Fight for Life Read Free

say next.
    “Brenna’s going to be working with us,” Gran says. “She called last week with a question about Poe.” Gran looks at the messy desk. “The day Lois quit.”
    I’m confused. “She’s going to be our receptionist?”
    “Not exactly,” Gran says. She opens a file drawer and pulls out the blank charts she needs. “I had been thinking about bringing in a volunteer for a while. With Brenna around, you’ll have more time for your homework.”
    Uh-oh. The H-word. Homework. I have a bad feeling about this.
    “Brenna will help you with your clinic chores after school,” Gran continues. “She can start right now. The cages need cleaning, and she can keep an eye on our newest patients. I’ve just moved them into the recovery room.”
    “But that’s my job,” I say. I can’t believe Gran is bringing in someone with no experience to do it. I’ve been ambushed. This just isn’t going to work, I can already see that.
    Gran closes the file drawer and looks at me with a stern eye. “I want you to do your homework in the kitchen, Maggie. There are fewer distractions there.”
    I pick up the fallen files. I have to be smart about this. Temper tantrums don’t work with my grandmother. She just ignores them.
    “Now, Gran,” I start. “I don’t have that much homework. Besides, it’s not fair to make Brenna do everything. Not on her first day.”
    “You’re making excuses to get out of studying.”
    “I’m just worried about Brenna and the dogs. And you. You can’t be everywhere at once, can you, Gran?”
    The bells on the door jingle as another patient comes in. It’s Mr. Asher, carrying Yertle, the turtle whose shell is too soft.
    “I’ll be right with you,” Gran tells him.
    “How about this? I’ll do my homework in the recovery room. That way I can keep an eye on the puppies and answer Brenna’s questions. What do you think?”
    Brenna straightens a pile of business cards on the counter. “If you don’t mind, Dr. MacKenzie, I’d like to have Maggie show me around a bit. It’s my first day, and I have a lot of questions.”
    Gran looks at each of us. Brenna grins. I try on my most innocent expression.
    “All right,” she says. “Just for today. And you’ll have to show me your homework after dinner.”
    Yes!
    “Come on, Brenna. Follow me to the recovery room.” I lift a section of the counter to let her into the back of the clinic.

    Shelby, Inky, and Dinky are sleeping in a puppy pen on the floor of the recovery room. They look like little black commas curled around one another. A heat lamp shines over them, and their I.V. bags hang on a stand next to the pen.
    “When a patient is recovering from surgery or from being real sick, they live in here,” I explain to Brenna. “Gran is strict about keeping everything in the clinic spotless. Let me show you how to clean the cages.”
    A double-decker row of cages stands against the back wall. I open the first door and talk her through the steps of taking out the dirty newspapers that line the bottom, disinfecting and wiping the inside, then laying down clean newspaper.
    Brenna catches on quickly. Too quickly. She cleans the second cage almost as fast as I did the first. Who knows what job of mine Gran will give her next? I’m going to have to have a talk with Gran.
    “I can do the rest,” she says. “You better get started on your homework.”
    I really don’t like the way this is working out.
    “Are you sure?” I ask. “Let me walk you through one more.”
    “Go on, Maggie. I don’t want Dr. Mac to be angry on my first day here,” Brenna explains.
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I sigh. I’m going to talk to Gran tonight .
    I drag out my backpack and flop on the floor with my humongous social studies book. “I have a test on government tomorrow. I’m supposed to memorize gigantic words like legislation and subcommittee .”
    Brenna takes dirty newspaper out of a cage and dumps it in a trash bag. “We had that test last