Hunter's Choice (4 page)

Jessamine

We drove to Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula Animal
Hospital, where I usually did my nine to five. As soon as we breezed in the
door Jodi looked up from the computer monitor behind the desk.

“Uh oh, trouble in paradise?” she asked I shrugged but
couldn’t keep the grin off of my face. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What have you got there Jess?” she asked. I hefted the
carrier and let her see inside the front grate. She gasped, and I know my grin
got bigger.

“Well don’t just stand there, you guys! Get him back here!”
she led the way and we pushed into the back through the double hanging doors. I
ducked into the first empty exam room and heard Jodie call out for Doctor
Reznor, our weekend veterinarian. He hurried in a minute later.

“Jodie says you have a Snowy Owl?” he asked pulling his
stethoscope off from around his neck. I nodded solemnly and pulled the heavy
leather gloves on over my elbows up to my armpits Charlie was doing the same.

“Found out on the Dungeness Spit...” Charlie was saying,
filling Doc Rez in on everything.

“Do we know what’s wrong?” he asked me. I shook my head. I
hadn’t felt or seen any obvious breaks, so as of right now, without any x-rays,
Lightning here was a mystery.

I reached carefully into the carrier and gritted my teeth as
I grabbed for the bird’s ankles. It took a second for him to calm down enough
for me to extract him. Charlie helped me get him into a position for the other
vet to examine him.

“Well… wings are intact, legs seem okay. X-ray?” he asked my
opinion and I nodded.

“Well bring him back.” He said looping his stethoscope
around his neck with a gusty sigh. Charlie pulled off his gloves.

“You have fun princess. I’m going out to get Piper.” I
nodded absently in his direction. I had the Snowy by the ankles to negate his
talons and he was resting in the palm of my other hand, cradled there like a
newborn but angry baby. I followed Doc Rez out of the room and down the hall
into our radiology department. He put the plastic cone pumping knock out gas
over the Snowy’s head while I held him.

It wasn’t long until he was out. I smiled to myself and
gently laid him down on the x-ray table. We gently tugged his wings open and
equally gently taped them down to the table in an open position. His wingspan
was massive, close to the top of their range which was fifty-two inches. Really
we just wanted clear pictures so we just had them out enough to get them, bent
at the elbow joint so the wings would fit into the frame. Next we taped around
each ankle and drew the legs down so they were gently stretched so we could get
a clear image.

The poor bird was flopped out on his back and if he were
human would likely look passed out drunk. I lined up the image plates and got
the shadowy cross hairs where we wanted them.

X-rays taken, I left Doc Reznor to peruse the images on the
computer monitor while I gave our unconscious new friend subcutaneous fluids.
His keel bone stood out sharply. He was underweight, dehydrated and just plain
needed some attention. Doc Reznor came back and let me know what was going on
with him.

“He’s got no broken bones, and there aren’t any bullets or
any other foreign objects on his x-rays. I think he’s just… sick? Tired maybe?
I don’t really see anything wrong.” I nodded and got to work drawing some blood
and running some other tests. That done, I gave the bird a push of some broad
spectrum antibiotics.

After some discussion with Doc Reznor, we decided it was
best for me to take him home and try to get him fed and hydrated and just see
what happened. He would need to be quarantined from the other birds for the
time being which was easy enough. I had a set up just for that.

I found Charlie out in the waiting room with Piper on his
hand talking with Jodi. Both of them stopped talking and traded guilty looks
when I came out. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. I raised an eyebrow at
Charlie and he popped little Piper on my shoulder. He took the carrier from me
and I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Now don’t go and get your panties in a twist kid.” He
grated out and I scowled.

“We were just saying we wish you would get out a little
more, that’s all.” Jodi said. I searched her face. All I saw was well meaning
so I nodded slowly and jerked my head in the direction of the truck.

“Home then?” Charlie asked. I gave a weary nod. I was
hungry, he’d eaten most of his lunch mine probably still sat on the counter. I
waved at Jodi and she smiled.

“See you on Monday girl.” I nodded and followed Charlie out.

The sun was shining but it was chilly. Spring was on the
move, but unfortunately this year it seemed to be moving slower than molasses
in January. We secured the poor Snowy against the cab of the truck and I
climbed into the passenger side. Charlie hopped in and I gave him a scowl.

I do not need to get out more! I’m doing just fine.
I
scratched onto my notepad. He looked it over then turned his dark brown eyes
and weathered face on me.

“You just keep telling yourself that kid.” He grumbled as
his truck rumbled to life with some mild protest. I crossed my arms and looked
at Piper. She blinked her big yellow eyes at me and cheeped in what sounded
like agreement with Charlie. He laughed and I scowled at the little owl and
thought
traitor
in her direction. That still didn’t stop me from
stroking her feathered head.

I sighed to myself. It was a long, silent ride back to the
house and haven. My haven as much as the owl’s…

Jessamine

The snowy had been put up in the house’s garage which sat on
the opposite side of the house from the barn. I had the garage set up as an
impromptu medical facility, with a few cages and enclosures dependent upon the
patient’s needs, a stainless steel examination table, an aquarium for live food
if I needed to bring some over and a mini fridge for medications and not so
live food, such as liver etc.

The rest of the garage had stainless steel shelving and a
whole lot of pantry goods. Cans of wet cat food and the pantry goods from my
kitchen predominantly. I even had a giant freezer off to the side. So yeah. No
cars in this garage, it was half pantry and storage and half quarantine area.

I set the carrier onto the exam table, pulled on my gloves
and carefully extracted our newest patient. I put him in the largest enclosure,
which let him move around but not enough to fly. I put him on one of the
perches. He settled with a rustle of feathers and looked pretty miserable.

I filled a water trough for him and set a bigger tray of
water on the floor of the enclosure for bathing. The enclosure had been set up
and waiting so I didn’t need to do any extras like lay down newspaper or the
like.

I looked him over and pulled the white board off its Velcro
mooring. I scrawled ‘
Winter’
across its surface, and put it back. He
didn’t look like a Lightning to me, but as he blinked his cool and assessing
yellow eyes in my direction, he definitely looked like a Winter, and so that
was what I named him.

I pulled the towel and old Army blanket out of the carrier
and went into the house through the garage door, ditching my boots just inside.
I dumped the linens straight into the washer, added detergent and set it as hot
as it would go. I washed my hands thoroughly at the laundry room sink with soap
and water.

Charlie was back at the South aviary. As soon as we’d pulled
in he’d grumbled something about only having a few hours of day light left and
had headed straight for it, stopping just long enough to put Piper back in her
cage.

I knew he wasn’t upset with me. We were cool. I was still feeling
kind of crummy just the same though. I know that Charlie and Jodi hadn’t meant
anything by talking about me. They were my friends, good friends too. I think I
was feeling more discouraged with myself than anything. I mean maybe they were
right. Maybe I should get out there a little bit more. Try dating, do
something
…

Truth was, I was too broken for any kind of relationship.
Incapable of giving as much as I’d take. The last time I’d dated a man for any
length of time had been Josh back after I’d just started at Oly Pen Hospital. We’d
been together a year and I’d been happy. Comfortable even. He’d grown secretive
towards the end and I’d grown excited, thinking he was trying to come up with a
way to propose.

That excitement had turned into the bitter broken ash of
disappointment when I’d discovered him with his hand up another woman’s shirt,
his long fingers cupping her substantial breast while his mouth moved over hers
as if he was trying to eat her from the mouth down.

He’d never kissed me that way.

He’d brought her to the bar we met up at constantly after
I’d get off of my shift at the animal hospital. We would grab a drink, get
something to eat, listen to live music or whatever before coming here, coming
home…

My fingers curled into fists, knuckles going white at the
memory.

He’d brought her to
our
place. I’d stood there
dumbfounded at first, with no words to rail at him with. I’d wanted so badly to
scream at him. To demand why, to tell him off, to tell her off too, but all I
could do was stamp my foot on the hardwood until I got his attention. Even then
he’d looked, and had
smiled.

Over a year of my time a lot of my love and a mountain of my
devotion and the bastard stood there wrapped in another woman and
smiled
at me as my heart shattered into a million pieces on the sticky barroom floor.

I couldn’t stop the tears. I’d felt so many things in that
fraction of a second. Heartache, pain, anger, humiliation… I think that was the
worst part. The humiliation. I could see it written on all the regular’s and
bar staff’s faces. They knew about what he’d been doing. Had known for God
knows how long.

“What’d you expect Jess!?” he’d called after me. Then really
twisted the knife as he’d shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, “I need a
woman I can talk
with
not
at
!”

I’d cried for a week. Then let the slow burn of bitterness
and anger consume the rest of any of the feelings I’d ever had for him.

I couldn’t yell at him. I couldn’t scream at him so I made
my position clear. When he came to pick up the few things he’d left here, some
clothes, DVD’s, music magazines; his spare guitar. I’d handed him a shoebox of
ashes from my burn barrel with a nasty smile. The items in question I had
actually donated to Good Will.

At any rate, the whole mess had boiled down to his words as
I’d left the bar: “I need a woman I can talk
with
not
at
!”

I sighed, and stared down at my sandwich. I looked at the
clock and wrapped it in some butcher paper and labeled it in my neatest
printing with a kitchen sharpie with what it was and the date. It could be
lunch for tomorrow or I could send it home with Charlie. It would get eaten, it
was just pointless eating it now, so close to dinner.

I chewed my lip, took off my coat and hung it on the
banister just outside the kitchen and washed my hands for a second time. I took
some chicken breast from the fridge and went about fixing Charlie and me some
supper. I peeked into the garage from time to time checking on our new patient
from across the room. Satisfied when I saw him on one foot, head tucked beneath
his wing.

I made Italian. Chicken parmesan. It was getting on toward
the darker end of dusk and I looked up as Charlie came in the back door. I
didn’t even bother with reminding him about his boots as he tromped across the
kitchen to wash up at the sink. I was feeling guilty about getting all bent out
of shape at him and Jodi.

“Smells good Jess.” He commented and I smiled. It was as
close as I was going to get to an apology for his talking behind my back. Even
if it was well intentioned he knew I was sensitive about it. Still, it was best
to let it go, so I smiled and dished him up some food.

“Should be good to go tomorrow. Finished up just in time.”
He grunted. I nodded and brought my own plate over to the kitchen counter we
sat at.

Old habit. It had four stools and when it was me, Uncle Dave
and Charlie we’d always come in and sit at it like it was our own personal
lunch counter while Aunt Margie served us up from the other side. I opened the
fridge and pulled out the pitcher of sweet tea we always kept on hand. I held
it up and shook it.

“Yeah.” He said with his mouth full and I smiled, pulling
down two tall glasses, I set them up and poured them to the brim. I knew
Charlie, so I left the pitcher of tea out on the counter between our plates,
shutting the fridge door behind me.

We ate in companionable silence. Mostly because that was all
I was really capable of.

Hunter

She was somber tonight as she moved about the barn. The old
man had stopped his banging and sawing outside and there had been a long
stretch of quiet. Nothing was ever truly silent when there was so much for my kind
to hear.

She had come in after his old truck had crunched up the
gravel drive, shoulders stooped; the weight of unpleasant memories upon her and
had set about feeding her charges. She stopped before me, her storm clouded
eyes heavy with emotion, brimming with barely suppressed tears and I hated it.

I longed to be a comfort to her, care for her the way she
had and continued to care for me. She sighed and safe in her perceived solitude
spoke.

“N-n-n-o on-ne wants a broken woman they can-n-n’t talk with,
do they Hun-nn-ter?” she asked softly. The heart break on her face
unmistakable.

I wanted to hurt whoever put it there. Rend flesh with
talon, sending them bloody and shrieking into the night. I blinked slowly and
gazed into the storm swept sea of her eyes, willing her to understand my
thoughts, my feelings.

I thought, for a moment, something might be there, but then
she turned and wandered away from me, and I felt bereft of her company. For
weeks now, I watched her move throughout this barn, this haven of hers, watched
her smile, watched as she gave freely of herself to me, to my fellow winged
brethren…

I shifted from foot to foot, talons scoring the wood of my
perch and hunched my shoulders.

She made me want to be a part of her world again.

Jessamine, with her creamy skin and smattering of freckles
across nose and cheek that reminded me of the star scattered sky…With her low
soothing voice, as broken as it was, that sighed through the barn as the wind
through the trees.

I longed to touch her, comfort her but for what I was, well
that just wasn’t the kind thing to do…

Though I had never in my long years, ever, been considered
kind, in any way, shape or form.

No.

For her sake I would leave her be. Finish my healing, and
fly on mended wing far from her and the temptation.

It’s what was best.

At least that was what I told myself, every day I was near
her.