The poodle straightened her glasses, and opening the door to the waiting room, admitted her newest patient, a nervous looking beagle. "You must be Ace," she said. "I'm Doctor Coco." She held out her hand. The beagle took it, nervously and awkwardly. "Come in..."
He sat down in a chair opposite hers.
"Now, tell me why you are here..."
"I think I might be going crazy," he said. "I mean...maybe the world is...but..."
"We don't like to use the word crazy here, Ace. Why don't you just tell me what is going on?"
He nodded. "Well, it started two days ago. Something happened. And it's like the whole world has changed, but I'm the only one who notices, or cares..."
She nodded, taking notes.
"I was playing with my master..."
"Beg pardon," she interrupted. Was this man into some sort of kinky business?
"I was a human's pet."
"You mean, you had a pet human," she said.
"No...that's the crazy thing, Doc. I was the pet. Dogs were the pets. Humans were the masters."
"Ummhmmm..." she said, scribbling, trying not to be concerned. She really didn't deal with truly delusional patients.
"I was playing...my master kept throwing a ball, and I'd catch it, and bring it back. And I was happy. I mean...I think I was. I had no worries. But then, suddenly, when the ball came in my direction, I didn't catch it in my mouth like normal. I caught it in my hands...I had hands...." He paused, looking at his hands for a moment.
"Have you been under any sort of stress lately? What exactly do you do for a living?" She asked, politely.
"Well, the world has only been run by dogs since Tuesday," Ace said. "But since Tuesday, I'm a clerk at the bookstore down the street. Doc...I got a call from my mother yesterday....I haven't seen her since I was born...but she insisted she calls me every Wednesday. I'm being honest. One minute I'm happy, not a care in the world...the next, I'm worrying about rent, and paying bills...and the humans...my human, he's suddenly really stupid. Or maybe he always was, but I didn't realize it. He spent a long time yesterday just running around. I mean, I used to like that...but today, it just seems so....pointless, you know?"
Coco raised a brow. "That is a very...interesting story," she said. "You can understand why it would be a bit hard to accept."
"Of course I can. I know how crazy it sounds. But..."