In the afternoon, Duke took the bus to Coquitlam to look at a snake. Amelia used Gabriella’s laptop to hunt for coupons.
Gabriella was on her phone. It sounded like she was talking to different salons, because she kept saying, “I could drop off a résumé.” Every call ended with her sighing and saying, “Well, thanks anyway,” and then muttering, “Merde” as she punched in another number.
Amelia walked past Gabriella to get some juice and noticed two rows of phone numbers on the paper, one for beauty salons, she figured, and the other with the word Apartment? scribbled at the top. Her stomach tightened.
She went back to the laptop and sorted her coupons into two piles.
The pile for her mom had coupons for Royale bathroom tissue, Yoplait yogurt, Sunlight dish detergent, Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix, Domino’s Pizza, Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
Gabriella’s had ones for L’Oréal lip gloss, Maybelline mascara, Cover Girl blush.
“Check Walmart,” Gabriella said between phone calls. “They have good deals.”
They did. Eyeliner for Gabriella and Old El Paso salsa for her mom. There were gardening coupons, too, for a tub of something called Miracle-Gro and a watering can Amelia thought Marguerite might like. She printed them off and clipped them.
When Duke got back, he and Amelia tried to coax Winston to eat some canned pumpkin.
“He’s just not hungry,” she said, disappointed. “What should we do?”
“Nothing right now.” Duke squatted beside Winston’s pen. “Hey, old buddy, what’s wrong?”
“I wish animals could talk to us,” Amelia said.
“They can. We just have to learn how to listen.”
In the morning Amelia skipped breakfast and rushed down to the apartment. Duke was standing in the kitchen, spreading peanut butter on a piece of toast, and Gabriella was putting on her makeup in the bathroom. The door was open, and she called, “Hey, Amelia. We were just going to get you. Do you want something to eat?”
“Not now.” She couldn’t eat, not until she had seen Winston. “How is he?”
“Not great,” Duke said. “The tissue around his eyes is puffed up, and he’s wheezing a bit. And there’s stuff bubbling out of his nostrils. I’ve phoned Simon. He’s bringing the van over so we can take him to the vet.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Amelia sat in the backseat, beside the cardboard box carrying Winston. Duke had draped a towel over the box, but she hoped Winston would know she was right beside him. She thought Simon veered around corners way too fast and that Winston might get scared.
The best vet for reptiles was in Burnaby. Simon listened to the directions and then said, “Yo, bro, let’s go.”
Simon said he knew a few shortcuts. Amelia waited for him to yell at a black car in front of them that dawdled at an intersection, but Simon was silent. He’s worried about Winston too, she thought.
When they got to the vet’s office, Duke said, “I’d rather take him in by myself. Too many people is confusing.”
Simon held the van door open, and Duke lifted the box out. A man with a gray poodle on a leash came out of the vet’s office, and Duke and Winston disappeared inside.
Amelia wanted to stay right there in the van and not budge, but Simon said, “We passed a McDonald’s just back there. How about an Egg McMuffin?”
She started to say no, but then changed her mind. She was a tiny bit hungry, after all, and McDonald’s was fast.