There is no animal smell in the waiting room and barely any in the exam room where young Dr. Creighton meets them after a tech does all the routine things like weight (thirty-two pounds) and temperature (normal). Buddy takes it all like a champ. Like a dog quite used to being vetted. The clipboard with the microchip question is now in Dr. Creighton’s hands and she is asking questions that Ed lets Alice answer because it isn’t unlike being in the pediatrician’s office with a child. A mother should answer those questions. Fathers should stay in the background.

Good appetite. Healthy bowels. No coughing. Playful. He sleeps on the couch; is that a bad idea? The whole time the vet is asking her general health questions, Alice is stroking Buddy, her fingers raking through the thick fur of his ruff. Little drifts of loosened hair float into the air.

Ed waits for the vet to ask where they got him. And if she does, will she insist on seeing if he is chipped? She opens Buddy’s mouth and looks at his teeth, runs her hands down his sides and under his belly, where she spends a little longer palpating. She takes a look inside his ears and into his eyes. Ed watches as the vet’s hands glide down the length of his back. She gives him an attaboy thump. “Good boy.”

Buddy seems to agree. He nuzzles the vet’s face.

“He has a little scar on his belly, which I think must have come from surgery. If he’s been anaesthetized, he might have a chip. Do you want me to see?”

Alice doesn’t answer. She wraps the leash around her hand, holding it tighter.

“He’s not chipped.” Ed puts a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “The people we got him from didn’t chip him.”

Under his hand, Ed feels Alice’s relief.

Ed gets the feeling the vet’s not buying his story, but she isn’t going to press the issue. She administers the rabies and distemper vaccines, draws blood for a heartworm test, and shoots a little medicine up Buddy’s nose for kennel cough. “He’s a lovely dog. You’re very lucky. His former owners certainly took care of him.”

“Yeah, they did. Till they couldn’t do it anymore.”

Two hundred and twenty-five dollars later, Ed, Alice, and Buddy head home. This time, Buddy sits in front.

*   *   *