I waited around, taking a closer look at the strange items around the shop until Doobie finally came to.
She didn’t seem surprised to find herself on the ground.
Then again…Doobie seemed like the type of person who finds herself on the ground more often than most people.
I walked over to check on her, “Are you okay?”
Doobie smiled. “I’m fine…whew, that was intense! I guess I just needed a little nap!”
I hesitated; trying to find a nice way to say what was on my mind, “Look…I really appreciate what you did for me – in more ways than you know.”
I paused again, hoping that my previous words would soften the blow…in case she took it all the wrong way. “But I need a long-term, everyday survival solution. This place is a bit far for me to be coming here every day when I’m thirsty. I came here hoping you could provide that for me.”
“By the Observer…” Doobie stopped and put her hands up as if she’d just forgotten the most important thing in the world.
Suddenly she became very excited again. “You’re right! And I just remembered something!”
Doobie turned quickly and hurried out of the room. I followed close behind… “What is it?”
That didn’t really answer my question and Doobie didn’t appear to be about to offer an explanation, so I figured I’d just let her do what she was doing. I’d only known her for about an hour, but in that time I’d already realized that’s just the way it works when dealing with her.
Doobie entered another room and began looking around.
I entered behind her and saw that we were in her kitchen. Surprisingly it was a lot cleaner than I expected based on what the shop up front looked like.
Doobie was standing in what appeared to be a storage space adjacent to the kitchen. She’d become frantic…like a chicken with its head cut off.
“Where is it? Oh…I would lose my head if it wasn’t connected with bones and ligaments, muscles, arteries, cartilage, esophagus, and such!”
Doobie’s tone was desperate. She checked all around her before her eyes landed on an ice cooler that was sitting right in front of her. “Of course! That’s right! If it were a snake it would have bit me!”
I still had no idea what Doobie was looking for, nor what the heck she was talking about…but she seemed pretty pleased with herself. She opened up the cooler and gasped as if there truly was a snake in it. “Here it is…by the Observer!”
Doobie pulled something out of the cooler and turned to walk toward me. “I have just what you need…”
Doobie handed me something in a small sac. “Put those away…you don’t want to lose them.”
To my relief, she continued… “You plant them like a regular seed…and in a few weeks you’ll have plasma fruit. A vegan scientist turned vampire discovered it centuries ago. It mimics the properties found in human plasma and the juice from it is guaranteed to satisfy you…although not quite as much as human blood. It comes pretty close though!”
Doobie sat down at the nearby kitchen table.
I couldn’t believe that Doobie was willing to do that. “Wait…so you’re willing to send me some of your own blood?”
I was incredibly relieved. “Doobie…you just don’t know how much that would mean to me.”
Doobie smiled once again. “But it’s the same thing though, right? We were all put here by the almighty Observer to serve one another.”
I wasn’t about to argue with Doobie, so I just let it go by changing the subject. “So…how’d you get the nickname Doobie?”
“Well, I’ll only use the name with the utmost respect, Doobie.”
Doobie looked as if she was close to tears, “I consider you one too.”
Doobie followed me back to the foyer and out the front door.
“You are a life-saver Doobie. I’ll be in touch!”
I waved goodbye and took off down the road.
