Page 4 of Cannon

Zion and Prophet look at Winger. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t get his details. I just threw a ridiculous price at him, and he agreed. I thought you guys had his details,” Winger states, with his eyes still firmly fixed on the doors.

“Jesus H. Christ. You couldn’t write this shit. If you find anyone, Pres, send them our way. We’ll see what we can do at this end.” Ending the call, I already know that Pres is not going to lift a finger to help with this. He will, however, be laughing his ass off as he tells Breaker, Griller, and anyone else currently at the clubhouse about our predicament. Pens and Bank will be there, maybe Saddle and Bull too. Great. I am going to get so much crap when I get back there.

After five minutes of arguing about who is going through the doors to see where Percy the Python has gone, the first name that sprang to mind, it’s down to Zion and Prophet. I’ve been through the doors and so has Winger, so those two do rock, paper, scissors to decide.

Zion loses two nil, so none too bravely, steps through the doors. We wait for the commotion, but nothing happens.

“Houston, we have a problem,” comes floating through the doors. “I can’t see it anywhere, guys.”

Sticking my head through the doors, I see Zion coming out of the prep room.

“Where did you see it last, Cannon?” He looks at me and then shrugs.

“The damn thing was just coming out of there when I saw it. It’s had plenty of time to find a hidey-hole by now. Well, you three got us into this mess, you three can sort it out. Maybe next time, you’ll confirm the damn animal is dead before quoting prices and get some information too. This could literally bite us in the ass.”

Leaving Zion to his search I turn back to Prophet and Winger. “I suggest you two get in there and find it before it escapes for good. If people start asking questions about their missing pets, I’ll be sending them your way.”

Pulling up at the compound gate, I see Noah on duty. He grins at me as he sets the gate in motion, and I can already tell that word has gotten around about the snake.

Parking at the rear of the clubhouse, I try to sneak in by the kitchen door, but I should have known better. As I walk in, the names start to fly.

“Look, it’s Snake Plissken himself. Saved any presidents today, Snake?” That’s Whack’s out of the way, at least.

“Hey, how’s the new ‘Kaa’ going?” That’s Banks’ contribution.

Breaker just holds his hands up and asks, “Did you find it, how big was it, and what have you done with it?”

“No. Too big. Nothing. That’s the best I can tell you. Those three are trying to locate it, as we speak. I only saw a couple of feet of it. The head was more than enough to tell me I didn’t want to see how long it actually was. We should have kept eyes on it, but it threw us all for a loop, I can tell you. It can’t have gone far, so they’ll get it cornered and have it safely contained by the evening meal. They’d better have.”

“Could have been worse. It could have been venomous. I assume that there is a procedure in place that someone didn’t follow on this occasion? We don’t want a reputation as the crematorium that loses people's pets, do we?”

“Or for bringing them back to life!”

Chapter 3

*~* Molly *~*

As we enter the practice this morning, Barbara gives off the vibes of the Energizer Bunny. She’s buzzing with excitement, and as much as I enjoy my job, I couldn’t possibly match her enthusiasm. I knew she was happy in her work, but this is a real eye-opener, I have to say. If she gets this excited about getting here each morning, she must be in severe depression to leave at the end of the day.

Entering my office, I park my butt and listen as Barbara starts to hum and then sing. She’s singing something about ‘happy talk’. I think she’s taken one too many vitamin supplements with her breakfast this morning. She doesn’t sing normally.

Jamie looks in through the door and says, “Hello,” while frowning and nodding to the reception area from where the singing is still coming from.

I shrug my shoulders and raise my eyebrows. “Don’t know, and am not asking,” is all I say quietly.

“I thought maybe you’d given her a raise or something,” Jamie whispers back at me, then laughs.

“God forbid. If she’s this happy on a normal day, imagine how she’d be after a raise. She’d be bouncing off the walls, for heaven’s sake.”

Most of the morning I spend reviewing work schedules and making sure there is adequate coverage for any vacations coming up. The schedules are three months in advance, so I don’t expect to find any issues. I then go over the previous month's expenditures, and as expected, the total for the pharmacy side outweighs everything else by far.

Needing a drink and a bite for lunch, I head to the kitchen or breakroom, depending on how you look at things, to see what I can scavenge. If not, it will have to be a trip to the local deli. Walking into the kitchen, I see Barbara standing with her back to the door, refilling the coffee machine. Her butt is wiggling from side to side, and she’s still singing away to herself. This time it’s a song I recognize.

“Always look on the bright side of life,” followed by some out of tune whistling, I might add.

“I don’t know what you had with your Cheerios this morning, but can I have some for breakfast tomorrow, please?” Barbara gives a little squeal as I startle her from her happy place.

“Oh, fuck! Oh, shit, now you’ve made me swear. Fuck. Now I’ve done it again. Don’t do that, Molly. Knock or something!” Barbara blushes furiously at her foul language, which just makes me laugh at her. “Honey Nut Cheerios to be precise. They have more of a zing to them.”