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Saved by the Drake

Dedicated to Alyson Shorthouse

One

Lucia Rodriguez was having a terrible day

She sighed as she locked up the Paws and Purrs Pet Clinic and trudged to her car Automatically, she reached for her keys and then reone back into the clinic in the first place—the car was dead After trying to get it to start for alone back inside to call her mom—since her ancient cell phone was also dead—and let her know she would be late getting home because of it

Of course, most people would have called Triple A or whatever auto club they were a e But Lucia wasn’t a member of any auto clubs—she couldn’t afford it In fact, as a singleto live on a Vet Tech’s salary, she couldn’t afford et her home

Sighing again, Luci started walking towards the bus stop The dead car just capped off her awful day

Well, at least the tire didn’t have anything to do with cats, she thought and shivered

Working at a veterinary clinic, Luci saw her fair share of bad things happen to good animals The Paws and Purrs practice treated all kinds of pets froar gliders and hedgehogs This being Florida, they also saw their share of snakes and lizards—though Dr Canody had drawn the line at treating soator

But for some reason, today had just been a terrible day for cats