Twice this summer rabid raccoons have crawled down people’s chimneys and in both cases bit old women, in both cases on the face. This is the reason that A. has brought her cat, B., to the veterinarian.

The waiting room is crowded, but A. can’t tell how many pet owners have brought in their pets for rabies boosters. For one thing, no one mentions the article that appeared yesterday in the local paper and that focused—wrongly, it seems to A. — on the second raccoon attack, when the real news, it seems to her, is that the same thing happened twice, though this fact was only mentioned once in the last paragraph of the article.

Also, many pets in the waiting room seem to have something seriously wrong with them, or rather many pet owners seem to believe that they do. The office is very crowded, and during the long wait A. sees a woman announce to the whole waiting room that her dog is deaf, but when the receptionist calls them, that is, calls the dog’s name, the dog turns its head and bar…