Chapter Thirty-Nine
Thirty-Nine
Chaos
I’ve calmed them both down, shut Nemo into the bathroom with food, water, his basket and a litter tray, and Ted is sitting on the window seat, sedately watching the sea gulls wheel in the sky. I sit down next to him and attempt to soothe myself by looking at the view, which is undeniably breathtaking. There’s a dark line on the horizon signifying the rest of Cornwall, signifying my parents and home.
Ted leans his bodyweight against my hip and looks up at me beseechingly, as if butter wouldn’t melt. I find myself stroking him, my fingers reaching into the warm shagginess of his coat.
My eyes drift back to the room, when I notice a large binder on the writing bureau that I hadn’t spotted before, surrounded by a scatter of NationalGeographic magazines that Nemo dislodged from a tall stack on his panicked travels around the room.
I stare at the binder for a few moments before it occurs to me that it is perhaps meant for me. Frank said he’d leave detailed care instructions for the animals, and I’m sure the word ‘binder’ was used somewhere.
Flicking through the binder, it becomes clear that there has been some misunderstanding.
No, there has been a shocking and wanton misrepresentation.