THE CAT'S MAW

CHAPTER XIV

XIV:  OF LIES AND LISTENING

'You're lying.'

A lot can happen in a week. It had been seven days since Billy's mother had dragged him across the road by his ear. She had cleaned him up as best she could, called the boy's father home early from work, and made an emergency appointment at the clinic across the river. 

Nothing was said on the ride into town. They marched Billy into Doctor Patel's office – the same doctor who had stitched the boy's lip six years earlier. The odd little man dabbed at Billy's wounds with iodine, and tried to calm the situation with his clipped, sing-song tone.

"Mrs. Brahm," he said, "I would not worry. Rabies is far less common than you think. Perhaps in my country? But not here, no. I would recommend to keep the area clean, and watch for the fever."

"'The fever'. You mean a fever? That's not good enough. We need to be sure. I want him tested," Elizabeth  said, clutching at her purse. "How much will it cost?"

"I believe it is covered by your medical plan. But we will need to take quite a bit of blood."

"Please Mom, I'm fi–" Billy tried to say.

"Do it," his mother said, stone-faced.

A toothy nurse with a hairy mole on her upper lip jabbed a needle into Billy's arm. Elizabeth flinched, while Stanley sat on a stool in the corner and counted wooden tongue depressors in a glass jar. Billy felt faint and bit his lip, focusing instead on the doctor's tufted eyebrows.  

"When we will we get the results?" his mother asked.

"They will be ready in a week. We can forward them to Middleton, for the boy's appointment on Thursday," said the doctor, pushing a cotton ball against the spot where the syringe had entered.

"Fine."

Billy looked up from his arm, and scanned his parents' faces. They already booked the appointment, he thought. They're scared of what's going to happen.

His father spun on the stool and fiddled with a blood pressure gauge. His mother checked her watch, and tapped her foot on the tiles.

"Before going, could someone tell me how it happens that a boy in this town could find himself bitten by rats in this way? I must say...it is exceedingly strange." Doctor Patel peered over his thick lenses, and fastened a bandage snug across the cotton ball.

The three adults looked at Billy and waited for an answer, their faces running the gamut from curious, to confused, to livid. The boy stared down at the rusty splotches of iodine staining his hand and wrist, and imagined the terrible eyes of the creature that bit him staring back.

"I..." Billy stammered, "I was stupid."