Pawliday Love

Chapter 9

MCKENZIE

I lay under the sleeping bag, my arms wrapped around Brenda as she lightly snores on my chest, when my phone buzzes. Moving slowly, so I don’t disturb her, I reach for it, seeing Matty’s name on the screen. He’s rung to let me know the flood area is much larger than we anticipated, and I’m needed at the command centre as soon as possible.

There’s no way I’m leaving Brenda here to fend for herself with all these animals. Matty sounds surprised when I tell him we’ll need a boat with a powerful motor because I know she won’t leave Bubbles here. If he’s important to her, then he’s important to me too. I send him some pics I took earlier in the day, which has him laughing out loud.

When he calms down I make him promise not to spread the word about Brenda’s ark. People can be cruel, especially when they already think of someone as odd.

Matty agrees, then reminds me about an old stockyard near town. It's on higher ground and has never flooded before. We can put larger animals, alongside Bubbles, in the stockyard to keep them safe.

I have no idea what to do with the rest of the animals, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to safety.

I don’t find it strange to think of us as we already, which is strange in itself. We have a lot to talk about once this flood is over.

Tomorrow is looking brighter as I lay back feeling Brenda’s chest rise and fall against me, her leg thrown over mine and her hand on my stomach.

The End