Ear Infection: A Short Story

"Here you go, Cynthia," said the doctor, handing the little girl a lollipop. She had gone with the symptoms of an ear infection, but luckily the symptoms resulted in being nothing other than allergies. "You were very good today."

"What do you say to Dr. Washington?" asked the girl's mother, looking into her eyes.

Shyly, she looked up into his eyes. "Thank you," she whispered, her ear twitching just a bit. Doctor Washington was a human and towered over her, and since Cynthia was a raccoon chimera and the relations between the two species were already tense, he scared her. Nonetheless, he was a trained natmedicus, a doctor who specialized in the treatment of chimeras, and he wasn't concerned with anything other than his patient's health.

The
two of them left, Dr. Winsor Washington smiling and restoring his tools to their appropriate locations. As a doctor who had served in the second Continental War, the things he had seen had scared him to a deep degree. He had fought for the Kingdom of Quercasia with the chimera race, tending to the injured officers and guardsmen, and within little time he had become disillusioned with humans. Returning home from the war, he picked up a position at a local clinic in New Francisco, working with chimeras.

Of course, this wasn't the only reason he was sympathetic to the opposite species. His father had been a royal guard, serving with the Fitzgerald and Deangelo families. He had grown up with and was one of the very best friends of Archibald Stark, an aristocratic vulpine chimera. In fact, he was so close that Archibald and his wife had declared Winsor the godfather of their new son, Tod Thomas.

Closing the door behind him, Dr. Washington had begun to walk down the hallway towards the doorway of the room his next patient could be found inside. It was a rather busy day today, and April was flu season in this side of Quercasia.

"Winsor!" called out an opossum nurse, pulling his attention away from the next door. "I don't mean to shock you... b-but you need to see this..."

"Yes?" he asked, turning in her direction. He walked down the hallway a little ways, entering the waiting area as the only human in a room full of chimeras, all looking up at the old television hanging from the ceiling.

The news report was nothing short of chaos. In front of the enormous, neo-modern building that was the Bureau of Unification, both chimeras and humans were being held back by crowd control measures, all of the officers being human. They had to have been imports from Chicago, nothing about them seemed New Franciscan to anyone.

"Bloody socialists..." whispered the nurse, staring at the screen. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were squinted. "A bunch of, no offense Dr. Washington, but they're a bunch of glabbers with no standards other than their own. It would have have better if they were their own nation and left us alone."

"Leaving us alone would have been nice, but they're power hungry, they don't believe in borders and they never have."

The news reporters began to speak up, and both Dr.
Washington and his nurse stopped talking in order to listen in. "We're getting news of... oh my word..." began one of the officers, holding an earpiece to his ear. "The two aristocrats leading the protest against the Rightful Ownership Act, Archibald and Rosebud Stark... have just been reported as assassinated."

Dr. Washington went cold. His hands completely lost their feeling, and his eyes did anything but leave the screen which they were attached to. He couldn't believe it, he simply couldn't grasp the idea of them having been... taken.

Inside of the room, there was a uniform sense of panic. People were talking in hushed voices, and the pressure was so thick that it had become heavy to breathe.

"T-This... this is a great tragedy for the people of Quercasia," began the anxious newscaster, unsure of what to say. "It appears that protestors, both humans and chimeras, have begun to overrun the Bureau officials... They're entering into the building... we're doing our best to stay updated on current
events..."

"Things will never be the same again, will they?" asked the nurse.
Winsor was still numb, but he managed to release a nod. He didn't cry a single tear, though he was faced with the weight of having lost both of his best friends in this outcry. It was as if the weight of it hadn't sunk in yet, as if the idea of them not being there never occurred to him.

And what would happen to their son, Tod? Well... Winsor wasn't married, and he had no idea how to raise a child. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he didn't want to have children, and he wasn't comfortable with the idea of being his godfather; he had only accepted the offer because of his affection for the Starks. Then again, they wouldn't want him to turn down their son. He had visited their home often enough, he knew the
boy.

Stumbling out of the room and into the hallway, the nurse noticed him. "Uh... sir?" she asked, following him. "Is there anything I could do to help...?"

"I need some time... by myself... if that's okay..."

"Oh, of course..." she answered, returning back to her place in the reception.

Stumbling into his office, Winsor pulled out his chair and sat in it. He swiveled over to his desk, leaning his arms over the surface and resting his head on top. All that was visible was his jet-black hair, the rest of his face was completely in the dark, just like he wanted it to be. He needed a bit of silence to think, a second just to get a grasp of what had just happened to him...

He was right about one thing, one thing he knew for certain. Nothing would ever be the same again.