“I’m not a vet, but rabies is not that common. You don’t get tetanus from sick animals, but from traces in the dirt. Is she an outdoor cat? Has she been bitten recently?”
“No, not as far as we know. We only got her from the mall the day before Christmas, and they said she’s never been outside. And that she was great with kids. All lies.” Angry Dad frowned at the cat. “And we’ll bring her right back to that shop when we’re finished here. Or to the shelter if they won’t take her. Nothing but trouble.”
“We thought she’d motivate Billy to take a break from his computer, but we didn’t want him to get hurt.” She pressed her tissue to her eyes. “Please, take a look at her and make sure that she doesn’t have anything poisonous.”
“Let me finish here, and I’ll take a look.” Liz didn’t correct the use of the word poisonous. She needed to stay on the good side of the family if she wanted to convince them to let Billy get the tetanus shot he really needed.
Carefully, Liz rinsed the wound. When she was sure it was clean, she closed it with a couple of steri-strips and wrapped a clean bandage around the arm.
“Okay, let me have a look at her. What’s her name?”
“Tiger.” Weepy Mom pushed the pet carrier in Liz direction as if it was a container of toxic waste.
Of course. Tiger. “Hey, cutie.” Liz stretched out her hand in the direction of the door. When Tiger didn’t flinch or hiss, she opened it.
Tiger was aptly named, only the coloring was wrong. Dark gray stripes adorned her light gray coat, and amber eyes stared at the woman who had opened her prison. She took a few steps forward and studied Liz’s hand. With a decisive “meow” she pounced out of the carrier and first brushed her whiskers against Liz, then her whole head.
Liz risked a light touch on the cat’s neck. The fur was soft and warm beneath her fingertips, and she suppressed a sigh. She missed having a cat.
Tiger leaned into her touch and let Liz scratch her for a few seconds until she decided she’d had enough. The cat jumped onto Liz’s lap and curled herself into a tight ball, licking her front paw.
“As I said, I’m not a vet, but this isn’t the behavior of an animal with rabies.” Liz gestured at Tiger purring on her lap. “You don’t need to worry about that. Tetanus is a different problem. Once the disease has infected someone, we don’t have a cure. We can only give the anti-serum, provide intensive care, and hope for the best. The survival rate—”
The door swung open. “Liz, do you need any help?” Tony stopped as if he’d run into a wall. “You let the cat out? Don’t you remember…?”
Tiger jumped up, and before anyone could stop her, she slipped between Tony and the door, out into the hall.
Oops. Liz looked at Tony; his expression of shock mirrored her own panic. Now they’d done it again.
Liz sprinted out, closely followed by Tony. But they were too late.
The hall was empty.
Tony clutched her arm. “You go left; I go right. We’ve got four hours until the evening shift arrives.”
“But…” Liz looked back at the room and her patient. If she took too long, she might miss the window of worry that allowed her to talk about vaccinations. “You go and get the others to help you. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Ingrown toenail or chronic constipation? Diana studied the electronic intake board in the hope that something else would pop up.
Emergency medicine wasn’t always about saving lives, but toenails? The only real emergency this morning had been a young woman with acute heart failure, but this patient was now safe in the hands of the cardiology department. And probably stable, as she’d just seen Jess, the attending cardiologist on call, leave the house.
“Diana, fast, I need you.” Tony ran around the corner.
Oh-uh. In her first week as a student, she’d learned that running was a big no-no at the hospital. Adrenaline rushed through her. Something big was going on. “What can I do?”
“Code cat! We need to find her.” Tony gesticulated with both arms in the direction he had come from.
Did he just say…? No… “Code red?” That was the official code for resuscitation, but Tony wouldn’t be so out of sorts for that.
“No. Listen.” He grabbed her with both arms. His eyes were wide. “Cat! We’ve got a cat on the loose. Go find her!”
“Okay.” She didn’t get his panic, but looking for a stray cat promised more fun than toenails.
Tony stepped around her to the nurses’ station and grabbed the intercom. “Code cat. Everyone, code cat. Report to Tony.” He rubbed one hand over his face. As if he just noticed Diana still standing there, he swiveled around and glared at her. “This is not a drill. We have a cat emergency. Go, go, go!”
Before this situation got any weirder, Diana headed in the direction he’d come from.
Where would I go if I were a cat?
Somewhere quiet. And probably somewhere that didn’t smell of disinfectant. They’d had a cat when she was a kid, and she’d never liked the smell of her dad when he’d come home from work at his family practice.
Diana walked toward the back entrance, but the door to the garden was closed, as was the stairwell. She’d stood next to the closed door to the waiting room for the last ten minutes, and no one had gone in or out. So the cat should still be in the emergency department.
Maybe in one of the offices? She walked to the hall in the back of the ED, but neither the offices nor the locker rooms had open doors.
What would I like if I were a cat?
Food and a comfortable place to rest.
Diana’s favorite part of the ED, apart from her partner’s office, was the staff lounge. She’d spent countless hours on the comfortable couches, rehashing cases with her colleagues, having lunch or dinner, or taking a nap. She hurried to the other side of the ED.
Bingo. The door wasn’t fully closed, and a cat might have slipped inside. Diana entered and closed the door behind her.
At first glance, the room was empty. But something wasn’t quite right. Pieces of green were scattered around the floor.
Diana picked one up. Salad. And wasn’t that a bit of bread? She followed the path of the breadcrumbs to the couch that was farthest from the door. It was empty, so Diana kneeled on the floor to look under it.
There she was. A cute tabby cat munched on the rest of Liz’s sandwich. Or rather toyed with it. She seemed as unenthusiastic as Liz had been.
Diana sat back on her heels. Should she call Tony? Or attempt to catch the cat herself? The animal didn’t look threatening at all, and if Diana couldn’t save any lives today, she could at least be another sort of hero.
What would motivate the cat to move out from under the couch? Just grabbing and dragging her wouldn’t work. Diana knew from experience that cats could be even more stubborn than her ex. But they were curious and playful too.
Diana moved a few feet away and sat cross-legged on the floor. She had no toy or string to entice the cat, but maybe something else would do. With her fingertips, she tapped a rhythm on the linoleum floor. Slow at first, so as not to startle her feline audience, then faster. She added a nonsense song, mostly words like kitty and come here.