Chapter Three #2
“It wasn’t your fault either, Cullen. It was the fault of the man who hid a detonation device in his jacket.”
“You can spin it any way you like,” I say irritably. “The fact is that if I’d done my job properly, Jack would still be here.” I click my fingers at Ghost. “I’ve got work to do.”
I walk off toward the Forever Home, Max and Ghost following, and leave Noah standing in the Quad, hands in his pockets, watching me go.
I feel bad about arguing with him. He’s the nicest guy I know, and all he wants to do is help people and animals.
But he has to understand that not everybody can be helped.
I use my key card to open the door to the Fox’s Den and usher Max inside.
Today, Alicia, an Early Childhood Teacher, is curled up in a chair, feeding a baby with a bottle, while two toddlers play with soft toys inside the playpen.
Ruby, who teaches at the primary school in Sunrise Bay, is playing Connect 4 with a boy who’s a year or two older than Max, while a girl who’s maybe nine or ten sits beside them, coloring.
“Morning,” I say, and both women smile at us.
“Hello,” Ruby says. “Who do we have here?”
Max backs into me, so I place both hands on his shoulders. “This is Max. His mum is a vet nurse, and she’s working with Hal today.”
“Oh, yes, a couple of the nurses have gone down with a bug,” Ruby says. “Morning, Max! Ooh, a dino lover, I see. Does he have a name?”
“Terry,” Max says. “He’s a Therizinosaurus.”
“Those claws look super scary.” She smiles. “This is Rachel, and this is Ollie. Are you joining us today?”
“He’s going to help me with the dogs first,” I say, “but I might bring him through later for morning tea.”
“Sure. Bev’s making her fantastic cheese scones today. They’ll be hot with butter melting all over them.”
Max’s eyes light up. “Ooh.”
“Yeah,” she says, flaring her eyes, “they’re amazing. We’re getting the LEGO out then, too.”
“I’m going to make a T-rex,” Ollie says. “You can help if you like.”
“Out of LEGO?” Max’s eyes bulge.
Ollie nods. “We’ve got a book with some pictures. I’m going to make it this tall.” He lifts a hand above his head.
“Then we’ll take it into the clinic and scare all the vets.” Ruby smiles.
“Okay.” Max brightens.
I wink at Ruby. “Come on, then,” I say to Max. “Let’s go and sort out these dogs.”
I take him through to the Forever Home. Ghost lies under the central table.
Beth and Archer are still here, and Jude has returned too.
He’s a good-looking guy with short dark hair that he spends far too long styling to look as if he’s just gotten out of bed.
Archer and I tease him for it, which annoys him no end.
“You must be Max,” he says, and holds out his hand to the boy. “I’m Jude.” Max shakes it solemnly.
“Isla all settled in?” Beth asks.
I nod. “She’s working with Hal today.”
“Oh, she’ll enjoy that. She’ll be super busy, too. It’ll take her mind off things.”
I glance at Max, who’s gone over to peer through the cage at a boxer dog, then look back at Beth. “She told me what happened,” I murmur.
I can tell by the looks on their faces that they all know, too.
“It was awful,” Beth whispers. “She’s really been through it.” She glances at Jude. “I’ve been thinking about asking her to join us for Christmas. She’s going to be alone up here, and that’ll be hard for her and Max.”
“We’re going to my parents,” he reminds her.
“I know… but I’m sure they’d understand, and it would be nice to spend it here…”
“No.” His tone brooks no argument. He picks up a box of files. “I’m taking these through to the clinic and then I’m going home.”
She falls into step with him, and as they make their way out her voice is just audible, “I do wish you wouldn’t talk to me like that in front of people…”
I glance at Archer. He’s watching her go, but now he looks at me.
There’s no need to say anything. It’s obvious how he feels about her.
But she’s with another man, and despite the fact that they bicker a lot, they don’t show any signs of breaking up.
I know Archer doesn’t like the way Jude talks to her sometimes.
But it’s none of his business, and he’s clearly decided there’s no point in saying anything.
He clears his throat. “I’m going to write up some of those interviews I did last week.”
As part of his research paper on the benefits of using animals in therapy, he’s been following up on families who’ve taken a dog home earlier in the year, finding out how their new pets have settled in, and what differences they’ve made to both adults and children in the household.
It’s no surprise that his findings have been very positive.
Pet owners report lower stress levels. Increased physical activity is also a major benefit, with most people recording at least an extra two thousand steps a day when they walk their dogs.
Families tend to have higher overall life satisfaction, while children in households with dogs also show improved social and emotional development, and they’re more empathetic and kind.
None of it is surprising to us at the Ark.
We all know that animals improve our lives.
But he’s combining these results with a study he’s carried out over the past couple of years through his clinic on the effect animals have on patients with mental health challenges like depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as patients recovering from difficult surgery or accidents, which show that people who take part in animal-assisted therapy often feel less pain.
The paper is going to be important because it will provide statistics and evidence to support government funding for a project we’ve been discussing—an Animal-Assisted Therapy Center, somewhere in the Northland, not far from the Ark.
I perch on the edge of the table. “I was walking past the old Hemsworth place this morning.”
“On your left up the hill?”
“Yeah. It’s still up for sale.”
He frowns. “It’s pretty run down.”
“It is. The farmhouse needs some serious money spent on it, but it’s a good size, and it’s in a great location… Maybe we should take a look.”
Archer nods slowly, his lips gradually curving up. “Yeah. I could call the real estate agent and organize a look around?”
“Sounds good.”
“All right. Catch you later.” He goes out of the door into the office, closing it behind him.
I turn to Max. “Okay, kiddo. We’ve got dogs to feed and look after!”
Over the next two hours, we work our way through the dogs in the cages.
We check any wounds they have and make sure they don’t need to see one of the vets, then feed them a light breakfast and make sure they all have water.
After that, we take them into the yard, and then I open the gate into the paddock.
It’s fenced off so they can’t escape, and Max has a great thirty minutes throwing balls for them and getting them to run off some steam.
He’s very good with them. Even the shy ones go to him readily, so he clearly has a gift for putting animals at ease.
Afterward, we put them back into their cages where most of them will have a dog-nap. It’s nearly eleven, so I take him through to the Fox’s Den, where they’re having their cheese scones and butter.
“You want to come back with me after you finish your snack or stay here for a bit?” I ask him.
He looks at Ollie, who’s just got the box of LEGO out. “I might stay for a bit.”
I smile. “That’s fine. I’ll come back in a while and see how you’re doing.”
He nods, sitting at the table for his scone, and Ruby winks at me. I go out and decide to see if there are any cheese scones left in the break room as they smell amazing.
And it’s also possible that Max’s mum might be going for morning tea, too.