Free Seaglass Summer by Anjali Banerjee Page B

break his neck. We need to walk over there quietly. Grab his wings so he doesn’t fly.”
    “We need a net,” Duff whispers.
    “Where are we supposed to find a net?” Saundra asks, hands on her hips.
    The duck waddles into the women’s bathroom. I tiptoe down the hall.
    “Where are you going, Poppy?” Hawk whispers, but I’m already at the bathroom door, my heart pounding. I stare at the duck and he stares at me.
    “You have to go home to your mate,” I whisper to him. “Your babies need you.”
    The duck toddles over near the toilet, flutters his wings.
    “Come on, don’t fly away,” I whisper.
    I have only one chance.
    I lunge forward and grab the duck, clamping my hands down over his wings. He’s heavy and strong. He tries to flap, but I hold on, making sure not to squeeze too tight. Every molecule inside me knows I can’t let go. If I do, he’ll fly into the window and die.
    “Hold on, Poppy!” Uncle Sanjay rushes over with the box. “Drop him in here.”
    I release the duck inside the box. My heart is racing. Uncle Sanjay presses down the flaps. “Well done, my dear niece!”
    I let out a long breath of relief; my hands are trembling. Everyone pats me on the back, and even Saundra gives me a smile. I’m starting to glow.

Chapter Nineteen
MOONSHADOW
    I n the evening, I tell my parents about the mallard duck, geoducks, and everything I can do at the clinic.
    “You’re an expert, Poppykins,” Dad says. “James Herriot has nothing on you.”
    Early the next morning, after an all-night rain, I help mop the floors and do laundry at the clinic. Around nine o’clock, a black kitten comes in shivering with cold. Her owner, a skinny lady with cropped hair, holds the kitten in a towel. “Thimble climbed a tree and got stuck thereall night. I didn’t know she was up there.” The lady bursts into tears.
    “It’s okay, don’t worry!” Saundra rushes back to find Uncle Sanjay.
    I stand there, looking at the trembling ball of fur in the skinny lady’s arms. I try to see the future. I try to see Thimble fluffy and happy and … warm.
    Uncle Sanjay dashes up to me. “Grab a few towels from the dryer. They should still be warm.”
    I bring the towels to the cat exam room. Everyone is gathered inside—Hawk, Duff, Saundra, Uncle Sanjay, and the skinny lady.
    “We apply them loosely, see?” Uncle Sanjay wraps up the kitten. “Now, Poppy, go with Duff and get a circulating water pad.”
    I rush after Duff to the pharmacy room, where she grabs a big white heating pad.
    Back in the exam room, Uncle Sanjay gently rests the kitten on the heated pad. “The water circulates and distributes the heat evenly,” he tells me. “A regular heating pad might burn the kitten. You can keep bringing me warm towels, as well.”
    Thimble slowly comes back to life and starts mewling softly.
    We saved her.
    Uncle Sanjay pats me on the back. “You’re a goodhelper,” he says. “Duff, show her a few more basics.”
    I smile a little. Outside, the sky is clearing after the rain. Dewdrops glisten on the leaves.
    “Come on,” Duff says. “I’ll show you how to weigh the animals.”
    I practice, and I create my own technique. I hold the cat and step onto the scale, and then I weigh myself without the cat.
    POPPY plus CAT equals GIGANTIC WEIGHT
    GIGANTIC WEIGHT minus POPPY’S WEIGHT equals CAT WEIGHT
    “Hey, not bad,” Duff says.
    “Poppy, you rock.” Hawk pats me on the back.
    I’m on a roll.
    Uncle Sanjay lets me listen to a cat’s heart, which beats more than a hundred times a minute. He shows me the different parts of the stethoscope: earpieces, eartubes, tubing, and the chill ring, which is also called the chest-piece. That’s the metal part that presses against the animal’s chest.
    I even get to help Duff take temperatures. A cat’s normal temperature is 101 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, as high as mine is when I have the flu.
    Over the next few days, I learn to brush dogs and cats and cut off knots. My