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 Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:47 pm
It was too soon to say if the little guy was getting better, but Sue sure liked to hope so. He was talking better, at least - the little kitten that he'd snuck into his room last night. Sue heard the poor thing whine and curse as it stumbled about, unable to get itself fixated in a straight line thanks to the infection of its inner ear. He tried to encourage it to settle down, but even being somewhere safe and warm, it was distressed. Poor little thing....
So occupied by taking care of this kitten he was, Sue had totally forgotten about his "date" with Yahya. Which really, really wasn't good - there were other cats that would be expecting a home-made meal soon, after all. But this little one was just so distressed, crying out all the time... how could Sue leave it, even for a minute more than he had to?
Seven o'clock rolled by. Then seven ten, seven twenty, seven thirty, all without noticing. The kitten had finally settled onto his chest and drifted off, and Sue wasn't daring to move an inch.
Until the knock came at his ******** ******** ********> It had to be the school administrators! Without any better recourse, Sue swept the surprised kitten off of him and into a shoebox, stuffed on a lid, and stuffed the whole thing under his bed. "Coming, coming!" he called out, trying to drown out the kitten's startled cries with his own voice. Sue hissed beneath the mattress, "Quiet, little guy, quiet...!"
No go. The kitten was sick and just got rudely woken up. It was not staying quiet, no matter how much he pleaded with it. The only thing to do was to somehow cover the noise, and talk the administrators into going away....
Sue opened the door, coughing loudly and rudely. Without even looking to see who was there, he hoarsely declared, "I'm not taking visitors. I've got a bad case of the meningitis, so go away!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:06 pm
Yahya had been ditched, and for a little bit he had felt genuinely hurt that Sue hadn't showed up to teach him the new recipe for cat treats. It didn't take him long, though, to reason it out with himself. Sue wouldn't ditch unless it was for a very good reason, or he had forgotten. If it was the latter case... Yahya wouldn't be terribly upset. It was normal to forget things, but it was mean to intentionally ditch someone. Yahya didn't think that Sue was the kind of person to do that, but maybe he was putting too much faith in the other BP student.
In the end, Yahya resolved to check up on Sue. Clearly something was wrong if Sue had not shown up! Yahya came up to the door, listening closely for sounds inside... He didn't hear anything, so maybe Sue had gone out? He decided to double-check anyways, and knocked politely on the door. It was then that he started to hear noise, some sort of mewing sound and then Sue's voice riding over it, drowning out the other noise.
Yahya's lips parted to explain who it was at the door for Sue, but the other boy swung it open before the words left his mouth. He blinked in astonishment at Sue, and when the other boy announced his medical condition... Yahya's expression turned to horror. "Oh, no! Are you okay? Everyone else has been dying of it and I don't want you to die too! Have you seen the school nurse? Should I rush you to the hospital?" He immediately flew into panic-I-must-help-my-friend mode!
It was almost funny that he didn't care that he could catch it too.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:16 pm
Oh. Wait. That was Yahya, the animal kid from the other day.
.... Oh, wait. That was Yahya, who Sue was supposed to be teaching how to make his special cat food recipe right now!
"s**t. Disregard that," Sue muttered - then grabbed Yahya by the shirt front, hauled him into the room, and pushed the door shut.
Once their privacy was assured, the boy paced quickly over to the bed. "s**t, Yahya, wasn't it? Man, I've got a problem. The cats are going to be expecting their dinner soon, and I haven't even started on it, but...." Getting to his knees, he slid the shoebox out from under his bed. Predictably, the kitten was already halfway escaped from it, anyway. "But I've got a problem," Sue emphasized, moving to give Yahya a clear look at the kitten.
Anyone familiar animals could tell at a glance, the poor thing was sick. It was unbalanced and dizzy; its eyes and nose were crusty, its fur dull. It wheezed when it breathed, and mewed in terrible unhappiness at its situation. It wailed up at Sue, who picked it up obediently and cradled it against his chest.
He glanced over at Yahya. The kid wasn't going to tell anybody, was he?
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:59 pm
"Huh?" was the first stunned response that he made when he was told to disregard Sue's LIFE-THREATENING condition. Didn't Sue cared if he lived or died? Yahya needed to get him to the hospital so that he wouldn't end up like all the other students who had contracted bacterial meningitis - DEAD. "B-but--" his protest was stifled as Sue's hand clasped the front of his shirt and dragged him forcibly inside of the room. Confusion broke out across his face, and once again his lips parted to articulate some sort of response despite his confusion.
Yahya followed Sue deeper into the room, eyes dark with concern for his friend. "I'm sure the cats will be fine if they miss one dinner..." he reassured Sue, not wanting the other boy to push himself if he really was sick. "Of course you have a problem if you're sick!" he cried out in exasperation, really not wanting to hurt Sue's feelings, but Sue needed to take care of himself--
Oh.
"Oh no!" he whispered softly, concerned as the little kitten was drawn out from under the bed. The creature definitely was ill, even an idiot could see that the kitten was sick. Something definitely ailed the creature, and immediately Yahya was geared towards one thing, and that was making sure the kitten would be okay. "How long has the poor thing been like this? Do you know? I could see about getting some antibiotics that might help..." But he thought that good rest and care would probably help the kitten pull through its illness better.
"...So, I guess you're not the one who's sick then." He smiled sheepishly, and stepped up beside Sue, tenderly stroking the kitten's forehead with a single finger. "It probably needs just a bunch of rest and love..."
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:22 pm
... Not the only one who's....
Insert sound of forehead slapping here. Sue didn't know why he seemed to wind up around the most gullible of people in the school, but that was so far beside from the point right now that he wouldn't touch it. For now.
"I've got some meds," Sue informed him, "and ear drops, too. The problem is, there's no way I'll be able to hide this boy in here for as long as he needs to be cared for." He took a surreptitious glance at Yahya. He certain seemed to be taken with the kitten's plight, at least. Now the question was, how far could Sue milk it?
"Here, hold him a second," Sue requested (or commanded - the two weren't so different from each other), passing the kitten over immediately. Once his hands were free, he went to the small mini-fridge in the corner of his room to fish around for the kitten's meds, talking as he searched. "The admins are always on me, making sure I'm not sneaking any cats into my room. I've got whiny neighbors, is why." Scowling, he pulled out two small boxes from a drawer and closed the door.
"Here, these are the meds - they're not so bad, though he doesn't like the taste of the banana stuff too well. You've worked with rescues, so you must be pretty good with this stuff - will you give me a hand in dosing him?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:33 pm
Yahya didn't need to be tricked into taking care of the kitten, but even so, it seemed like he was quite the sort to be. The student didn't seem to quite get the hint behind Sue's look, but he seemed eager to help in any way that he could. "Oh, that's great!" he exclaimed when Sue explained that he had already obtained some medicine. Now the only thing they'd have to do was give it to the kitten regularly and hopefully the little thing would be able to pull itself out of its sickness.
"Umm... 'kay..." he replied belatedly, so much so that the kitten was already in the tender embrace of his hands. He cradled the small creature against his chest, a finger absentmindedly stroking under the kitten's chin and eventually over the top of its head. Yahya was always suckered into the plight of animals, and he still felt like it was his duty to try and help every single one of them that needed him.
"Oh, my neighbors don't mind so much, but I only have animals in there in emergency situations, like when the shelter REALLY ran out of room, I kept a few cats in there, but they were really quiet..." He didn't seem to quite get what Sue was hinting at, but there was hope yet.
"Yeah, I'll help, it's no problem. At least its only a kitten, and they can't hurt you all that bad. Try dosing up a hawk... and that's where the issues start." Yahya smiled, a bright but sweet smile, and seated himself at the end of Sue's bed. He had forgotten to ask if he could, but things slipped his mind from time to time.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:25 pm
Sue was aware that other animals existed. Sometimes, he even admired them. But it was rare - very rare - that he would care when someone talked about a creature other than a cat.
But dosing a hawk?... yeah. Okay. Sue would give his attention.
"Good God - and you have all your fingers?" The very thought of trying to medicate a raptor was baffling. He had something of a grudge against the birds, ever since one of his girls had had lost two kittens to their claws. Even so, that just meant he had to respect their danger factor a little bit more. All sharp beaks and talons and ornery as piss... shudder.
While he was thinking of all this, Sue measured out the antibiotics. "All right, this is the banana stuff - scruff him so he doesn't spit it up, eh?" This was really something Sue didn't need help for, of course - a sick kitten was hardly a match for him - but in his mind, the more involved he got Yahya to be now, the easier it would be when he tried shoving him out the door with the kitten still in his arms.
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:21 pm
"Well, you just have to know how to grab a bird right, and usually I'm pretty good with all sorts of animals... That doesn't mean I'm not worried I'll lose a finger or two, I just know I'm more likely to keep them than most people." With the kitten secured in one hand, Yahya extended his other to demonstrate a gripping motion. "First you grab the bird's feet, both at once because the talons can be nasty buggers, and you always wear protective gloves. Then you grab the back of the bird's head with your other hand, so he can't move it around to bite you. Someone else will give him his dosage, and then you put him back." The kitten mewled, and he was effectively distracted by trying to calm him. He cooed to her in that sickeningly endearing way, scratched under her chin, as if his very attention would make him feel better.
Yahya obediently did as he was told, not even considering the fact that Sue could do this all on his own. Maybe he wanted to share in the fun of taking care of a sick kitten? Yahya had come, so he might as well be put to some use. "You've been taking very good care of him," Yahya said with a charming smile. He was definitely all up for making other people feel better about what they were doing. Sue was certainly doing a kind, generous act by taking the kitten underneath his wing and trying to wean it back to full health.
"Every little thing you do for them counts," he murmured, more to himself then to Sue.
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