Treading Water Read Free Page B

Mac hands her the nearly limp, little yellow bit of fluff. Maggie is amazing with animals. I sometimes forget that she’s just one of us Vet Volunteers and not someone who has already gone to vet school.
    â€œThank you, Maggie.” Dr. Mac leads the rest of us out of the exam room and back to the recovery area.
    I look around at the cages and containers for animals we need to keep overnight or longer. Animals that have had surgery or just need watching before they can go home to their families are cared for in this big back room. In the farthest corner, Dr. Mac sets up a heat lamp in a recessed stainless table.
    â€œWe’ll put the ducklings here for now,” she says. “I’m hoping your folks will take them to the rehab center as soon as they’re healthy enough.”
    â€œI’m sure they will,” I say. “We don’t have too big a census right now. Some chicks, lots of bunnies, an owl, a raccoon, turkeys, maybe a turtle, still, and a fox family.” Census is what we call the number of animals we have at any given time. Sometimes we have recovering deer, skunks, raccoons, and, of course, birds of every kind. We’ve even rehabilitated an eagle. And a very special crow.
    The clinic doesn’t have a very high census today, either. There is a German shepherd in one of the largest cages by the door. He’s wearing a plastic cone around his neck to keep him from getting to the bandage on his leg. On the other side of the recovery room, a couple of cats in high cages sleep. That’s it. Sometimes Dr. Mac has so many animals we have to improvise with carrying crates. But today, it’s pretty quiet.
    After we set up and test the heat lamp, Dr. Mac checks on the cats and the German shepherd. When she isn’t speaking softly to one of her patients, she talks to us. Dr. Mac believes in teaching and reviewing everything that goes on in her clinic with the Vet Volunteers. This means diagnosing and treating patients as well as cleaning and sanitizing every surface. Sometimes it feels as if we spend way more time cleaning than actually working with the animals. But I know from our family’s center that keeping everything clean is important. Germs slow down healing. And can make an injured or sick animal worse. It doesn’t mean I like to do it, though.
    Zoe and I mop the floor. Dr. Mac wipes down the tables. She checks a couple of cupboards and counts some supplies. Maggie first brings in the box holding the lone duck, and then returns with the other box holding the three ducks. We all watch as the three ducks settle beneath the heat lamp in the one box. In the other box, the lone duckling just lies on its side.
    Zoe asks, “Should we put them together? Maybe this one would get better quicker with its friends?”
    Dr. Mac shakes her head. “We need to keep them separated until we know for sure what’s going on with this one.” She points to the little one on its side.
    â€œBut you took out the Easter grass,” Zoe says.
    â€œTrue. But there might be more wrong with it. Or there may be more plastic grass in its system. Better to keep them apart until we know for sure. I’ll do my overnight check on them all, as usual. And tomorrow, if this little one is better, we can consider putting them all in the same box.” Dr. Mac ushers us out of the recovery room.
    In the waiting area, Maggie, Zoe, and I tidy things up. Well, Maggie and I do. Zoe flips through a magazine and squeals.
    â€œLook at this dress on her!” Zoe holds the page to show us some actress on some city street. “Don’t you think Selena wore it better on the red carpet? Just last week. I can’t believe that Shailene wore it, too.”
    Zoe doesn’t actually expect us to answer. Maggie smiles at me as Zoe flips another page and continues babbling on about somebody’s clothing.
    It’s clinic closing time, and my mom is here to pick me up. She talks to