“Did you ever stop thinking about her? I’m afraid I’ll forget her when I get older. I only remember a little now.”
Trying to reassure her, I said, “I never forgot the things I remembered when I was your age. Because those memories are so important and precious that they are branded into us. And I have a great dad who also made sure I never forgot her, either. But you know the number one reason you’ll never be able to forget her?”
“What?”
I pointed to my heart. “Because she’s right here. Always. She’s a part of you and you carry her inside your heart every day. You can’t forget your own heart and you won’t.”
Birdie closed her eyes and whispered, “Yeah. Okay.”
This moment was one I would never forget. Even if I never saw Birdie again, at least I knew I was able to make her feel a little less alone in this world. The entire time she’d been communicating with me as Santa, the one thing I’d always wanted to say to her was: “Me too. I know how you’re feeling.”
“I’m really happy I met you. I’ve never met anyone who lost their mom young like me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Well, maybe we were meant to meet, so you could know there are other people out there just like you.”
Magdalene’s eyes were glistening.
When I realized I might have taken things a bit too far emotionally, I hopped up. “Well, let’s get back to training Marmaduke, shall we?”
The dog looked like he was half-asleep, enjoying the breeze with his tongue hanging out.
Birdie and I got him up and once again took turns reciting the commands in German and rewarding Marmaduke as he earned the treats. Everything was going as normal until that puppy from earlier entered his line of sight again. Then it became clear that perhaps our luck in trying to tame him this afternoon had run out.
We led him out of the park and began the trek back to Birdie’s house.Once back at the brownstone, Magdalene insisted I stay for a few extra minutes before leaving so that I could taste a dish that she’d been cooking all day in the Crock-Pot. The three of us were at the table and had just finished up the stew when we noticed an odd noise coming from Marmaduke in the next room.
When we got up from our seats, it didn’t take long to realize he was choking on something.
He’s choking.
The dog is choking.
Full-fledged panic set in.
Everything from there on in happened so fast.
I had just been watching a video the other night on what to do if a dog started choking. YouTube had recommended it because it was related to my dog-training search results. I remembered thinking maybe it would be good to watch it, since I’d be taking the dog out one more time. But good God, I never thought I’d have to use any of those skills.
I struggled to remember the instructions from the tutorial as I stepped into action, standing behind the dog and placing my arms around his body.
Think.
Think.
Think.
Making a fist with my left hand, I placed my thumb against his stomach and with my other hand, I pushed upward toward Marmaduke’s shoulders. Unsure if I was doing it correctly, I kept repeating this motion until I heard Magdalene yell, “It’s out!”
“It’s out! It’s out!” Birdie echoed, tears streaming down her face.
Magdalene went to pick the culprit up off the floor. It was a tiny rubber ball, no bigger than the size of a half-dollar.
I’d never been so scared in my life. Poor Birdie was so frightened. I hadn’t really had any time to think about what almost happened.
“You saved Marmaduke’s life,” Birdie cried as she wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck and pressed her cheek against his face. The dog seemed unfazed by what could have happened to him.
I bent down to comfort her. “I only did what anyone would’ve done in that situation.”
Magdalene had her hand on her chest, seeming more rattled than any of us. “I wouldn’t have known what to do, Sadie. Thank goodness you were here.”
The baritone voice from behind literally shook me. “What the hell is going on? Why is Birdie crying?”
No one had noticed until he’d spoken that Sebastian had come home.
Birdie ran to her father. “Daddy, Sadie saved Marmaduke’s life! He was choking on a ball, and she did the hymen remover.”
Did she just say “hymen remover”? Clearly, she meant Heimlich maneuver. I would’ve laughed had he not been giving me the death stare.
Sebastian squinted in confusion. “Who’s Sadie?”
She pointed to me and started talking so fast. “The trainer! She just uses Gretchen for work. Her real name is Sadie, and Marmaduke swallowed the small ball I’d gotten out of the gumball machine at the supermarket the other day. Sadie did this thing to him and it came out. I was so scared. I thought he was gonna die.”