His
unexpected pet
“Okay Aisha, what have you got?” Sidiro barreled into the clinic,
followed by Jeremy who was just putting on his jacket. The pair would have come
to the clinic earlier, but
they were detained by Jeremy’s many
little fans, all ready to witness his ever ready street
magic acts. Little did they know that Jeremy
was using a bit of his real magic during
his performances.
Jeremy could whip up a fresh bouquet of roses from his front
pocket, or even release a
flock of multi-colored pigeons from the back of his coat. Sid
had seen him do those
tricks, and more. In conclusion, Jeremy
was just as powerful as the jinniyan princes of
the maggickal realm. However, the realm that they called their other home, appealed to
neither of them. It was especially distant from Jeremy,
whose smart and attractive
girlfriend appealed more than anything that other realm could offer. Aisha
looked up from her work table and gestured for the two to come closer. The young vet
planted a kiss on Jeremy’s cheek, but
that did nothing to hide the concern that was
framed behind her round-rimmed glasses. “Follow me, boys.”
She rounded
the work table and took out a chain of keys from the pocket of her white lab
coat. The biggest of the keys, as Sid
and Jer already knew, allowed access to the back
room where all the injured animals were temporarily kept. The smaller keys were those
that unlocked the several cages inside the said room. There were two levels of cages.
The bigger cages below the smaller ones housed the four-legged larger animals. The
smaller ones above were used for holding pets.
Sidiro and
his cousin followed closely, making sure not to make too much noise lest they
disturb any of the sleeping animals. Aisha groped
for the on-switch that activated
the lights. When she found and clicked it, the glass globe above them glowed. The amount
of light wasn’t too bright – more of a soft orange – so that it wouldn’t
startle the resting
creatures.
Not all the
cages were occupied, though. From what Sid
could see, there were only three
animals inside. The young lamb that had a limp in one front leg was in the lower cage
nearest the door. In the upper right cage close to the lamb, a puppy – owned by one of
the kids who visited the zoo regularly – had been given a vaccine shot and was to be
picked up later in the afternoon. The third animal, however, was kept in the cage at the
end of the column, and was almost invisible because the light wasn’t strong enough to
illuminate the whole of the room. From what Sid
could make of its silhouette, the animal
looked like a big domestic cat, about twenty-two inches long.
