AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sheesh, gossip traveled at the speed of light on Littlecreek Ranch.
“No, I am not. And he is definitely not into me.”
“Okay, honey, whatever you say. Hey, have you seen Lulu this morning? She seemed a little under the weather.”
Patti felt icy worry in her veins. She mumbled a reply, something about taking a look, and she made her way to Lulu’s cage.
“Good morning, Lulu,” she greeted the usually energetic hamster with a weary smile. But as she peered into the small enclosure, her heart skipped a beat. Lulu was lying there looking even worse than before. Panic bubbled up inside her, threatening to spill over.
Trent had said that Lulu was getting better.
“Hey, little one, what’s wrong with you?” Patti whispered, her voice trembling. She reached into the cage and gently stroked Lulu’s head. Then, for the first time, she looked around at the other hamsters in the room. All of them were still and trembling, huddled up to the ground.
“What do you think, Patti?” Thea asked, stepping up behind her.
“Something’s wrong with the hamsters,” she replied, her voice catching in her throat. “I need to find Trent.”
Wind whipping through her hair, Patti sprinted across the ranch. Images of Lulu and the other sick hamsters haunted her thoughts, fueling her urgency to find Trent.
“Please be at the clinic,” she panted, stumbling slightly as she rounded a corner. There, she spotted him through the window, wearing a white lab coat, hunched over something on the counter. Relief washed over her, followed quickly by dread.
“Tr-Trent!” she gasped, yanking open the door and nearly collapsing into the room. Her breath came in short bursts, and she struggled to convey the severity of the situation. “The hamsters... they’re worse. All of them... I don’t know what to do!”
“You did the right thing in coming to me,” he said, kindness in his eyes. But there was sadness, too. He held out his hand. In it, he clutched a piece of paper, which he unfurled and handed to her. “I just got the lab results.”
Patti’s eyes scanned the document, her fear mounting as she read.
“Crypto…spor…”
“Cryptosporidium,” Trent finished for her. “It’s a parasite. Not that easy to transfer between animals, but clearly, somehow, it’s been happening here.”
Patti’s heart spiked. A parasite. There was something so horrible about the idea. Somehow, it was so much worse than the thought of a virus or a bacteria.
Then a scary thought struck her.
“C-can it… could we… I’ve been handling the hamsters… could it spread to me?” She felt shame for even asking, guilt for worrying about her own health.
“You’ve been washing your hands, right?”
Patti nodded. She was always diligent about that after handling the ranch animals.
“Then the risk is minimal. Cryptosporidium lives in the intestine, and is passed on through… well, through contact with poop.”
“So,” Patti said, suddenly confused, “the animals have been eating each other’s poop?” She felt a delirious mix of terror and humor at the absurdity of the situation.
“That’s the weird thing,” Trent said, rubbing his forehead. “The hamsters haven’t been anywhere near the horses, who haven’t been mixing with the cattle. Unless this parasite is spreading some other way… it just makes no sense at all.”
“Is there anything we can do?” she asked, desperation creeping into her voice. As much as she wanted to break down, she knew she couldn’t afford to waste time.
Trent’s gaze locked onto hers, determination shining in his eyes. “We’ll do everything in our power to save them, Patti. I promise. For most of the animals, it should be relatively easy to fight off. But sadly, in younger animals, and immunocompromised animals, it can be fatal.”
Fatal.
The word felt like a hammer blow to Patti.
“You mean,” she said, the words catching in her throat, “some of the animals might die?”
*
