Melody of death | English Version | Charles Leclerc FF

forty-fife ఌ

A loud beeping tore me out of my sleep, which could not have been more restless by then. Alarmed, I crawled to the end of my bed and looked at Elmo, who had cuddled up on his place and obviously had a problem. Less than two seconds later, I knelt down to him and groped for his dark fur. „Hey? What's wrong?" I whispered worriedly. What was wrong with him?
Again loud beeping climbed his throat and released even more fear in me, as before. And it reminded me of something, or rather of someone. Spoon showed the same symptoms a few weeks before his death.
In panic, I put on a sweater and jeans and grabbed my cell phone. Elmo didn't want to get up, but I knew he had to go to the veterinary clinic. Something was wrong with him and I didn't want to risk anything. I huried into the kitchen and took out a tube of liver sausage. Hopefully I would be able to get him in movement with it.
I put some of the stuff on my finger and tried to lure it to the door. But without success, he didn't move. "Come on, Elmo. Please," my eyes filled with tears. I knew this game. So good that I knew how it would end....
I sank to the ground and stared at the suffering dog without advice anymore. I didn't want to lose him. I couldn't lose him. Now that he was only with me for such a short time, I'm not ready to see an end. No, I wouldn't let him down. I took his leash out of the hallway and attached it to him with a harness. I tried to press him with my hands to get up. My heart jumped when he actually stood on his feet and looked at me full of pain. I knocked him with pity and at the same time as praise the fur.

With the leash I led him to the door, but there he sank back to the ground again and was not ready to follow me. I exhaled depressed. In my eyes, tears of helplessness glittered. But I had to do something. When I took the necklace that Charles once gave me between my fingers, I knew a solution. Maybe the only one that was still possible here. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Charles' number. He could be capable to carry Elmo down the stairs to the car.

I heard it choosing. After the 5th once the bell rang, I was almost sure that he was lying deep asleep in bed. But when his rough, sleepy voice entered my ear, I exhaled with relief. "Charles! Thank God you answer. Something is wrong with Elmo. He has to go to the veterinary clinic. Can you come to carry him into the car?" it literally bubbled out of me and slowly I couldn't pull myself together either.

„I am on my way", I heard him jump out of bed, put on a pair of jeans and then his car key clinked. "Thank you. How can I make up for that?" I asked and knelt down to Elmo. "You don't have to. I love Elmo at least as much as you do. I don't put up with him!" I could hear him running down the stairs to turn on the engine of his sports car the next moment.

„Nevertheless, thank you," I hoped that he knew how much his helpfulness meant to me. Without him, Elmo and I would have been lost.

A few minutes after Charles hung up, I heard him park in front of the house. He ran up the few steps to my open apartment door and looked shocked at the dog next to me. „Okay, I didn't expect him to feel SO bad," he drove through his hair to gather himself. „Okay, then my big one," he lifted Elmo on his arm, „we'll take you to the veterinary clinic."

He smiled confidently over my shoulder and went to the car. I put on my sneakers in no time and then followed him. Before I could take care of Elmo getting into my car - where it would be much less bad if a few hairs collected on the seats - Charles had already put him in the trunk of his Ferrari. He had probably upholstered it with blankets before.t.

„Isn't that a problem with the hair?" I hooked as a precaution and looked at him crunched. He immediately shook his head. "God, never. I don't care about my car now. The fact is that he has to go to a veterinarian as soon as possible." I nodded understandingly and sat in the passenger seat while Charles started the car. Seconds later, he drove along the Boulevard du Larvotto towards the veterinary clinic in Monte Carlo. Charles parked in the road called Boulevard Princesse Charlotte. The veterinary clinic with the name Clinique Vétérinaire Sainte Dévote raged in front of us. While Charles got Elmo out of the trunk, I already ran to the door of the emergency service and used the bell. Please is someone there. I prayed inwardly, because I experienced too often myself, that nobody was there although the 24-hour service. I was all the more relieved now when the door was opened and a young woman in a dark blue coat entered my field of vision. I had to control myself in order not to fall around her neck gratefully and instead began to tell why I - or we - were there. Charles reached me with Elmo on the arm only a few moments later and the woman looked at the dog worriedly. "We will take care of him immediately. Can you carry him in the 4th room on the left?" the woman asked to Charles and was already hurrying off. We went to the said room, which smelled of subtle hygiene products and treats at the same time. Bright light from the ceiling illuminated the treatment table on which Elmo lay and only made it even more clear to me the seriousness of the situation. Three assistants, including the one who had opened us and a specialist veterinarian entered the small room and set out to examine Elmo. The woman, dressed in white, asked all the facts about Elmo's health, lifestyle and past. I tried to answer all questions in the best way possible, but with the worrying glances of the employees, it was not so easy for me.

„Okay, We have to x-ray him. I suspect a tumor in the stomach because it feels very hard and there is something strange. Something like a lump, if I can say so. For this, however, we have to put him under anesthesia," the veterinarian explained seriously and looked back and forth between Charles and me. I knew exactly why. "I am aware of the danger of anesthesia in old dogs. But if only we can find out what he has...", I didn't finish the sentence, because a thick dumpling was caught in my throat. Charles stroked my back, but this time it didn't make me stronger.

The veterinarian nodded and commissioned her assistants to prepare everything for anesthesia. I got up from the chair and went to Elmo. With watery eyes, I stroked his head and stomach and reproached myself internally. How could I not see that something had been wrong with him for a long time? And even more, I wondered if Janett, his former owner, knew about it. After all, she had often been to the vet with Elmo a few weeks before the adoption, but had never mentioned why. Did she possibly give him to me because of that? Because she knew that he was seriously ill and probably wouldn't live much longer?

I kissed the dog on the forehead. Many people say that you start to pray in such situations. And even though I was absolutely not a believer, I begued inwardly the fate to bring Elmo safely through this short sleep. "See you later, Elmo," I whispered and swallowed the dumpling in my throat. Charles gently pulled me out of the treatment room into the hallway, where there were a row of dark chairs. The checkered seat cushions stabbed me conspicuously in the eyes and mixed with the dizziness behind my forehead, which was triggered by the concern for Elmo. Charles was the first to settle down in one of the squares, but I couldn't give any rest. I ran up and down, without a break. I may have thought that this would make something better or more pleasant, but the anxiety did not disappear from a single cell of my body.

„Célina. Sit down.", I had suppressed how tired I was with all the adrenaline. But now that Charles took my hand and forced me to sit down with him, I had to realize that only the duty to help Elmo had kept me on my feet. I yagned and my eyelids became heavier and heavier, with every minute that passed. And somehow I condemned myself for it. If I sat here yawning in the hallway of the veterinary clinic while my dog was under anesthesia inside, it had to look like I didn't care about what was going on behind the doors. But that wasn't it. Even the complete opposite. Since I had to let Spoon go back then, I had never again felt the same sense of responsibility and love for a living being as now when Elmo belonged to me. Having a dog by his side makes such a big difference in life. It is not the case that Elmo heals my pain - he should not have to take this task either - but in a way he fills a dead part of my heart and soul with life. Without words, without the knowledge that he decorates so much in me with bright colors.

When the door of the treatment room was opened half an hour later and one of the assistant doctors asked us in with an ambiguous look, my stomach contracted painfully. But the fact that Charles pressed my hand in his made the steps I took a little easier. Behind me, I closed the door and looked at Elmo, who was still motionless on the table. They had probably already given him the means to get him back into active life.

„Well, Madame Laurance, There are a few things I need to discuss with you.", the specialist animal dentist took off her gloves with a serious look and pulled one of the moving chairs to the worktop, "During the X-ray of your dog, we noticed a conspicuous lump in the stomach that I had already felt while touching.", She moved the mouse on the smooth surface and showed us the X-ray on the computer in front of her. At the place where Elmo's stomach was, I looked at what circled the veterinarian with the mouse. It looked unusual and dangerous. An uncomfortable feeling beamed from my stomach to my toes and fingertips.

„I have now taken blood directly from Elmo to check if it is a tumor. Of course, you will receive the results as soon as possible and will be called here accordingly." she turned her chair towards me and let her compassionate gaze rest on me. My throat was dry, my limbs too weak to move. I was glad that Charles took over the next words and that I could join Elmo instead. It hurt to see him sleep like that. Especially because he was not yet over the mountain. On the one hand, because he had not yet woken up, on the other hand, because - if the suspicion of a tumor gets confirmed - had to get used to veterinary visits and treatments.

I timidly stroked his head and felt the soft fur under my fingertips. "Please just let it be a false alarm," I prayed inside.