Hydrophobia

The last patient I saw yesterday was getting rabies shots following an animal bite. After my shift, walking out of the hospital at 4:30 a.m. I came face-to-face with a raccoon sitting on the fence by the entrance eating goodies out of a trash can. "Hello, little furry rabies virus reservoir," I thought. "I'm going to stay well away from you." Admittedly, it looked less like a slavering, crazy-eyed beast ready to sink its virus-laden teeth into my flesh and more like an overfed, slightly lazy garbage mooch, but you can't be too careful, eh?