"So what do we have here?" Dr. Hunt said, coming forward. He looked at the form that Cristina had filled out. "Taz is his name, I see. You haven't filled out everything on the form, Miss Yang."
"Um, that's because he is not my dog and I don't know anything of his history. He is a lost dog and showed up on my doorstep, earlier today," Cristina explained. "I saw that he was favoring his back right leg so I thought I would bring him in to have it checked. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't broken."
"Ah, okay, so where did you get this name Taz?" Dr. Hunt asked, as he started feeling Taz's leg.
"I just made that up in the waiting room," Cristina said. "Your receptionist would have been real mad if I didn't write a name for him." The vet laughed.
"Ah, Eunice, my receptionist, treats the animals better than people," he said. "She is very vocal on animal rights. Okay, the good news is that the leg is not broken. He just has a sprain. However, what that means is that he needs to keep off it and therefore, has to be confined to a limited space. Not much moving around until that leg heals. You can use an ice pack on it to reduce the swelling. Also, I am going to give you some painkillers for him. I am sure that it is probably hurting the little fella. He is still only a pup. Judging from his size, he is about six months old."
"Okay," Cristina nodded, admiring the man's profile. It was such a strong, manly profile, she thought.
"So since this is not your dog, what are you going to do about him?" Dr. Hunt asked.
"Well, since he had no tags, I wasn't quite sure where to start. So I thought I would take his picture and put up flyers around my neighborhood. He is such a little guy; he couldn't have gone far from where he lived, especially with an injured leg," she said. "Hopefully, someone will call me and claim him."
"Maybe he has an embedded microchip. Let's check if he has one. The microchip has a number and we can check it on a database to find out his owner's name and contact information," Dr. Hunt said. But it proved to be a futile exercise, since Taz did not have a microchip.
"Well, I guess we have to go the low-tech way to find his owner," Cristina said.
"What if you can't find his owner, what are you going to do?" Dr. Hunt asked. He lifted Taz and looked at him in his face. "I would hate to see him end up in a shelter."
"I would try and find a good home for him," Cristina said. "With my job, I work very long hours and I don't have the time to take care of a dog."
"Okay, that's good," Dr. Hunt said. "However, if you decide to keep him, I would suggest that you set him up on a vaccination program. Since we have no history for him, we would have to make sure that he gets vaccinated."
"Yeah, okay," Cristina said. "But I don't think that would be necessary. Hopefully, his owner comes for him or if not, his new owner will take care of it."
"Alright," Dr. Hunt said. "So, what we will do is set up a tentative appointment for Taz for next Saturday at around 5.45 p.m. I say tentative because I am not sure if his owner will turn up. If he or she turns up, you can call and cancel the appointment but if you still have him, I would like to check that leg, again to make sure that it has healed properly and he isn't having any pains."
"Sure," Cristina said. "Thank you for all of your help." With Taz's painkillers in one hand, she picked up the dog and carried him out to the waiting room area, where she made an appointment for next Saturday and paid for their visit.
She went out to the parking lot and placed Taz in the new carrying case that she had bought earlier that day at PetSmart. "Okay, let's go home, boy," she said. She got into her car and turned the key but nothing happened. She tried it, again and got the same result. Her car did not want to start. She popped the hood and stared at the engine. Not that it mattered, she didn't have a clue on what was going on in there.
She wondered if she should call a cab. After all, she had so much stuff in the car to take home. It was late and she probably would not get a mechanic to check her car, especially in this fading light.
"Are you having car trouble?" she heard Dr. Hunt's voice say. He and Eunice had locked up the clinic and were leaving for the night. Eunice had already driven off and it was only Cristina and Dr. Hunt in the parking lot.
"Yes, it seems so," Cristina said. "Can I leave this car here and I will get my mechanic to come check it, tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah, sure," Dr. Hunt said. "That's no problem. How are you going to get home?"
"I guess I will call a cab. I have a whole bunch of stuff to carry home, too. Things I got from PetSmart for Taz," she said.
"Let me take you and Taz home," the vet said. "It will be no trouble."
"Really?" Cristina replied. "Thank you very much. I would be forever grateful."
"Just let me get my SUV and we can transfer all of the stuff into it and then I will drive you home," he said. "Just hang on for a couple of minutes." He disappeared at the back of the building and to her surprise, he re-appeared on the street in front of the clinic. She wondered how he did that because he had not passed in front of her with his vehicle.
They got busy, transferring everything from her vehicle to his. "That is quite a lot of stuff you bought for a dog that you are not going to keep," Dr. Hunt said, as he carried across the doggie bed.
"Well, I wasn't sure how long he was going to stay with me, so I decided that he might as well be comfortable," she said, as she carried across the brand new stainless steel dog bowls and the various toys. "I guess that's it." The bag of dog food was the last thing to be placed in the SUV, which Dr. Hunt stowed in the back of his SUV. Cristina placed Taz and his carrying case on the back seat, while she climbed in on the front passenger seat.
"I live at 478 Regents Avenue," she said. "Do you know where that is?"
"The townhouse complex?" he asked. She nodded. "Have you been there before?" she queried.
"Yes, I have," Dr. Hunt said. "I dated a woman, who lived there, at one time. We're not dating, anymore." Cristina wondered why he would share that information. She didn't really ask him anything about his private life. Mentally, she ran through all of the single women living in her townhouse complex, wondering which of them it was.
They drove in relative silence, when Dr. Hunt stopped in front of a Thai restaurant. "I am just going to pick up dinner here. Do you want anything?" he asked.
She thought about it and said, "Yes, some shrimp pad Thai would be great."
"Okay, stay here and I will be right out," he said. Cristina watched as he entered the restaurant. Taz whimpered from the back seat.
"Taz, we are going to be home in just a little bit. So hold on. We're just picking up a little bit of food for me. When we get home, I will give you some of that dog food I bought this morning," she said. "On a different subject, what do you think about Dr. Hunt?"
Taz yelped in reply. "Yeah, I think so, too. He is a hunk, isn't he? No wonder Kathleen keeps raving about him," she continued. "I mean he would be kinda nice to date, if I did date. You know with my job, Taz, I don't have time to date. On weekends, all I want to do is vegetate. It's so hard to even put on a dress and make-up to go out.
"Not that he would be interested in me. I look like a proper frump right now in my sweatpants and old t-shirt." She pulled down the sun visor to look at herself in the mirror. "Oh, my God, I look horrible. My hair doesn't even look like if I brushed it. You could have told me something before we left the house, Taz." The puppy yelped, again. "Oh, he is coming back." She tried to smooth out her unruly curls but it really was to no avail.
Dr. Hunt got back into the car and handed her a bag. "Here is your shrimp pad Thai."
"How much do I owe you?" she asked.
"Don't worry, it's my treat," he said. She nodded and said, "Thanks."
They finally got to her townhouse compound. "I am Townhouse 26. It is the one on that end." He pulled up in front of her townhouse and started helping her carry all her dog-related paraphernalia into the house. He even helped her set up Taz's bed and feeding bowls.
"Thank you so much for everything," Cristina said. "I hope I didn't put you too much out of your way."
"Well, actually, I am headed back to the clinic," he said.
"You live at the clinic?" she said, surprised. She hadn't seen any evidence that there were living quarters at the clinic.
"No, no," he laughed. "I live in a property behind the clinic that faces Greenvale Avenue. That's my house. I just pass through a gate behind the clinic to get to my house."
"Oh, that is a commute to die for. You get up, have your breakfast, walk to the back of your house and through the gate and you're already at your place of work. You are so darn lucky. No traffic and no irate drivers to face on the morning commute," she said. "Oh, now I understand how you got your vehicle. You passed through the gate to get to your house and then got your vehicle and that's how you got to the front of the clinic to pick me up. I was wondering how you pulled off that trick."
He laughed. "Well, good night, Miss Yang. Oh, by the way, I am somewhat of an amateur mechanic. My dad taught me when I was a kid. So I will take a look at your car and give you a call. If it is beyond my capability, I will get a mechanic to take a look at it."
"Thank you, Dr. Hunt. You are too good to me," she said. She handed him her car keys so he would be able to check her car, the next day. She walked him to her front door and they said good night to each other. She closed the door and sighed. "Him and me would be a lost cause, Taz, wouldn't it? I am an idiot to think that he would be interested in me. Besides, I don't even date. Yeah, you're right. Such a good listener, you are. Are you hungry?" she asked the dog. She opened the new bag of dog food and placed some of the pebbles in his new food bowl. He hungrily ate his food. She filled his water bowl and he drank, thirstily. She also gave him a little bit of medicine for his pain.
She opened the back door and he instantly knew that was the signal for him to do his toilet. She was totally grateful that he already knew what that meant. She picked up his poop and put it in a Ziploc bag and made the trek to the doggie poop disposal unit on the compound. She had never had need to use it before but now saw the value of it.
It had been a very tiring day and Cristina decided to turn in early. After she had eaten her shrimp pad Thai, she put Taz in his bed and got ready to turn in. She had almost fallen asleep when she heard a scratching on the door. She groaned, "What's the matter, Taz?" She got up and opened the door. Taz limped inside her bedroom. He clearly wanted to spend the night in there.
"Okay, just because you are injured, I am going to allow this. This is not going to become a habit." She went to the laundry room, picked up his dog bed and placed it in a corner of her bedroom. Taz went in and settled down, comfortably. "So I guess now I can get some sleep."
She climbed back underneath her covers. "So Taz, that Dr. Hunt sure is something. He's good-looking, kind, generous and great with animals."
All she heard in reply was a gentle snore coming from the pup. "Oh, okay, good night, Taz." She hugged a pillow and fell asleep, with her last thoughts being about Dr. Hunt.
A/N Please leave your thoughts and comments. I do appreciate when you leave your reviews. Thank you for your wonderful reviews on the first chapter.