Vet in a Spin Read online

reeked of the stuff and I caused wrinkled noses when I entered a shop,

  the post office, the bank. ~j After nearly two weeks I had begun to

  feel reasonably safe but when I had a call from the famous Bailey farm

  I felt a twinge of apprehension It was Terence Bailey himself.

  "Will you come and see one of my cows, Mr Herriot. She's got blisters

  on one of her teats."

  "Blisters!" My heart went bump.

  "Is she slav ering, is she lame?"

  "Nay, nay, she just has these nasty blisters. Seem to have fluid in

  them."

  I was breathless as I put down the receiver. One nasty blister would

  be enough. It sometimes started like that in cows. I almost ran out

  to my car and on the journey my mind beat about like a trapped bird.

  Bailey's was the farm I had visited straight from Duggleby's. Could I

  possibly have carried it there? But the change of clothes, the bath,

  the fresh thermometer and instruments. What more could I do? How

  about my car wheels? Well, I had disinfected them, too I couldn't

  possibly be blamed, but . . . but . . .

  It was Mr Bailey's wife who met me.

  "I noticed this cow when I was milking this morning, Mr Herriot." The

  herd was still hand-milked and in the hard-working family tradition Mrs

  Bailey did her stint night and morning with her husband and the farm

  men.

  "As soon as I got hold of the teats I could see the cow was uneasy,"

  she continued.

  "Then I saw there was a lot of little blisters and one big one. I

  managed to milk her and most of the little blisters burst, but the big

  one's still there."

  I bent and peered anxiously at the udder. It was as she said lots of

  small ruptured vesicles and one large one, intact and fluctuating. It

  was all horribly evocative and without speaking I moved along, grasped

  the cow's nose and pulled her head round. I prised the mouth open and

  stared desperately at lips, cheek and dental pad. I think I would have

  fainted if I had found anything in there but it was all clean and

  normal. ~ I lifted each forefoot in turn and scrubbed out the clefts

  with soap and water - nothing. I tied a rope round the hind leg, threw

  it over a beam and with thc help of one of the men pulled the foot up.

  More scrubbing and searching without success then the same with the

  other hind foot. When I finished I was perspiring but no further

  forward.

  I took the temperature and found it slightly elevated, then I walked up

  and down the byre.

  "Is there any trouble among these other cows?" I asked.

  Mrs Bailey shook her head.

  "No, there's just this one." She was a good-loo kin8 woman in her

  thirties with the red, roughened complexion of the outdoor worker.

  "What do you think it is?"

  I didn't dare tell her. I had a cow with vesicles on the teats right

  in the middl.

  of a district under Foot and Mouth restrictions. I just couldn't take

  a chanoC .~ I had to bring the Ministry in. - s Even then I was unable

  to speak the dread words. All I could say was,"C~ I use your phone,

  please?"

  She Ir`nkerl c,~rnric'~ri hilt cmiled ouicklv

  "Yes. of course. Come into the.

  i l Vet in a Spin As I walked down the byre I looked again at the

  beautiful cows and then beyond, at the fold yard where I could see the

  young heifers and the tiny calves in their pens. All of them carrying

  the Bailey blood which had been produced and perfected by generations

  of careful breeding and selection. But a humane - killer is no

  respecter of such things and if my fears were realised a quick series

  Iof bang-bangs would wipe out all this in an hour or two.

  We went into the farm kitchen and Mrs Bailey pointed to the door at the

  far end.

  "The phone's through there in the front room," she said.

  I kicked oflf my welling tons and was padding across the floor in my

  stockinged feet when I almost fell over Giles, the lusty one-year-old

  baby of the family, as he waddled across my path. I bent to ease him

  out of the way and he looked up at me with an enormous cheesy grin.

  His mother laughed.

  "Just look at him. Full of the devil, and he's had such a painful arm

  since his smallpcx vaccination."

  "Poor lad," I said absently, patting his head as I opened the door, my

  mind already busy with the uncomfortable conversation ahead. I had

  taken a few strides over the carpet beyond, when I halted abruptly.

  I turned and looked back into the kitchen.

  "Did you say smallpox vaccination?"

  "Yes, all our other children have been done when they were his age but

  they've never reacted like this. I've had to change his dressing every

  day."

  "You changed his dressing . . . and you milked that cow . . . ?"

  "Yes, that's right."

  A great light beamed suddenly, spilling sunshine into my dark troubled

  world.

  I returned to the kitchen and closed the door behind me.

  Mrs Bailey looked at me for a moment in silence, then she spoke

  hesitantly.

  "Aren't you going to use the phone?"

  "No . . . no . . ." I replied.

  "I've changed my mind."

  "I see." She raised her eyebrows and seemed at a loss for words. Then

  she smiled and lifted the kettle.

  "Well maybe you'll have a cup of tea, then?"

  "Thank you, that would be lovely." I sank happily on to one of the

  hard wooden chairs.

  Mrs Bailey put the kettle on and turned to me.

  "By the way, you've never told me what's wrong with that cow."

  "Oh yes, of course, I'm sorry," I said airily as though I'd just

  forgotten to mention it.

  "She's got cow pox. In fact you gave it to her."

  "I gave it . . .? What do you mean?"

  "Well, the vaccine they use for babies is made from the cow pox virus.

  You carried it on your hands from the baby to the cow." I smiled,

  enjoying my big moment.

  Her mouth fell open slightly, then she began to giggle.

  "Oh dear, I don't know what my husband's going to say. I've never

  heard of anything like that." She wiggled her fingers in front of her

  eyes.

  "And I'm al ways so careful, too. But I've been a bit harassed with

  the poor little chap's arm."

  "Oh well, it isn't serious," I said.

  "I've got some ointment in the car which will cure it quite quickly."

  I sipped my tea and watched Giles's activities. In a short time he had

  spread chaos throughout the kitchen and at the moment was busily

  engaged in removing all the contents of a cupboard in the corner. Bent

  double, small bottom out thrust, he hurled pans, lids, brushes behind

  him with intense dedication till the cupboard was empty. Then, as he

  looked around for further employment, he spotted me and tacked towards

  me on straddled legs.

  My stocking-clad toes seemed to fascinate him and as I wiggled them at

  him he grasped at them with fat little hands. When he had finally

  trapped my big toe he looked up at me with his huge grin in which four

  tiny teeth glittered.

  I smiled back at him with si