Infantile Obsessions

Untitled Part 2

Thanks for reading everyone _Patchez9

The first sounds of the morning were the slamming of truck doors. My office door flew open the doorknob landing squarely on the stopper. A green flurry of movement collided with my desk. I peeled my sticky eyes open and pulled a piece of paper off my face. Looking at the green blob, I leaned back in my chair."Doctor, we need you outside now!" said one of my assistants. She was very nice. I put my head back on the desk and waved her away. There was a loud bang, and I jerked my head up. She had kicked my desk - on second thought, she might not be so lovely."Doctor, the inspectors are here!" She had a small, fuzzy voice. She kicked the desk again as the words registered. The inspectors! I whirled around and thumbed through the day planner I had tacked on the wall behind me. Yep, the date was circled in red... August 30. They always managed to schedule walkthroughs on the most critical days. I stood up jelly-legged and clutched the desk."Stall them.""How?" she said desperately."I don't know" wiggled my fingers at her " - use your feminine wiles or something... get them coffee.""Consider it done Dr. Brunner!" She had a flabbergasted look on her face but unbuttoned the top of her uniform as she marched out the door."I just need to change my shirt and brush my teeth..." and add eyedrops, I said silently."Doctor, there is blood in your hair; you might want to clean it up," she said, she was an excellent employee.I rushed out the door. I got halfway to the house before I remembered Uramus. I turned and sprinted back. The young girl had just started down the road, and I almost trampled her. I threw the door open, gasping. I crossed the room and slid open the door to the side room. There was the cot, but Uramus was gone. The sheets had been folded nicely even though they were covered in filth. I looked wildly for him, more so for anything that had gone missing with him. The only trace of last night's events were the sheets, and those could be easily explained. Everyone already knew I took short naps periodically instead of going back to my house and sleeping all night. The little cot and my desk were my favorite places to take my naps. I gave up the search and bolted to my house, my hiking boots crunching the crusher fines that marked the path. Hastily unlocking my door, I fumbled and dropped the keys in the inside mat and stepped over them leaving the door open on the way to my bedroom. I was free of my shirt halfway down the hall. I tossed it onto the floor - I'd pick it up later. The more steps I took, the more clothes I lost. I rifled through my drawers and tugged on clean clothes. Fumbling with the ties on my pants, I shuffled into the bathroom with my uniform shirt clenched in my teeth. I pulled it on but left it unbuttoned; the only reason I wore it at all was that it covered up the tattoo on my shoulder. Apparently, it wasn't acceptable for the owner of an establishment to have tattoos showing where small children were present. I put a smear of toothpaste on my toothbrush and stuck it in my mouth. I took out my gages and nose ring- those were also frowned upon. I brushed my teeth and ran a comb through my hair. My assistant was right: there was a fair amount of blood in it. One of the packages must have leaked. My husband wandered into the bathroom and rested his chin on the top of my head, my shirt in his hands. I pushed him off and finished with my teeth. He gave me a hurt look, but I had more significant problems to worry about. I dribbled my prescription eyedrops in my eyes and blinked, chemicals running down my cheeks. I swiped them away as I gathered up the remainder of my shed clothes. After tossing them in the hamper, I tied my shoelaces.I managed to snag an apple from the basket of fruit I kept by the door. I sank my teeth into the tart flesh and picked up my key chain. I caught up with another one of my assistants, there was a grey band on the arm of his uniform and tossed him half the key ring. He knew what to do and hustled off in the other direction. The girl who woke me this morning was working her charms, and she had the old codgers laughing away and sipping on coffee. I had gotten about halfway done with the apple, and I stuck it between my teeth as I locked up all the paperwork I was doing last night. The photos... Where were they? And where was my paperweight? That dammed thief! Uramus must have snuck off with them... Considering his background, it wasn't like he could turn me in. I was a well-respected doctor, and he... well, he was your common street scum. I could send someone after him later, mostly for the paperweight, if I got the pictures back that would be acceptable as well. I strode out of my office and greeted the inspectors cheerily. There was five this time, they kept multiplying."You're late, Torrie," said the one with the clipboard."My deepest apologies, Sir" I really hated when they 'forgot' to call me doctor."Make sure it doesn't happen again. I'll only take off five points this time." He said condescendingly. I really didn't like him. He was new. The others were used to my tardiness, for which there was often a good explanation."I don't believe I caught your name, Sir." I tried to keep my voice even, I was pissed off, I never lost points this early in the game."Don't change the subject, Torrie." His voice was cold."It's Dr. Brunner, Charles," said Elyse. I liked him, despite that he looked like a party favor when he sneezed. Elyse was one of the older inspectors; he had a nervous habit of pushing his thick glasses up his nose even when they were in position."I don't care what his name is!" he shouted.'His' name... well, that was just offensive, it was apparent I was a woman! The others bristled at the lack of respect. I marched towards him and yanked the clipboard out of his fingers, I wrote my name on the top in bold letters, then I wrote a sizeable female symbol and circled it repeatedly. He wretched the clipboard back, leaving my fingers stinging."This way," my patience was thin. This was going to be fun...Five hours and -50 points, later I collapsed into my desk chair. This was the strictest inspection I had yet. 'Charles' took points off for everything! The elephant had splashed all the water out of his pool, the pumps were hissing to fill it up, and he docked three points for the compressors being too loud. Some of my bamboo fencing in the garden had settled askew, and he docked points for it not being level. The list went on! I even got critiqued because the cement was too hard under his shoes! Well, how is concrete supposed to be?I let out an exasperated sigh and spun myself in my chair. I had a shipment of prisoners coming in 45 minutes, and I pulled the paperwork. I needed to find the guy who had my keys. I stood and stretched. My back was hurting; it was probably because I fell asleep at my desk again. I walked through the staff buildings and located the worker. He was busy with his boyfriend, so I pulled my keys from his discarded pants and left them alone. I would talk to them about this later. He wasn't on shift right now anyway. I ended up wandering back to my house and collapsed on the sofa. A rouge spring poked me in the butt, and I shifted, it might be time to invest in a new couch. My husband came in with some sandwiches and sat next to me. The bread was good, but I had never been a big fan of pastrami. I ate it anyway. He got up and got me a glass of water. He was probably the only reason I hadn't starved. I always managed to forget to eat. I downed the water and set the glass on the table. I rested my head on the back of the couch, and he laid his head in my lap. I played with his silky hair, as my eyes grew heavy. I must have nodded off because my alarm for the delivery was the next thing I heard. I jumped, jostling my husband. He looked around wildly and then laid back down. I slipped out from under him and slipped a pillow under his head. I covered him with a blanket and sprinted out of the house.I met the truck at the gate. It was a large white prison van. All of the food was chained by the wrists to the floor. When the vehicle stopped, they all stood and started screaming, the car rocked and they stomped their feet. I pointed the driver to another set of gates and hopped on the runner hanging off the driver's door. The food fell; Jimmy wasn't going to be happy. He was the pickiest Haliaeephalus I had ever collected. He didn't like his first pod, and he killed half of his second. His meals had to be live, they had to be females, but they had to be bald and naked most of all. He hated when they had any sort of wounds, and he couldn't stand if they had tattoos or piercings. I hopped off the rolling truck and ran to open the gates. I had a large storeroom for the food. They were given basic necessities, but they would be here a month at most. The driver pulled in and backed up to the loading doors. After he parked, he handed me his side of the paperwork. A short girl was walking past, and I sent her to fetch my portion from my office. She came back a few minutes later because I forgot to give her the keys.After handing her the ring, I walked up the steps to the warehouse. I slid open the doors and turned on the lights. The one at the end flickered and went out. I called Tony, one of the repairmen, to fix it. The radio crackled in my ear as he replied. I looked at the shipment papers and opened 10 rooms. There was a four-to-a-room deal, and the rooms were cleaned after they all left. The smell of disinfectant made me sneeze, and the sound ricocheted off the empty walls. There were two bunk beds per room and a small adjoining room with a toilet, shower, and sink. I would hand them their rations later. I signed the bottom half of the papers and returned them to the driver. My assistant finally came back, papers clutched in her hand. I scoffed and unwrinkled them. I hated wrinkled papers. Handing them to the driver, I rubbed my hands together anxiously. This was the worst part. Tony came and fixed the light; the driver was taking a long time... I hopped off the landing, small clouds of dust swirled against my ankles. The midday sun was hot on the back of my neck. He was scrambling to find the signature line - I flipped a page over and pointed silently."Man, I'm sorry - I totally missed it!" he laughed nervously. He had a squeaky voice; I had only had this guy deliver twice, and he was a nervous wreck both times."Where's Kendal?" he was my favorite delivery man, he was in and out within 30 minutes. That timeframe had already long passed with this guy."He's off for the week - said somethin' about needin' a breather." s voice was shaking. I took my papers back and handed them to the girl. The van was full of shouts and racial slurs."Your name?""Dave, and your... Torrie, right?" he was such a sheep."Dr. - but yes." Dave - it took quite a lot to keep my face straight. I hated this guy! He unlocked the back of the van with shaking hands, I tapped my foot impatiently. Finally, the doors were, and I walked up the aisle,"there will be no funny business you got that!" I shouted over the din. I pulled the pistol form my belt and waved it around for a while as they yelled. I cocked the hammer, and the entire van went silent. I grabbed the first prisoner on the bus and yanked him in front of me placing the pistol in the small of his back, absentmindedly cocking and uncocking the hammer. I would catalog them later and sort them out for each animal. We only had two attempts to escape, but most of them already knew that this was the end of the line.I took the last two, a female and male and walked them up the steps. The girl was holding her belly with her head down. I passed the man to Dave and turned the girl around, she ducked under my gaze. I pushed my hair back and tipped her chin up to me. My eye instantly ran her background. A large pulsing red box in the corner of my vision caught my attention: she was 6 months pregnant.