Rabid Nuns

So, Meredith (my daughter who has recently joined a convent to determine whether she is really really supposed to be a nun and whom I have not heard from for two weeks) telephones on Saturday to say she NEEDS the insurance number because she is on her way to the hospital with a bunch of the sisters to get RABIES shots because the convent beagle dragged in a half-dead raccoon that the health department confirmed was rabid---and could I hurry because she has to go, but don't worry--Love you--Good Bye.

huh???????????????????????

Well she called back today and we had a looong (almost an hour long) talk. As it turns out there was a LOT more to tell, but most of that had to do with the hilarity of a busload of nuns and nun wanna-bees arriving at the Emergency Room at their small town hospital for rabies shots. I'll spare all the details but the police were called to determine that the whole mess was not the result of some wacky domestic abuse or dog fighting--more HUH???? At one point in the rabies conversation with the police, the young man who was sitting next to Meredith got up and found a seat as far away from them as he could.

As it turns out, no one was bitten by anything rabid. The beagle who has the propensity to present the sisters with dead things, will probably have a new home soon. That's a shame because the dog (whose name is NOT Patrick) has rid the basement of snakes--huh, again?? Anyway, the shots are precautionary, it is unlikely anyone was exposed, BUT . . . there is a chance of exposure if one has contact with the saliva of a rabid animal. And, the dog did chew on the raccoon, so the dog slobber may be considered a source of contact. NOT something to mess with, especially since rabies is (are?) ALWAYS fatal.

Meredith, astute as always, figured that I would be a bit miffed if she left home to join a convent and died of rabies before I even got to go visit her--so she opted for the vaccine. SMART GIRL.