Page 97 of The Muse
“It was red. That’s all I know,” I say.
He starts checking Loki with a stethoscope, then looks into his ears and mouth, and presses around on his belly. “Did you get a sample?”
June wrinkles her nose.
“No,” I say.
Dr. Schreiber doesn’t look at us. “Did you take a picture?”
June’s eyes widen while curling her lips between her teeth.
He puts on a glove and squirts lubricant on the finger. Then he slides the tip of it …
Nooo…
I didn’t need to see the butthole exam.
“No,” I say to his question.
Dr. Schreiber looks up at me. It’s the are-you-fucking-kidding-me look, but he doesn’t say those words. He doesn’t say anything.
Rupert was right. This guy smiles at Loki. Pets him. Scratches behind his ears. But I think he wants to murder June and me. Or at least me.
“What did the blood look like?” he asks.
Don’t say it!
“Blood,” I say, unable to stop myself. Now I’m just fucking with him.
He looks at me with a familiar expression, like I’m the dumbest person in the world.
June hides her snort with a fake cough.
“Was it bright red or dark like coffee grounds?”
“Neither. More like medium to light red,” I say, earning myself a deeper frown.
“When did it start?”
“Dunno. We were at the house for a while before June noticed we hadn’t seen Loki yet.”
“Well, how long had it been since someone saw him?”
“Dunno. I picked up June. We ate pizza in the car. The Rawlings said we could hang out at their house. June plays the cello. She’s pretty fucking amazing.” I add that bit just to mess with him. “I don’t know what time they left, or when they last saw Loki.”
“How often was he vomiting?”
This dude can’t read between the lines. We found the cat. We found vomit. The end. That’s all we know.
“Dunno. Didn’t see it happen.”
“Was there blood in all the vomit or just some of it? Suggesting there was blood at first but then no blood or vice versa.”
I refuse to answer, and he stops short of an actual eye roll.
“Do you know if he might have eaten anything unusual like a foreign object, a toy, plants, human food?”
I bite my tongue and shake my head.
