Chapter 13 #2
Not with the sad forms of two dead goats lying near the fence — someone had covered the bodies with a tarp, but it was obvious what the heavy cloth hid — and with a sobbing woman cradling two more as she sat on the porch.
Nearby, a little girl who looked like she was around five stood clutching a stuffed dog and was wailing as well, although Ben couldn’t say for sure whether it was because of what had happened to the goats or because she was terrified at seeing her mother so upset.
Sidney had the passenger door open before John had even come to a complete stop and ran across the dew-soaked grass, black doctor’s bag banging against her thigh as she went.
While Ben got out of the truck, she sank to her knees next to the crying woman, asked a few urgent questions, and then got to work.
Although he’d seen her attending to a wounded hawk the first time he’d visited her store, this was the first time he’d really seen Sidney Lowell go into action.
At once, she had the satchel open and was cleaning the wounds of first one goat and then the other.
It seemed the first one had more extensive injuries, because she appeared to focus on that one more closely, although he noticed how she pressed the woman — Patty, Ben guessed, since John had mentioned her name when he came to fetch Sidney — into service by handing several clean cloths and what looked like a bottle of disinfectant over to her.
Neither of the goats seemed too inclined to get away, so they must have understood it was better to suffer this momentary discomfort rather than risk letting their wounds go untreated.
Did they know what had happened to their companions?
Probably. Goats were pretty smart.
He and John waited at the bottom of the steps while Sidney got to work stitching up the gashes in the one goat’s sides and legs, and Patty continued to clean up the other goat’s wounds.
Once she was done, it let out a little bleat and tried to push its way off her lap, but she held on to it, as if she was afraid something terrible would happen if she let go.
“It should be all right now,” Ben murmured to John. “Whatever attacked them, it’s long gone.”
The other man sent him a look that seemed almost suspicious. “How can you be so sure of that?”
“It went after the goats when it was dark, didn’t it?”
For a moment, John didn’t reply. Instead, he looked over at his wife as she held the injured goat and up at the cloudy sky.
Then he glanced past the house, to the serene fields and orchards beyond.
It certainly didn’t look like a place where terrible violence had been visited on innocent creatures the night before.
“Maybe,” he said. “But I still think we’d better keep an eye on things.”
He went up the steps then and leaned down so he could pick up his daughter, stuffed toy and all, and hold her on his hip. In another couple of years, she would be too big for that, but for now, she clung to her father, sobs muffled a little as she buried her face in his shirt.
Through all this, Sidney had continued to work, apparently oblivious to everything that was going on around her. Ben could tell she didn’t want to think about anything except each careful stitch she made, every drop of blood she saved.
Eventually, the little girl stopped crying, and the goat in Patty’s arms went quiescent, possibly understanding that no one was going to let it leave until they made sure its companion was going to be all right.
Everything was utterly still except a bird chirping in the pretty maple planted near the porch, incongruously cheerful against the tense silence.
But then Sidney looked up and said, “I think he’s going to be okay. You’ll need to reach out to Hope Hayakawa for some antibiotics, though.”
John looked less than thrilled by this prospect. “I wish they hadn’t changed the rules about prescriptions for animals. It seems kind of stupid that I can’t treat my own livestock without seeing a vet.”
Ben hadn’t even known that was a thing, but then, it wasn’t as if he’d ever raised horses or sheep or goats. His mother’s two pampered Shih Tzus went to the vet every six months, although obviously, that was a very different situation.
“I’ll talk to her,” Sidney said. “Since I’m the one who just stitched up your goat, it’s probably better if I explain the situation. I don’t think she’ll need to do another examination.”
Maybe that had been John’s chief worry — the cost of having his animals looked over by the town’s veterinarian.
It sounded as if Sidney had only been a few months away from earning her DVM degree when she was called home to Silver Hollow, so Ben had a feeling that most people looked on her as a vet anyway, even if she didn’t have the diploma to prove it.
Of course, without that diploma and the credentials that went along with it, she couldn’t prescribe anything, hence the necessary visit to see Dr. Hayakawa.
From inside the house — the front door stood open — a loud beep sounded, and everyone startled. Then Patty let out a nervous laugh and said, “I think that was the air purifier. Maybe the power’s back on?”
“Let me check,” John said, and he went to the front door and reached inside so he could flip the switch for the porch lights. They turned on right away, a sign that things seemed to be getting back to normal.
“Looks like cellular service is back, too,” Ben commented, since he’d gotten out his phone while John was testing the electricity. Two bars, which were more than he’d expected, considering how far away the farm was from the cell tower near the highway.
“Even better,” Sidney said. “Then I can just call Hope and let her know what’s going on. I’m sure she has some antibiotics in stock at her clinic, so at least we won’t have to worry about the pharmacy not being open yet.”
Right. Ben had no idea what time it was, but even on a regular weekday like today, he doubted they’d be open this early.
He thought there was probably a twenty-four-hour CVS or Walgreens in Eureka or maybe Arcata where they could have gone to fill the prescription, although of course it would be much easier to take care of it here in town.
Being careful not to dislodge the goat who lay quietly in her lap, Sidney got out her phone, scrolled through her contacts list, and then touched the screen.
She put the iPhone up to her ear and said, “Hope? Sorry to bother you on your day off, but some of the goats at the Henderson farm were attacked by a wild animal.” A pause there as Hope probably asked a question, and then Sidney responded, “Two of them didn’t make it, unfortunately.
One just had superficial scratches, so we’ve cleaned him up, and he should be fine.
The fourth one needed stitches, but I took care of that, and I think she’ll be okay.
She’s going to need some antibiotics, though.
Can you — ” Another pause, and Sidney smiled.
“That would be great. Thanks so much for doing that.”
She ended the call and returned the phone to her bag.
“So…?” John said.
“She’s coming over with the antibiotics. Should be here in a couple of minutes.”
He’d still been holding on to his daughter, but now he slid her down to the porch and patted her on the head. “Go inside, Harper. It’s going to be okay.”
She sniffled but didn’t seem as if she wanted to argue, because she obediently went inside the house.
“This was hard for her,” Patty said. “Harper looks on the goats like her pets, even though she knows we also use their milk for making soap and cheese and that they’re part of our farm’s business.”
“I’m sorry,” Ben murmured, but Patty only pressed her lips together, clearly unsure as to what they should do next.
“Do you think it was a wolf?” John asked Sidney, and she shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’ve treated victims of coyote attacks, and I can tell this wasn’t a coyote. Also, you’d need a pack of them to attack a herd of goats. Did you hear anything?”
“Nothing,” John replied, his expression now grim. “We had no idea anything was wrong until Patty went out this morning to milk them and found…well, found all that.”
Ben couldn’t even imagine. The neighborhood where he’d grown up in suburban Costa Mesa didn’t border on any wildland, and he didn’t think he’d ever heard of any coyote sightings there.
And although the house he’d been renting in Yucaipa wasn’t too far from some open country, the people around there were careful about letting their pets out in the yard unattended.
He had no idea what it would be like to go outside, ready to start your day, only to find your animals savaged by some unknown predator.
“Maybe a bear?” he suggested. This was grizzly territory, wasn’t it?
But both Sidney and John looked at each other, as if neither of them was sure how to respond, while Patty continued to stroke the neck of the goat she’d been treating.
“The bears in the woods here very rarely come near town,” Sidney said after a brief pause.
“And at this time of year, they’re pretty fat and happy.
But I can’t rule it out, although again, these wounds don’t look like something a bear would have inflicted.
Wrong size, wrong angle.” She released a breath, and her shoulders lifted.
“I can’t say for sure. It’s not like I’m a medical examiner or anything close. ”
“It’s all right,” John told her. “The important thing is that these ones were saved.” He looked over at the goat pen, expression puzzled.
“It’s just that it seems like most of the bear attacks I’ve heard about involved livestock that was out in open pastures, not penned up like our goats were.
” He shook his head. “And I’m not sure what to do with them tonight.
I’m sure Harper would like them to stay inside with us, but I don’t really want to have goats in my house. ”
No, that probably wouldn’t be practical. Ben kind of doubted the goats were house-trained.