Rhino Rules Contest #2: Animal Stories Mattie and Tammy

MATTIE AND TAMMY

Tammy set the phone back in its cradle, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Feline Distemper. Again. At her shelter. Her no-kill shelter.

Tammy had to let the volunteers know, of course she did – they wouldn’t be taking any more cats in, but she wondered how many would quit. She glanced around the room, saw the unfinished paperwork, the dried up pens, the messy banker’s box on the floor, and the faded folders that lined the shelves across from her. She looked at the clock, that cheap white clock with the red second hand that never kept quiet, and saw that it was already ten o’clock.

Tammy walked into the cat room, and her eyes were drawn to the kittens. She reached for the babies, but pulled her hand back. She pulled her sanitizer from her shirt pocket and squeezed a bit in the center of her left hand. The babies were squealing at her now, as she rubbed her hands together. She sobbed again as she picked up Mattie and held him gently while she petted his head with her thumb.

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Mattie shook as he threw up what little food he had eaten. Tammy slapped the peeling wallpaper with the palm of her right hand, and mentally ticked the box next to Mattie’s name. Feline Distemper? Check.

With half her staff gone, Tammy found she was practically living at the shelter. At least she hadn’t slept here yet, but she expected she would any day now. Her husband would have to understand it if she did.

Tammy pushed off from the wall and picked Mattie up. He hadn’t grown enough. He was impossibly small. Her hands shook as she brought him to her chest.

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Tammy entered the cat room slowly. Peeked into the cage with Mattie, and saw him curled up, not moving. She had resigned herself to the fact that he wouldn’t make it, but now that she was here, she knew that she wasn’t ready for this. As she approached him, though, he stood. He stretched his little body out and yawned at her. She focused on his eyes. He looked good. His fever had passed.

Tammy pulled him out of the cage, and he playfully nipped at her fingers. She pulled out a bottle and he fed. He was hungry.

Half an hour later, when he hadn’t thrown up, Tammy sensed that he was going to be alright.

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“She absolutely loves him. Can we take him home today?” the man nodded in Mattie’s direction, and Tammy’s breath caught in her throat. Mattie was in the ten year old’s lap, purring and prancing, while she ran her fingers down his back.

“Of course. We can fill out the paperwork right now,” Tammy responded and indicated the papers in her left hand. She reached up and wiped a tear from her eye with her right hand.

It had been six months since Feline Distemper tore through this little shelter. Mattie had survived. Tammy knew that it was thanks to him that she had survived. And it was thanks to her that the shelter had survived.

The end

Thanks to photosforclass.com and metaphoricalplatypus.com for the photo.