Deadly Doggy Dinners...
Emaline set the package and the bag of doggie treats in the middle of the kitchen table. "What's in you," she mused. "Was it a good analysis, or is there something really deadly in you?"
Tomorrow, she promised herself, she would do some research on what might cause symptoms of heart attack in dogs. She knew of several easily obtained compounds that would so affect humans. Most were important drugs in the treatment of heart disease, but also deadly poisons in higher doses.
But dogs often reacted differently to foods than humans. All animals did. She'd never forget the time she saw the mountain goats eagerly licking up antifreeze from the road in Glacier National Park. A small portion of what they'd ingested would have killed a dog or cat, but from all she had read, it had absolutely no effect on mountain goats.
And chocolate. An aphrodisiac to humans, toxic to dogs.
Just another reason why she found biochemistry fascinating.
Too tired to bother with cooking, she pulled a frozen meal from the fridge and stuck it into the microwave. While it was cooking, she picked up the FedEx package. It had one of those tear-strips, so opening it was easy. A bubble-wrap encased item fell out, along with a small gift card. Inside the card was written Happy Valentine's Day. Wish I could be with you. I hope you'll think of me when you wear this. The signature was a scrawled HJ.
The bubble wrap was securely taped, and she finally had to resort to scissors to open it. What fell into her hand took her breath away. A golden heart, just the outline, set with red stones. A sparkling white stone sat where the two halves dipped at the top. The delicate chain on which it dangled was tiny double links, less than a millimeter across. Oh, Harry, you shouldn't have.
She loved it, but at the same time she wasn't sure what he was saying. They hadn't made any promises, had deliberately avoided doing so, in fact.
Her eyes stung. Oh, damn. How long had it been since anyone had given her a valentine? So long that she hadn't even thought about what day it was.
I don't even know how to get hold of him. Can't even thank him. I didn't get him anything.
That Doggy In The Window (ISBN 978-1-60174-101-1) is available from Uncial Press
and most other online ebooksellers, or ask for it at your local library.