Forty-Three
Sally waited until she heard the front door slam closed behind Flora before turning to look at Craig.
‘Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!’
‘Not happy with that news?’
‘Can you tell?’
‘Why not?’
‘I never thought for a moment that anyone would think of doing fundraisers.’
‘But… you’ve worked in rescues before this, surely they must have had a few?’
‘They did. They were always asking for donations, urging people to leave food in the supermarket drop-boxes or trying to get folks to run car-boots, stalls, and fetes for them – I simply forgot all about that side of things because of the funds I have to put into the rescue. It never occurred to me that people would come up with the idea themselves without any kind of prompting.’
‘Essie runs the local W.I. – they’re always looking for good causes to champion. Having one on their doorstep is going to be a godsend for them.’
‘But I can’t take their money. I don’t want to take their money.’
‘Once again, why not?’
‘Because I don’t need it. There are so many other rescues who do, I’d feel guilty accepting it.’
‘You could pay it forward. You know, donate it to another charity. Or rather, accept the donation for your rescue but then feed it out to others which you know require it.’
‘Do you think we could get away with doing that?’
‘Who’s going to know? It’s not illegal and as I’m the only person who sees your finances, there’s no reason for anyone else to find out.’
‘Well, if you think that’s possible, I’d be a lot happier with going along with this event.’
‘Look, come and sit here, let me show you how I’ve decided to arrange your finances.’
For the next forty minutes, Craig went through how he felt it would be better to create three separate accounts – one for each part of the business – and that she could draw an amount from the original funds which could then be “investment capital”. This would keep her own bank account as a separate entity from the business.
It was all a bit over her head, numbers had never really been her thing, but she trusted Craig implicitly and was happy to go along with what he thought best. She watched as he transferred the values over and typed in the extra security details required to do so.
‘Do yourself a favour, Sally, change the answers to these questions after this. By rights, I shouldn’t know them and I don’t want to know them. In the event of anything untoward happening, God forbid, I want to ensure that I’m in the clear. This is for both our benefits.’
‘Of course. I’ll do it once we’re done here.’
‘Great. Now, if you’ll excuse me a moment, I need to visit the facilities.’
‘And why don’t I make us another cup of tea? All this numbers malarky is thirsty work.’
‘It’ll improve once we’ve got the accounts up and running. The start-up phase is always the most tedious. If you think this was bad, give it an hour and we’ll see how you’re doing after signing all the paperwork!’
He grinned at her as they walked towards the office door. She replied with a grimace before heading off down the stairs where she met Jools halfway up.
‘Hi, Sally, I was just on my way to see you.’
‘Hey, is everything okay?’
‘Yeah, I’m just dropping off some invoices which I’ve cleared for payment.’ Jools raised her hand to show Sally the folder she was holding. ‘I’ve also created a cost-code system, as per Craig’s request, so he can sort each item into its correct grouping.’
‘Oh, well that’s good timing as Craig’s here at the moment, so if you head up, you can go through it with him. I’m making drinks – would you like one?’
‘Oh, I would kill for a coffee. It feels like an eternity since I had one this morning.’
‘Busy early session, was it?’
‘I would say so. I think I’m still being checked out by the locals and then I had a few procedural operations after that.’
‘It takes a little while for the novelty factor to wear off around here. And, talking about the locals, wait till you hear the news…’
‘Oh, what’s that?’
‘Let me get the drinks and I’ll fill you in.’
When Sally returned to the office, bearing another tray of drinks and biscuits, Craig and Jools were sitting side by side, discussing the cost-codes.
‘So, if I put this in here, it'll be logged under “Sundries” and so on. Does that work for you?’
Reaching for the mug Sally was holding out, Jools nodded to Craig that she was on board with the system they were creating.
‘Right, what’s this news then, Sally?’
‘Oh, it’s a cracker, Jools!’
Sally sat down across the desk from Craig and Jools moved round beside her which cleared her view out of the window and she looked at the rain pelting down outside. She was heading over the courtyard to the cat barn once her meeting with Craig was over and was really hoping it would have eased off by then.
‘Before you ladies get into this, I’m going to say my goodbyes and get going. Sally, do you want me to close the computer down?’
‘No, leave it be, Craig. I’ll do it after I’ve sorted out that task you’ve left me with. I may forget if I don’t do it immediately.’
‘Okay. And, thanks to Jools’ timely visit, you’re getting off doing the paperwork I mentioned earlier, as some of the authorisations take longer to go through and I’d rather wait until we can do it together.’
‘Sure, that’s no problem. Just pop over when you need to.’
‘I will. Lovely to see you, Jools, and thanks for putting those details together.’
‘You’re welcome, Craig.’
‘See you, Sally.’
‘Bye, Craig, oh… would you mind letting Essie know I’ll give her a call this evening?’
‘Not at all, I know she’ll be looking forward to it.’
With a smile and a wave, he left the room and Sally had barely had the chance to take a sip of her tea before Jools was leaning forward in her face and asking, ‘Well? What’s this news?’
‘The villagers have decided they want to hold a fundraising fete for the rescue on Easter Monday.’
Jools sat back in her chair and a large smile lit up her face.
‘Oh, how wonderful! That’s a fantastic idea. And how very generous of them to think of the rescue. You must be thrilled. Usually, or certainly with any rescues I’ve worked with in the past, fund-raising is seen as a necessary evil and yet, here you are, with a whole village willing to do their bit to help.’
‘Tell me about it! I also found out today that they’re putting together more volunteer rotas to come and help with looking after the cats which will include the residents over in the retirement village. I’m beginning to worry we’ll end up with more volunteers than we’ll have four-legged felines!’
‘Hey, don’t knock it, Sally. Having the local community behind you is worth more than you can begin to imagine. If anyone was to ever try and cause trouble, their support could be the thing that prevents your rescue being closed down.’
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong, Jools, I genuinely am happy that they’re so keen to be a part of this, I just need to tread carefully as lots of different people coming and going could upset some of our more sensitive and wary furry residents and I don’t want to risk offending people if we end up with too many wanting to help.’
‘That’s a good point. We are trying to give the cats some stability after all.’
‘Mind you,’ Sally gave a small, wicked smile, ‘I suspect more than a few may be under the illusion that they’ll just come along and play with cute fluffy kittens. A couple of days on litter-tray duty may help to weed out the ones who are more in love with the idea of helping rather than actually helping…’
Jools let out a loud, throaty laugh.
‘Sally Edwards, you have got a very naughty mind! And I love it! Yes, washing out pens and picking up poop will certainly sort out the men from the boys, or women from the girls – whatever the case may be!’
‘Indeed, it will! Now, as the resident vet, would you like to join me when I attend the committee meeting to discuss the fete and would you also mind having a think on some things we can do to contribute to the day.’
‘Yes, I will and yes, I can.’
Sally let out a sigh of relief.
‘I was hoping you’d say that. Thank you.’
‘Hey, no worries. We’re in this together.’ Jools picked up her mug and chinked it against Sally’s. ‘Girlfriend, we’ve got this!’