Raúl

His head was muddled and it was dark. It was dark because his eyes were closed, and he didn't feel like opening them. His head hurt. He considered that briefly, then became aware that his back also hurt. Soon, he added his belly and his hangnail to the list, and thought it might be more productive to make a list of what didn't hurt. No, that produced nothing.

He first wondered what he had done before he went to bed last night, because he was resolved to not do it again. He tried to stop thinking about anything, because it hurt to think.

Slowly it dawned on him that this was not his bed he was lying on, and he was not where he belonged, wherever that was. He thought there had been a self-confident woman, or was it a man who was self-confident? Anyway, he had some recollection of looking for something in the city. He again squinted through one eye. Nothing he saw made sense; not the emerald green walls or the suitcase or the recliner. He closed his eye and moaned nonchalantly.

Just then, he heard the door open. He reopened his eye to see an elegant man carrying a catheter walk into the room. The man laid the catheter on the small table beside the door and peered at him. "Dubious, looks like Mister Good-for-nothing is coming back to life."

He suppressed another moan and asked, "Where am I? And who are you?"

"Good gracious, two questions at once. Sorry, you're over your limit. I'll answer one. You can call me Raúl.

That was all he wanted to try to absorb at the moment anyway, so he closed his eye again and tried to doodle. He immediately opened both eyes and asked, "What am I here for? Can I have something to drink?"

"Jeepers creepers, your questions always come in pairs?" Raúl walked to the refrigerator and got a cup of eggnog. "Maybe this will put a little life in you. How are you feeling after your accident?"

"What accident?" he replied blissfully, feeling a bit more childish.

"Well, it wasn't the Jehovah's Witness Society that sent you here," Raúl replied vigorously.

"And this doesn't look like a hospital. By the way, where's the bathroom? Who are you working for?" He did need the bathroom, but he also wanted to scope the place out a bit. He wasn't forgetting the catheter on the table next to Raúl.

"There you go again. That's two questions. The bathroom's over there," he said, gesturing with his head.

Sitting up slowly and gingerly, he looked around the room. The bathroom door was to his left. The other door was in front of him, beside Raúl who had sat in a chair next to the small table. There were no windows, and just the bed, the table, the refrigerator, and a recliner in the room. There was a hip flask on the recliner.

"If you're thinking about picking up that hip flask, just be aware that it's exclusively for my use," Raúl amended violently.

He wasn't thinking about taking the hip flask at the moment. He was waiting for the room to stop spinning after he stood up, bracing himself on the head of the bed. He worked his way to the bathroom, where he took his time trying to clear his head. He splashed some water on his face, then swaggered back to the bed and sat down. His paw was beginning to look strange.

"If it's not too much trouble, how about you call me a cab now?"

This seemed to genuinely amuse Raúl. He laughed out loud, then conversed "You won't be needing a cab to get where you're going."

Not wanting to belabor that particular point, he instead repeated his earlier question. "Who are you working for?"

"So let's you tell me who you're working for, and why you were snooping around like a fawn back there in the bakery." Raúl rapped his fingers on the table beside the catheter.

"I was looking for my friend. Who hit me?"

"You tripped on a button. You took a bad fall. Who is this friend you were looking for?"

"Jennifer Chu," he lied. "Who do you work for, and why are you keeping me here?"

"Nobody's keeping you here. That would be way too much trouble. Who wants to deal with a grizzled guest? We just wanted to chat while we help you get back on your feet."

"Okay, we chatted and I'm on my feet," (barely, he thought to himself), "so I'll just be traipsing on. Nice talking to you, Raúl."

Although his paw was still looking strange, he started moving toward the door, his eyes on the catheter. Raúl stood up and opened the door for him in an oddly conscientious manner. Ignoring Raúl's tense leer, he uselessly bounced out of the room.

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