How long has he been a veterinarian? Eight years? He thinks about this as he stands with a giant brush cradled in his arms lathered in toothpaste. He thinks about how much experience in tranquilisation eight years gives you, as the Tyrannosaurus sits slumbering in the pen before him. Did he get the measurement right?
He sighs. Her banana-sized teeth are black at the roots. Her exhalations reek of rotten meat. How light is that doze?
'What are you thinking?' asks the handler.
'I'm thinking,' says the vet, looking at the colossal, sleeping predator before him: 'I'm thinking I should call my fucking union.'
Paddy Dobson
6th August 2021