Sam dreaded this meeting, but it had to be done and, unfortunately, she was the one who had to do it.
She called Andy into her office. “I know there was something you wanted to talk to me about,” she said. “But there’s something I need to get out first. You’ve been absolutely terrific… I couldn’t ask for a more dedicated worker.”
Andy nodded. “Thanks.”
“I’m sorry, Andy, but you can’t stay here tonight.”
Andy’s head snapped backward as if she’d slapped him. “What?”
“We have sick dogs now. You’re too young. It would be irresponsible to let you stay.”
“The sick dogs have nothing to do with the virus hurting the kids.”
“We can’t be sure of that.”
“You don’t believe the two are related. Otherwise you’d be turning those dogs over, wouldn’t you?”
“That decision is a lot more complicated.”
“And even if the two are related, I’m nineteen, not a kid!”
“We don’t know anything about this virus except that it affects younger people. That means you.”
“A sixteen-year-old kid is in intensive care. I’m not taking a chance on a few years’ difference.”
“It’s my choice. I control my own life now.”
“No. Actually, this time you can’t. Your presence here is my responsibility and my decision.”
“Don’t do this to me.”
“Andy, right now this shelter is like one big cage, a dangerous one. And I’m trying to keep you safe by taking you out of it.”
Andy shook his head in a way that struck Sam as both knowing and very sad. “I don’t think you know a lot about cages, Dr. Sam.”
He sounded so young and hurt that Sam’s resolve momentarily wavered. Then she remembered the video on the news of the ambulance pulling up to Riverside Hospital and the young girl on the stretcher with the bag valve mask over her face. “I promise, as soon as we get through this, you’ll be back. It’ll probably only be a day or two. Besides, Sid will need someone to cover the store while he’s working on stuff here. It would be a big help.”
Andy charged out of the office without another word.
After a few minutes, Beth knocked and entered. “What’d you say to the kid?” she asked. “He tore out of here like you just told him Santa was dead.”
“I told him he needed to stay away until we figured this virus thing out. He’s too young.”
“Yeah,” Beth said. “I was actually wondering when you’d realize that.”
“I’m slow, but I eventually get there. You think he’ll be OK?”
“I’m like the last person you’d want to offer an opinion on that.”
“Can you just check up on him? Try to be an ear for him?”
Beth was already shaking her head before Sam finished the question. “We discussed this, remember? Dead kid? Suicide? In my office? Swinging like a pendulum?”
“Please? He seems to like you for some bizarre reason.”
“You hear that sound?” Beth asked.
“What sound?”
“The sound of me banging my head against the wall until the brains spill out of my skull.”
“So that’s a yes?”