George and Vincent were sitting by the front desk, two heavy textbooks on their laps. It was exam period, and they needed all the time to prepare.

Fortunately, once the animals were fed and their water bowls were filled, and their enclosures cleaned, there was not much to do. The two  staid by the front desk, in case someone came through the door.

During the morning hours, they were left to read in peace. But then, a gaggle of children came at two pm. Both veterinary students knew these children and knew they were not here to adopt. They were accompanied by a couple of women, probably the mothers of the children, and they each carried a bag in their hands.

"Hey there, what brings you all here?" George set his textbook down and Vincent followed his lead.

"We bring treats for the animals," one of the women spoke.

"Dog biscuits for the dogs, chicken morsels for the cats, carrots for the bunnies and cabbage for the hamsters," Edward chimed in, looking proud. "We spend our entire allowances on them!"

Vincent chuckled. This was a by-weekly ritual. The children would come with treats and feed them to the animals. The first day, they came with whole containers worth of food.

Probably being helped to buy them with the addition of money from their parents. But the two had walked them to the storage room and had shown them that the animals had plenty to eat.

"Well, you know the way," George said, and the group went to the door leading to the enclosures. The two heard giggles from the other side of the door, and went back to their reading.

They read until three, when a couple came inside the shelter. They looked at the empty cages in confusion, but still came to the front desk.

"Hello, do you not have any animals up for adoption?" The woman asked, and George nodded towards the door leading to the back.

"Right this way," George stood and led them out and into the grassy pens outside. Vincent stared at the front door of the shelter for a while, then went back to reading.

George first led the two to the cats because he had the feeling that the two were cat people, for some reason. But the couple took one look at the various cat toys and all the inhabitants of the pen and began looking around.

"Would you rather go and see the dogs?" George could hear laughter coming from there. He was sure that was where the children were.

"We would like something smaller," the man said, and George led them to the hamsters. 

"We have just three, currently," Emily had adopted Dahlia and the small hamster babies had found homes with a bit of advertising on Facebook.

There was a bright brown hamster with white around his eyes. George liked to call him professor because the white circles around his eyes looked like glasses.

Then, there was the white hamster that always put extra hours in the wheel, almost never letting anyone near it. Sure, there were ten wheels in the pen, but the hamster liked her wheel and had claimed it as hers. She was in it now, running to her little heart's content.

And, finally, George's favorite. A black hamster that like to sleep all day. Sure, he put some hours in the wheel, but Dreamer never put more effort than needed.

The couple looked around the hamsters and pointed at Dreamer.

"This one looks nice," the woman said, and George opened the pen's gate and the three went inside. He shook Dreamer awake, picked him up and handed him to her.

"He is neutered, so, if you get a female hamster in the future that is not, there is no danger of pregnancies," the woman brought Dreamer to eye level and the hamster lazily blinked at her.

"What are his interests?" George rubbed the back of his head. This was going to be a hard sale.

"Well, he likes to sleep. He is very quiet, both during the day and night. If you place him in a wheel, he will run for a while," sure, Dreamer sometimes fell asleep in the wheel, but the couple would find out that on their own. If they took him home.

"He sounds perfect. We have been looking for something easy to look after," said the man, and the woman hugged Dreamer to her bosom, who closed his eyes and dozed off.

George helped them through filling the form for Dreamer and even sold them a carrier. The three left, with the hamster asleep in the carrier, and George went back to reading.

When it was almost five pm, the children and their mothers came out of the animal enclosure. Their bags were empty, and they were talking excitedly about this and that trick the animals had performed during the day.

The two caregivers waved the crowd for goodbye and went back to reading. Then, six rolled up on them, and they stood to go and give food and water to the animals and clean the enclosures. By the time they were done, it was closing time.

Vincent turned to George and sighed.

"I had to learn twenty Latin words today," Vincent complained. George chuckled.

"Just twenty? I learned fifty!" He boosted and Vincent rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, I learned sixty yesterday," George saw the bullshit for what it was, so, he decided to test Vincent.

"On what page range were you yesterday?" Vincent rubbed his chin before answering.

"340-399, I think," George nodded. He knew just what to ask.

"What is a malva?" George still remembered the diagram about it, and he was sure that it was in this page range.

"The milk secretion organ of female animals," Vincent answered, confident. "What do we use dys most often for?"

"For difficulty," George answered. Then, he scrunched up his nose. "That is at the beginning of the textbook, though."

"Well, with how many words you said you learned, I thought you were still there," Vincent teased and George punched him lightly on the arm.

"Do you want to grab a beer?" George offered.

"The first exam is tomorrow, we can't drink before an exam," granted, Vincent was an extremely moderate drinker. If left to him, everyone would be drinking only on weekends.

"Then for a coffee? My treat," George tried again. Vincent nodded, and the two closed the shelter for the night. With the radio playing in the animal enclosure.