Tucker was waiting just inside the condo, but the other two dogs were nowhere in sight.

  “Can you make it up the stairs?”

  “I think so. I’ve been up and down several times this morning, but I’m a lot sorer after that episode in the kitchen.”

  “Probably because you were very tense over the dead mole.”

  “When I saw it, I thought my heart would stop.”

  “Do I want to know how you injured your back initially?”

  “You can blame…oh.” Perry gritted her teeth when she started up the stairs and a new spasm gripped her lower back. Ming reacted quickly, pressing her thumb against the vertebra she’d pinpointed earlier and massaging the spasmed muscle with her other hand. After a moment, it eased, and Ming drew a plastic bag from her pocket. She extracted a yellow gummy candy and held it out to Perry.

  “Are you allergic to any fruits or medicines?”

  “What? Oh. No fruits, but I’m allergic to penicillin.”

  “Chew this then.”

  “Is that marijuana candy, Doctor?”

  “It’s regulated medicinal cannabis, containing precise doses. It is not the marijuana gummies sold for recreational purposes. Cannabis is legal in this state and is one of nature’s natural muscle relaxers and pain relievers, and does not have the addictive side effects of opioids. Eat it so we can get you upstairs. I wasn’t lying when I told Mrs. Mayberry that I might be late getting to the office.”

  Perry chewed the gummy and did her best not to tighten when Ming wrapped an arm around her waist to help her one stair at a time. In the bedroom, Molly lay stretched out on the bed, snoring loudly while JT watched them from his crate.

  “Morning naptime. They definitely have a daily routine.” Perry was already feeling a bit fuzzy. “I respect that about them, but we’re still struggling to mesh our separate schedules.”

  Ming gently moved Molly to the other side of the bed and helped Perry lie on her back. “Speaking of schedules, did you have any appointments this morning that you need to reschedule?”

  Perry apparently was still thinking about the dogs’ schedule. “I should have my people call their people to smooth it out. But their people, uh, person jumped in the rainbow river.”

  Ming never would have guessed that this stoic businesswoman was hiding such an adorable bumbling comedian inside. She chuckled as she corrected Perry’s confused euphemism. “Crossed over the rainbow bridge.”

  Perry gasped, her blue eyes wide with some sudden realization. “YOU speak dog language. You can be their people, uh, person.”

  “Right.” Ming placed her hand on Perry’s right shoulder to hold it in place, then gently hooked her other hand behind Perry’s right knee. “Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let it out slowly.”

  Perry sucked in a breath and blew it out noisily as Ming slowly drew Perry’s right knee across her left leg, holding it there to stretch the muscle. But Perry wasn’t relaxing. “SHA, call Julie.”

  “Calling Julie.”

  “I need you to concentrate on what we’re doing,” Ming said.

  “I’m multitasking. It’s a more effi, more ficent, more…”

  “Efficient.”

  “Yeah. Use of time.”

  “Whose time are we using, Boss?”

  JT jumped onto the bed, and Tucker whined at Julie’s disembodied voice.

  “Julie is my people, my person. She’s, um, um, my right hand.” Her words were slightly slurred, and she held up her right hand to stare at it. “Not that right hand. It does things she doesn’t.” Her face flushed as she glanced sheepishly at Ming. “Well, sometimes she does. But we’re just friends.”

  Laughter came over the hidden speakers. “Are you high? On a Thursday morning?”

  Ming repeated the stretch from left to right and held it. “Hi, Julie. It’s Ming. Perry had an emergency this morning when her doggie warriors slayed an enemy mole in the yard and brought it in the kitchen as proof of their bravery. She called me when she panicked over the disposal of the body, and I discovered when I arrived that your accident-prone boss has injured her back as well as the hand she scraped Saturday. I’m treating her back now, but I’ve had to medicate her. I don’t know if it’s in your job description, but can you see that someone reschedules her appointments for the rest of the day?”

  “Sure. Her back problem comes up at least once a year. It’s an old sports injury from our college days. How bad is it this time?”

  “She’ll be fine if she takes care of it today and is careful tomorrow.”

  “I can come over and work from her home office to make sure she doesn’t fall down the stairs and gets lunch and dinner.”

  “That would be perfect. I’ll leave some instructions with the medication and for using ice packs.”

  “Great. She has some in her freezer, but I’ll bring the ice packs I have, too.”

  “Ming is Tucker’s person.” Perry gasped again. “What if they start killing something every morning as part of their morning routine? No, no, no. They can’t do that.”

  Ming chuckled and shook her head. “Relax, St. Francis of Assisi. I’m sure your very small yard does not have enough wildlife to sustain a daily hunt.”

  “What’s she mumbling about?” Julie asked.

  “She called because she thinks you and I need to negotiate with the dogs to combine her schedule with theirs.”

  “No hunting furry things in the new schedule,” Perry said loudly.

  Laughter again. “Is that a rule for you or the dogs?”

  “What? I don’t kill things.”

  “Well, that went right over her head,” Julie said. “I’ll look to see what needs to be rescheduled for this morning, then take care of the afternoon stuff after I get over there. It’ll be about twenty minutes.”

  “I probably won’t still be here because I have patients to see.” Ming didn’t mention that she’d posted a last-minute note canceling the morning’s podcast after Perry called. She couldn’t blow off patients waiting at the office, too—especially with tension still high among her partners. “I’ll leave the instructions and medicine on the desk in her office.”

  “Thanks, Ming. I’ll have to buy you a drink soon so I can hear all about the dead-mole crisis.”

  “Call disconnected,” SHA announced.

  Ming released the second cross-stretch, then climbed onto the bed to push both of Perry’s knees up to her chest for a final stretch. A satisfying series of pops sounded along Perry’s spine as Ming leaned all her weight onto her folded legs, and Perry moaned in relief.

  “O-o-h-h, man. That felt so-o-o good.”

  Perry was totally pliant, indicating the medicine had reached full effect, so Ming pressed a little harder into the stretch, bringing their faces inches apart. Her blue eyes were glassy, even in the dim light of the bedroom, but her full lips were puckered into a pout. “I want to buy you a drink. Not Julie.”

  But it wasn’t a drink Ming wanted. Planting her arms to transfer her weight, she slowly kissed the pout from Perry’s mouth. She went willingly when Perry dropped her knees to the side, cradled Ming’s hips between her thighs, and curled her hands around Ming’s waist to draw her closer. So much passion was leaking around the dam that was Perry’s self-control, but not even the cracks made by the cannabis had broken all the way through.

  Ming caressed her cheek as she withdrew. “You need to rest, and I have patients waiting at my office.” She climbed off the bed and straightened her clothes. The dose of cannabis was strong, so she was surprised when Perry spoke rather than drifting off to sleep.

  “Ming?”

  “Yes?” How Perry could still focus was beyond Ming’s comprehension.

  “Thanks for everything this morning.”

  Ming’s smile was more for herself than Perry. “Totally my pleasure.”

  “I was thinking the pleasure was mine.” Perry licked her lips. A dry mouth was a common side effect of cannabis. “Thai and a dog walk on Saturday?”

  “Yes. I’ll be here around noon.”

  “Good.” Perry’s eyelids finally drooped as her last words trailed off to a whisper. “I like your bedside manner.”

  Ming opened a few doors to find Perry’s home office, scribbled some notes for Julie on the notepad she found in the desk drawer, and laid the small bag of cannabis gummies next to the note. She paused at the top of the stairs to take one last look at her patient. Perry hadn’t moved, but Tucker had jumped onto the bed and curled next to her. If anything could widen the cracks in Perry’s considerable restraint, it might be that little dog’s unconditional devotion.

  Chapter Seven

  This is Timed for Success, and we’re talking about timing your life to make the most of both your work and personal time. On Monday, we were discussing how to find that time of day when you are your most creative and productive, but we got bogged down in work situations. We all have to work to pay our bills, but few of us think about making the most of our time at home. What do you spend the most time doing that you wish you didn’t have to? I’m asking our listeners.”

  The chat roll immediately lit up.

  Ryan from Toledo: If I had my way, we’d get rid of the dog and pave the front and back yard so I didn’t have to mow every damned weekend.

  Penny from the UK: I wish the lazy bloke I live with would clean the loo at least half the time. I’m tired of wiping up where he splashes pee everywhere. I even have to keep my toothbrush in a drawer so he doesn’t drip on it.

  “Okay. We’ve got the battle of the sexes cranking up on the chat line, but how about we save the discussion on the division of labor for next week. Today let’s talk about two things—what do you have to do and what do you want to do during your personal time? Looks like we have some good talking points on the chat line already, so let’s address these before we add new ones.

  “Candace from South Carolina writes: ‘My husband and I both work full-time during the week, so on the weekends we have to mow grass, do laundry, and buy groceries. Also clean the pool and dust and vacuum the rest of the house. Then we always have some small job that takes up time, like fixing the handle on my daughter’s car door, washing the RV, and trying for the hundredth time to organize the garage. We’d like to kayak with friends, cook out, and enjoy the pool we spend so much time cleaning, or go RVing with our best friends, Danny and Michelle, so we can watch the sun set over the lake.’

  “I think Candace has a lot of options here. I’d look at two possibilities—hire a teenager to take care of the lawn and clean your pool. Better yet, try to interest your daughter in starting a small business recruiting her friends she can hire out to do laundry, yard work, and even organize closets and garages for busy people. She would be putting money in her friends’ pockets and taking some off the top for managing the work. It’d be good practice for any future career. That should free up your time to camp and kayak at the lake with your friends. Or you could schedule one task each night during the week, so your weekend isn’t packed with work. Clean one room every day. Clean the pool every Wednesday evening. Make your daughter and husband responsible for their own laundry, and do yours on Sunday night to get ready for the work week.

  “Barry from New Mexico has a different problem. He says, ‘Since my wife died, I’d like to spend more time with my buddies, watching sports and going fishing. I pay a woman to clean my house, or else my adult daughters would be underfoot all the time. I like to cook, too, but my daughters keep my freezer filled with precooked meals and make a fuss if I don’t eat them. Honestly, the meals aren’t that great. I prefer my own cooking, and I’m thinking about taking a culinary class at the community college. Also, in return for the meals, they keep wanting me to fix things at their houses. They have husbands who can get off their lazy asses and do that.’

  “Barry, you’re wasting time dealing with your daughters who are really serving their own purposes. If Daddy fixes everything around the house, then they don’t have to nag their lazy husbands to do it. Tell your daughters to back off and let you manage your own life. Everyone should take my advice. The first step to optimizing your personal time is to not let other people dictate what and when you do things. It’s your time to schedule, not theirs.

  “Next up, Heather from Oklahoma says, ‘I feel like I work all week, then spend my weekends working at home—doing laundry, cleaning the house, and going grocery shopping. My husband is a high school coach so he spends his Friday night coaching, then the rest of his weekend watching football or basketball on TV to get ideas for new plays. I actually love sports, too, and would like to have time to watch some games with him.’

  “I’m a sports fan, too, Heather, and I can tell you that unless he’s watching old taped games, live ones don’t normally start until the afternoon and on the weekends. In the mornings, your husband can mow the lawn and do the grocery shopping while you clean the house. Then you both can fold laundry while you watch sports together all afternoon and evening. Share the load. Hubby might find out you have a good eye for plays and sign you up as an assistant.

  “Last, but not least, Matt from Illinois writes about a common problem among married couples. He says, ‘My wife and I work at the same company, and everyone tells us how lucky we are to work together, but we hardly see each other on the job or at home. We’re both managers in different departments and mostly eat lunch at our separate desks while we work. After business hours, I take our son to football practice, and she drives our daughter to gymnastics lessons. On the weekends, she goes to gymnastics meets, and I go to football games. Then I have yard work, and she has housework. We share cooking and laundry responsibilities. The only time we have for us is when we crawl into bed together exhausted.’

  “Matt, Matt, Matt.” She repeated his name in a scolding tone. “First of all, you and your wife should schedule a day to have lunch together each week, and let your assistants know the time is sacrosanct. Secondly, you are letting your children run your life. Your bosses apparently feel you have some management skills, so use them. If your kids are old enough, don’t be that parent who sits through every practice. Your budding athletes have coaches to supervise them. If they’re really young, set it up with some of the other parents to trade off who watches practice, then text an alert when the kids are ready to be picked up. Use the time when it’s not your turn to take care of those weekly household chores or to have some private time with your wife. It’s all about scheduling. Sit down with your wife, and maybe the kids, too, and plan it out.

  “Now, I have a few general suggestions to get things going. First, take a few weekends and keep a diary of everything you do, including how long you do it. If you stare at the ceiling for ten minutes after your alarm goes off, then write that down. Nothing is too small to note. If you multitask—fold laundry while you counsel your daughter on the dynamics of high school dating—write that down. This should give you an accurate picture of when you’re making good use of your time and where you’re wasting it.”

  This was so easy. Why couldn’t people solve their own problems?

  Julie messaged that she had a caller waiting on line one.

  “Hello, this is Perry Chandler, and you’re speaking live on Timed for Success. What do you want to say about managing your personal time?”

  “This is Frieda, and I want to say that you obviously don’t have children. During this formative time of their lives, some are independent enough to be left with other parents or on their own, where another child needs to know you’re there to boost their self-confidence. And scheduling a kid is nearly impossible. A seven-year-old can never remember where she put her gym tights, a twelve-year-old will leave his cleats in the other parent’s car, or the teen is still sprawled in bed although you’ve yelled at him three times to get up.”

  This woman’s superior air irritated Perry. “No, I don’t have children of my own, but I was the child of busy medical researchers. Their work was very important to the lives of many people, so I was taught from an early age that wasting time had consequences. Teach your children to choose their clothes for the next day, including gym clothes, prior to going to bed the night before. It will reduce their stress and yours the next morning when you’re both on time for school and work. If they haven’t learned to do this themselves after a few months, then let them miss a few gymnastics classes or other after-school sports because they didn’t have their tights or cleats. Don’t wreck your work schedule to fix their mistake, or they will go through life doing whatever because you’ll step in and fix it. As for the teen, hit them where it hurts. Teens’ phones are where they basically live, where they hang out with friends and keep up with everything that’s important to them. It’s the only thing you can use to fully get their attention.”

  “It sounds a bit harsh, but I’ll try your first suggestion.”

  Perry was teetering too close to child rearing, which wasn’t her specialty. Hell, she’d flunk the lowest level of that class. She didn’t have siblings or even cousins to learn from.

  Julie’s text confirmed her deficiency. Whoa. Maybe you should back off giving advice on how to raise children. Especially since your only experience is your biological units’ failure at parenting. I’m still amazed at how well you turned out. Buckle up, because the chat roll is heating up.

  Nelson from Down Under: Righto. I train dogs for a living, and children aren’t much different. Reward and consequences. Give them the chance to make the right choice, but don’t let them manipulate you and waste your time.

  Cindy from Kentucky: These are children, not dogs. Their brains aren’t developed enough to make adult decisions. If they were, we wouldn’t have to parent them. You should listen to Dr. Lee’s podcast on helping children find balance.

  Albert from France: They are children. Let them be children. Americans spend too much time organizing their children’s lives. Then they grow up and become parents who organize their children’s time. It is no wonder we are constantly remaking old songs and old movies. Children are growing up with no imagination, no ability to create. They only know how to schedule. Dr. Lee is a real doctor and has a much better outlook on dealing with people.

 

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