Chapter 17: Playing vet

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Chapter 17

Playing vet

 

  

 

 

     Dinner was done and Derek had to examine the animals. Midnight was first. He didn’t give Derek any problems. He liked Derek, and he liked Sheilla and me too. His was just a check-up, and he sat through it nicely and obediently. He was pretty much fine, except he had a chipped tooth. Nothing major, he’d be fine.

     The bird was next. He was all right. His wing had healed nicely and he was able to fly again. He was molting and was missing quite a few feathers, but they would grow back. “Hey Amber,” Derek said, “look at his leg. There’s something tied to it.” I looked at his leg and there was something there. It was a skin colored piece of parchment. It was old and fringed from enduring the bird.

We untied it and he read it aloud:

 

Dear Amber,

 

 

     This eagle is yours. His mother was killed as a trophy and we found him, as he was still an egg. We saved him from death and he stuck with our family from then on. We trained him to come to the silver whistle that’s in the pantry below the cabin. His name is Zeik. Take good care of him. He’s a nice bird, but not too bright….. We love you. Bye.

Love,

 

Your parents

 

     “Wow,” I said, “so your name is Zeik huh? Well since your mine I guess we’ll keep you then, you dumb bird.” I told him, even though I was sure we weren’t listening. It didn’t matter. We let him go and he flew back over to the corner.

     Next came the dreaded Sheilla. I felt bad for Derek; I didn’t know how she would react. I mean he had stolen his clothes twice. He put on a new pair of examining gloves and got ready. “Alright, call her over.” Derek said. “Come on Sheilla, come over here.” I called her from over in the corner. We waited a moment, and then she came over.

    She looked hungry. “Um, Derek, we had better feed her first before we do this. She looks hungry. As long as you want to keep your hands intact.” “Yeah, I kind of value my hands. Lets giver her some of the leftover deer meat.” he said. I went over to the pantry and tossed her a chunk of meat. She ate if quickly, and then cleaned off her paws. Time to try again.

     She came back over and lay at my feet. We needed to tame her soon. Other wise we may have had problems with her staying with us. I pushed her over Derek’s way with my foot and I got off the couch. I knelt next to her on the floor and gently stroked her spine. In a minute or two, she had completely mellowed out. Derek approached cautiously and knelt down beside her too, to begin the check-up.

     He started with her teeth; they were fine, but really yellow. Then he made his ways to her claws. They were sharper than Midnights. Then he moved on to fur, ears, eyes, tail, and all the other things you would normally check. He finished, and removed his gloves.

     “So, how is he? Everything good?” I asked. “Well, everything’s good. No rabies or diseases or anything like that. But she is pregnant though.” he said. “What?!? Since how long?” I asked in surprise. “Um, about three or four months at most. Within a few more months, we will have little doggies running around here I suppose.” he explained.

That kind of made me flip a little; I didn’t know how to take care of wolf pups. “Really? Do you know how to take care of them? You know, I only know so much and……..” “Relax,” Derek interrupted me from my little panic attack, “the mother should be able to do it along with Midnight on their own. As long as we don’t interfere too much, everything would be fine, And Sheilla capable of producing fresh milk and all. So don’t worry about it. Ok? After this, Midnight and Sheilla will finally have their own pack.” he explained to me

     “Sounds good,” I started, “but will we be able to keep up with food and how many will there be? And will they be aggressive?” I guess I wasn’t as calm about it as I thought I was. “Ok, since you still haven’t chilled yet, and quit with the questions: most likely they won’t be aggressive because of the domesticated parents. The parents can hunt for the food after they are weaned off of the milk. And I can’t guarantee how many there will be, but I can promise you there won’t be over fifteen of then. Now can you just chill? Everything will be fine.” he explained it all again.

     “Fifteen!” I said, “that sounds like a lot. Oh-well. Why don’t we just forget about it and go on with our normal business.” “Good.” Derek said, and then left the cabin to do something he had to I’m sure. I sighed. Then I realized I didn’t have anything to do! So I sat down on the couch.

     I thought about the puppies still. It may be nice to have more little killers in the house. I just hoped that they weren’t mean. Derek was wrong. The parents weren’t domesticated. They were still considered wild. Especially Sheilla, she had only showed up a little while ago. Anyways, I stopped thinking about it.

     I sat there, bored, trying to figure out something to do. I had nothing. Oh-well. So I just sat there and stared at the ceiling. It was a bit of a slow day after the hunting earlier. But it was nice to be able to relax whenever. That was one of the best things about living out there. I knew I’d think of something to do eventually, but it was getting dark and there wasn’t any time left.

     I fell asleep on the couch about twenty minutes later. I didn’t wake up until the next day. So that day was spent completely. It didn’t matter, there were many more to come after that. Derek came back and went to sleep also. He couldn’t do much either. It was dark by then. The day was done.