Leashed to Faith

by Vicky Kaseorg

  We headed out the door. As usual, Bo had a path predetermined. She pulled me along behind her. I didn’t argue. I was busy sorting through all the tangled thoughts of the day, and not paying much attention to our route. It was roughly in the direction of Timothy’s house which was no big surprise. She probably missed Dumbo. It had been a while since we had seen him.

  However, before we reached his street, she veered left which was a somewhat shady neck of the woods. I got a whiff of weed, which was just one clue that we were not in the best neighborhood on earth. The second clue was when a big, tattoo covered arm circled my neck and foul breath accompanied the whispered words to not say a thing or the sharp object near my waist would rip my kidney out.

  Bo was taken by surprise as well, but as soon as she turned to snarl and bark, he kicked her. She squealed and was tossed about three feet in front of me. I let go of her leash to avoid strangling her as she flew through the air, but also to give her full freedom to run, or to recoup and attack. Meanwhile, Mr. Burly Tatoo was trying to drag me by my neck behind some prickly bushes and broken down fence. His biceps were cutting off 9/10ths of my ability to breathe. The remaining air was not enough to sustain consciousness, it turns out.

  Chapter Eight

  Given that oxygen is critical to brain function, I don’t know what happened for the several next few minutes. When I came to, I was on the ground listening to what appeared to be a pack of snarling, growling dogs and screaming men. It turns out it was just two dogs, Bo and Dumbo, and one screaming victim, presumably my attacker. He was curled up in a ball, but I could still see the tattoos on his arm, which tipped me off.

  There was one other man who was kneeling at my side and talking on a cell phone. In my oxygen depleted fog, I could tell he was calling 911 and reporting an attack on his fiancée. Fiancée?

  When I had resumed enough air to focus my eyes, I saw Timothy hover into a coherent image. The screaming man was still curled in a ball and I saw a few wounds on his arms. Bo was no longer attacking but she was still growling and ready to pounce if he moved at all. Dumbo stood with two huge paws on the man’s chest and his teeth clamped on his shirt.

  The police arrived really quickly. They asked Timothy to call off the dogs, which he did, grabbing both leashes and pulling them off the crumpled man. As he started to uncurl, I saw his face. Lakisha’s boyfriend!

  I was sitting upright, though still feeling a tad dizzy. The police called an ambulance, even though I didn’t feel I really needed one. My throat hurt, and felt a little swollen. Timothy clutched the two dogs who still snarled quietly as the cops handcuffed the man.

  “I know him,” I whispered to Timothy. It hurt to talk and my voice was barely audible. Once the cops tossed the man in the back of their car, they returned to me. Timothy told them I knew the attacker. As best I could with my damaged throat, I recounted how I knew him. I gave them Lakisha’s number knowing she could identify him.

  “He attacked you because you told Lakisha about abortion pill reversal?”Timothy asked.

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say,” I whispered. It hurt to talk.

  Timothy hovered as they loaded me in the ambulance and then told me he would be to the hospital as soon as he put the dogs in his house. I was surprised how shaky I felt as the medics lifted me on the stretcher. I don’t think I could have stood up on my own power.

  Timothy got to the hospital only a few minutes after I did. I suspect he ignored the speed limit. He also ignored the nurse who told him he could not go back to see me and almost had security throw him out. I assured them this was the closest thing I had to a relative and wanted him with me.

  My neck was badly bruised and the knife had actually nicked my side. I had already passed out and never felt when I was stabbed. We were all surprised that our gentle dogs, especially Dumbo, had so vigorously defended me. The police could not get a hold of Lakisha, so I gave them Talia’s phone number since I figured she had a last name and maybe address. She did. The police went to Lakisha’s apartment, and found her unconscious. Her face was swollen and purple as was her abdomen. She was taken to Mirror Lake Hospital as well. Talia was in the waiting room, I was told, anxiously awaiting word about both of us. Well…all three of us. The poor baby was having a terrible day for sure.

  I was mostly fine. The wound was bandaged and the doc prescribed medication for the pain in my neck. They told me that they wanted to admit me just overnight for observation since there was swelling in my trachea. Timothy asked if he could stay. He assured me he would find someone, maybe even Talia, to take care of the dogs.

  I slept off and on. While I slept, Lakisha was being evaluated. She was in pretty bad shape. Timothy told me all this later when I awoke. She was banged up, but regained consciousness in the ambulance. She told them her boyfriend went into a rage when she told him she was keeping the baby and losing him. He beat her till she passed out. That all transpired right after she called me! The cops confronted him about that, asking if he had been intent on finding and harming me. He claimed he was not stalking me, but I just happened to walk by when he was running from Lakisha’s house. He was high on drugs and angry. Unfortunately, we crossed paths at about the least perfect time ever.

  So far, Timothy had heard nothing about Lakisha’s baby from the nurses to report back to me. That worried me. Talia was allowed to visit around dinner time. She stepped into the room and gently placed her hands on my cheeks, then kissed my forehead.

  “Praise God,” she said softly.

  Once again, I was not at all on board with the need to be heaping accolades on God. Two innocent people were assaulted, and one baby might have been killed in the attack. What exactly were we praising God for?

  “If you hadn’t been attacked, no one would have known Lakisha was in danger. Lakisha is a diabetic. Not only was she beat up and unconscious, but her blood sugar had dropped dangerously low,” Talia told us. “The medics reached her just in time. Saved her life, and probably the baby’s as well.”

  Oh my.

  “Is the baby alive?” I asked, a little hoarsely.

  “It is,” Talia said smiling, “Praise God they found a heartbeat.”

  “Will Lakisha be all right?”

  “She is terribly sore, and needed stitches in her forehead. They are keeping her under observation, but she is miraculously ok.”

  Well, well. Had Bo somehow known that? Is that why Bo veered right into the attacker’s path? Of course, it would have been a whole lot easier if Bo had just dragged me to Lakisha’s apartment. I could not say I agreed totally with God’s methods of preserving Lakisha’s life. I wanted to ask Talia about all that, but the doctor showed up and suggested that I not talk any more and rest my sore, traumatized throat.

  Timothy talked with Talia about details caring for Bo and Dumbo. He gave her his house key and they exchanged information on schedules and how to get the key back to Timothy before he had to return to the apartment. I think Talia was going to make him a copy and run it back to him, but I am not sure. I was already nodding off again with the effects of the trauma and pain killers.

  The dream I had while in my drug induced nap was one of the strangest I had ever had. I was walking down the street and a total stranger handed me a newborn baby. She told me someone tried to kill it, and she found it. It was up to me to try to save it. She insisted it was going to die immediately if I didn’t help. I had no idea what to do, but I took it in my arms and started nursing it. It occurred to me that I had milk, which of course I should not have had. I had never had a baby, nor had I ever nursed one. I woke up after that to see Timothy peering at me, his expression one of deep concern.

  “You were crying,” he told me, stroking my cheek, which I realized then was wet.

  I was released the next morning. Timothy had slept in the chair next to my bed, clutching my hand. Every time I woke up, he was awake. I am not sure he really slept at all. I was told Lakisha would remain another day. They were still monitoring her for internal bl
eeding, since she had been so brutally beaten in her abdomen. She was not up for visitors, but Timothy helped me pick out a card and a balloon from the hospital gift shop, which we sent up to her room before we left.

  The doctor said I was to rest the next couple of days, minimal talking. As Timothy drove me home, he told me he had some things he wanted to say to me, but I was to be quiet, per doctor’s orders.

  “I have been doing a lot of thinking, especially the past few hours after seeing you beat up and maybe dead on the ground.”

  “I wasn’t dead…”

  “Shhh. I know that now. But I didn’t know that then. And all I could think was the most perfect woman I had ever found was now gone, and I had never even told you how much you meant to me. Mean to me.”

  Perfect woman? I would have laughed except it would hurt my swollen larynx too much.

  “So I vowed that if you made it, I would do what I wanted to do anyway…but do it now. Ask you to marry me. I finish school in just a couple months. I will find a good job. I will take care of you whatever you decide. Work, go back to school, stay home and have our future child…but I want to be your husband. And I don’t want you to answer. Not yet. First, the doctor told you not to talk, but also, I want you to be sure. I don’t want you to feel like you have to say yes because I saved your life…because I did, you know.” He paused and winked at me, squeezing my hand.

  It is good he told me not to answer yet, because I was speechless. This is hardly what I expected. My response was not exactly promising. I felt a wave of fear, and nausea. The pain killers could have been the source of the nausea. I stifled the urge to vomit as I knew that could be easily misinterpreted at that particular moment.

  “So I want you to think about it. Don’t answer till you feel sure of your answer. Are you willing to do that? Think on it for a while?”

  I nodded, glad that I was under doctor orders to remain mute.

  We stopped at his apartment to pick up Bo. He urged me to wait in the car while he grabbed her. Bo was overjoyed to see me when he plopped her in my lap. She licked my face and sniffed my neck, as though she knew she should not apply any pressure to that tender area. Then she curled up in my lap and closed her eyes. Uncharacteristically, she didn’t say anything. The world’s most verbal dog was silent in solidarity with her mistress.

  Later, Timothy settled me on the couch, covered me with a blanket, and told me he planned to stay for at least the rest of that day and night. He made me tea with honey and then sat at the end of the couch, putting my feet in his lap.

  My cell phone buzzed with an incoming call. I glanced at it. It was Mr. Zeller from the bank. I’d forgotten all about telling him I’d be by the day before to pick up a new copy of Dr. Thanatos’ documents. I handed the phone to Timothy.

  “Hello, this is Timothy. Ruth can’t speak right now. Can I help you?”

  He listened, and his eyebrows raised. I had also forgotten our last discussion was that I was turning Dr. Thanatos down. I couldn’t explain now, so just shrugged as he shot me a quizzical look. I could tell he was arranging to drop by and pick up the documents. When he ended the call, he told me he had to run back to the apartment to feed and walk Dumbo, but also to grab some things like his school books. He would stop by the bank on his way back. He’d only be gone an hour tops. I thought he would ask about why I wanted a new copy of the offer, but he didn’t.

  “Try to just rest,” he said, kissing my forehead. Then he scratched Bo behind her ears, and quietly let himself out. My eyes were already feeling like barbells were attached to the lashes. They crashed shut before the door clicked on his heels.

  Though I couldn’t quite fall asleep, I couldn’t open my eyes either. Strange images flitted about my head, not exactly dreams but definitely odd. I pictured Lakisha with her pregnant belly, but instead of a baby inside her womb, there was a small sapling that was developing into a tree before my eyes. Then I saw her boyfriend’s face and it morphed into a creature like a cross between a wolf and a vampire. He started chasing me, and while I was running I tried to cry for help but couldn’t make a sound. I ran as fast as I could but he was gaining on me when I came to a wall. A solid wall. No escape. And then a door appeared in my mind, and I pulled it open. Filling the doorway was the completely unwelcome figure of Dr. Thanatos. I tried to peer behind him because I was sure there was help back there. I don’t know why I thought so. All I could see beyond him was bright light that was so brilliant, it hurt my eyes.

  That’s all I remember because at that point, I guess I did fall asleep. When I awoke, Timothy was back with my feet on his lap. He was reading one of his text books, taking notes. I squinted so I could watch him without him knowing I was awake.

  He stuck the pencil in his mouth and chewed on it, in between scribbling notes. His brow furrowed, deep in concentration. I thought, not for the first time, he was an exceedingly handsome man. He must have sensed me looking because he glanced over and saw my open eyes before I squeezed them closed.

  “Well hello,” he said, grasping my hand. “How are you feeling?”

  Bo answered for me. “Wo worrrr wowwowwowfffff.”

  I nodded, pointing to my throat.

  “Right,” Timothy said, “Don’t talk. Does it hurt much?”

  I shrugged and nodded. It did hurt. More than it had before the nap. The doctor had warned that the trauma and swelling might be worse for a day before it got better. Timothy had been given a list of symptoms to look for to know if he should return me to the hospital.

  “Can you breathe ok?”he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Can you swallow?”

  I tested that out. It hurt to do so but I could.

  “The doctor said just soft foods today, like ice cream might be best. I stopped and got some while I was out. Are you hungry?”

  I was not. I was just overwhelmingly tired. I closed my eyes to indicate that, and fell asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  While I slept, Talia called and talked with Timothy. Lakisha was very sore, but was continuing to improve and the baby’s heart beat was still strong. She was very grateful that I had the good sense to have the police call Talia and that my troubles had led to Lakisha being saved. She was terribly sorry that her no-good ex, Dee, had beat me up and intended to do what she should have done long ago — press charges and testify about the years of abuse.

  The police told Talia if the baby had died, Dee would have been charged with a homicide. That struck us both as strange, being that the very day before Lakisha had tried to kill the baby through an abortion, but of course, that was not considered a homicide. The crazy lack of legal consistency made my head spin more than it already was from the pain meds.

  Talia also said that the repeat ultrasounds checking the baby’s heartbeat were encouraging. However, the baby’s life was not yet out of jeopardy. It would be at least a week or two before Talia would feel secure that the abortion pill was successfully reversed. Of course, additionally, all the trauma from the beating was as yet not fully known.

  That next day, it still hurt too much for me to talk. Timothy fed me soups and frozen treats, never leaving my side except to run out to walk Dumbo. He didn’t want to bring Dumbo to my place because he was afraid the unruly dog would jump on me and that would hurt for sure. I guess Timothy’s boss and his teachers gave him the next few days off.

  By the third day, I was cutting back on the pain meds and more wakeful. The swelling was visibly down and I could talk quietly without too much pain. I had not thought much about Timothy’s question because I had felt so loopy. I also hadn’t even glanced at the bank papers from Dr. Thanatos. However, as the fog of the pain meds began to lift, all those thoughts began to tiptoe back into my consciousness.

  I wasn’t feeling up to a long discussion at all with Timothy, so I pointed to my throat with a pathetic look on my face, and then picked up the pile of bank papers. I read them over again and quietly mused over my next step.

  “I will le
ave you alone tomorrow to go back to school,” Timothy said, as I slogged through the fine print of the multipage document. “Will you be ok?”

  I nodded and spoke very softly, testing my voice. “I will be fine. I hope to head back to work tomorrow.”

  “Did the doctor clear you?”he asked, a worried frown creasing his face.

  “As long as I don’t scream.”

  “So,” he said after a long pause. “I see you are looking at Dr. Thanatos offer. Are you reconsidering?”

  “I guess I am. I have been thinking over a lot of things. It feels like I should give him a chance to do something right with his life. Maybe this is that thing.”

  “Did Lakisha’s baby make you think about second chances?”

  “Yes.”

  He smiled at me and pulled me against him. “I know that is not an easy decision for you. It is a kind one.”

  “Not sure about that. I get a free college education out of it. Maybe it is just a selfish one.”