Chapter 13 #3
“Light,” he said distinctly, and both Patty and John stared at him in confusion.
“What?” Patty replied.
“You need to have lights on the goat pen,” Ben said, and hoped they wouldn’t think he sounded crazy. “Light will keep away the thing that attacked your goats.”
“What if the power goes out again?” John responded, clearly unsure whether this was the best course of action to take.
“A generator,” Sidney said. “Do you have one?”
John scratched the back of his head. His hair was thinning, but Ben still thought it was probably only a fifty-fifty chance as to whether he’d go truly bald. “No,” he said after a long pause. “Patty and I have talked about it, but it never seemed to be in the budget.”
If they made their living selling organic goat’s milk and soap — and probably produce as well, since the field opposite the goat pen seemed to be full of summer crops like corn and squash — then they were probably operating on pretty thin margins. Generators were expensive.
“I can loan you the cash — ” Sidney began, but at once, John shook his head.
“That’s very kind, but you’ve already helped us out a lot. We have some money put aside for emergencies, and I suppose this classifies as one.”
Just as he was finished speaking, a Lexus SUV pulled up next to John’s big truck, and a pretty Asian woman who looked as if she was in her mid-thirties got out. She spied the group on the home’s front porch and hurried over.
“I came as fast as I could,” she said, and Sidney smiled.
“Thanks, Hope. They’re both stable, but we need to get them on some antibiotics to be safe.”
The other woman nodded. However, she still performed a quick examination of each animal. just enough to make sure their breathing sounded all right and they weren’t in any distress. Once she was satisfied, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of vials.
“I brought the drops since I know that trying to get pills down a goat’s throat is an exercise in futility,” she said as she handed the vials over to John. “Give each of them two drops every six hours. If they develop a fever or their breathing sounds labored, call me right away.”
Her tone was too brisk and professional to sound accusatory, and yet Ben still got the impression that she wasn’t entirely thrilled about the way she’d been relegated to second string here while Sidney had come in to do the heavy lifting.
He could only hope the vet wouldn’t hold that against her. It wasn’t as if Sidney had solicited the Hendersons’ business or anything close to it.
“Sure,” John said, his voice neutral. “But I think they’re going to be fine.”
“I think so, too,” Hope replied. “Still, we need to plan for contingencies.”
“And we will,” Patty said. “Thank you for bringing the medication.”
“Not a problem. That’s what I’m here for.”
And after an additional admonishment to call her if the goats’ situation changed, she got back in her SUV and drove off.
“I think we can handle it from here,” Patty said, shifting slightly so she could reposition the goat in her lap. Ben wouldn’t have been surprised if one or both of her legs were starting to fall asleep. “Thank you so much, Sidney. When I found the goats, I — ”
She broke off there, as if she wasn’t sure she had the words to describe that awful scene.
“I know,” Sidney said gently. “But these two are going to be fine.” She looked up at Ben and smiled. “Can you help get this one off me, though? I’m starting to get stiff.”
Although Ben didn’t know much about handling goats, the creature seemed docile enough as he slipped his arms around it, being careful not to disturb any of the bandages covering the sutures Sidney had put in place a few moments earlier.
And then John stepped in, taking the goat from him and setting it gently down on the porch.
“Gotta give her those antibiotics anyway,” he said, and Ben sent him a grateful look.
“Thanks.”
Sidney rose to her feet, although it seemed as if Patty was ready to stay on that porch with her goat for as long as necessary.
“We’ve got this,” she said. “But I also want to say thanks, Sidney. Now I know these two will make it.”
The corners of Sidney’s mouth lifted. “I can tell they’re in good hands. Just make sure you stick to the antibiotics schedule, and they should be fine.”
Patty nodded.
“Let me give you a ride home — ” John began.
“No, we can walk,” Sidney cut in, gently but firmly. “You need to give those goats their medicine. It’s not so far.”
Well, it sort of was, just because the Henderson farm was on the opposite side of town from Sidney’s place.
Ben knew he wouldn’t say anything, though.
The walk shouldn’t take them more than twenty minutes at the most, and hopefully, once they got home, they could think about having some breakfast. They’d run out of the house before they’d even had a chance to get some coffee, and he could tell his body needed its morning dose of caffeine.
John looked as if he wanted to protest, but then Sidney looped her arm in Ben’s and began guiding him down the steps, effectively putting an end to any arguments about driving them home. Once they’d been walking for a few minutes, though, he ventured, “It’s good that the power came back on.”
“I suppose,” she said. “I guess the real question is how long it’s going to stay on this time.”
And no one probably had an answer to that one. The emergence of the shadow stalkers into this world had caused an enormous surge, that much seemed clear, but were there more to follow, or was this some sort of freak occurrence?
About all he could do was shrug. Sidney didn’t seem annoyed by that non-response, though, and he had the impression she was glad he was being practical about the situation and not trying to say he was sure there wouldn’t be any more energy fluctuations and that everything should be all right.
“If I didn’t look like such utter hell,” she said after they’d walked for a few more minutes, “I’d say we should stop at Eliza’s for breakfast. But I got some bacon at the store, and I already had eggs, so I can put something together at home.”
“You don’t look like hell,” he replied honestly, and she grinned.
“Always the gentleman.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment, so he maintained his silence. As far as he was concerned, she would always be beautiful, even without a speck of makeup and her hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail.
But he guessed she wouldn’t take such a comment at face value, so he decided to let it alone.
When they approached her house, though, he found himself frowning, his gaze caught by the muddy ground.
“Do you see that?” he asked abruptly, and she glanced around, startled.
“See what?”
“The ground around your house. See those markings?”
Grass had been planted everywhere, but it had muddy, bare patches, as if Sidney didn’t have the time to keep it perfectly manicured. Because of that, the prints in the exposed areas seemed clear enough.
Big paw prints, almost as if a huge cat had been padding around the place.
She gazed at them blankly for a moment, and then she looked over at Ben.
“‘Protect,’” she said, and now it was his turn to stare at her in puzzlement.
“What?”
Her crystalline eyes lit up as she smiled.
“That’s what the griffin said to me. Not in so many words, because it wasn’t that kind of communication, but he made it pretty clear that he would do what he could to protect Silver Hollow.
It looks like he kept the shadow stalkers at bay here.
” Sadness filled her eyes. “But not everywhere, it seems.”
“Silver Hollow isn’t big, but that’s still a lot of territory for a single griffin to cover,” Ben said, and he reached out and took her hand, was glad to feel her fingers curl around his. “And the Henderson farm is way on the other side of town.”
“I know that, but….” She looked down at the muddy paw prints again, and her delicate features seemed to harden, to take on a steeliness reflected in the cool gray of her eyes. “We need to do everything we can to make sure this never happens again.”