Milk, eggs, chloroform

[den]

Some days my shopping list looks a little odd. Today it read "Milk, eggs, chloroform." I needed all of them.

This morning I rescued a juvenile sacred kingfisher, but unlike the one in the photo this bloke is not releasable. He suffered from a cat attack and if his back is not broken then it is seriously damaged. He's a euthanasia candidate if he doesn't show leg movement in a couple of hours. The trouble is I'd run out of chloroform and had to buy some.

I usually buy it from a nearby chemist and don't have a problem when I deal with the pharmasist, but when I deal with the shop assisstant eyebrows go up and down.

"I'd like to buy a bottle of chloroform." (Eyebrows go up) "I'm in WIRES (one eyebrow up, one eyebrow down) and I use it to euthanase injured animals" (both eyebrows meet in a frown of disapproval.)

I usually have to explain every bloody time why I need the stuff, but if I deal with the pharmasist there is no problem at all. "You're in WIRES, right?" He disappears out the back and returns from what ever dusty lab corner he stores the boxes of stuff that won't ever get used, and hands me the bottle. "That's a half litre, I think, although it says 'drams' on the front. I think that company went out of business fifty years ago but it's not like the stuff goes off or anything."

Today was much easier. Five minutes in the shop and I left with a new bottle of Chloroform, one measuring 500ml no less!

Next stop was the supermarket for the milk and eggs. Of course I had to show the bag with my previous purchase to the checkout kid. "Wow! What do you use that for?" he asked.

"I'm in WIRES and I use it to euthanase badly injured animals," I mumbled. It's not something you want everyone to hear. Unfortunately my explanation was lost in the ambient noise of Woolies.

"You what?" he asked.

I drew a deep breath, something went CRASH at the store and everyone stopped talking, the A/C paused to change settings, and the muzak paused between songs.

"I kill injured animals with it," I said loudly into the silence. After paying for my food I left the store as fast as I could with a hundred eyebrows of disapproval following me.

*sigh*

Comments

Chloroform is child's play...

[ursuscal.livejournal.com]

When I was doing lots of "antique process" photography, I was buying cyanide compounds from a mailorder chemical supply place. My friend the camera store owner did similar work, and gave me the nod to the owner of the supply house, which normally only sold and shipped such stuff to institutions. Then one day they hired a new clerk, who got suspicious when she saw my order. "Let's see: Sulfuric acid, check. Copper sulfate, check. Platinum chloride, check. Potassium cyanide... WHAT THE F@CK?!? Sulfuric acid plus cyanide makes hydro-cyanogen gas = San Quentin gas chamber!" Thank dog she thought to ask the owner before calling the authorities. He showed her the processes I was using, and assured her that the acid and the cyanide were not being used at the same time. In fact, not only did I use a fume hood, I also stored the cyanide outside in the garden shed, separate from everything else. She'd have loved it if I'd been making replica Deguerrotypes; you fume mercury onto a silver plate. Mmmm. Mercury vapor...