Kaleidoscope: Ointment
Story by Kiri R. Ramdeo
Art by Anita Warren
Kaleidoscope: Ointment
Copyright 2012 by Kiri R. Ramdeo
Cover Copyright Anita Warren
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Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at https://kiriramdeo.wordpress.com/ or @kirirramdeo.
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KALEIDOSCOPE: OINTMENT
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White blinds lay still behind the window and a faint glow surrounded the heavy curtains, hinting at the daylight beyond. Melancholy music crawled across the floor from a digital clock radio by the bed and formed a hub of sound around the figure in the back corner wrapped in a maroon comforter. A plate with stale crumbs rested on a stack of books and a spider danced across the wall to an old cobweb overhead.
He rubbed damp, dusty cloth on the raw skin under his eyes and sniffed; there was nothing to smell except his own stink. He did not remember the last time he had taken a shower, and the food from the plate had been flushed away with whatever meager waste his body had struggled to produce.
The shelves of books had ceased to amuse him, failed to drown him in their worlds. In each chapter the text he read was superimposed from his mind’s eye: the teasing games of chase around the apartment, the kiss of bodies spread across the sheets, her touch on his back while he spoke to photographers and wardrobe managers, the proposal by the fountain. At the end of each book all he found was the serrated blade of betrayal sawing a cavity into his chest and the farewell in her pale blue eyes. So the curtains remained drawn while the darkness of the room encouraged him to wallow in his addiction to sadness.
A knock came on the bedroom door but the bundled figure did not react. The knock came again, sharp and insistent. Finally the door opened and Anise Williams stepped inside. Afternoon light from the living room tumbled across the floor, laying a path of warm orange light all the way to the far wall. Clothes littered the floor and a suitcase rested by the door, half full.
Upon locating the huddled figure Anise rolled her eyes and stood with both hands planted on her hips. “How long are you going to do this, Ark?”
The house phone rang and the cloth of the comforter mumbled as he shifted.
“It’s probably for you,” she said.
The spider moved along the web, inspecting the links above Ark.
Anise sighed lifted the plate. “Look, I’m going to the shelter for a few hours today. When I get back I want to see you showered and moving around outside or I’m going to let dad dump a bucket of ice on you right next to your precious books.”
He snorted.
Anise lifted the top fold of the maroon comforter and blew on the dirty blonde hair underneath. “Did you hear me?”
“Do I have to go outside?” His voice grated across his dry throat.
Anise chuckled. “Your first words in six weeks and that’s all you have to say?”
He grumbled and pulled the comforter closer.
“At least make it to the living room. Mom’s been fussing over when to make food for you.”
Ark’s stomach rumbled and Anise laughed. “Remember, by the time I get back!” She leapt away from the swipe he took at her from under the layers, glad that he was going to do more than shuffle to the bathroom and back.
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“Thank you so much for volunteering on your spring break,” the shelter manager said to Anise as he and two men passed by with boxes of food. “It helps Jayce a lot.”
Anise set a clipboard next to the receptionist. “Dr. Carpei certainly has a funny way of showing it.”
“He may be a grouch but the old guy appreciates it. There’s only so much one vet can do on our current funding.”
Anise leaned on the counter by the receptionist, twirling a pen between her fingers. “What’s next?”
The receptionist handed her a file. “There’s a little tyke in the puppy kennels who could use the attention. He was admitted with ear mites and a bad case of Parvo. I know you’ve started interning before most so you could give it a try. If not, Dr. Carpei will have a job for you.”
Anise thanked the receptionist and strode off to the kennels. In the last metal cage lay a wheezing golden retriever puppy barely past weaning age. She whistled to it but the fuzzy brown body only shuddered as it struggled to breathe. Anise scanned the chart in the folder then put it aside to open the cage.
The puppy whimpered as Anise stroked it and lifted its limbs, checking temperature, ears, feet, vitals. It squirmed when she turned it over. She set about changing the bandage for a gash along its side and replenishing the IV. It whimpered while she worked, reminding her of Ark cocooned in the maroon comforter. Both had been wounded and were sick, suffering some madness given to them by the world.
Not only had Ark’s heart been broken by a fiancée who left him for a more popular model, but he had also written her off as his agent. Since then he had rejected all offers and lost income. For not paying rent, Ark had been kicked out of his apartment and returned home where he had stuffed himself into a corner of his old room and refused to budge. This was similar to the reaction he had when his parents died when he was twelve. Ark and Anise’s parents had been close friends and so the Williams had welcomed him into their home. The only way Anise had managed to bring him out of moping was to demand that he help her make cupcakes, something he had done with his mother. Given a familiar task to keep him busy helped as much as Anise’s friendly bullying had.
“Anise!”
Anise grinned and leaned into the cage. “I’ve got a treat for you, just you wait.” She closed the door and picked up the chart before chasing Dr. Carpei’s call. “Coming, sir!”
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Ark spooned giant portions of cowboy hot pot into his mouth, soaking in as much taste as he could bear with his tongue before swallowing to deliver the carrots, potatoes, meat, and corn to his ravenous stomach. Liquid in the bowl he ate from splashed up into the short beard he had grown in the dark. It was just enough to make Julia Williams’s eyes soften in sympathy. Her own meal steamed untouched before her.
Finally, Ark glanced up at her. He looked between her food and her unmoving hands. “Aunt Julia? Aren’t you hungry?”
She flapped a hand at him. “I’m fine. You keep eating, honey.” She smiled while he packed more food into his mouth. He tried to smile back at her but slurped when food escaped between his lips. Julia laughed.
The front door opened and Anise called, “I’m home!”
Julia rose. “Are you hungry?”
Anise rounded the wall carrying a small dog crate and motioned for her mother to sit back down. “I’ll help myself in a bit.” Then she placed one fist on her hip and grinned at Ark’s back. “Well, look who decided to crawl out of his cave.”
Ark glared over his shoulder and Julia waved a wooden spoon at her. “Don’t tease him when he’s finally come out.”
“Yeah,” Ark said with a mouthful of food. “I might just go back in.”
“I’ll stop teasing you when you’re older than me,” Anise said, punching Ark’s shoulder. “Do the dishes with mom and then come help me with something.”
Julia shook her head. “You go ahead and help Anise, honey. I’ll clean this up.”
Ark frowned. “But I wanted more.”
Julia blinked,
then laughed and rubbed Ark’s arm. “I’ll leave the dish out.”
Ark hugged Julia and then Anise dragged him off to his room. She made sounds of contentment when she saw that he had tidied the area. A lamp in the corner lit the evening darkened room with pale yellow light. She set the crate down and sat on the carpet.
Ark stood behind her. “They’re just giving you animals now that you’re in vet school?”
Anise beckoned for Ark to kneel next to her. She opened the crate and lifted out the limp golden retriever puppy.
Ark swallowed, noting the bandage on the puppy’s side. “You do remember that all the plants I had shriveled, right? The fish bellied-up a week after we bought them-”
“This,” Anise interrupted, “is what the staff at the shelter nicknamed ‘The Dilemma.’ ” She stroked the puppy’s head with a thumb. “She’s been sick for a while, a mix of Parvo, mites, and some other minor stuff. They only have a small number of people on staff right now so they can’t watch her all the time. I offered to bring her home, where I know someone who can.”
“I can’t-”
“Oh, hush. It’s only for a while.” Anise pulled his hand over the puppy’s head. “It’s okay, she’s tougher than glass.”
Ark held himself rigidly but he stroked the puppy with care. He lifted the puppy’s floppy ears with one finger. When she pressed her cold nose to his fingers he flinched.
Anise offered the animal to Ark but he drew back. “Don’t be a baby.” She elbowed him onto his butt. “Try to act like you’re twenty.”
Ark glowered at Anise but accepted the limp puppy. Even in Ark’s hands she twisted and turned, wheezing. Ark held the puppy awkwardly, tilting her closer to prevent her from falling.
Anise adjusted his arms. “Hold her next to your heart. The sound will comfort her. I’m going to get water and the IV I have in the car.”
The nod he gave was lost to Anise’s back when she trotted away. The puppy whimpered and hugged Ark’s fingers with her forepaws. Ark cradled her close to his sternum and watched her writhe. Eventually she stopped on her back and pressed her head next to his heart. She yawned, showing tiny teeth, and then huffed, eyes drooping closed.
Ark smiled.