2014 Prompt Responses - 18. Prompt 320

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled as World War Three commenced around me in flash of black fur, yowls of pain, breaking glass, and loud crashing noises. Pain exploded through my arm as my black demon of a cat latched on to me before tearing out of my room in a fluffed-out huff, howling pitifully.

I stood up to get a towel to stop the bleeding from the wounds in my arm. “Ow!” I hissed in pain and sat back down to dig the piece of broken glass out of my foot. Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse... Ugh. I managed to hobble my way to the bathroom to clean and dress my wounds.

I grabbed a broom and dustpan from the closet and headed back to my war-zone of a room. I had been sitting at my computer when apparently Beelzebub – my aptly named cat – decided he’d like to check out the hedgehog I was watching for my nephew while he was on vacation. In order to reach said hedgehog, he jumped onto my dresser which just happened to be the residence of the only plant species I manage not to kill…cacti. So cat, cacti, broken clock on the floor, and a box of Band-Aids later, I stood in the doorway trying to work up the energy to clean up the aftermath of Catmegeddon.

The day had started out just as badly. First, I was out of coffee. Then I called Evan to make plans for tonight, but he didn’t answer so I left a voicemail. I found out why when I checked my email. We had only been on five dates, but the rejection still stung. I spent the rest of the morning working on my dissertation, trying to take my mind off Evan. Then Catmegeddon occurred. I cleaned up the mess left in Beelzebub’s wake and then sat back down at the computer. The screen was blank. I closed my eyes and then looked again. Still blank. I wiggled the mouse and toggled some keys, hoping it was just the screen saver. It wasn’t. I tried turning the computer off then on. No luck.

I stood up and walked, in what I thought was relative calm, to the couch. I sat down and promptly started hyperventilating at the thought of losing the entire morning’s work along with the contents of my computer. At least the main dissertation file was backed up so if the hard drive had crashed I wouldn’t lose everything. My panic attack was interrupted by pathetic mewling coming from the corner. Devil-Cat was huddled in his cat bed, cactus needles sticking out of his front paws. I groaned. Getting him in his cat carrier was a battle and a half on a good day. At least the vet would have plenty of bandages and antiseptic on hand.

An hour and one shredded shirt later, Beelzebub and I were sitting in the vet’s office, not-so-patiently waiting our turn. Beelzebub was howling so pitifully, that the vet took us in early. He was new at the practice and this was our first appointment with him. I took one look at him and immediately envisioned many more vet appointments in the future. Ones without Beelzebub. Or clothes.

“I’m Dr. Stanley, but you can call me Adam.” The vet smiled at me disarmingly and I swear I melted into a puddle of goo.

“Corry.” I managed to squeak out my name above Beelzebub’s increasingly pitiful howls.

“So what’s going on with Beelzebub?”

“The short version is that he stepped on a cactus.”

Adam grimaced. “I’ll be right back.” He returned with industrial strength gloves and a needle full of sedative. Beelzebub almost immediately stopped yowling and slumped down in a drug-induced bliss. “It won’t take too long to remove these cactus needles. Why don’t you have a seat in the waiting room?”

Adam returned a short while later and motioned me back into the examining room. I blushed as I tried to shove the images I had of us doing very inappropriate things in that room out of my mind. Adam gave me a run-down of the care that Beelzebub was going to need until the wounds healed, but I was only half-listening and trying not to stare at Adam’s crotch as he prattled on. Finally, he handed me a piece of paper with aftercare instructions on it. He hesitated for a minute, and then he took it back from me, scribbling on it before returning it to me. He was bright red. “If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to call.” He smiled and looked me over before he left the room.

I looked after him in bewilderment. I glanced down at the paper and saw that he had scribbled his phone number at the top of the page. I grinned. The day was starting to look up.