She crouched in front of him, her voice gentle in a way that made everyone else in the room listen without meaning to.
“Mr. Turner,” she said, “we found the problem. There’s an obstruction in his airway. We can remove it tonight. If we do it now, he has a very good chance.”
The man nodded quickly, relief flickering across his face so fast it almost hurt to watch.
Then he asked the question that always follows hope.
“How much?”
The pause that came next felt longer than it probably was.
“With the emergency fee and procedure,” the vet said carefully, “it will be about thirteen hundred dollars.”
I watched something in him shift.
Not collapse.
Not shatter.
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