I still need to make Siegfried's work coat this week, but if I could make a rat in roughly that amount of time, I think I can pull it off before Dragoncon. 😅
@sunsetinyork asked for a drabble for the prompt "You hair is tangled". I'm not sure, what follows is what she had in mind, but I tried anyway.
It was the kind of chaos that ensued, when a cat afraid of an injection went berserk, and a rat, eager to explore the world, escaped his safe cage.
Surgery had been busy with several dogs, two chickens, a macaw called Bertram, and two cats. Bimbo and Betsy. The cats were siblings and lived on a farm in the outskirts of Darrowby. While one of them was shy, but still enjoyed a treat and a good cuddle while being examined by Siegfried, the other one was much more suspicious of the man in the white coat who tried to lure her with something that smelled like tuna, but definitely wasn’t. She conducted herself like a martyr. Siegfried, despite being swift and used to handle cats, got himself clawed by her. He hissed and couldn’t get hold of Betsy. So she managed to jump off the table and dug her claws into the blinds of the big window…
About the same time, Audrey was in Siegfried’s study and dusted the shelf in the corner. With lovely precision she cleaned every token, every picture, before she noticed that the Vonolel wasn’t in his cage.
The cage door stood wide open and the rodent was gone. “Golly!” A closer look revealed an incriminating trail of hay and crumbs spread beneath Mr Farnon’s desk. It led out of the study into the hallway. Audrey swallowed. Surgery was almost empty now, the last client inside and from the noise coming from the front of the house, she doubted the rat would have tried to run there. These creatures were clever after all. And they liked food…
“My pantry,” she whispered to herself. Dropping her feather duster, she quickly turned into the hallway and rushed into the kitchen, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor. Every now and then she saw a piece of hay that confirmed her suspicion that the clever pet had indeed been on his way into the scullery.
As she entered her domain she stopped and held her breath. The kitchen, so it seemed, was empty, the dogs thankfully not around. They were used to Vonolel of course, but she had no idea how the three would get along if they were about to meet each other in the wild without protective elements like a corral.
She looked under the table, checked some of the cupboards and the basket. Vonolel was nowhere to be seen.
The pantry. The door was ajar. She had no choice but to enter it to look for Mr Farnon’s beloved pet, but she had no desire to touch the rodent. She had learnt to accept him, yes, she even didn’t mind his presence, and she freely admitted the rat was quite cute. With his little face and his whiskers he were a good looking chap, but he were still a rat…
She straightened her shoulder and pushed the door open. One look was enough to find out where he was.
“You’re as subtle as Mr Farnon,” she said, crossing her arms over her shoulder. The rat gazed back, expectantly and, that’s how she interpreted it anyway, a bit mockingly.
Vonolel was sitting in the middle of shelf where she kept the cheddar beneath a cheese dome and a big ham that had been the payment from a farmer for services rendered. Since he wasn’t strong enough to get under the dome, he had nibbled at the ham.
“You aren’t fussy, are you?”
Telling herself to be brave, she stepped forward and quickly grabbed the rat with both hands. A shiver ran down her spine and she didn’t really dare to look at the small, soft creature in her hand. His fur felt surprisingly warm and exquisite. She half expected to be bitten by him, but no such things happened. If anything Volonel rubbed himself against the palm of her hand and sniffed. His whiskers tickled a bit. She did her best not to squeeze him, because she feared she could break one of his tender bones.
As the rat didn’t make any attempts to escape, she carried him out of the pantry and her kitchen. The passage and the corridor had never seemed to be that long before. Ages seemed to have passed before she finally reached the examination room. The door was now open and she marched in without even looking if a customer was still in.
“Mr Farnon! You’ve got to close that blooming cage or that rat of yours will soon become an ingredient for…” dogfood, she had wanted to say. Instead she gasped when she saw Siegfried standing at the window, the back of his hand bleeding, his hair astray and everything that had once been cluttered over the desk at the window was now scattered over the floor. But she had only eyes for him.
“You’re hair is tangled,” she said, somewhat dumbfounded, Vonolel still in her hands, close to her chest.
He stared back at her, disheveled, in pain, and absolutely astonished she was holding the one pet in the house she usually gave a wide berth.
“What happened?” They asked in unisono.
Yielding precedence to her, he leaned backwards against the desk. “I were cleaning your study and the cage were open. Found him in the pantry…” Under his scrutinising eyes she finally dared to look at Vonolel who was curiously sniffing at her pinny
“He likes you,” Siegfried said, the expression on his face pleased, almost in awe.
“Because I smell of food. I’m afraid he ransacked the pantry.” When he made no claim on his rodent friend and just smiled at her, she felt how she blushed and changed the subject, “And you?”
“I became the victim of a cat,” he replied. “It’s nothing.” He looked at the back of hand, where the cat had dug her claws into him.
“Just give me a moment,” he added and went to the sink to wash his hands.
“That wound needs a bandage,” she said when he carefully dried it with a towel. “You won’t take him with an open wound.”
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her, but obediently put a pad on the back of his hand and secured it with a tape before he asked her to hand over the rat.
“Did Mrs Hall treat you well?” He asked playfully as he put the rat on his shoulder.
“Mrs Hall’s ready to read the riot act to the both of you if you don't lock that cage and make sure he stays inside! Imagine one of the dogs would have found him!” She tried to aim one of her angry looks at him, but the sight of the rat on his shoulder, climbing around his neck was too precious. There was also this daring curl of his hair that was falling into his forehead that completed the scene.
Siegfried eyed the rat on his shoulder and said, “She’s angry with us, which means she’s worried about you. That’s a good sign! I told you, the two of you would become friends eventually.”
“Daft apeth!” She scolded him, knowing she was actually smiling. “Can I leave you along with this mess or do you need assistance?” She prompted him, pointing at the mess on the floor.
“We will be fine, Mrs Hall, but thanks for offering…. That is…”
She arched her eyebrow. “A cup of tea…maybe?”
“I’ll see what I can do about it.” With one last look at Vonolel who was climbing down Siegfried’s chest, looking for a place in his white coat, she turned away and mindfully closed the door behind her. On her way back into the kitchen she couldn’t stop smiling and when she poured Siegfried a cuppa, she added a piece of shortbread to his saucer and a tiny piece of cheddar for Vonolel.
