Lydia- The Pet Communicator

Chapter 7

“Lydia, my princess, please wake up.” I could hear my dad’s voice quavering with fear. I didn’t want to wake up; why couldn’t I just die? It was hard to face my father—I hated to see tears in his eyes. Lying on my bed, I slowly opened my eyes and prayed that whatever I saw would only be a bad dream.

“Daddy, I’m fine. Did Mom really go, or was it just a dream?” I asked quickly, holding back tears.

My father hugged me tightly and began to cry. I started crying, too. I had never seen my father cry before—he was a brave man, but today? It seemed as if his world had ended.

“You passed out, sweetie, and your mom left me for another guy. Lydia, was I that bad?” he said, as he sobbed.

“No, Dad, you’re the world’s greatest father. She was a loser, trust me,” I comforted him, wiping away his tears. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.          

“Okay, enough of this crying. You haven’t eaten dinner yet, so we’ll both have it together. Is that okay?” I nodded and gave my father a weak smile. It was good that he was eating, too, since I wouldn’t eat if he didn’t.

My father soon came in with two plates of the food my mother had made earlier. He took a bite of apple pie and gulped it loudly; his lips quivered, indicating that he wanted to cry. I avoided eye contact with him and continued having my chicken soup.

“So, Dad, can you take me to the shelter after dinner?” I asked him. “I want to show you something.” I really needed something to distract him, so I’d devised a plan. My father nodded but didn’t look up.

We quietly finished our dinner. The food was delicious, but what was the use? I mean, who even was the guy who’d ruined my father’s life? I would have slit his throat on the spot.

After dinner, my dad helped me into the wheelchair. My body was throbbing with pain, which was more intense now, perhaps because I’d fallen on the ground earlier after passing out.

“Early in the morning tomorrow, Doctor Thomas will be coming for a visit. I told him you passed out, and even though I can’t see any signs of injury, it’s probably best that we check for bone fractures. Your health right now is delicate.”

“But I’m fine, Dad.”

“No buts, please, I am already very frustrated.” It was true—I had to agree with whatever he said to try to make him happy.

“Okay, President Peter. I will do whatever you say.” My father gave me a big smile that reached his eyes. At least I could still make him do that. “Okay, Dad, hurry and push my wheelchair to the shelter.” He nodded wordlessly, and off we went.

It was time to have some fun with the animals. I would inform them the whole situation, about whatever happened with us back at home and request all the pets to make my father laugh by doing funny acts, whichever was easy for them.

“Lydia! Are you okay?” Lucky barked as he ran toward us, into my room. “That evil woman made you pass out! She should be unhappy after hurting two lovely people like you both.”

“Aw, come here, little one. Don’t say that.” I bent down a little and played with his fur. He licked my feet in return, which tickled.

“Okay, guys, end your discussion and let’s move,” my dad demanded.

“Hey! Listen, Lucky, we have to make my dad laugh. Help me with that, okay?” I mumbled slowly.

“Okay, you can count on me,” Lucky woofed.

When we reached the shelter, some of the pets were already asleep. “Wake up, a*sholes! You went to bed early,” Lucky barked.

“Hey, we’re not dogs! We don't stay up all night and disturb others,” a rabbit grunted loudly.

“Shhh! Lucky, let them sleep. We’ll start the plan tomorrow,” I muttered, with slight disappointment.

“Bunch of losers. Can’t help you when you need them most,” Lucky barked again and was soon out of sight.

“Sweetie, what did you want to show me?” my father asked.

“Dad, my plan failed—they’re all asleep. I don’t want to wake them up, so maybe we can come back tomorrow. I’m sorry,” I said, lowering my gaze. I felt terrible that I couldn’t cheer my dad up.

My father ruffled my hair. “It’s okay, baby. Let’s go inside and watch some television.”

“Lydia! Wait up!” I could hear a voice coming from far away, and it sounded like Ricky’s.

“Here comes your lover boy. I better not disturb you two,” my father teased me and walked away.

Ricky was jogging towards me. As he approached, he started taking deep breaths, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

“Why do you look like that?” I asked quickly. He appeared as if he’d just seen a ghost.

“Let me breathe, phew,” he responded.

After a moment of silence, Ricky spoke: “Your dad informed me that you passed out, then told me the reason why and asked me to come over immediately. I was worried, and my car got a flat tire on the way here, so I had to go on foot instead.”

My father is always thinking of me, I thought. I don’t need someone to look after me or make me happy, but he does—he needs me now more than ever. I have no idea what he’s doing right now; probably crying his eyes out. He really loved my mother.

“Oh! That’s so sweet of both of you. Can you please take me inside?” I asked politely.

He nodded and began to push my wheelchair towards the house. Lucky came running up behind us, and I immediately asked, “Where have you been? I realized you disappeared from behind while I was talking to Ricky.”

“I went to look for Grace, since I thought she might come back. I sniffed out her scent and found her at a park near our house. I clung on her knee and requested her to come back by barking continuously, but she kicked me off. She was sitting on a bench with that male slut. We knew he was a bad guy.”

“What? You know him!”

“It was that evil nurse Mr. Vivian from Blue Cross.”

“Oh, so it was him! Thank you, little one, you’ve really helped me out.” I patted Lucky on his back slightly and tried to alter my surprised- facial expressions into more contented ones, since I didn’t want to reveal this news to my father so soon.

“Anything for you, Lydia. You saved my life, and I’ll always be with you,” Lucky barked hastily. That just showed how much I was blessed. Even if the human world wasn’t supporting me, surely the animal world was.

We’d almost reached the main door of my house, and Ricky cleared his throat and said, “You’re talking with the animals again, aren’t you?”

“I told you, I can talk to them, Ricky. He just told me who my mother is seeing.”

“You’ve lost your mind. Let’s just go inside,” he said bitterly.

I shook my head with disappointment. I felt bad that he couldn’t trust me—if there’s no trust, there’s no love.

Is there really no love? I thought.

As we entered the house with Lucky behind us, I started looking for my father, though he was nowhere to be seen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucky go into the kitchen, and then heard him bark loudly. Soon he pulled my dad out of the kitchen by clenching his teeth around his trousers.

“This dog is strange,” my father said, rolling his eyes.

Ricky walked towards my father and said, “Sir, I think I’ll take my leave now. I have something urgent to do, but before I go, I wanted to tell you I’m planning on taking Lydia to the circus in two weeks on the twenty-third. Is that fine with you?”

My dad nodded with a smirk and shifted his gaze to me; I blushed and looked away.

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Aww, her plan failed and she is going out finally with Ricky after a long long gap. Lets see how it turns out :) Oh! It was Vivian! Sad :(   Read on sugar cubes!