Chapter 12
TWELVE
‘Hello, Sadie? It’s Fallon Honeywood.’
‘Fallon, how lovely to hear from you! It’s been a while.’
‘Yes, too long. How are you?’
We made small talk for a few minutes, catching up on her work with the sanctuary and mine in London, before I moved on to the real reason for my call.
‘I’m not far away from you right now – I’m spending Christmas in Lingfoss. You may have seen that Mum has a new boyfriend – well, his son lives up here.’ I explained that I had needed a break from work and from London, something Sadie understood only too well. ‘Douglas’s grandson, Theo, is a huge bird fan, and I was wondering if it might be possible to bring him up to the sanctuary? He’s been having a few problems at school as well, so he’s not attending much at the moment. If it’s convenient for you, I think a visit could help him.’
‘Of course,’ said Sadie warmly. ‘He’s nine, did you say? Old enough to be able to help out, if you think more than just a visit would be good for him?’
I was relieved that Sadie understood.
‘I’m not entirely sure, I haven’t known him for very long, but that’s my feeling, yes.’
‘Good stuff. You can come over this afternoon if you’re free?’
‘That’s incredibly kind, thank you. I’ll check with his dad and let you know in a few minutes.’
When we all gathered for lunch, Alexander agreed that the afternoon would be perfect, and so did Theo, even though he had had a riot that morning with Douglas and Mum, who had staged some sort of crazed Christmas scavenger hunt that all three had enjoyed enormously. They had been hunting for festive items beginning with each letter of the alphabet; angel, bauble and crib were easy enough, but things got very silly around ‘q’ when someone suggested a small duck ornament might count as a Christmas quacker. Having described his morning in great detail, Theo was now asking about the sanctuary.
‘What birds do they have? Why have they got them there – are they injured? What sort of help do you think I can be? Can Runcible come too?’
I laughed.
‘I can only answer one of those questions. Yes, Runcible is allowed to come, but she has to stay on a lead. Otherwise, we’ll just have to find out when we get there.’
Douglas and Mum decided to stay behind, having worn themselves out with Theo, as did Coco, who wanted to practice a recipe or two.
‘I’ll join, though, if I may?’ said Constance. ‘I’m making good progress with the book, and it won’t do me any harm to get out of the house for a while.’
Theo looked around at us, his face happier than I had seen it yet.
‘Yes, come, Aunt Constance. I’m hoping they might have a merlin, or even owls, but I suppose…’
His face fell and Alexander put a hand on his shoulder.
‘What’s up?’
‘If they’re in the sanctuary, it means that they’ve been hurt. I shouldn’t be excited about that.’
There was a silence and the adults looked at one another awkwardly. It was Constance who saved the day.
‘Not at all,’ she said robustly. ‘You’re not excited about them being hurt, you’re excited about the chance to see these birds close up, and to help them, and so am I. Fallon and Dad, too, I imagine.’
We both nodded vigorously. She continued.
‘Sadly, in life, animals do get hurt, but wonderfully there are people like Fallon’s friend Sadie who help them, and that is a cause for celebration. Now, let’s get this lunch eaten so we can get there as soon as possible.’
Taking her cue, we all started eating and Douglas asked Alexander how plans for the Christmas Fayre were going, which kept us talking until it was time to get ready to leave.
The sanctuary was a twenty-minute drive away, and I saw Sadie waiting for us as we drove up the lane. Tall, with long, grey hair today caught up in a clip beneath a woolly hat, she made a striking figure against the leaden sky.
‘Welcome,’ she greeted us, shaking everyone’s hand and stroking Runcible’s head. ‘Good to see this little one again, I always was a fan of your dog. Come on, let’s get moving – it’s cold out here and there’s plenty to see and do.’
She strode off towards a large building near the house and we all trotted after her. I was glad of the prospect of being indoors again; Sadie lived on a bleak and exposed part of the moors and the wind was snatching at us viciously, turning our cheeks red and making our eyes water. She pushed open a heavy wooden door and we found ourselves inside a large, warm room lined with cages but otherwise kitted out as a vet’s surgery.
‘So, this is where we do any medical work on the birds, as you can see. The cages here are small and they don’t stay for long. Today we’ve only got one bird in, came in this morning and I had to operate. Come and see.’
She led us over to a cage with a heat lamp in it and we all peered in. All I could see was a little hunched bundle of feathers, partially wrapped in bandages, but Theo let out an exclamation.
‘Oh! Is it a Little Owl?’
Sadie smiled at him.
‘It is. Rare for us to get one here. Not so lucky for him, but lucky for you today.’
‘What happened to him?’ asked the little boy, his nose pressed to the cage.
‘He was found caught in some tangled barbed wire. Thankfully, he hasn’t broken anything, but he has some cuts, and he needs plenty to eat and drink. We’ll move him to a larger enclosure soon and he’ll be able to leave us in a few days with any luck. He’s one we’ll need help with.’
Theo turned big, shining eyes on Alexander.
‘Daddy, I might be able to help, mightn’t I?’
Alexander smiled down at his son and put his arm around his shoulder, hugging him close to him.
‘I should think so. But will you mind letting him go again?’
‘Oh no , that will be the best part. He should be flying free.’
Sadie caught my eye and nodded.
‘Good lad. Right, come and see our biggest inhabitant.’
I had limited interest in the birds, beautiful though they were, but as we walked around, I noticed that several of the enclosures were looking worn and that Sadie’s house, where she lived with her husband and daughter, had some missing tiles on the roof and flaking paint on the window frames. The shiny Christmas garlands strung around couldn’t detract from the state of disrepair. Maybe what this place needed more than anything was some sort of fundraising effort? Sadie had explained to me previously that many people in the local area disliked the sorts of birds that she was striving to save, and they were often victims of deliberate harm, but there must be some people who understood that they actually presented little threat to stocks of game birds and who would be eager to see them helped?
‘You look like you’re glazing over there,’ said Alexander, coming up beside me as we watched Sadie showing Theo how to prepare food for a sick owl. ‘Cutting up chicks not your thing?’
I smiled at him.
‘It’s not that, I was just thinking about how I might be able to help Sadie raise some money and awareness for this place. She does such amazing work.’
‘I thought you were meant to be up here resting,’ said Alexander teasingly. ‘So far, you’ve leaped into action to help me, offered to get things moving for Coco, found what looks like the perfect activity for Theo and are now plotting some sort of raptor party as well. Forgive me for saying, but I’m not surprised you were on the road to burnout.’ His eyes darkened slightly, and he looked more serious. ‘You do have to be careful, though, no matter how driven you are.’
I screwed up my face.
‘I know. I’m always taking on too much, but although I like the idea of doing nothing for a while, it doesn’t suit me. I’ve even agreed to help Mum with her Instagram stuff, although that looks like it should be good for me, I promise.’
He was about to answer when a very tall man with a huge, black beard came through the door, holding the hand of a girl around Theo’s age.
‘Hello, everyone,’ he said in a deep voice. ‘Good to see you all.’ He came over and gave me a hug, which I returned warmly.
Sadie looked up from her work and smiled.
‘This is my husband, Jacob, and our daughter, Linnet. Linnet, darling, do you want to come and help me and Theo?’
Without looking at anyone, the little girl let go of her father’s hand and scuttled over. The three of them were soon bent over their task again, Constance now joining them, and I turned to speak to Jacob.
‘Oh! I must introduce you – this is Alexander Knight, Theo’s father.’
The men shook hands, and both started speaking at once. Alexander urged Jacob to talk first.
‘I was just going to say that we know each other already, don’t we?’
‘So was I. From the hospital – I used to work as a surgeon there.’
‘Of course.’ Jacob turned to me. ‘I’m a physiotherapist, as you know, mostly roving – I work with sports teams usually – but I do occasional work at the hospital.’ He turned back to Alexander. ‘I was sorry to hear about the accident. How was the rehab for the hand, are you back at work?’
Alexander stretched his hand out and shook his head.
‘No, I don’t think I’ll get it back to surgical standard.’
‘Really? From what I remember, it was an injury that would take a lot of work to recover from but would be doable. I can have a look if you like?’
Alexander shook his head.
‘No, thanks. I’m going to go and see how Theo’s getting on.’
He walked off abruptly, and Jacob turned to me with a frown.
‘What’s going on there? I hope I didn’t offend him, but I’m sure that hand could mend with some good, regular physio.’
‘I’ve got no idea. Maybe he doesn’t want to be a surgeon again.’
‘Whyever not? He was extremely talented, from what I remember.’
I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable discussing Alexander, but Jacob continued speaking and I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t interested in finding out a little more about Alexander’s past. ‘His wife left him after the accident – well, after she realised he wasn’t going to be a surgeon anymore. I didn’t know her, but no one had anything good to say about her, especially after she dumped him and her son and went off with some rich Italian. Oh well, mustn’t speak ill of the dead. How are you getting on with him?’
I was reluctant to give Jacob, who seemed to be an inveterate gossip, anything else to work with and was making noncommittal noises when Theo called over.
‘Fallon! Do come and see! We’ve finished preparing the meat now and we’re actually going to feed a sick barn owl. Do come!’
Relieved at not having to give Jacob an answer, I hurried over and watched as Sadie took a sleepy-looking owl from a cage and wrapped it tightly in a towel, then showed us how to give it a drink using, at first, a small paintbrush to dab the water into its mouth, followed by a tiny syringe. We all had a turn, but Theo’s joy at performing this task made us step back and let him take on the majority of the work. Sadie looked up.
‘There’s plenty more to do if you’re looking for jobs? Linnet and Theo can carry on here – it’ll take a good fifteen minutes to get all this into him. Jacob, you and Constance could go and sort out that hen harrier and I’ll show Fallon and Alexander the kittens.’
I followed her happily, Runcible trotting along on the end of her lead. She was as sweet with cats as she was with everything, and although I still wouldn’t leave her alone with young kittens, she would be perfectly fine to come along and watch. Sadie pushed open the door to another, smaller outhouse, this one with a hand-painted wooden sign on the door that said ‘Nursery’. She went over to a large cage, where all I could see were blankets, opened the top and beckoned us over. We peered in and saw, to my surprise, not cats but tiny rabbits, all huddled together asleep.
‘These are kittens,’ she said, smiling. ‘We often take in wildlife other than raptors; the RSPCA passes them on to us or people ask us for help. This large litter of six was found a couple of days ago – their mother had been killed by a dog.’
‘Poor little things,’ I said. ‘How old are they?’
‘About a week. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine, but they need feeding. Come on, I’ll show you how to make up some formula and give it to them.’
She showed us a small kitchen area and left us with instructions, then went to leave.
‘Sadie, I’m not sure about this,’ I said, panicking. ‘What if something goes wrong? I can’t do it, I’ll probably hurt them.’
She laughed.
‘All new mothers feel like that, Fallon. You’ll be fine, can’t go wrong if you do what I said, and you’ve got Alexander here. He’s a doctor.’
And she whisked out, shutting the door firmly behind her. I looked at Alexander and pulled a face.
‘You heard her: you’re the doctor, so this is on you.’
‘Not anymore, and never a rabbit doctor. She seems to have appointed you mum, so she must trust your instincts.’
‘More than I bloody do,’ I muttered, picking up the tin of formula. ‘Oh, come on, between us we must be able to manage this.’
We made up the milk to Sadie’s instructions, then went over to the baby rabbits. Alexander reached in and lifted one out gently.
‘Do you want this one?’ he asked, and I nodded, although I was still far from sure that this was a good idea. I took it from him, noticing again the livid scar on his hand, and sat on a small sofa, a towel on my lap with the rabbit snuggled into it. Alexander handed me a syringe full of milk and I held it to the rabbit’s mouth. To my delight, it immediately started to suck. I looked up.
‘Alexander, look, it’s drinking!’
He smiled.
‘Well done. Let’s see if I manage as well as you have.’
He took out another kitten and sat down next to me. His rabbit also started to take its milk. We beamed at each other and then sat peacefully until the syringes were empty and the babies looked drowsy.
‘Time for the next ones?’ whispered Alexander, and I nodded. I hadn’t suddenly transformed into some sort of Earth Mother, and I didn’t want my own baby any more than I had this morning, but even I couldn’t deny that sitting there in this milky quiet, feeling the warmth of Alexander’s body next to me as we nurtured these minuscule creatures, was bringing a sense of pleasure quite unfamiliar to me: one that I had never found in work, no matter how satisfying it was.
We were feeding the last two kittens when the door opened and everyone else came in, dropping their voices when they saw us. Theo was over in a flash.
‘Oh, look!’ he whispered. ‘They’re adorable.’
‘Would you like to finish off?’ I asked.
‘No, you’re doing really well,’ he said, with all the confidence of one who has learned how to handfeed a starving owl. ‘I like watching, though.’
In a few minutes’ time, the syringes were empty, and we replaced the kittens in their cage.
‘We should be heading home,’ said Alexander, looking at his watch. ‘I can’t thank you enough, Sadie, we’ve had a wonderful afternoon.’
‘You’re welcome,’ she said. ‘And I’ve been talking to Theo – if it’s all right with you, he can come back and help out as much as he likes. Be glad to have him.’
Theo looked at his father with huge, shining eyes, and Alexander laughed.
‘Of course he can come back, thank you.’
Theo just squeezed his father’s hand and beamed.
When we got home, everyone took off their outdoor clothes and disappeared, leaving only Alexander and me in the hall. I decided to go and rest in the hour or so before dinner and started heading up the stairs, but he caught my wrist. I turned.
‘Look, Fallon, I just want to thank you again. That afternoon was transformational for Theo. I think, I hope, that after a difficult period, we might have turned a corner.’
‘It wasn’t really me – it was Sadie who did everything.’
‘Yes, but you had the idea, you had the instinct that it could help, and you were right.’
This was all feeling too intense for me, and I pulled my arm away.
‘It just seemed logical. I’m not sure instinct had anything to do with it, but I’m glad it helped.’
He looked confused – he’d probably got too used to all those gushing Annabels – but then grinned.
‘Have it your own way – but you made a lovely bunny mummy, you can’t deny it.’
I stuck my tongue out at him.
‘A one-time only special, and one that’s left me needing a nap.’
And with that, I ran up the stairs to the peace and solitude of my room.