LOVE IS BLIND

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Enya, Backwards
When Charlie has stopped dancing with the cat, he moves over to
Maddy and watches her for a while, checking that she is unable to
escape. Resigned to her fate, she just lays there breathing heavily
through her nose like a caged beast. “Just relax, Maddy. Relax.”
He stays like that for minutes as Maddy calms. When she is still, he
lolls into the shuttle and retrieves a vial containing the lavender
solution that is used, with the ether, to anaesthetise the passengers.
Back in the Surgery, he fashions a simple aromatherapy lamp, and
the room is soon infused with the calming aroma of the essential oil.
“Hi Rachel. Can you play some relaxing music in the Surgery?”
“I have some Enya in my music library.
“Enya? Hmmm. Not so much.”
“I’ll play it backwards,” says the precocious computer. “It sounds
better that way.” Seconds later, soothing music sounds over the
intercom.
Charlie runs his hands over Maddy’s hair. “Are you okay?”
She nods slowly, seeming to have been transformed into a calm
person. Charlie removes the rag from her mouth. “How about you
just lie there for a while, okay?”
With Maddy sedated, Charlie turns his attention to the Martian Cat.
It is still in the corner, quaking with fear. Charlie lowers himself to
the ground, and the cat approaches, limping on its de-gloved foot. He
lifts the cat onto the surgical trolley, and then goes looking through
the cabinets for resources to help improve the cat’s terrible state.
First thing he does, is to dampen a towel with hand sanitizer, and
give the cat a wash. After a few minutes of this, the towel is saturated
with limp fur and juice, but the cat looks better off for it. Then
Charlie daubs red ointment on all the scabs and holes and cankers
and boils on the cat’s skin. He sprays the cat’s butt with anaesthetic
and closes the tail wound with a butterfly clip. Then he douses the
de-gloved paw with cream and wraps it with a neat white bandage. All
the while the Martian Cat looks up at him, making what passes for a
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