Chapter Nine
Nine
When Kate and Granny Viv returned home after lunch, Granny Viv settled in her chair beside the fire for an afternoon nap and Rufus curled up on the rug.
Once Kate was certain her gran had nodded off, she typed Rafferty and Hope’s Rescue Centre for Dogs into the web browser and Raff’s website popped up at the top of the search results, as she had expected.
She clicked on the link and was impressed with what she saw. The homepage of the website wasn’t flashy or overstuffed with information, it was welcoming, fun to look at, and clear about what it was.
The name was at the top, written on an illustration of a tasty bone, above which were a row of tabs for ‘homepage’, ‘about us’, ‘directions’, ‘dogs in our care’, and ‘how to help’ and each one had a dropdown menu giving more options.
Beneath the name were two illustrations of dog kennels, each with an address above the doorway, one with the Oxford address and one with Old Farm, Bluewater Bay.
They both had bone shaped signs hanging from them stating the opening hours.
Oxford was open Monday to Sunday from ten a.m. until five p.m., Bluewater Bay said, ‘Opening soon’ and gave a phone number, which wasn’t the number Raff had given Kate, so that must have been the number set up to take calls for the rescue centre.
Beneath the kennels was a photo of a field, taken on a sunny day, with dogs running and playing, and three dogs, each sitting beside a person who was wearing a T-shirt with the rescue centre name emblazoned across the back.
Near the foot of the page, it read: ‘Here are some of the dogs in our care, waiting to live their best lives with their forever person or family.’
Under that it instructed Kate to, ‘Click on any photo for more information about each of the dogs in our care.’
Beneath that was what was called a carousel, of passport-sized photos of dogs of various shapes, sizes, breeds and ages.
Kate scrolled along the photos and tears welled up in her eyes. All the dogs were gorgeous in their own way and it broke her heart to think of them all waiting for new homes. At least they had a sanctuary taking care of them until they each had their big adoption day.
How would she decide? This might be harder than she thought.
She’d have to discuss it with Raff and seek his advice.
Perhaps there was some sort of vetting process that matched a dog to a prospective owner.
Or perhaps it was a matter of meeting a dog and seeing if both the person and the dog had a connection.
She clicked on the ‘about us’ tab at the top and was taken to a page with a photo of an elderly couple flanked by several other people, and beside that was another photo.
This one was of a young, gangly boy with glasses, and the happiest smile possible, sitting in a flower-filled garden, with his arms wrapped around a beautiful, golden brown, springer spaniel.
Kate sucked in a breath. This was Raff and Hope. She studied that photo for some time, unable to take her eyes from it.
When she eventually did, she read the brief introduction to the owners and the team who worked at the Oxford rescue centre – none of which included anything about Raff. She scrolled all the way down but nope. He wasn’t there.
Scrolling back to the top she read that the owners, Emma and Matt Gale were in their early seventies and were both retired teachers. They had loved teaching, but for many years they had harboured a dream of opening a rescue centre for dogs.
They said, ‘The dream had taken root after our adopted son, Raff, had brought home a puppy he had rescued from a couple of unpleasant people.
Not everyone treats animals as they should be treated.
The puppy – and Raff – taught us that there was nothing as important as a safe and loving home, both for animals and for people.
That puppy was called Hope. And in a world of change and worry, stress, fear and doubt, we all need Hope.
We achieved our dream with our son’s help, and five years ago we opened Rafferty and Hope’s Rescue Centre for Dogs. It’s named after our son and Hope because this wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for them.
If you can give hope to an animal in need of a secure and caring home, please get in touch, or come and have a chat and meet the dogs in our care.’
From that Kate deduced that Emma and Matt Gale were people whom she and her family would like very much.