You Will Be Found

Chapter Fifteen

Just as I sat down to eat my sumptuous meal, the door bell rang. Jumping, I nearly dropped my utensils. Then I remembered my babies were being delivered tonight. I quickly scooted to the door, smacked bang into the entrance way wall (socks on) and quickly turned on the security monitoring for outside my front door and smiled.

Ms Vet had a hat on her head with its own cat ears. I quickly opened the door and smiled."Hi, thank you, come in." I welcomed her in, shut the door and found that she was wearing my new cat carrier like a back pack on her back. Stepping around the vet lady, I peeped in on my two little cuties.

"Oh, my cuties, how are you?" I asked, unzipped the bag and carried them out, one at a time.

"You do know that I exist too, yes?" Vet Nelson asked, humour in her voice. I froze a bit, then chuckled.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I've just been worried." I cuddled with my twins on my lap while sitting on the couch. "How did it go?" I asked, then realised I should be doing something hostessish for my guest. "Also, please take a seat." She was sniffing at the smells of my dinner on the dining table and leaned in that direction.

"Something smells good. Is it OK if I invite myself to dinner?" She had moved over and was already sitting down at the table by the time she had finished her sentence. This made me a little uncomfortable and she could instantly see my discomfort. She quickly stood up and stepped away from the food again.

"Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I forget I'm not at home. I have a large family, siblings coming out my ears. You kinda remind me of my younger little brother so I, well. Um. Overstepping social boundaries was something that I was marked down on with my recent training assessments at work. I can just leave if I make you too uncomfortable." She babbled again, running one sentence after another without pausing. "Oh, cats, yes." She pulled out a folded report paper from her jacket pocket (had paw prints on it) and gave it to me. She waved a goodbye, was almost at the main door when I spoke up again.

"Stay. There is plenty." I shrunk my head down, wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake. Inviting strangers into my home was something I'd never done before. I felt incredibly nervous, but this lady, with her brash personality, happy outlook in life and love of all things small aminalish... I think I could enjoy getting to know her a little? Maybe? I gave myself a quick mental pep-talk, took a deep breath then looked up at the frozen veterinarian. 

"Please stay. Have dinner." I got up, placed the cats on the couch and moved into the kitchen to get another set of table ware.

"It isn't much but it should be plenty for the two of us." I placed the clean plate and utensils on the table top and moved into the seat I'd been sitting on when the door bell rang.

"OK, good. Because that smell is just killing me." She unfroze and followed me to sit at the table. "What is this, is tastes amazing!" "Oh, that is just delicious." "I haven't eaten such fluffy rice before." "Oh, this soup..." The meal went along like that.

I couldn't help smiling. When all the food was finally gone (including the rest of the rice), I collected all the empty plates, dumped them into the kitchen sink and put the kettle on to boil. In the kitchen cupboard food stock – that was now all mine – I found a mint tea and brewed a cup for each of us.

"Vet Nelson, would you like a cuppa?" I asked as I came out with the two slim, tall tea cups.

"Call me Margo. Is that mint I smell?" she asked as she sat on my grey lounger. I nodded.

"Sorry to barge in on your dinner. Your place is amazing. You must be really comfortable living here all by yourself." There was a distinct sound of yearning in her voice. I shuddered thinking I'd rather eat a sewer rat than invite someone else to live with me in my own space again. I gave her a perfunctory smile and she changed the subject quickly.

"So, the scans came back mostly clean. The cats have both been well looked after, very healthy and strong, apart from the cold today. But Rubee does have damage to the optical nerves in her eyes. She is partially blind as of now, but there is no way to tell if this will continue to degenerate. We can bring her in for more testing in a few weeks and again in 6 months, just to monitor things." She then went onto explain the more technical details of the scans and investigation. I could tell that she really loved her job and working with animals.

I nodded along, thinking about more vet visits in the future, then calculated how much the subsequent vet clinic visit costs would be. Today's fees chewed though a good portion of remaining funds.

"Thank you. I'll bring her in when needed." I drank my mint tea and sat, watching Vet Nelson play with a pair of very tired kittens. They finally had enough, moved away from our visitor and found their way to me at the other end of the couch. Curling up on my lap together, I felt so warm and happy inside.

"She looks better already," noticing that Rubee didn't look as sick as she did this morning. I looked up at the young lady before me, noticed she had almost fallen asleep herself and smiled. "I think you'd be more comfortable going home and sleeping in your own bed, Ms Nelson."

"Miss Margo, or just Margo. I think we're friends now, Girl. I've baby sat your babies, eaten at your home, drunken together. Gosh, that sounds bad." She snorted at her own tired words. We spoke a little bit longer when she started yawning and finally got up off my couch.

"All right. I'll be off. Thanks again for the meal. Best damn meal I've had in ages." I put the kittens down on the cushions and followed Ms Margo to the door.

"Thank you for everything. Will I see you at the vet the next time we visit?" I asked.

"Yes, probably. I have almost completed my masters degree and the senior veterinarian has indicated there would be a job upon graduation in a few months time." She scrubbed her hands over her face, looking really tired.

"You work hard." I commented. She gave me a wry smile, as if what I'd said was an understatement.

"Student life, end of degree, dogs body at work. Nearly over than I can take a nice, long holiday." She sighed.

"Wait there." I turned back to the kitchen and pulled out a box of tea that I saw earlier. It looked expensive. It was a tin of organic Japanese green tea with vanilla and papaya. I knew green tea was a great energiser. Because it was loose tea leaves, I also quickly rummaged through the utensil draw for a tea infusing strainer that could fit into a cup. Strangely I found a little duck shaped infuser on a hook and chain. Perfect.

"Here, this should help. Green tea promotes weight loss, blood sugar regulation, disease prevention, and exercise recovery. It is a perfect tea for breakfast for busy veterinarians. Please take it."

"Oh, no I couldn't. This looks expensive." She protested, tiredly. I felt bad, but I wanted her to use it, so I took a page out of Nurse Fane's book.

"You helped me look after my kittens and gave them really expensive MRI scans. If you don't accept this as a thank you gift, then you don't see me as your friend." I felt proud of myself for remembering how the emotional blackmail went.

"That's... Fine. Thank you." She graciously took the tea, yawned. She had almost walked through the open doorway when she paused and without turning back said, "You look much better without those chunky black frames on your face, Lina. Goodnight." Then she left.