Chapter 5

I leapt into the pool and lifted her out. She lay in an exhausted, shivering heap on the grass.

The secretary told us, “We only opened the pool yesterday morning.” She then apologized. “I’m so sorry, I should have got her out, but I was scared of her.”

“It’s okay,” I said, “I understand. Do you have any towels we could borrow to wrap her in? She’s in shock and very cold.”

Glen was backing our old Range Rover to the edge of the pool so we could take Chloe to the vet. In the process he almost ran over a yellow Labrador puppy belonging to a man on the premises who had offered to help us. The six-month-old had been trying to comfort Chloe. Thankfully Glen missed the animal—although by only a few inches.

We took our bedraggled pet to the emergency vet, who wasted a lot of time before declaring she needed to go to our normal vet.