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said, aghast at the sight.
    ‘ Can you bring him in?’ he asked with a sudden note of urgency. ‘One of my colleagues will be there to meet you.’
    ‘ Can you not come out?’
    ‘ I can, but it’ll cost you around six hundred pounds, if I do.’
    ***
    Jen could see Dylan quietly and industriously collecting cleaning materials from under the kitchen sink. It was almost as if his mind went into work mode at times like this, and he proceeded with the job-in-hand without fuss or complaint. She looked at Max with an expression of helplessness and sitting on the stairs she pulled on her boots. Max was still but his breathing was heavy. Her movements were cautious as she knelt down at his side. Dylan came and stood next to her and looked at her questioningly.
    Jen spoke to Dylan in a whisper. As if Max would understand what she said. ‘The vet wants me to take Max to the surgery straight away. You’ll have to get Maisy to nursery. And tell Avril I may be a bit late will you?’ she asked, gathering her thoughts and the collar and lead from the hook behind the door. She accepted the towel and plastic bags Dylan handed to her. ‘Come on fella, let’s go,’ she said soothingly.
    Dylan nodded his head. He looked past her at the clock in the living room, a roll of kitchen paper and more bags in his hand. ‘It’s only half past five, you’ll probably be back long before you have to go into work,’ he said.
    ‘It ’s my own fault. I knew I should’ve rung yesterday,’ she said crossly. Jen encouraged Max to move with a gentle tug of his lead.
    ‘ The vet might be just erring on the side of caution because of his history,’ Dylan said, trying to calm his wife.
    Maisy started whimpering. Jen raised her eyes up the stairs.
    ‘l’ll go see to her, and deal with this mess,’ he said. ‘You get off.’
    ***
    It was cold. Jen found herself in the driveway with Max, helping him get into the footwell of her car, which in the state he was in, was no easy task. Once achieved, she hurried around to the driver’s side and got in. Her hands were shaking. A sudden slip of the foot on the clutch made the car jerk and it rolled forward, almost hitting the garage door. But this small incident recovered her emotional poise.
    Jen drove carefully, it was still pitch black and the quickest route had no street lighting. She noticed she was holding herself rigid and felt every twist, turn and bump in the road for Max. As she reached the top of Sibden Hall Road she saw in the distance a cloud of far-off lights spangling over Harrowfield Town below. She felt a moment of relief.
    The vets’ practice on Pellan Lane appeared to be deserted when Jen arrived. Negotiating the narrow gated entrance and the gravel pathway she eventually parked as near to the door as possible. She turned off the engine. Max looked up at her with big, brown, sad eyes and tears sprung into hers. On alighting she saw the dark outline of a figure, through the window, heading towards the door of the building. Jen eased Max carefully from the car. The lights in the foyer sprang to life and a vet Jen hadn’t seen before stood in the doorway. ‘Mrs Dylan?’
    ‘Yes. ’
    ‘ Come on in. I’m Sam, Sam Gouldthorp,’ she said. Jen looked at the stone steps before her and the longer route of the wheelchair access and debated for a moment the easiest way forward. With pure willpower and the desire to please, Max made one last big effort to climb over the threshold of the veterinary entrance and then, as if it had taken his final ounce of strength, he collapsed on the floor. A sob caught in Jen’s throat as she saw Max splayed, on the tiles. Instinctively the vet bent down to him and as Jen soothed him Sam left, returning just a few minutes later with a large canvas sheet. ‘We’ll use this to carry him in,’ she said. They swapped glances of concern.
    The smell of the vets ’ surgery, reminded Jen of the one Dylan carried on his clothes, from the mortuary. Her