CHAPTER 2 EMERGENCY
Bingo looked at herself in the mirror.
She moved her paws towards the center of her chest, palm against palm yet with her fingers curled inward and two thumbs up, until they touched.
"Agreement - Consent", she said while practicing the sign.
"Now, [Sign this as agreement to the procedure, please]", she said, the movements of her hands conveying the phrase with precision.
She let out a breath and smiled, that had been trifficult!
She had struggled with some of the AUSLAN signs as much as Bluey struggled with romance languages (Bluey's rolled R weren't the best), yet she was pleased, her Auslan had only gotten better after noticing how useful it was in the hospital where she was doing her internship. There were only a few workers who knew it and even if it wasn't a daily occurrence, just one sign of her fingers was all that was needed to make her patients feel welcomed and truly understood. Granted, she had no patients of her own yet, because it was her first year doing the real thing, but she was learning something new everyday.
The red heeler adjusted the fur that dared to peek outside her Cat-Squad cap, and went straight into the hustle bustle of the emergency room.
She loved it.
—-
"AAAAHHHHHHH!"
Dougie didn't need to hear the pained yelp from the fallen kid, nor the raucous of his playmates, he had seen it all, and even warned the kids about the dangers of playing parkour in that wall, so he had called for their teacher just one moment before disaster.
Awwwwww boy!, the cavapoo hissed. It may be broken!, he thought while looking at the odd angle of the pup's foot.
He signaled for the kids to make way for their ailing classmate, and knelt beside the kid, caressing his brow. What was keeping the teacher?
"Ohhh! we're sorry, Doug! We Didn't mean to!" whimpered on of the children, tugging at his arm.
The way in which he lowered one eyebrow, while keeping his mouth in a serious line was universal enough to be immediately understood.
I told you so!, his face said.
The eyes of the girl in front of him watered a bit, while her whole body spoke of repentance.
Dougie sighed, and smiled at her while squeezing her little paw. The little one was frightened so he searched for her eyes with a kind smile.
[Teacher], he said, calling for her attention. [Bring him here!].
At that moment, the pup went off, running to the teachers room.
—-
Dougie shivered a bit, the emergency room was cold.
He sighed while caressing the pup's shoulder. The kid was awake but dizzy and loopy under the effect of a strong painkiller.
"Sorry I didn't listen to you Doug…" the boy wailed a bit, only to lower his ears even more, while cringing in self embarrassment as he realized the meaning of what he had just said. "And sorry for that as well… I did not meant to make a mean deaf joke"
Douguie shook his head from side to side while chuckling amiably, while a gentle pat on the kid's shoulder suffused as a peace token between them.
Suddenly, a feather light touch on the cavapoo's arm made him look behind them.
He smiled.
His tail wagged without him knowing the reason, but something funny bubbled in his chest at the sight of the med before him.
"Why am I grinning like a goofball?", he thought, trying to concentrate on whatever she needed to say.
"Awwwwww boy! it's broken" she thought while looking at the kid's foot, before glancing at the adult beside him.
"[We´ll need to run X-rays on your son, Mr….?]" She said while signing, a bit flustered, trying to find the name of the man with the patient on the register above the cot.
"Cavapoo…and he's my teacher", the boy answered with a groggy voice.
"Thanks", she smiled, looking at the brown dog in the eyes, her tail wagging without cause apparent.
"Why? stop wagging, it's so unprofessional!", she tried to command the moving appendage without result.
A nurse entered the room and started moving the cot away. "[My friend will take you to X-rays]", she said to the pup, "you'll be ok".
There was something she couldn't put her finger on about the cavapoo, but it made her smile time and time again. Her eyes were fixed on him, as if he would disappear at her first blink.
"[Could you tell me what happened, teacher? Just for the record]", she asked, while going for a notepad at the side table of the room.
He grinned widely.
[Not a teacher yet, the actual teacher it's outside calling the parents, doctor].
She flashed him a bright grin.
"[Not a doctor yet, the actual doctor it's outside with another patient, she'll see you soon though.]"
They both chuckled lightly, why did this feel so right?
His tail wagged faster.
Bingo's heart leaped.
She sat and moved her notepad and pen closer. He noticed that the red heeler was about to write so he sat beside her.
"[What's your name?]", she queried.
[Douglas Cavapoo]
She looked at him, pen in hand while deep in thought.
—-
Bingo giggled, while looking outside Bobo's window.
The sun in her fur felt lovely and she wanted so very badly to show their friends all the new things she had learned over the weekend! The little heeler couldn't wait to arrive at kindy.
Now she could do cartwheels! well, almost, but she was so near to do it, and probably Lila and Missy would want to learn as well, and - Oh! oh! They could play teachers!
Her tail wagged. She could be the gymnastics teacher!, or even better! she could be the fancy lady on You-pup, the one that mum watched when she wanted to work out!
….And Dougie! she couldn't wait to show him what she had learnt!
He was the new kid at Bingo's class since three weeks or so.
She liked Dougie a lot, he was kind and fluffy! (he was the fluffiest of all her kindy mates!) and despite being a bit shy at first, now he had befriended everybody, even Banjo!
After kissing goodbye to Bluey and Mum, she ran inside the classroom and hugged Lila tightly. The girls wagged their tails, giggling happily, yet soon the red heeler noticed someone missing.
"Dougie?", she asked.
Lila's shoulders dropped. "Ohhh...He had to move …so he's not coming back…" she said with a small, downhearted voice.
Bingo felt a sad grip on her heart. Ever since her parents had tried to sell their house, she feared her friends moving to another city.
"Mrs. Retriever told us not long ago", the maltese continued, "She said that his grandma was very sick, so they had to go".
"...Oh…" Bingo said, feeling her tail plummeting motionless to the floor . "I wanted to show him a new word I learnt…"
—-
Bingo looked at the man before her with amazement; her heart pounded rapidly, very up in her chest.
She could feel as if time had frozen after that morning in kindy, and now she had a new chance to show him…
He could perceive something new in her eyes, amazement? recognition?...
The cavapoo could feel it in himself too, as if he had seen those bright dark eyes somewhere else, another time…
Why was his heart pounding so fast?
Then she started signing.
She slowly but surely covered her left paw with her right, the outward part of them facing Dougie, and moved them up and down two times in front of her chest; her smile conveying the meaning of the gesture as graciously as her hands.
He cracked up a smile while his ears lifted up a notch, as the word and its meaning sunk in, making his tail wag rapidly.
Friend.