Today had been a fairly normal day. I'd been crushed by Dr Cox, mopped by the Janitor, and helped a few people get back on their feet.
When I went to the Nurse's office, Carla was looking exceptionally happy. She handed me my final chart of the day.
"Ok, so I've got to take Mrs Abel's annual blood test, and then I'm done!"
"That's great! Hey, Bambi, Turk's on surgery call tonight, so I'll walk back with you!"
"Great! I'll see you in a few minutes then?"
"Sure. Oh, but Bambi, keep out of Dr Cox's way. One of his patients just died, and they had become quite close, so he's not very happy"
"Thanks, Carla"
After taking Mrs Abel's blood test, I ran into Dr Cox. I remembered what Carla had said, and so told myself not to aggravate him.
"How you doing, Dr Cox?" Damnit!"
"Well, Carol, the only sane patient I've had for over a month has just passed away leaving me to a devil ex-wife and the baby son from hell, so yeah I'm doing just great, and I'll be doing much better tonight when I'm out getting pissed"
Well, at least that rant was shorter than usual. Poor Dr Cox, he must be getting worn out in his old age. I went to pick up Carla, and we walked back to the flat.
But when I got there, I had the shock of my life.
There were men in jumpsuits, taking out boxes of things from our apartment!
"What's going on?" I asked Carla. She grinned.
"I sold loads of junk we don't need on EBay so we could clean out the apartment! Don't worry, I didn't sell your CD collection!" she reassured, noting the look on my face.
"Oh, that's ok, because I need them tonight. I need to give Rowdy his monthly bath, and we can't do that without The Feeling! She's just a small town girl…"
I heard the men talking to Carla.
"Es esto todo, señorita Espinosa?"
"Sí, esto es grande, gracias!"
Must have got some of her Spanish friends to help out. I heard them shut the door, and heard their van drive off outside.
I walked into my bedroom, still singing Small Town Girl. Boy, was it catchy! I went over to the shoe rack to get Rowdy…
But Rowdy was gone.
Frantically, I ran all over the apartment, looking for the Labrador.
"What's up, Bambi?"
"Carla, have you seen Rowdy?"
"What?"
"Rowdy. He was at my shoe rack earlier and now he's gone!"
Carla frowned for a moment. Then she gasped and put her hand over her mouth.
"Oh my god, Bambi, I'm so sorry! I think Rowdy must have been taken away with the EBay boxes by mistake!"
"What? Do you know where they went?"
"JD, you can't go and get him back!"
"I can and I will! Rowdy's a priceless antique! Now where did they go?"
"Everything in that van was bought by some taxidermist guy in Austin. That's three days drive from here! JD I'm sorry, but Rowdy's gone!"
I grabbed my coat, and stormed out of the apartment. I had to go to Sacred Heart and get Turk. We were going to have to get Rowdy back. I don't generally act on impulse, but this was different.
By the time I got to the hospital, the sky was beginning to darken. I could see the Janitor, putting something into his van. He slammed the doors, and then noticed me.
"Hey, Scooter! What are you doing here?"
"Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?" I asked him suspiciously.
"Outside of work, I'm a different person" he stated.
"Ok…well I've gotta find Turk so I'll see you around" I muttered.
"Don't bother. That surgery's gonna take all night!"
"How do you know?"
"That poor intern should never have stuck a paperclip in my door…"
Ok, now I was scared.
"Crap! What am I gonna do?" I said to myself.
"What do you need to do?" he asked again. What was up with him tonight?
"I need to go to Austin to get my stuffed dog back. He was sold to some taxidermist on EBay"
"Taxidermist? I know where your dog will be!"
"What?"
"There's a taxidermy competition down in Austin in a few days. I'm going there myself with my squirrel army. If you want to get there, there's plenty of room in the van!"
At first I was wary. But hey, Carla knew where I was. What did I have to loose?
I nodded, and climbed into the Janitor's van.
We drove for half a mile in silence before I heard something in the back.
"Ouch, my head…" came a familiar voice.
"Dr Cox?" I yelled. Sure enough, the recognizable curls appeared between the chairs.
"Newbie?"
"Damn, he's awake…" muttered the Janitor.
"What the hell did you do to him?"
"He looked at me real funny earlier. I took him out while he was drunk. I was gonna bury him somewhere"
Oh crap. I was stuck in a van with the Janitor and a hungover Dr Cox. This was gonna be one hell of a road trip…