“I’ll be back with some mice in a few minutes.”
She walked back to where Pip had just finished rearranging branches inside a second, smaller aviary to accommodate the new residents. Charlie placed a shallow pan of fresh water inside on the floor and waited while Pip brought the box of magpies in. She opened the lid and together they removed each bird individually, assessed it, and set it on the ground.
A few of the fledglings hopped onto branches and chose a spot to perch. The others squabbled and pecked at each other before finally settling.
“They all look healthy. I’m going to give them a good feed.”
“I’ll walk with you. I want to feed Big Bird some mice.”
“Righto. I’ll meet you back at the house afterwards.”
Charlie grabbed Pip’s shirt and stopped her. “Thanks for understanding. I know I’m being a bit of a baby about letting him go.”
Pip took Charlie’s face in both her hands and kissed her. “There’s nothing wrong with being sooky. You have an amazingly huge heart, my love. Some animals tend to occupy a bigger part of it than others. As you well know, I’m a sucker for the joeys. You’ll always remember your first. I think it’s because they’re the first to put a big hole in your heart when you let them go. But fortunately, the memory stays even though that hole eventually heals.”
“Good grief! Could immigration make these forms any more complicated?” Charlie tossed the twenty-five page bundle onto the table. “I have to remember every job I had since birth? Seriously?” She pursed her lips.
Pip rubbed Charlie’s back as she set a mug of coffee next to her. “Since birth?”
“Yes.” Charlie picked the forms up and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. “See? Right here—since birth.” She rubbed the back of her neck.
Pip pulled a chair closer to Charlie. “Australia is very picky about who we let in.”
Charlie stared at her in disbelief. “Didn’t England send all their convicts out here in the way back? That doesn’t seem very selective to me.”
Pip chuckled softly. “They didn’t send them all. Even back then there was a pick and choose process as to who came over. So, see? Nothing much has changed.”
“Okay, look at this.” Charlie rustled through the papers again. “I not only have to list those jobs, I have to describe them in detail.” She ran her hands through her hair.
“Charlie,” Pip said in a soothing voice, “you can do this. Just focus on one form at a time. I’ll help as best I can, and together we’ll work through it until it’s done.”
Charlie rested her head on Pip’s shoulder. “You’re already helping by being here. This is so overwhelming.”
“Is it what you want?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’ll be worth the effort, won’t it?”
Charlie sat up and kissed Pip’s cheek. “Every single gut-wrenching, teeth clenching, headachy moment.”
Charlie suddenly felt too hot. Her stomach churned and her breathing increased. The telltale signs of an anxiety attack. She closed her eyes and willed calmness. Heart palpitations thundered in her ears. She got up and paced the kitchen floor.
Under the visa extension Teresa, the WREN coordinator, had obtained for her, she had to leave Australia every three months. Where would she go? Back to the United States each time? That would cost a lot of money she didn’t have. And what was the guarantee customs would let her back in each time? She and Pip had watched hours of a TV show about border patrol over the course of her time here. They would laugh at the poor sods that got turned away. What if that happened to her?
“Charlie?” Pip sleepily padded to her side. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“What if I’m not allowed back in after I visit the States? What if—”
“Sweet, it’s late. You shouldn’t be worrying about this right now. Let’s go to bed, baby.”
“Pip, my original visa is up in seven weeks. I have to leave then, or I’ll be deported.”
“And you’ll come right back on the new visa. It will all work out. I promise.” Pip stood and took Charlie’s hand. “Come on. I’ll hold you while you go to sleep.”
Charlie took a deep breath. “Okay.”
She let Pip lead her to bed. Although she heard the steady beat of Pip’s heart beneath her cheek, it still took her a long time to relax and nod off.
Chapter Three
Jodi couldn’t remember the last time she’d foregone the endorphin rush of swimming for three cups of coffee before she went to work. But she just couldn’t get her head into it. It was easier to keep the kettle hot. She poured a cup as soon as she rolled out of bed, and another while she still had a towel wrapped around her after a shower. Dressed in scrubs, she carried the third out to the car. When she realized she’d forgotten her keys, she went back in, refilled the half empty mug, grabbed her keys, and continued on her way to the clinic.
She hadn’t been able to find the clinic’s mobile the previous evening when getting ready to head home. It had annoyed the crap out of her that Cole had taken the mobile home again last night, although probably an honest mistake. Cole was meticulous, and for her to have taken the wrong phone home, twice, seemed out of character. There’d been few nights since she’d opened her practice that she hadn’t gotten emergency calls. She’d actually woken up twice convinced she’d heard the phone ringing. But it’d only been the jingle of the chimes outside as wind preceded the summer storm that blew in in the early hours of the morning. She chewed her lip in thoughtful suspicion. She was sure Cole would’ve called her if there’d been anything she couldn’t handle on her own. In a way Jodi hoped Cole had been woken several times by concerned owners, then reneged on that thought. No use having both of them sleep-deprived and exhausted.
Jodi yawned and swallowed the remaining coffee while waiting for traffic to move past the roundabout. It seemed Yamba had one at each intersection, and while efficient most days, there were times it took several minutes to get through one. Not everyone drove straight through and often there were traffic jams within the circle. The car behind her honked its horn, rousing her out of her thoughts. She waved an apology over her shoulder and moved into the circle and continued on her way.
Jodi’s personal mobile rang through the Bluetooth connection in her car. She pressed the button on the steering wheel to connect. “Good morning, my thieving assistant.” Jodi smiled to herself.
“Where are you?”
Jodi tightened her grip on the wheel. “I’m about three minutes out, if the traffic cooperates.”
“Mr. Hanson was waiting at the door when I got here. Rocky had a paralysis tick on him. It was fairly engorged and came off easily.”
Jodi didn’t miss the concern in Cole’s voice. “I’ll be right there. Get a weight and then put an oxygen mask on him.”
“Already done. Seven point nine kilos and he’s on O2 now.”
“Good woman.” Jodi disconnected the call. She knew Cole would have already given Rocky a sedative so he didn’t become anxious as a result of the paralysis. “Damned paralysis ticks. Why couldn’t you have evolved somewhere other than Australia?”
Jodi was out of her car before the engine finished its shutdown. She strode into the surgery and took the stethoscope Cole handed her. Rocky’s heart rate was steady. She was pleased to see his leg had already been shaved and a catheter inserted into the vein, which was connected to an intravenous drip to keep him hydrated.
“I looked him over with a fine-tooth comb. There was only the one. Good thing he has such a short coat.” Cole prepared a syringe with the antiserum and handed it to Jodi, who removed the protective cap from the needle and pushed the yellow medication into the injection port.
“Okay, little man, Cole is going to put you in a nice quiet cage so you can work on getting better.” She nodded at Cole. “I’ll go talk to Roger.”
Jodi walked out into the waiting room and found an obviously
distraught Roger Hanson. He pushed himself up on arthritic legs that had steadied him on a prawn trawler for fifty years. “Hi, Roger.”
“Oh, Doc, how is my little Rocky?” His voice was low and gravelly.
Jodi took him by the elbow. “Come on into my office. I’ll get us some coffee and we can talk.”
Roger’s watery eyes were bright against his salt-weathered face. White stubble peppered his cheeks and jaws and complemented his bushy grey eyebrows. He’d been one of the first clients to step through her doors when she’d first opened the surgery. Back then Roger had held a tiny brown and white Jack Russell puppy, barely seven weeks old. He’d found the pup abandoned near his boat, clinging for his life on rocks exposed by a very low tide. Rocky was aptly named and developed his sea legs to accompany Roger on his boat for the past twelve years. The two had never been separated. Until now.
Roger sat rubbing his gnarled hands against one another. Jodi set a mug of coffee on her desk in front of him, which he lifted with crooked fingers, bent and misshapen from arthritis.
Jodi pulled a chair up next to him. Roger was a favourite client. He’d regaled her with story after story of his and Rocky’s adventures on the sea. Over time, they’d become quite close.
“We’re getting him stabilized now.”
“What’s wrong with him? He wouldn’t eat this morning and when I put him outside he got to gagging. Then he had problems standing. I got in the truck and brought him right over. Sorry I didn’t call ahead, but he started panting real hard.”
Jodi patted Roger’s leg. “You did the right thing. Cole found a paralysis tick on him.”
“A tick? I haven’t seen one of those bloodsuckers in years.”
“We’ve been having lots of storms lately which probably instigated a hatching. Unfortunately, even if you’d found it and pulled it off, Rocky would’ve still needed treatment. As the female tick feeds, it injects a neurotoxin that binds to where nerves meet muscles. That’s why he was having coordination problems.”
“He’ll be okay now though, won’t he—since you got it off?”
Jodi offered him a deep sigh and what she hoped would be a comforting expression. “It’s good you got him in here early. But unfortunately, even though we removed the tick, the toxins will continue to affect him. He has the antiserum on board and what he needs is quiet and rest. So I’m going to keep him here for a couple days and monitor him. He’s not a young dog, and Cole tells me the tick was quite engorged, so in all likelihood he’ll need a couple more injections of antiserum before it’s all said and done.”
“Well, you know best. Bloody hell. It’ll be a right bugger not having him with me.” Roger wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “But it’d be worse if he never came home. You just do whatever you need to do for him, Doc.” He nodded as if in agreement with himself. He finished his coffee, set it on Jodi’s desk, and pushed himself out of the chair.
“I promise, he’ll be back with you as soon as we get him over this hump. Rocky is a special little guy. Nothing but the best treatment for him.” Jodi rubbed his arm and smiled.
Roger nodded. “You’ve always been so good to me and ol’ Rocky, Doc. I thank you kindly for that.”
“It’s no drama at all. You two are a couple of my most favourite clients. I’m not about to let anything happen to the seafaring dynamic duo.”
Jodi accompanied Roger to the door and patted his back reassuringly before he walked out. “I’ll call you later.”
Roger waved over his shoulder as he made his way to his truck.
Jodi was fairly certain he was working hard to hold back tears. In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen the old man cry, even when he’d brought Rocky in with a bloody big shark hook that had pierced clear through his flank, barely missing his intestine. There’d been blood everywhere, yet Roger hadn’t blinked an eye. But even then, she’d been able to send Rocky home that same day with antibiotics and some anti-inflammatory medication. He’d never had to leave his faithful dog behind.
A woman appeared at the door with a young boy who held a small kitten in his arms.
“Good morning.” Jodi forced a smile to her face.
“Hello. I have an appointment for our kitten to be vaccinated.” The boy possessively held the kitten closer.
“Of course. Please have a seat and I’ll have my vet nurse check you in.”
Cole anticipated that Jodi would spend the night at the surgery to keep close tabs on Rocky. Mentally she shook her head, knowing the previous night’s reprieve, in the guise of secretly kidnapping the phone, would hold little benefit with another potential sleep-deprived night for Jodi.
After making up a new client card and patient file, Cole showed the mother and son into one of the clinic rooms. Jodi met them and proceeded to undertake the tiny feline’s first physical exam in preparation for the vaccination. Cole loved the way Jodi included the small boy in the conversation and the way he responded to whatever question Jodi asked him.
Cole scrubbed her knuckles over her tired eyes. She loved her life. A happy life. A busy life made all the busier by a boss who burned the candle at both ends. Jodi had been the best thing that had happened to her. When she and her fiancé had split and he’d fired her, she had no choice but to leave town and start again. She had moved from New Zealand to Australia and the seaside town of Yamba in New South Wales. Upon arrival, she’d read a help wanted ad for a new vet clinic in the local paper. Within hours of meeting Jodi, she had a contract drawn up and they had set to building up the practice. Jodi helped her study to turn her human nursing skills into qualified veterinary nursing skills, and together, they had never looked back. What with Jodi’s skill and customer service reputation, the practice had grown quickly. It was now busy enough, in Cole’s opinion, that a second vet could be accommodated comfortably.
But Jodi was both proud and particular in the care she offered her patients and their families. Cole had watched her work her fingers to the bone to set the clinic up. She’d been younger then. They both were. But here they were now, a few years down the track, and Cole’s concern was that Jodi’s current pace couldn’t be continued in a healthy long-term way. The greatest challenge now was how was she going to sow the seed and convince Jodi to ease up on the reins and hand over a portion of control to someone else. Cole sighed. An emergency caesarean at three o’clock in the morning was so much easier by comparison.
The phone rang, interrupting her inner musings. She recognized the number. “Hi, Charlie.” She smiled upon hearing her American friend’s accent. She’d been lucky enough to get to know Charlie when she’d spent several weeks working at the clinic and living in the flat above. “I know. I miss seeing your ugly face every day too.” Charlie laughed in response, and Cole smiled. “What can I do for you, my friend?” She listened on and glanced at the closed door. “Jodi’s still with a client, but I don’t imagine she’ll be much longer. I don’t know about her, but I for one definitely want to come over for a sticky beak and to see what you’ve done with the big cage. Will you be home this arvo?” Cole scribbled some notes down. “Uh-huh. As soon as she’s free, I’ll get her to call you. Okay. Bye.”
Jodi swerved the Land Rover right and then quickly left to avoid another pothole carved out of the dirt road by the recent rains. She tried to avoid another immediately after, but the tyres lost their grip on the washboard surface. The hole was too big for the shock absorbers to do their job and the truck bounced and nearly went off the road.
“Far out, Jodes. Why’d you come down this road? It’s horrible.” Cole had a death grip on the door handle and another on the bag of fish and chips.
On a whim, Jodi had stopped at the fish co-op in Maclean to grab tea for Pip, Charlie, and the two of them.
Jodi grinned. “It’s a shortcut.” She stole a quick glance over at Cole. Truth told, she loved to put the truck through its paces. And to have someone with her made it doubly fun. Although it didn’t look like Cole would agree. Jodi had
a sudden impulse to slow down and take Cole’s hand in reassurance. She blinked hard, not exactly knowing where the desire to make such intimate contact came from.
“By what? A minute?” Cole grunted when they hit another pothole.
Jodi refocused on the task. “When it comes to fish and chips, every minute counts. You can’t eat them when they’re cold. Yuck.”
“I’m pretty sure Pip and Charlie have a microwave.”
Jodi shook her head vehemently. “Oh no. It’s not the same.” She hit the brakes. The truck slid to a sudden stop. “Shit. Big one.” She let off the brakes and let the Rover roll down the six inches of hole and crawl back up again after crossing the five-foot washed-out expanse. “Ah. There we go. See? We’ll be there in no time.”
“I won’t have any teeth in my head by the time we get there.”
Jodi signalled for a left turn. “Dentures aren’t bad. Dad’s had them for a long while. Once Mum got him the right glue to keep them from flying out every time he sneezed, everybody was happy. Sure was funny though.”
“Mm.”
Jodi had been torn about leaving Rocky alone to make the trip to Ashby to see Pip and Charlie’s new eagle aviary. But he’d been resting comfortably and was stable. And Cole had grabbed her arm and refused to let go until she got in the truck.
“It’ll be good to see those two. It’s been a while since I’ve been over.” Jodi tried to recall exactly when her last visit had been and couldn’t.
“This is my first time, actually.”
Jodi looked over incredulously. “Serious?”
“Yeah. There’s just never been an occasion to.”
“Mm. I suppose you’re right. Before Charlie hit the scene, Pip pretty much kept to herself. For a long time, I only saw her when she brought something into the clinic.”
Precipice of Doubt Page 3