Heart Condition

Chapter Twelve: Doctors

Thursday, I finally managed to get myself to the animal shelter without significantly endangering my credibility as a volunteer. I didn’t ask Sasha to drive me; I felt that my bumming rides off of him should be limited to school and work, if necessary. Plus there were some things I was trying to avoid today, and as much as I’d like to use riding next to Sasha to do so, that just wasn’t fair. Walking through the door, I could hear dogs barking behind the office door.

            Dr. Cooper greeted me, “Abbie. Long time no see! Is everything alright?”

            “Yes, absolutely.” I nodded, “I’m sorry.”

            He smiled at me, handing me the keys, “Don’t worry about it; you’re a busy student. I understand.”

            I walked over to the kennel, unlocking the gate and submerging my feet in fluff. My eyes found the ground underneath puppy paws, and I lifted the empty bowls into my hands.

            “Coop, any new adoptions?” I asked, filling up the bowls, measuring out the amounts to the line exactly.

            He flipped through paperwork at the front desk, “Had a couple that took Hazel, and Fox was adopted by a family from Mountain View. Other than that, there’s nothing to speak of now. How’s Levi doing?”

            We’d adopted Levi from the Van Ness Animal Rescue, when Dr. Cooper was a vet tech, just a little more trained than I was now. He’d been the one to give Levi his check-ups, and assisted in giving him his shots; he’d known me for such a long time, that when I was ready to volunteer, he brought me right into training. But I wasn’t sure if being a vet was exactly what I wanted to do; I just enjoyed the volunteer work.

            “He’s good.” I said, signing the paper on the wall inside the kennel, signaling that my hour had started. Feeling a soft bump on my leg, my hand reached down.

            I scratched behind a dog’s ear, looking down to see Roth glance up at me expectantly. His thick Bernese Mountain coat made me wonder if the summer would ever be too much for him. Cooper said he was actually partial to these climate conditions, because the temperature was relatively moderate. Our lack of massive heat waves kept him nice and comfortable all year long.

            Cooper called to me, “What’s new with you, Abbie? Your studies keeping you away from the shelter these days?”

            I smiled, “Um, sort of. I’m trying to improve my pre-Cal grade, so I’ve been working with a tutor.”

            “That’s excellent.” He said, walking in as I passed around the food dishes, “And how is work?”

            “Tiresome.” I smiled, rolling my eyes “But most days, I enjoy it.”

            I walked over to the small area of cats, stretched out over the blankets. I smiled at Pogo, a jumpy gray cat who had just given birth to a litter of five kittens; her owners were going to pick her up in the next day or so. We’d given them all away except for two, and they curled into their mother for warmth. Scratching Pogo’s ear, I proceeded to check the kittens, making sure their eyes were open, and that they were slowly eating normal food. One of the kittens, his white fur a contrast to his little gray ears, bumped his head against his brother, and they proceeded to swat at each other.

            “Troublemakers.” I laughed.

            I loved the little animals; I think that was my favorite part of working at the clinic. Playing with the puppies and petting the kittens was the best therapy I could think of after a really long day. I enjoyed thinking that some of these animals would make people happy as much as Belize and Levi made me happy; they had a habit of calming me down after a stressful day. Thinking of Levi made me feel better about this afternoon.