The physician sat thinking about the incident.
What the neighbour had done was truly horrible. It had been dark on the evening he’d stepped out into the back garden to call his cat in. He hadn’t even began to call when he heard loud feline swearing coming from the garden next door. This was followed by a mixture of a cat’s squealing and a man’s mumbling. He had trouble believing what he saw next. His neighbour approached the low dividing fence and swinging the cat by one of its hind legs, he tossed it over! Frozen to the spot, the whole affair had left him so dumbstruck that he heard his neighbour’s door slam shut well before he was able to move. Remarkably, his precious cat seemed agitated and spooked by the ordeal, but otherwise unharmed.
Weeks passed before his neighbour came into the surgery. He’d treated him for years. He’d always come across as somewhat sullen, but had never given the impression that he could be capable of such wickedness. He came in complaining about chest pains. There was barely any hesitation on the doctor’s part. A simple injection would do the trick.
After a couple of days, it did. The contents of the syringe would never be identified. He had signed the death certificate and the case was closed.
He squirmed on his seat a little at the thought of it. He well knew there was a morality issue that had to be faced. There was an inevitable scale to be considered. A weighing up between his taking the Hippocratic Oath and his lifelong membership of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
There was guilt on one side and celebration on the other.
He smiled up at the barman and ordered another Martini!