Homeless

Chapter Fourteen

The volunteers find Socrates in the weeds behind the boxcar. He’s bleeding heavily. Sunita wraps him in a towel and carries him to the van. He’s nearly unconscious. Mittens isn’t doing much better. Dr. Mac says she needs an emergency Caesarean to save the kittens.

Mittens is settled into a box at Sunita’s feet, and Socrates is riding in her lap. His blood has soaked through the towel and his eyes are closed.

Dr. Mac drives to the clinic as fast as she can. Sunita wishes Dr. Mac had a siren and flashing lights like ambulances do for people. She parks in the driveway and jumps out. Dr. Gabe lays Socrates on the operating table while Dr. Mac wheels in a portable table and sets Mittens on that. There’s no time to waste. Both animals need surgery.

Dr. Mac looks at Sunita, and says if she’s staying, she needs to scrub up. She and Dr. Gabe prepare to operate. She also adds that they might not make it. Sunita swallows and nods. She needs to help.

Sunita washes and slips an extra large glove over her bandaged hand and puts a rubber band around her wrist to hold the glove in place. She thought it’d be cool to wear a surgical cap and gown like the vets do when they operate, but Sunita is too worried. Dr. Gabe’s scrubs are already spattered with Socrates’ blood and Mittens heart rate is dangerously high.

Dr. Mac calls Sunita over. She briskly rubs Mittens’ shaved belly with a soapy sponge, then washes off the soap with alcohol and paints the skin an iodine disinfectant. She tells Sunita to pass her the package with the tube. Sunita tears the package, and Dr. Mac moves a slender, curved tube from it. She opens Mittens’ jaw with the fingers on left hand and slips the tube down her throat. The sedative makes Mittens completely limp. It’s called a trach tube. It goes down the trachea, the windpipe, and gives her an open pathway to Mittens’ lungs.

The anesthesia machine is the size of a large microwave oven on wheels, but it has a lot more dials and buttons. Dr. Mac pulls a clear plastic hose from the machine and hooks it to the trach tube. The anesthesia puts Mittens into a very deep sleep so she doesn’t feel anything during the operation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gabe is pressing a clean piece of gauze over Socrates’ wound. Sunita has never seen him look so serious. Dr. Mac lays pieces of surgical drapes over Mittens, so that only the clipped area of her belly is showing. She’s almost ready for the Caesarean.

Dr. Mac attaches a little clip with a wire to Mittens’ foreleg. The wire leads to a heart monitor, which will measure Mittens’ vital signs, like how fast she’s breathing and how often her heart beats. Dr. Mac reaches for the scalpel.

Dr. Gabe called Sunita over. Sunita dashes to Dr. Gabe to see Socrates lying on a bloody sheet. Dr. Gabe has an I.V. bag going to help keep Socrates’ fluid levels up, but he needs blood. They called the blood bank from the cell phone in the van, and they said they’d send someone over right away. They should have been here by now. Dr. Gabe frowns. He thought he had the bleeding under control, but Socrates must be bleeding internally as well. They need to find where that courier is.

Sunita focuses on the telephone, dialing quickly and asking how long until the courier arrives. They say it’ll be five more minutes. Dr. Gabe says he’ll do everything he can. He needs another I.V. bag and more gauze.

Sunita lays the supplies he needs at the end of the table. Socrates doesn’t look like himself. He’s lost some weight, and there are bites and cuts all over his body. He was so brave fighting that raccoon. He can’t die, not now. Not when he’s just come home. Sunita reaches out to pet his tail, but he doesn’t move at all. He doesn’t even know she’s there.

Dr. Mac says that Mittens has stabilized. One of her kittens was blocking the birth canal. Sunita knows Mittens could’ve died, but now she won’t. Dr. Mac holds up the first kitten. Dr. Mac lays the black-and-white kitten on a towel next to Mittens. And then, Dr. Mac takes out the second kitten. She snips the umbilical cord and lays it next to the first. Dr. Mac asks Sunita to clean the kittens. Normally the mother will lick the kittens clean, but since Mittens is knocked out, Sunita needs to do it for her. As she cleans, Sunita watches in awe as the first kitten stretches open and opens its pink mouth.

Dr. Mac smiles as she sets down kittens three and four. Then, she lifts the last kitten, snips the cord, and lays him with his brothers and sisters.

Sunita glances over at Socrates. He’s still limp. Dr. Gabe is frowning, still trying to stop the bleeding. The bell on the front door jangles. The blood is here.