by A. J. Wells
Steve put his arms around me and Miss Lili, one of us on each side, and ushers us to a table big enough for the six of us. Shay sits between Bob and Maria and Steve sits between Miss Lili and me. We have a nice supper and sit to talk for a while afterward. Shay begins to show signs of being tired so Maria and Bob take him home and put him to bed. We leave to take Miss Lili home and talk to her about the carnival and how big it’s getting. Miss Lili explains there are several men and boys out of work that are willing to work at putting the carnival together. Steve doesn’t object to her paying for the workers, so I guess its okay. Things seem to have settled down, ‘til Miss Lili says, “Then there’s the elderly and my boys.” He explains he and Bob have twelve hour shifts at the station and if there’s a fire then the carnival won’t be ready on time. She understands that and has about twenty five helpers lined up. Steve’s still upset but feels better about the enlarged carnival.
I leave for the office and Steve follows. My little clinic is overflowing with forty eight animals. It’s not designed for more than a dozen. I wish I could find a way to extend the kennel room a few feet or build another room just in case I need it. Maybe the insurance money can help with that.
Steve comes close to grab me for a kiss. The lightening storm starts and I’m going into a daze. I should be used to it, but I’m not because it’s becoming more intense and more mind boggling. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. Thank goodness Steve brought Chief with him. He nudges our legs with his rear end, almost toppling us, but succeeding in breaking us up while we try to keep our balance. He’s a great dog and knows when to interrupt situations. Steve groans and tells Chief “I may start leaving you at home.” Chief licks his hand and Steve laughs and scratches his ears. “Actually, I was wondering if you could check Chief’s broken rib. He’s becoming more active and I don’t want to stop him unless he needs to be.”
We take x-rays and the rib is healing well, but it still needs more time. Chief still shouldn’t jump or run, otherwise, he can do whatever doesn’t hurt. Chief is happy to hear it, I guess, because he sits up on the table, puts his paws on my shoulders and gives me a big kiss on my cheek. After I hug him and sit him back down on the table, Steve lifts him down to the floor while talking to him about cutting in on his girl. Chief takes it so much to heart that he wags his tail and comes to me to lick my hand again. Steve calls him a flirt and a traitor. I have to laugh and kneel down to hug Chief again.
Chapter 5
We let the dogs out and follow them. Now it’s September, the nights are cooler, but not cool. It’s still in the eighties at night. Steve doesn’t seem to mind the heat because he stands holding me from behind while we watch the army of dogs plunder the yard. I think I’m going to have to hire someone to clean it. I’ll have to figure out my finances before I do. This last week I haven’t gotten paid but two hundred dollars and even tho’ I own the building, there’s still the utilities that need to be paid and vaccines and medications that need to be re-stocked. I don’t know what I have in the bank, but I’ll keep the clinic open. I may be the one cleaning the yard, but it needs to be done, regardless. Steve must’ve been reading my thoughts.
“There’s too many dogs for this size yard. It’s going to need cleaning, soon, if it doesn’t already. You need to have a yard behind this one for the dogs to run in.” Steve carefully walks over to the back fence to look out the back. “There’s nothing back here but brush, maybe, you could buy some of it and expand the yard so you have a section where the dogs can go and it won’t be so close to the building. And you could put in some real kennels for dogs such as these and maybe even have an animal shelter and a doggie hotel. It should increase your finances, too.”
“Steve, there’s only Maria and me to run it all. Besides, I can’t afford to get more land, much less, build all those kennels and separate kennel areas. I have to take payments of ten, twenty dollars a month from my patients, sometimes, after I pay the bills and Maria I have nothing left for me. I can see how your ideas could bring in more money, but it wouldn’t pay back the money I’d invest to make it happen.” I look at Steve and he nods his head.
“Maybe, you could do that with just a bit more land, maybe just twenty or thirty feet more, on the back. Start with a small, half a dozen kennels, boarding kennels and maybe a half dozen kennels for an animal shelter, then you can keep the indoor kennels for sick dogs. Ya think you can handle something like that? With, maybe, one or two more person working for you?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to see about funding for the animal shelter, grants and whatever there might be, and the boarding kennels, I don’t know if there’s even a need for one in this small town.”
“There’s a lotta people that go on vacation and have the neighbor’s check on their pets. The ranchers have the ranch hands so they don’t need to board their pets, but some of the others do. Of course, the rates will have to be reasonable and the owners can buy the food so there’s no problem with diet changes. You’ll just pay for water, cleaning the kennels and someone to do those things. Sounds cheap enough, but I’ll help you put the figures together if you want to look into it.”
“Steve, I don’t have anything extra. I have to keep what funds I have to make sure the clinic stays open. I can see what you mean and I agree, but the initial cost of it isn’t there. But if you want to work up a plan, I’ll help you.” I’m not sure I’m getting through to him.
He steps over to me and takes me into a bear hug. I can hardly breathe. He kisses me so hard I swear I taste blood, swings me around and has the dogs barking and the puppies yipping at us. He’s laughing when he puts me down. I don’t understand why he’s so happy, but I don’t say anything. We chase the dogs back inside, get them settled and Steve gives me a long goodnight kiss. We walk out to our trucks, help Chief into Steve’s truck and Steve walks me to my truck and kisses me goodnight again. This one isn’t as long, but it’s more potent. I get in my truck and head home for a shower and bed.
I have a hard time going to sleep. Steve’s kisses are getting to me, so much so I’m seriously considering not sleeping alone. Next thing I know the alarm’s going off.
Maria and I get to the office at the same time, I’m running late today. It’s Thursday, the newsletters and posters go out today. Miss Lili comes in about ten and asks us to copy off the poster Bob made for the carnival, about four dozen. We do, along with the other copies we’re running. When we’re through we can’t find Miss Lili. Half an hour later, she comes in the back door. “Darned if Steve isn’t right. I believe he’s got a sound idea,” she’s saying to herself. “Sorry girls, I wanted to check out something in the back. Are y’all finished with the copies already? I planned to help, I really didn’t intend to leave it all to you. Can I see what you’ve got?” We hand her the different stacks and she looks at them, nodding her approval. “Between us girls and our guys, we put out pretty good work.”
She leaves with a few of her flyers and comes back with lunch for all of us. She reports everyone’s excited about the carnival and Bert, over at the hardware store, suggests we should charge a small fee for the booths that want to sell things to increase the revenue. She’s full of enthusiasm and excited about everything connected with the carnival. She wants to line up a horse ride, a buggy ride, and anything the kids might like to do. She wants it to be fun and interesting for all ages.
She talks ‘til the guys come in. Steve hugs me and Bob kisses Maria hello, then Miss Lili takes them out back to talk to them. They come back in smiling and happy. “Sher, I’m gonna get one ‘a the high school boys to come over to clean up your yard. The dogs are leaving little “packages” everywhere. I can hardly walk out there,” Miss Lili complains.
“I was about to get a rake and see to that, Miss Lili. You don’t have to do that.”
“You’ve got enough to do without that nasty job. Have you got enough plastic bags? I’ll have it cleaned every other day. Steve says you have six more puppies, too bad about the moth
er. You need a little more help around here. You and Maria can handle everything at the clinic, but outside needs some attention, soon. So I’ll have someone here tomorrow after school.” I guess Miss Lili saw I was about to protest, “Now don’t object, that mess out there isn’t going to go away without help. And the kids hate detention so they won’t mind working off they’re misdeeds. Just have some sodas for them and remember to thank them, tell them what a great job they did, and be grateful to them when they’re through.” She’s looking at me like if I object, she’ll pinch me, so I say nothing, just nod my head. Now, she informs us, she has to see about a couple of things so she’ll meet us at the pizza place about six o’clock and she looks directly at Maria. Maria’s cornered and she knows it, so she nods her head.
At “Mister Sal’s Pizza Palace” we all talk about the carnival. “Mister Sal” is going to have a booth there, as is every merchant in town. We can’t believe how supportive the town is being. People have promised every spare minute to help get things ready. Miss Lili has a way about her that insures success in all her endeavors. Most of her work is for the betterment of the town and they see it. Miss Lili tells us the mayor is on board for the out lying towns to join and he okayed the small fee for the booths, since it all goes to charity. We discuss the fee to be charged and decide on ten dollars a booth and the booths are to be four feet by six feet. She starts trying to remember all the games that will need space and can’t.
After supper, we all go back to the office. I give Lili a notebook so she can keep track of who, the game, and the space it’s going to need. I suggest she have everyone call here and the three of us can take the space reservations. Steve and Bob need to get some dimensions and we’ll need a diagram of the area so we’ll know who’s in what space. Now things will be organized.
Maria, Bob and Shay go to Maria’s, Steve takes Lili home and I sit down in the office, wondering how I got myself into this. Steve comes back and we go out back with the dogs. I decide getting in bed at midnight and up at five thirty was getting to me and I have two hard weeks ahead of me. Steve hugs me from behind, while we wait for the dogs to finish. We don’t wonder out into the yard, Miss Lili was right, it is a mess and not safe for shoes. I tell Steve I’ll stop by the grocery store for a case of soda and a giant box of plastic bags. I think I’ll stop by “Mister Sal’s” and get some gift certificates for the students who clean the yard. He agrees it’s a good idea.
He turns me and kisses me. “Do you know how hard it is not to kiss you when I see you?”
“Can’t be that hard, you do it all the time. Wait, that is.”
“Are you saying you want me to kiss you anytime I want to?”
“Just remember, when you wait, I have to wait, too.” With that he kisses me, making me forget where I am and what I’m doing. I clasp him to me, so close, air can’t fit between us and he holds me hard against him. There’s nothing distracting me this time, ‘til I catch myself falling. Steve’s no help, he’s falling backwards on his butt. I fall across his leg and beside him. What happened?
We look up to see Chief, number nineteen and twenty two standing there looking at us. It looks like a conspiracy between the three of them. Of course not, there’s no way that could happen. Steve looks at the dogs, then at me and starts laughing. I look at him like he’s insane. “Chief you devil, you. How’d you talk nineteen and twenty two into helping you?” I look at Steve like he’s raving mad. “Can’t you see Chief got help to break us up? I’m going to have to leave him at home if I’m ever gonna get past first base with you.” The dogs come over for some loving and we notice all the others, except for a stray puppy or two, have gone inside.
“Okay,” I say to Chief when he lays down across my legs, “did you do this?” He looks innocently toward the door and away from me. I, gently, turn his head around to look at me and ask him again. He looks down then licks my cheek. “I was ready to believe you were innocent and here you’re acting guilty. What am I to do with you?” Chief gets up and puts his head on my shoulder as if to hug me, so I hug him and Steve joins us. “Okay, let me up so we can go home.” I say to Chief. “Now, you two need to go to bed. And you shouldn’t let a handsome man talk you into things that aren’t nice.” The two big dogs go to their kennels and their babies. “Ya see what happened the last time a man talked you into something.” I turn to see Steve looking at me, concern on his face. “What? I’m just teasing the dogs.”
“Maybe we should talk about your past, again, especially if that’s what you think of men.”
“It isn’t, and we’ve talked about my past. But if you insist, I was engaged once and before we were married I found him in my bed with another man. We were through and that’s that. After that, when I dated, the men thought I’d be ready to jump into bed, evidently, at the earliest possible time.” While I’m talking, I’m closing the kennel doors.
“Wow. That would have a tendency to make a person have reservations.” He hugs me. “I don’t plan to do that to anyone. My fiancé took off with a band to sing. She wasn’t that good and when I said so she got mad and broke the engagement. I heard she was sleeping with the lead singer before we broke up.”
“You weren’t treated any better than I was. So there’s some hesitancy on both sides, but that’s okay, we can take it slow and make sure.”
“I don’t know how much slower I can go. I’ve wanted you ever since I saw ya standing in the door when Shay grabbed onto Bob. I still want ya, but I want a relationship with the sex. I’m really crazy about ya, but we’ll wait and see what happens before we burn up the sheets.”
I tiptoe to kiss him and we’re back in the stratosphere, but Steve breaks it off. After we catch our breath, I lock up the clinic and he walks me to my truck. He kisses me again then shuts my door and gets into his truck, with Chief and drives away while I go home…alone.
Friday morning, the carnival created chaos in the office routine. Miss Lili’s out early, giving out the office phone number to everyone in town. Calls to reserve space take most of the morning. We manage to get the dogs out and just left the back door and kennels open, giving them freedom to move around without us.
At lunch, Miss Lili comes in beaming. “Have we got all the town merchants spaces reserved? I want them to have their pick of space before the flyers are delivered to the out lying towns. I made sure to stop by the quilt, fabric and craft stores to remind them to be sure to get their spaces and to have any of their customers that want a booth call today.” She’s excited and is “CEO” organizing.
The phone’s ringing off the hook while she’s telling us this. Where does she find the energy? I answer it to find Sergeant Johnson of the Highway Patrol on the other end. They need my reports on the dogs and their status. They’re sending someone by about four this afternoon. I ask if they want the chart information or a statement. They say the chart information with a short statement will be fine. I put the phone down, turn to Lili and Maria and inform Lili she’ll have to answer the phone, alone, and tell Maria what I have to get done in about three and a half hours. Maria gasps and Lili smiles. Lili assures us she can handle the phone. Maria and I should do what we have to do for the H.P.
Maria and I collect the charts and I peruse them while Maria writes my statement on the computer and prints it off. We have to unplug the phone extension in my office to work undisturbed. At three thirty we hear the guys come in and Miss Lili waylay them. We still have five more charts to go through, all of them puppies. These puppies hadn’t been hurt in the accident but I have to report on their condition, cleanliness and care, when I received them and now. At four o’clock the Patrolman arrives as the last statement’s printing.
He wants to see the dogs to verify, for the department, they’re being taken care of properly. I give him a tour and explain we’d had some wind damage from the storm, but it had been taken care of the first day. He’s happy with the information and hands me an envelope. I hand him the reports in a manila envelope. Maria copied the charts
while I showed him around, correlated the chart copies with the statements and packaged them. She’s a gem. I couldn’t have done it without her.
The court date is Wednesday of next week and the defense attorney needs the information on the dogs to get the conviction. The officer said I wouldn’t have to be there unless something changed. When the officer left, I open the envelope to find a check for the dogs care in the amount of five thousand dollars.
Steve and Bob spoke with the Patrolman and the owners of the puppy farm are going to be charged with Involuntary Manslaughter, too. They’d insisted the dogs be delivered in a short period of time, not allowing the driver to sleep and breaking the laws for commercial transports. Steve and Bob put Maria and I into bear hugs, during our talk and kiss us hello when we finish talking.
I go out back to find three students cleaning the yard. That explains why the dogs are inside and the door’s closed. Steve and Bob had corralled the dogs so the students could work. They have half the yard done when I offer them something to drink. They accept and I show them where the refrigerator is so they can get it. I’d forgotten to get the gift certificates from Mister Sal’s so Steve drives me over. A small pizza is ten dollars so I get three certificates in that amount. When we get back to the office the kids are close to finishing and Maria’s closing up. Miss Lili insists we come to her house for supper tonight. Maria and I agree, but we feel pressured. After the kids get through, I give them the certificates and they’re very happy for my gratitude. Unfortunately, as soon as they leave I have to let the dogs out again. Steve stays to help.