All Rocs Wise & Wonderful by T.M. Baumgartner

Author:T.M. Baumgartner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Speculative Turtle Press

16

Most businesses in River Terrace shuttered their doors at six, but it was nearly midnight, and the parking lot of the emergency clinic was almost full. The lobby was packed, both with people and animals, mostly dogs, although I saw a few cats in carriers. At least half the clients stopped speaking to stare at Fred, and the noise level in the lobby dropped low enough to hear one woman in the corner. "He's a fifth level reiki master, and he has to do almost all his healing with his left hand because his right hand is too powerful. In fact, we do most of our sessions over the phone." I nodded to the receptionists without stopping on my way to the back. They recognized me and buzzed the door open. Fred waved and crutched after me. Christopher followed behind.

There seemed to be fairly well-controlled chaos in the back until I heard loud swearing, followed by squealing and hooves running across the linoleum floor. That was likely my patient.

The pigamus darted by us into the corner. Fred pushed the animal's rear end against the wall with his cast, handed me his crutches, crouched down, and picked him up, holding the pigamus close to his chest so the flailing legs didn't get enough momentum to hurt him.

He seemed to know what he was doing, but the last thing I needed was to have to explain to DPAS how I'd let him get injured by a pigamus in the middle of the night. I touched Fred's arm to get his attention, then picked up my leg and kicked backward like a donkey. He nodded.

Two people skidded around the corner and slowed when they saw us. I recognized one as a technician I'd worked with in the past. Her name was some sort of plant. Sage? Violet? Something like that. She had a hoof print on her reddened cheek. The other woman I'd never seen before.

I introduced myself. "I'm looking for Dr. Baxter."

The second woman came forward. "I'm Sarah. I've talked to you on the phone so many times. It's nice to actually meet you. And I think you've met Willow before." She looked over at Fred and Christopher.

I made the introductions. "This is Ranger Garcia and Fred."

"Christopher," he offered.

I tilted my head toward Fred. "Fred's visiting for a while, observing how our practice works. He wanted to come along and see how the emergency clinic handles things." That seemed as good a reason as any. "Is this Piggy?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." Sarah stopped staring at the verdiran and looked back at me. "We have a table set up over here." I took the pigamus from Fred and followed her around the corner. "He seemed pretty sleepy from the premeds until I tried to get a catheter in."

"They can be wiggly." We moved into the huge treatment room, where Fred and Christopher helped keep the pigamus on the table. With the five of us working together, we were able to get Piggy anesthetized and prepped without any more escapes.

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