Robert Lipsyte (Credit: Julie Lane)
Codger and Crone hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in 2 weeks, tending to Cur II’s uncooperative healing from ACL surgical treatment. The physician’s orders were clear; the huge poodle should not be enabled to lick the location of the surgical injury lest infection blossom, and he should remain off his left hind leg lest the implant not set effectively.
Cur II, licker and jumper, would have none of that. So Codger and Crone took turns keeping him down and far from that rear leg.
All 3 of them ended up being grouchy and worn out, particularly Crone, who remained in the middle of installing a Friends of Music performance at the Presbyterian Church. The vigil wasn’t all that effective either. Cur II would stand and march to the door, requiring a restroom break.
He declined to pee or poop on a leash. Set totally free he would race to a lower corner of the backyard, preferring the rear left leg however sometimes coming down on it as he galloped back up the hill. A sedative assisted, however not totally.
As the time came for the cosmetic surgeon’s two-week post-op see, Codger and Crone winced in anticipation of their well-deserved dressing-down. They were failing their proud, willful, caring Goodboy.
They were not comforted by the sliver of a silver lining, their sleep deprived minds’ blessed failure to totally understand what was taking place in the depths of Shelter Island politics.
Now, that was a dogsend.
For Codger, it likewise appeared like a series of hallucinations. Had he dreamt that a person of his preferred political leaders had been founded guilty of a felony? Or that a Republican had been implicated of collecting signatures for a Democrat?
Forget about the fight over guidance of the wetlands or the numerous debates over wastewater. They were immersed in data and viewpoints merely too thick for Codger’s addled brain.
Meanwhile, Codger’s expect the future, a brand-new Board of Ethics, after providing its thoughtful and appealing modified code, would need to await a public hearing. It was required today.
Trying to understand all this while purchasing Cur II to take a seat and stop gazing at his hind quarters was difficult. Codger suffered half-century old flashbacks of having a hard time to remain awake throughout guard task and of driving through the night to rock colicky infants to sleep.
There were simply a lot of concerns to address. If the Democrats believed it was okay for Albert Dickson to run for Town Board as a founded guilty felon 6 years back when he was the celebration’s prospect, why not now? Because he was running as an insurgent versus the Gerry Siller administration? Back then, had Democratic Chair Heather Reylek believed nobody would see, or that it was legal?
Had she accepted Dickson’s story, as Codger does, of him taking the blame as job supervisor at a South Carolina building after an Atlanta subcontractor made an incorrect declaration worrying asbestos compliance? Dickson was working for the New York company that had the general federal agreement.
And where was the proof in Republican leader Gary Blados’ allegation of election scams versus Patrick Clifford, who declares to have just notified next-door neighbors that his friend Gordon Gooding was running in the main for manager, never ever in fact obtaining signatures?
Codger was avoided thinking of such dirty subjects by his installing failure to secure Cur II’s leg and the warranted scolding from the cosmetic surgeon. The pity of it!
Is it due to the fact that Gooding and Dickson are ecologists and challengers of monstrous estates that Supervisor Siller reversed course and chose to run once again?
Codger believed it worthy of Siller to return so he may lastly achieve something. But what? Was his secret master strategy to establish the Center, that water-starved eyesore that appears like the Death Valley shopping center? Who is going to be the huge job’s designer, engineer, specialist, attorney? Where’s Dan Calabro in this?
Will you please take a seat, Cur II.
And what about Republican Amber Brach-Williams? This was expected to be her time. If Siller wins the main versus Gooding, will he stop and let his Deputy Supervisor and devoted financing chief take her assured area? Be simpler to knock Gooding off now.
Ultimately there disappeared hiding from all the concerns. At the veterinary healthcare facility, Codger and Crone undetectably held hands as the cosmetic surgeon analyzed Cur II then took him for a walk. What was her expression behind her mask?
“Has he been putting weight on that leg?” she asked.
Codger and Crone recoiled, nodded.
“Good,” said the cosmetic surgeon. “It’s healing.”
Codger and Crone almost wept with surprise and relief. There would be additional watchfulness, another see for x-rays in 8 weeks. But the pressure was off.
They were almost home prior to among them said, “So, what about the election?”
