dr. moon, II

dr. moon is on call twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. he asks me to be on call too, in case he needs me. "this is why we make the big bucks." he says. i don't make big bucks though.

late one night, around one am, he calls me and tells me i need to meet him at the clinic. "A-S-A-P," he says. "a kitten is dying."

this isn't the first time he has called me late. i roll out of bed and wash my face and brew coffee, put on my scrubs and head out the door. the stripmall where dr. moon's office is very close to my apartment. i walk even though it is late at night. down the block past the post office, then around the corner past the gas station where i can see the dark skinned man inside, sitting behind the counter, staring out at the pools of light next to the pumps. a kitten is dying.

the kitten is small and grey. the owner is a tall woman, with dark black hair pulled back from her face, glasses on her nose. she is wearing sweatpants an over-sized hardrock cafe t-shirt.

"she's not breathing." the woman says handing the kitten to dr. moon who holds it with the tenderness reserved for newborns.

"oh she is scared. what is her name?"

"ginger."

dr. moon takes the kitten into the back and i follow. ginger is placed on the examine table, which looks cold and uncomfortable under the florescent light. the clinic is sad and quiet at one in the morning. ginger's breathing is shallow and short.

"she is going to die." dr. moon looks at me. he picks ginger up and rubs his finger against the space between her eyes.

"you aren't going to try to save her."

he walks out to the waiting room. i stay in the exam room and place my hand on the cold exam table, my palm flat against the flat, sliver surface. dr. moon comes back and turns off the light, ginger is still in his arms.

"i knew it. she is going to die." he hands her to me. i can hear the woman in the waiting room in hysterics. "ginger was playing a loose tab of tylenol. took a bite."

"cats can't have tylenol?"

dr. moon looks at me like i should know this. he is preparing a syringe. "it kills them. cuts off oxygen to red blood cells. nothing we can do."

i look down at ginger who is still breathing shallow and short. she closes her eyes very slowly, then opens them at the same pace.

"you want to hold her?" dr. moon moves towards me with the syringe. "you hold her while i make it better. while i make her not in pain anymore."

before i can answer he is shoving the needle in gingers fur. he pushes the liquid in and he pets her head. i look down at her face and her eyes open and close, like she is about to fall asleep. then she does and i am holding a dead kitten in my arms.