interested me most: Bacteria, virus, and parasitic infections.
I told Dixie I would see her soon and watched her out of the lab. Part of me wanted to follow her, but I knew I couldn’t wait two months to speak to Professor Kempter about what was on my mind.
“Professor,” I waited as the last student made his way out the door. “Mind if I ask you something?”
Kempter had a narrow face on a large body. A mug shot would make her look much smaller than she really was. Still, she looked pretty and young for a college teacher, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at me, almost as if she were disappointed in my presence. “I usually only take questions from my students, Jacob, but since you promised to fix the issue, I’ll make an exception. What is your question?”
“It’s about bacterias.”
“Bacteria,” she corrected me. “Yes, we’ll discuss bacteria and viruses in the last chapter. You’ve got a while.”
Eat’em peed in the drain of the eyewash station at the corner of the room. He shouted over his shoulder, “Let’s go! I’m scheduled for a battle to the death with a bottle of syrup.”
I hesitated. With the planetarium incident still fairly fresh in my mind, I didn’t want to say something incriminating. Then again, for all anyone knew it was merely an act of vandalism. Still, I felt I ran the risk of saying too much, that maybe she knew more than the paper suggested. “I’ve taken interest in the subject recently. I saw, uh, I saw an animal acting a little strangely and uh…”
“Strangely how?” Kempter puckered her lips, her face pinched in curiosity.
“Well,” I relaxed, “I guess it seemed to recognize me. Like, it should have just ignored me, but it didn’t. Instead it looked at me as if it’d seen me before.”
“An animal?”
“Yeah,” I scratched my brow, “a dog. I mean, had it been a person, he might have said I looked familiar. That’s the look it gave. And it attacked me.”
“The dog.”
“Yes,” I said, “the dog.”
Kempter sighed. “Sounds like a regular dog to me. Maybe it liked your scent.”
“When. Did. You. Get. Attacked. By. A. Dog?” Eat’em called out while banging his head against the door.
“I guess,” I said. “I just figured it might be infected with something. It wasn’t a wild dog, it seemed domesticated, but it was very aggressive. It bit someone. A girl. It looked bad…”
“Yeah, bad,” Dr. Kempter interrupted me. “Did you call 911 or animal control? Where did this happen?”
Scrambling for words, trying to describe the assailant as a dog had dug me a hole I didn’t plan on talking my way out of. “Well, no… I didn’t call anyone. It happened so fast, the dog chased me away from the girl. I was able to beat the dog away with a tree limb. I figured the dog was sick. I went to, uh, check on the girl, but she was gone. I guess she must have healed quickly. I don’t know who the girl was or if she went to the hospital or where she went or anything. The whole thing seemed weird, you know.”
“Doesn’t sound like any bacteria or infection I’ve ever heard of. Rabies maybe? Was the dog frothing at the mouth?” I shook my head no. Kempter threw her paperwork into a satchel and shoed me toward the door. She checked some equipment under the desks and went to turn out the lights. “What do you mean when you say the girl healed quickly? How much time passed between the bite and her disappearing? ”
“Minutes,” I said. “Seconds. I mean, I didn’t get a great look at it, but it seemed like a bad bite. Not something you could just walk away from, but there was no sign of her. She was gone.”
We stepped into the hallway. Kempter’s berry-shaped frame filled the doorway as she passed through. “Sounds a little fantastic to me, Jacob.”
“What if it was an infection? How would you tell?” I felt like a complete buffoon. “What if it’s a virus that hasn’t been
I told Dixie I would see her soon and watched her out of the lab. Part of me wanted to follow her, but I knew I couldn’t wait two months to speak to Professor Kempter about what was on my mind.
“Professor,” I waited as the last student made his way out the door. “Mind if I ask you something?”
Kempter had a narrow face on a large body. A mug shot would make her look much smaller than she really was. Still, she looked pretty and young for a college teacher, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at me, almost as if she were disappointed in my presence. “I usually only take questions from my students, Jacob, but since you promised to fix the issue, I’ll make an exception. What is your question?”
“It’s about bacterias.”
“Bacteria,” she corrected me. “Yes, we’ll discuss bacteria and viruses in the last chapter. You’ve got a while.”
Eat’em peed in the drain of the eyewash station at the corner of the room. He shouted over his shoulder, “Let’s go! I’m scheduled for a battle to the death with a bottle of syrup.”
I hesitated. With the planetarium incident still fairly fresh in my mind, I didn’t want to say something incriminating. Then again, for all anyone knew it was merely an act of vandalism. Still, I felt I ran the risk of saying too much, that maybe she knew more than the paper suggested. “I’ve taken interest in the subject recently. I saw, uh, I saw an animal acting a little strangely and uh…”
“Strangely how?” Kempter puckered her lips, her face pinched in curiosity.
“Well,” I relaxed, “I guess it seemed to recognize me. Like, it should have just ignored me, but it didn’t. Instead it looked at me as if it’d seen me before.”
“An animal?”
“Yeah,” I scratched my brow, “a dog. I mean, had it been a person, he might have said I looked familiar. That’s the look it gave. And it attacked me.”
“The dog.”
“Yes,” I said, “the dog.”
Kempter sighed. “Sounds like a regular dog to me. Maybe it liked your scent.”
“When. Did. You. Get. Attacked. By. A. Dog?” Eat’em called out while banging his head against the door.
“I guess,” I said. “I just figured it might be infected with something. It wasn’t a wild dog, it seemed domesticated, but it was very aggressive. It bit someone. A girl. It looked bad…”
“Yeah, bad,” Dr. Kempter interrupted me. “Did you call 911 or animal control? Where did this happen?”
Scrambling for words, trying to describe the assailant as a dog had dug me a hole I didn’t plan on talking my way out of. “Well, no… I didn’t call anyone. It happened so fast, the dog chased me away from the girl. I was able to beat the dog away with a tree limb. I figured the dog was sick. I went to, uh, check on the girl, but she was gone. I guess she must have healed quickly. I don’t know who the girl was or if she went to the hospital or where she went or anything. The whole thing seemed weird, you know.”
“Doesn’t sound like any bacteria or infection I’ve ever heard of. Rabies maybe? Was the dog frothing at the mouth?” I shook my head no. Kempter threw her paperwork into a satchel and shoed me toward the door. She checked some equipment under the desks and went to turn out the lights. “What do you mean when you say the girl healed quickly? How much time passed between the bite and her disappearing? ”
“Minutes,” I said. “Seconds. I mean, I didn’t get a great look at it, but it seemed like a bad bite. Not something you could just walk away from, but there was no sign of her. She was gone.”
We stepped into the hallway. Kempter’s berry-shaped frame filled the doorway as she passed through. “Sounds a little fantastic to me, Jacob.”
“What if it was an infection? How would you tell?” I felt like a complete buffoon. “What if it’s a virus that hasn’t been
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