I Always Wondered What She Was Thinking?

“Meow! Meow!”

Lisa looks down at her cat who is scratching relentlessly at the basement door. She always does this, thinks Lisa. I’ll open the door, and then she will just go sit on the first step. If I close the door, then she will just keep scratching to get back out. 

“I’ll just leave the door open today,” she says out loud. “Fuzzyboots, I love you, but you drive me crazy.” 

Lisa opens the door for Fuzzyboots, and then quickly grabs her keys and runs out to her car. She needs to get to the animal hospital early today. Ever since the other veterinarian quit, she is the only veterinarian at the local animal hospital that serves the entire community. Although she loves animals, her schedule recently has been chaotic and stressful.

Lisa arrives at the animal hospital. As she walks in, Jane the receptionist says, “Hey, good morning, Lisa! Boy, you have a busy morning. There are already three dogs and two cats in the waiting room and it’s not even 9 am.” Lisa sighs. “That sounds about right,” she smiles and says to Jane, and wanders back to her office to prepare for the day.

By 9 pm, Lisa has just finished up the last of her paperwork. She looks at the clock. “Another 12 hour day,” she says to herself. She grabs her bags and heads home. On the drive home, she thinks, Well I have just enough time to eat some more leftovers, watch a 30 minute show, and then go to bed to do it all again tomorrow. She wonders if maybe she needs a break from her current job, or maybe a break from being a veterinarian, or maybe even a new career all together. This is not the first time she has pondered a career change. Although she once loved the idea of working with animals all day, the routine and hours have taken their toll, and maybe it is time to find a new career entirely.

The next morning Lisa wakes up and hears someone calling out downstairs. “Basement! Basement!” What in the world is going on? Is there someone in my house? Lisa nervously gets out of bed, and peers down the main stairs. “Hello? Is someone there?” “Basement! Basement! I want to go into the basement!” Ok now I am getting freaked out. Lisa shouts, “If someone is down there I need you to get out of my house!” “But I want to go into the basement?” Lisa is scared, but she decides to not be intimidated in her own house, so she ventures down the stairs, ready if someone jumps out at her. When she gets to the basement door, she looks down and only sees her cat Fuzzyboots. “Fuzzyboots!? That can’t be you? Maybe the stress is getting to me.” She decides to call out for the day. They have a vet on call from another hospital that can cover for her. Besides she can use the break. Maybe then she will stop hearing voices and think that her cat is talking to her.

Lisa decides to spend the morning taking a long walk in the local park. Most of the walk is remote, but every now and then another hiker will come along. She walks for about 30 minutes and she sees another hiker with a dog approaching her. “Oh look, a squirrel! Oh look, another squirrel!” What a weird thing for that lady to say, Lisa thinks. She nods at the passing hiker, and the passing hiker nods at her. While she is looking at the other hiker, she hears “And look, another squirrel!” Lisa gasps. Wait a minute! That wasn’t the other hiker I heard. That was the dog! “That explains what I heard this morning. I wasn’t imagining things, I was communicating with Fuzzyboots!” 

The rest of the hike is more stressful than relaxing for Lisa as she hears the words of passing animals rather than passing humans. “I want to jump in that pond!” shouts a passing dog. She sees a cat being carried in one of those backpacks with a clear window for the cat to see out of. Lisa exclaims, “Look at all these birds! I have never seen this many birds up close! Usually they are outside my window, but now they are all around!” She sees a falcon fly overhead and land on a nearby tree. “The views above are incredible but sometimes it is nice to just get back down to earth,” she hears the falcon say.

Lisa has had enough and decides to end her trip in the woods by jogging back rather than walking. As she rounds a bend she sees two hikers each walking their respective dogs. Oh boy, here we go. “Actually that one dog looks familiar,” she says quietly to herself.  One dog looks at her and then looks at the other dog. He barks, “Hey Freckles, do you see that lady over there? She operated on me last week at that animal hospital. I was in constant pain, but after the operation, I feel like a brand new dog. I wish I could tell her how much she has helped me. Who knows, she may have even saved my life.”  The dog looks at Lisa and starts barking. To the hikers it is just barking, but Lisa hears, “Thank you, lady! Thank you!” 

“Waffles, calm down!” the owner shouts at him. “I’m sorry, he usually is nice and cooperative. Hey, you are the vet at the animal hospital? I owe you a lot for operating on Waffles here last week. We both do,” the owner says, glancing down at Waffles.  “He has seemed like a brand new dog after the operation! He has so much more energy, I can barely get him in the house at night!” 

“You both are very welcome. That’s my job, right?” Lisa smiles and the two hikers and Freckles and Waffles pass along. Waffles is still barking at Lisa. “Thank you! Thank you!” “You are welcome, little guy,” she says to Waffles. She does not know for certain if Waffles understands, but he stops barking, and she sees a look of joy on his face.

Lisa gets home and sees Fuzzyboots sleeping in her spot. “Well I always wondered what you were thinking. I guess now I’ll know for sure.” Lisa sits on the couch. Fuzzyboots stirs and walks over to Lisa. “It’s the lady! I’m going to cuddle with the lady! This is the best part of my day, when the lady comes home.” Fuzzyboots curls up next to Lisa on the couch, starts purring, and goes back to sleep. “I love you too, Fuzzyboots!”

The excitement of the day has left Lisa feeling exhausted and she too falls asleep. She wakes up a few hours later.  The experiences today have made me remember why I decided to become a veterinarian in the first place. Maybe all I need is a break to sit back and reflect. That and less 60 hour weeks. Lisa gets up off the couch where Fuzzyboots is still sleeping, eats some dinner, watches some television, and then goes to bed.

The next morning Lisa awakens again to noise coming from downstairs, but this time it is definitely Fuzzyboots. “Meow! Meow!” Lisa goes down the stairs and sees Fuzzyboots desperately clawing at the basement door. “What a drama queen! I did not need to hear what you were saying to understand that you want to go into the basement.” Lisa tries to pet Fuzzyboots but she continues to claw at the basement door. “Meow! Meow!” “OK, OK, just one more time.” She opens the basement door, but Fuzzyboots just sits on the first step. “Surprise, surprise!” She reaches down and pets Fuzzyboots, and she starts purring.

Lisa arrives at the animal hospital just before 9. When she enters Jane the receptionist looks up and says, “Hey there, feeling better? Did you hear the news? That vet that filled in for you yesterday, she says that she wants to work here permanently! She says that this facility is so much better than the one she usually works at. She says that we have state of the art technology. And get this, she is bringing her coworker to work here as well, who is also a veterinarian!” Hmm, three vets instead of one. “That is good news,” Lisa says, smiling to Jane. “And yes, I am feeling much better, thanks!” 

Lisa settles into her office to prepare for the day. While the other two veterinarians make their transition to the animal hospital, she is still the only vet here in the meantime. Although now there is some relief on the horizon. She smiles and thinks about her experiences yesterday and how she rediscovered why she became a vet in the first place. 

Jane pops her head in again. “Hey, sorry, I know you just got in. But the waiting room already has three cats and a dog, and it will fill up fast with appointments scheduled all morning. Boy those other two vets can’t start soon enough, right? Are you ready for the first operation.” 

Lisa looks at Jane and smiles. “Yeah. I’m ready!”

The end.