Peril and Paws by Penny Brooke

Author:Penny Brooke
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

“Sylvia, how are you feeling today?” She looked pale but alert, as she sat up in her bed at the hospital, picking at the plate before her.

“You can’t imagine what they call food around here. It’s enough to make you sick.”

Laughing, I leaned forward and surveyed the sliced squash and burnt filet of some kind of fish. “I see your point. Have you seen the doctor today?”

“Should be here anytime.” There was a blur of white and the sound of scuffling shoes. “See there? Speak of the devil.”

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Markham,” the doctor said. “I have some results from the tests.” He looked to me, and I got the hint.

“I’ll be right outside.”

“No, stay here. I don’t always get it all straight the first time,” Sylvia requested.

The doctor nodded his permission, so I took a chair across the room.

“Mrs. Markham,” he began, “have you been ill recently?”

“What do you mean, ill? That’s why I’m in here, isn’t it?” She scoffed.

“We were given a vial of capsules that you supposedly had been taking before you were brought in.”

“The yellow ones? That’s right. Doc Funke gave them to me.”

“I see. What is your doctor treating you for?”

“He’s not my doctor.”

The doctor wore a confused look. “But he is a doctor, correct?”

“Yes. A grumpy, old charlatan, if you ask me, but a doctor, nonetheless.”

“I see. Well, what kind of health issue were you having?”

“Swollen feet. Big and puffy on the top. It was so bad I could hardly get my shoes on.”

“And he prescribed something to help?”

She nodded. “Said it would take the swelling down. Why? What was in them?”

“We’re not sure yet. We’ll have to send it to the lab. The pharmacy said they were made by hand, the ingredients compounded, and then pressed into the capsules. For now, however, you’ve stabilized nicely, and if you like, you can go home.”

“I thought you had test results? Is that all you people in here do? Take tests? I could have stopped by the elementary school if that’s all I needed.”

“Actually, as far as we’re concerned, the tests indicate you’re in fairly good health for a woman your age. But… if you want to hang around and let us test some more…”

She wasted no time in throwing back the blankets.

“Whoa,” he cautioned. “Slow down there. I’ll call a nurse, and she’ll help get you dressed and call someone to wheel you down.”

“Don’t need wheeling,” she insisted.

“I’ll take her,” I put in, and that seemed to settle the discussion. A half-hour later, I closed the car door. Sylvia and I headed home. “There are some things you’re not going to like when you get there,” I told her.

She looked at me, a deep suspicion in her eyes. I told her the state of things, and she clucked her tongue at the appropriate intervals. “All this happened while I was gone?”

I raised my eyebrows. “You could say you were a part of it. What on earth made you take capsules Doc Funke gave you? I didn’t think you liked him at all.

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