ARattus norvegicus, commonly known as a fancy rat, is perched on Clover’s shoulder, munching on a piece of cracker. I was curious about the pet’s funny name, but I can clearly get the meaning behind it. The fancy rat has two huge nads between his legs.
“You’re finally here.” Clover’s voice takes my eyes away from Mr. Squashy Nuts’s…nuts.
“How did you get in?” Ren said that Clover was supposed to come later. Didn’t he?
“I always need to keep sharp. It’s important in my line of work.” He points at the vent on the ceiling of the exam room.
Did he really get in from that narrow, dark space? I think about it for a moment. Clover is slim and agile. I can see him sliding down a dark vent. Is this the line of work he’s talking about? Finding methods of trespassing? Breaking and entering? I’d better stop asking myself questions I don’t want to know the answer to.
“Even bumblebees power-nap on flowers when they run out of energy,” I blurt out.
“Really? Bumblebees are coolass.”
Cool?Bad…ass?
“By the way, your alarm system is ridiculous. Dare needs to up his game,” he lets me know, pulling a baby carrot out of thefanny pack resting across his black jacket. He gives it a bite before passing it to Mr. Squashy Nuts.
Dare installed his own brand of security at this shelter. Rami confirmed that it’s a masterpiece of safeness.
“How can I help you?” I ask him, wanting to change the subject. I grab a pair of latex gloves. I’m strangely not a total disaster when I tend to animals; it’s like all my clumsiness leaves my body.
“I’m fine, but thank you. It’s Mr. Squashy Nuts I’m worried about. He seems to have a sight problem sometimes. He bobs his head a few times and screams before climbing my leg, disappearing under my jacket, and refusing to come out.”
“Let’s see. Can you place him on the metal examination table and hold him still? I need to check his eyes.”
I grab the pocket light from the drawer behind me and proceed to check the pet’s pupils. He wiggles and squeaks, but Clover is quite good at keeping him still. I worked as an assistant at a vet clinic for six months, and the owner taught me quite a lot until I discovered she did it as a way of flirting with me. I left the job immediately, even though I really enjoyed it.
“His pupillary reflex is normal,” I state a few seconds later. “Rodents have poor, blurry vision and light sensitivity. Which means that they are sensitive to bright lights. He probably climbs under your jacket to escape the brightness and uses his whiskers as tactile sensors.”
“Ohhh, that’s ironic.” Clover nods his head in thought. “I had a dark sensitivity when I was a kid.”
A dark sensitivity? Does he mean being afraid of the dark?
“I overcame it thanks to my aunt. I let her lock me in a chest with only a safety pin, and she left me there. I finally picked the lock a day later and was back in my ebony black bedroom sleeping like the dead.” He gives me such a big smile, his eyes turn into two narrow half-moons.
I open and close my mouth. Is he serious? I think he is.
“Pitch black,” I say before I can stop myself. “The expression is pitch black.”
“Pretty sure you’re wrong.” He snorts, scratching Mr. Squashy Nuts’s belly.
I am not. It doesn’t matter, though. Clover is Japanese, but his English is perfectly fluent and almost flawless. His use of wrong words here and there is totally fine and kind of endearing.
“Oh, but you might be right about Mr. Squashy Nuts’s aversion to brightness. Since he’s very good at detecting air currents, navigating tight spaces, and finding objects in total darkness.”
“Are you training your pet for a maze race?” I joke.
“No, but that’s a great idea. It could give him the chance to get some extra skills.”
“For what exactly?” I ask, confused.
“His job. We are a team.” Clover gives me that bright smile again.
“That’s actually sweet.” Even though I don’t know what he’s talking about. I can clearly see how much he loves his pet, and that’s all that matters.
I grab the pet’s red file, and after reading the few pages Ren wrote, I put it down to take the stethoscope. I quickly remindmyself what I need to do during a veterinary check-up on a fancy rat. H for hear. I instruct Clover to keep the pet still as I set the instrument over his side. His breathing is clear, no wheezing, clicking, or rattling noises. S for smell and see. I check for red-brown staining around the nose and eyes, and there’s none, which means no respiratory infection.T for touch. The skin and fur look fine, no lumps or bumps. T for taste. I gently but firmly grab the rodent’s face to look at his incisors. No overgrowth or chipped teeth. W for walk. I tell Clover to let him go to observe his movement. No limping, weakness, or stumbling.
I check the number appearing on the scale incorporated in the metal bed and write down the pet’s weight in the file before stating, “Mr. Squashy Nuts looks healthy and happy.”
