing and the praising and the eaves-dropping-upon and the sharing of the life of our particular veterinarian: Dr. Emily McKinley Mayfield. Welcome to Going to the Dogs.
It’s a bloggo-sitcom.
It’s theatre in your mind.
It’s the dogs and cats and parrots and iguanas that depend on Doctor M to keep them healthy. It’s the cage-cleaners and food-pourers that tend the wee critters in the clinic’s back rooms. It’s a saucy receptionist.
Most of all, at the heart of it all, it’s Doctor M and her clinic.
Come on in and make yourself comfortable. The door is open, and there’s an empty chair right here. You might as well meet the characters who bring this place to life … who bring life to this place.