Snakes Among Sweet Flowers by Jason Huffman-Black Page A

fried egg sandwich. Maybe someday he could expand his culinary repertoire.
    He dug into the last bag and came up with the prized possession he’d gained from this trip. A supersized bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Cam’s mouth watered just looking at it. He turned to the counter and pulled down a glass from the cabinet, then the milk from the fridge.
    Oh yeah! That’s the stuff! he thought as he stirred the mixture, then licked the spoon.
    He washed out the glass once he’d downed the entire thing, then pulled the wallet from out of the back of his pants and flipped open the snap. He counted the wad of cash with the deftness of a bank teller, fifteen hundred dollars. Why would anyone carry that much cash around with them? Old and nutty, he guessed.
    He flipped through the various pockets in the wallet and found nothing else he wanted, but as he went to toss it on the counter, he noticed the fabric covering was a pattern of blue flowers, roses. Shit.
    He jerked open the back door and threw the wallet as far as he could, as if it were covered in some plague germs or something, then took the cash to the back bedroom to stash away.
    When that was taken care of, he took a deep breath, readying himself for the task of loading up Tom for a trip to the vet’s office. Cam scooped up a package of treats and headed out the door, locking it behind him.
    “Listen,” he said to the cat. “I gotta do this and you aren’t going to like it.” He jumped down the stairs and grabbed the carrier, turning with it in his hand. Tom still watched him with no overt concern. “But nobody wants worms, right?”
    Cam sat the carrier down a few feet from Tom, then ripped open the package of snacks and tossed a few inside. The cat seemed more interested and sniffed the air before climbing to his feet and wandering toward the open cage door. Even after Cam had closed the door behind him, Tom simply lay down and ate the snacks scattered around him.
    “Huh. I really saw this going much differently,” Cam confided. “Okay, let’s go.”

Chapter 6
     
     
    BACK IN the same parking lot as Gordon’s Market, Cam pulled up in front of Hog Mountain Animal Clinic at the other end of the strip mall. On the glass door, written in white letters under the stylized name of the business, was Dr. Grant Moore DVM .
    Camden shut down the engine but made no move to exit the truck. He glanced over at Tom, who was watching him from his spot on the other side of the barred door of the carrier. “You ready for this? I’m not sure what they do for worms, but I’m pretty sure I never want anyone to do it to me.” He paused and considered. “I mean, I guess I would if I had worms, but… yeah. Just rather not, you know?”
    Tom didn’t answer so Cam stuck a finger through the bars to scratch Tom’s head, and after a few more minutes of sitting in a quickly warming truck cab, he opened the door and decided to go inside.
    The bell jingled as he opened the door, and the receptionist looked up from her spot behind a high counter. “Hi. Can I help you?”
    “Yeah. Well, not me. I mean….” Cam placed the carrier on the counter. “This is Tom and he has bugs and maybe some worms. You know what to do for that?”
    She peeked into the carrier and smiled. “Hi, Tom. I’m Regina, and we’ll get you all fixed up.” She handed some forms to Cam along with a pen and a clipboard, then directed him to the waiting-room chairs while she popped into the back, he assumed to tell the doctor they had a patient.
    While filling out the form, he could hear whispering coming from the back, and once or twice when he looked up, Regina was peeking around the doorframe but pulled back as soon as she saw him looking. Cam frowned and wondered if he’d done something wrong and they had called for the vet police to come get him. Maybe he would be charged for illegal capture of an endangered local species or something.
    About the time he finished filling in all the information