\nHe lets me ride up front all the way to the clinic, lets me hang my head out the window and feel the breeze rush through my hair the way he knows I like but seldom lets me do.\n<\/p>\n
\nHe doesn\u2019t talk to me the way he usually does. Even when we\u2019re sitting in the waiting room, he just stares at the tacky sail boat wallpaper and runs his fingers through my hair. I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s wrong. None of this feels the way it did the other times we came to the clinic.\n<\/p>\n
\nI try to nestle in close to him. To comfort him, even though I\u2019m not sure what it is that\u2019s bothering him. He pushes me down and there\u2019s no brightness to his eyes when he looks at me.\n<\/p>\n
\nI feel the weight of his sadness on my heart and I too sit and stare and wait.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe doctor comes in and lays a blanket on the metal examination table. It\u2019s a dingy pink with cartoon characters from an old movie for kids.\n<\/p>\n
\nMaster stands and helps me sit on the table. It\u2019s hard to sit on, even with the blanket there, and it hurts my butt to sit still. The doctor puts a hand on my back to steady me, looks down at me with a smile plastered on his face. Doing his best to help me feel at ease.\n<\/p>\n
\nBut why shouldn\u2019t I feel at ease? I\u2019ve had shots and vaccinations so many times before.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe doctor looks over to master.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHow old is she?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cEighty Seven.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nDoc makes a low whistling sound. \u201cShe\u2019s an old girl. What\u2019s wrong with her?\u201d He glances at my arms and legs, turns my face with his hand.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cShe\u2019s not been herself. Doesn\u2019t have the energy she used to. Spends most of the day laying around.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWell that\u2019s pretty normal, especially at her age. Has she been getting sick?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYeah. She\u2019s been throwing up a lot. Blood in her stool. I can tell she doesn\u2019t feel good.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMy heart skips a beat. I\u2019d wondered why he\u2019d spent so much time looking at me the last few days. I swore it was just something I ate. Did he really think something more was wrong with me?\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWell at her age, this kind of animal, you usually see the liver and kidneys go first. A lot of what you\u2019ll see is that sort of sickness before the end.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI know. I put it off as long as I could. I just don\u2019t want her suffering.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou did the right thing bringing her in. Its the hardest part of pet ownership,\u201d the doctor says.\n<\/p>\n
\nSo that\u2019s what this was about. Dread tingles my spine. Cold clutches my heart.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDo you want to be in the room?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nMaster looks at me with those sad, dim eyes.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYeah.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nThe doctor nods and turns his back to us, opening one of the cabinet drawers and grabbing a prepackaged disposable syringe and a vial of clear fluid.\n<\/p>\n
\nI breathe out a ragged sigh. I don\u2019t blame my master. I\u2019m not what I was. My health degrades each day. I did feel sick, I wasn\u2019t myself.\n<\/p>\n
\nMaster pets me gently. Holds me firmly on the table.\n<\/p>\n
\nI start to shake. Tears form in my eyes.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Doctor grabs my arm, turns it over, exposing the veins. He sticks the needle in, flushing the reservoir.\n<\/p>\n
\nMaster looks away, to the wall behind me.\n<\/p>\n
\nA smile twitches at the corners of my lips. He\u2019s an old robot. But always kind to me. I felt his love. We\u2019d had a good run together. I hope, as the chilly fluid swirls through my veins, that he finds another human to help comfort him in this lonely world.\n<\/p>\n
Eric Fomley\u2019s stories have appeared in Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy\u2019s Edge, and elsewhere. More of his stores can be found at ericfomley.com.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He lets me ride up front all the way to the clinic, lets me hang my head out the window and feel the breeze rush through my hair the way he knows I like but seldom lets me do. He doesn\u2019t talk to me the way he usually does. Even when we\u2019re sitting in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107870,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20094],"tags":[20095],"class_list":["post-140104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-tcl-43-spring-2022","tag-the-colored-lens-43-spring-2022","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/107870"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140105,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140104\/revisions\/140105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}