Macadamia Nut

The dog woke me at three in the morning, with his paw scratching the mattress. Even in the dark I could see—sense—his brown eyes asking for something. My mind jolts awake thinking of the fraction of a macadamia nut in the cookie crumble he stole off the floor before I could say “leave it.” The small soft sweet treat that made my husband and I look at each other and ask, “can dogs eat macadamia nuts?” And my Google search right then and there told me that macadamia nuts are VERY TOXIC and to call your vet IMMEDIATELY. But we did not call our vet and we thought surely a fraction of a nut wouldn’t be cause for such concern and also worried we were bad dog parents and what if THIS was the thing on the internet that would turn out to be true?

I rolled out of bed and found my slippers and hobbled down the stairs nearly tripping over him hovering in front of me. He ran to the back of the yard and I don’t even think it was to chase critters, because he was silent, but I couldn’t see him in the darkness.

The next morning, he is uncharacteristically cuddly. We hear his stomach gurgle and that damn nut enters my mind again. But more likely it’s side effects from his new anxiety medication, the same reason the bowl of food was left untouched the day before. He licks the peanut butter covering another pill off my finger, and then he licks my face, telling me it will all be okay. 

What do we have to do but lick peanut butter and wag our tails while waiting for the world to seem safer?