Chapter 26: Surgical Procedure

"Stop moving your wing, Mikhailov." Isobel said softly to the falcon.

"Sorry," Mikhailov let his injured wing sprawl across the grass.

Jazlene peeked over at his wound. "Holy cow! How fast do your arrows go?"

"As fast as bullet, I tell her alvready!" Mikhailov piped up.

A smile twitched on the corner of Isobel's mouth as she pushed away his feathers from the deep wound. The raptor winced slightly at this, but he would not let any sign of his misery cross his face.

"I think I'm going to be sick" Mauve had also taken a look, but she was not so good with blood.

Ignoring Mauve, Isobel asked Mikhailov a question. "Were you flying when it hit you?"

"I vas takink off, I fly too low in the trees." Mikhailov answered. "I thought you vere done shooting. Anyvays, I heard you talking to yourself. Vhat is it you vere speaking?"

"Ta'li." Isobel replied.

A look passed over the falcon's face. "Ta'li." He breathed out.

Isobel looked to his wound and saw he was losing blood fast.

"Hoover dam, you weren't kidding, Ringtail!" Skipper said loudly.

The penguins were now in the lemur habitat, quickly approaching Isobel and Mikhailov.

Isobel turned to look at the penguins. "Quick, he needs stitches now."

"Impossible." Kowalski said as he sat beside Isobel to look closely at Mikhailov. "Could I just have three of your feathers to-"

"Kowalski." Isobel warned. "This isn't the time for a science project. Do you have aspirin?"

"Oh, right." Kowalski opened up a bottle of the painkillers for her, handing her one.

"Take this, Mikhailov." Isobel said.

Mikhailov was getting woozy, but he still had the sense to watch out for himself. "That ees not arsenic, ees it?"

Isobel raised an eyebrow at him. "If I wanted you dead, I would have done so in the park, no?"

"It is simply 2-acetoxybenzoic acid." Kowalski added helpfully. "Er, aspirin."

"Aspirin?" Mikhailov's eyes wobbled. "Give me good strong vodka, this vill do trick, not aspirin."

Isobel sighed at his stubbornness. "We don't have liquor. The aspirin will help."

Mikhailov slowly nodded his head. "Okay, devochka. I trust you."

He took the aspirin, and Isobel began snipping away at his feathers.

"He's just about out, Kowalski." Isobel looked to the scientist. "You can start removing the arrowhead splinters when you're ready."

Kowalski looked back at her, stunned. "Why me?"

"Your dad is the surgeon." Isobel reminded him. "And you know avian anatomy."

Kowalski took a deep breath. "Well, um, okay. There's, uh, a lot of blood here. So let's tie a band around the top of his wing to help cut off some circulation for just a minute."

Isobel helped him tie a thick rubber band which had been cut in half around Mikhailov's wing. Then she handed him the tweezers so he could remove the bits of arrowhead from the wound. While he did this, the brave ones looked over his shoulder to gawk. Isobel began to ready the sutures and sanitize the needle with rubbing alcohol.

When Kowalski was finished, he cut the rubber band off of the falcon's wing, and almost immediately the blood came back. Kowalski took a cloth damp with a sterile solution and thoroughly cleaned the wound.

Private covered his eyes. "I can't watch any further."

Isobel handed Kowalski the threaded needle, and he began to sew.

Soon, the 'surgery' was done. Kowalski looked on at his handiwork, utterly surprised that he had done this.

"You see, it was not so bad." Isobel smiled at him.

"Yeah." Kowalski whispered. "I guess not."

"Good work, 'Walski." Skipper clapped him on the back.

"This is one of the most traumatic things I've ever seen." Private said quietly.

Mikhailov came to for a moment, apparently just to comment on what Private said. "Ees minor scrape; I've had vorse."

Skipper nodded. "True that."

Mikhailov looked unsteadily at Isobel. "Have you looked at the clouds yet? I see…a pony. And…pengvuins. So vat. Good vor…pengvuin soup."

All of the penguins' eyes widened and they backed away slightly.

Mikhailov laughed heartily. "I keed, I keed. I vould not eat you."

And with that, he finally passed out.

"Well, we're gonna just go ahead and take off now." Skipper said as they gathered up their medical supplies.

"Let us know of his progress!" Kowalski yelled as they clambered over the wall.

They scurried off to finish preparing for their parents' arrivals.