PICS and IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

24. The Chance

He should've bitten off my head by now. That's how Toad is like.

Instead he stares at me and whines. He comes close and nudges my arm with his muzzle.

What is happening? "Toad," I say.

He barks once.

Soon Raylan comes out from the other door. "Hey," he yells and runs and comes stands between me and Toad.

Toad barks at Raylan once and starts whining again.

"What's the matter with him?" Raylan says.

"I don't know," I say and look behind Toad, at the house. "Where's your master buddy?" I say.

The dog barks a couple more times. He takes a few steps back towards the house, then forwards towards us, and whines again.

"Maybe we should go check inside the house," I say.

"That will be breaking and entering! You sure?" Raylan says.

"I don't feel good about this. Let's go in and see, please."

Raylan sighs. "Fine. Stay behind me."

We head towards the house. Toad starts to run into the place. We follow him upstairs into a large bedroom.

"Mr. Finnigan," Raylan says and rushes over to the old man on the floor.

When I touch Finnigan he's warm, but is unconscious. Raylan immediately calls for an ambulance while I keep calling Finnigan to wake up. Toad barks next to us.

After a couple of minutes the ambulance arrives. Paramedics transfer Finnigan to a gurney and roll him out of the house.

"Take Toad to my place. Don't worry Finnigan is gonna be okay," Raylan says before leaving the house and getting inside the ambulance with the rest of them.

As the vehicle leaves the house, I hold Toad's leash tightly while he barks and tries to run after his master.

I feel sad.

"You heard him, Toad. Finnigan is going to be okay," I say. The dog starts to whine again.

I head back into the house to find the key and lock up. That's when I notice the basketball on the armchair.

Why did Finnigan take this inside? Doesn't matter. It probably saved his life. I take the ball and the key.

I lock up the house and start to walk toward's Raylan's place while telling my mom over the phone what had happened.

She doesn't reprimand me for trespassing, instead is relieved to hear we found him.

At Raylan's home, I update his mother of the news before taking Toad to Raylan's room.

First I worried Toad was going to just lunge at the kittens and eat them, but Toad is still acting not like himself. He seems depressed.

The curious kittens cautiously approach him, and once they confirm the big dog is no threat they start climbing all over him, biting him from time to time.

Toad just sits there like a lifeless doll getting played with by a group of small kids.

I feed Toad the food I picked up from Finnigan's place. But he barely eats it.

For the night, I crash at Raylan's room watching over Toad. Raylan called and told me it was a minor heart attack. Finnigan was not in a serious condition but the hospital needs to monitor him for a couple of days. Raylan will stay with him tonight.

Next day morning, I briefly return to my place to get changed and take Toad to his master's house. I pack some clothes for Finnigan and leave for the hospital. On the way, I drop Toad at Tess' place.