by M. J. Wilson
I stood obediently and followed Mom into the kitchen. From a bag that the rescue people left, she pulled five small bottles. She mixed the replacement formula while humming off-tune.
“Here, you girls each take a puppy and start feeding them,” Mom said. “I need to get some other supplies.”
Picking up a bottle, Penny strode confidently into the breakfast nook, selected a puppy, and settled on the floor beside Jenny. The puppy mewled a little before suckling the bottle. For some reason, my stomach knotted as I peered into the box. One of the puppies stood up on his wobbly little legs and stumbled a few steps, bumping his head against the cardboard wall. I giggled.
I pulled him into my arms. His furry little body nestled against my chest made me relax. I offered him the bottle and after a tense moment where he nuzzled the nipple, he latched on and gulped the milk.
Penny and I sat in silence while we fed the puppies. When we had finished with the first two we selected two more and fed them as well. As Penny reached for the last puppy, Mom returned with a small lamp and a few other supplies.
“What’s all that stuff?” Penny asked, setting the last puppy back into the box.
Mom adjusted the lamp. “This is a heat lamp. Puppies this young can’t regulate their own body heat so this will help them stay warm. And this is Karo syrup.”
I watched, fascinated, as Mom poured a tiny bit of the thick syrup into a small dish. She sucked up a bit of the liquid in a medicine dropper. She placed a small bit on one puppy's tongue, and then set the puppy near Jenny again. The puppy sniffed around a bit, but didn’t latch on.
“They probably aren’t hungry,” I said. I tried to sound confident, but my voice faltered.
Mom picked the puppy back up. She cuddled it against her, nuzzling it with her nose. “I suppose we’ll have to stay up all night, trying to get them to nurse. It’s going to be a long night," she said again and sighed.
“Can I stay up?” I asked.
“Me too?” Penny added.
Mom frowned at us. “I don’t know, girls,” she said. I could hear the doubt in her voice and my heart sank. Then she continued, “I suppose it would be alright if you stayed up for a bit. We could work in shifts. Maybe Kaye would like to help too.”
“I’ll go ask her,” Penny said.
I watched my sister sprint from the room. She seemed as excited as I was, but I knew better than to get my hopes up too high. I knew better because the moment I let myself get too hopeful Dad would come and crush them into a million pieces.