dr. moon

dr. moon hired me as a receptionist and vetrenarian's assistant even though my previous jobs have been sales girl at a christmas tree lot and before that i worked as a customer service represtative for a company that sold italian charm bracelets on ebay. i was fired from that job because it started at six am and i was always late. the christmas tree lot job ended because of its obvious seasonal nature.

i don't have to be at dr. moon's until 10 am. he advertises his clinic as low-cost and has the words spay and nueter painted in the front window like grocery stores paint winter wonderland scenes or large, oversized turkeys. the clinic is snuggled in between a liquor store and a manicure shop in strip mall which also includes a taco stand.

when he hired me dr. moon asked, "do you love animals?"

I said, "yeah, sure." even though i really just like animals.

"then they will love you back." he said and then me told me to come in at 10 am the next day.

dr. moon looks like mr. miagi's runt twin brother. he shuffles around with his white coat on and kung-fu moustache. when he calls out for the next animal he doesn't call the owner's name but the animal's. once i forgot to get the name of a bulldog that came to get his ears cleaned. dr. moon peaked his head out of the door into the waiting room, looked at his chart and then looked at me.

"what is the dog's name?" he asked.

the only person sitting in the waiting room was the owner of the bulldog. a petite woman in a joggin suit.

"his name is adolf." she said to dr. moon, then looked at me.

dr. moon smiled, and nodded and waved her in the room. afterwards he said to me, "do you like it when people forget your name? or when they don't even bother to learn it and just call you girl?"


on wednesdays and thursday we do surgeries from 10-3. in the waiting room there is a dry eraseboard with the spay and neuter prices written on them in swirling cursive. i help in the operating room, like i am a nurse. i wear scrubs. before we begin to operate on the animal dr. moon holds it in his arms, or if it is too big he kneels down to it, so he is on the same level and says: forgive me for what i am going to take from you.