“Just fix him up,” Megan said quickly. “We’ll pay whatever is necessary.”

Frank kissed the top of Megan’s head. There was no arguing with Mrs. O’Reilly over such things.

###

Frank spent nearly an hour in the waiting room, with Megan fidgeting the whole time. And when at last the vet appeared—without Jasper—Megan grabbed Frank’s arm and held it tightly.

The vet was a huge man with a bodybuilder’s physique, yet his voice was soft, almost effeminate. He gave Frank and Megan a wide smile. “Jasper will be coming out of sedation in about twenty minutes, but he’ll be fine. It looks like he must have gotten into a fight, and the wound got infected. Luckily, the x-rays showed no breaks. However, it’s fortunate that we did that x-ray, because I probably wouldn’t have seen this otherwise.”

He pulled a clear plastic baggie from his lab coat and handed it to Frank. It contained a four-inch-long metal wire.

Dr. Dew showed his arm and pointed at a four-inch length above his wrist. “That wire managed to lodge itself between the skin and muscle just above the wound. I have no idea how it could have gotten in there, but it came out without any problems.”

“So… he’s okay?” Megan asked.

Another broad smile. “Jasper’s still a little loopy at the moment, but he’s just fine. All stitched up. He’s on antibiotics, which he’ll need to take twice a day, and I’m also going to give you guys some ointment that needs to go on the wound on a daily basis.”

Barking sounded from the back, and the exam room doors burst open. Jasper came bounding into the waiting room, his gait a bit awkward, one foot wrapped up like a mummy. He raced straight to Megan and spun rapidly with excitement as if he’d expected to never see her again.

Sherri came in right behind him. “I’m sorry Dr. Dew, but Jasper woke up way early and began frantically pawing at the door. I didn’t want him to pull any of his stitches. It looks like he really wanted to see his mommy.”

Megan scratched Jasper’s head. Clearly the two had already formed a bond.

“Well, we can’t have this big guy breaking down any doors,” said Dr. Dew, laughing. “I’m quite sure he’s the heaviest healthy lab I’ve ever encountered, and it’s not even close. It’s odd, because he doesn’t look like he’d be any heavier than seventy-five pounds or so, which is still heavy for a lab, but this boy has got some incredibly dense musculature. And judging by his teeth, he's still young. He might grow a bit more yet.”

Frank groaned. “I’m already tired just thinking about how much work it’ll be just keeping him fed.”