As pet friendly as they come #2
“Exactly,” Shona insisted stubbornly. “Nessie is a pet. You can’t just put her out to pasture with the sheep. What if she’d been attacked by a wolf?”
“Princess, there are no wolves round here. And even if there were, Nessie would be in a lot less danger than my sheep. Alpacas are very resilient. In some countries, they use them to protect flocks against whole packs of wolves.”
Shona glared angrily at her father. She wanted empathy, not a biology lecture. “Be that as it may, Nessie is a pet. You wouldn’t have Tito sleep outside, would you?” She petted the little dog, who had greeted her with his usual American enthusiasm.
“Let’s just say we have a fundamentally different understanding of domestic versus farm. But calm down, Princess, Nessie survived her wee adventure just fine. Neither the alcohol nor the night in the wild will leave any lasting damage,” Marlin continued good-naturedly.
“You don’t take me seriously,” grumbled Shona.
She hated it when her father sounded this patronising.
Her siblings constantly teased her for being his favourite and it was true that he couldn’t deny her anything she really wanted.
But ever so often, he treated her like a spoilt little girl.
Which she was not, dammit! “Come on, Nessie, time to go to work!” She turned and headed for the garden gate, pleased to see that her alpaca indeed followed her like a dog.
Calling her a farm animal and not a pet, pfft!
Shona and Nessie walked amicably along the road towards the town centre, and Shona drank in the heat of the mild summer morning.
The weather was gorgeous again. She was thrilled that the latest sunny spell had now lasted for close to a week.
Granted, some suspected the nice weather was more down to climate change than luck, but Shona couldn’t help but enjoy the added warmth.
Climate change was never going to be a good thing, but this one particular effect on the Highland weather suited her quite well.
Beautiful as it was in the Highlands, she found the usual weather a challenge.
She would certainly never admit it – and risk being an outcast among her fellow Scots – but she craved bright sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures.
Good mood restored, she entered the Old Bakery a few minutes later. Business in the new shop was booming.
“Morning,” she called cheerfully into the room.
Behind the glass sales counter stood her cousin Kristy, cheeks flushed, selling her delicious baked goods alongside coffee or tea to go to her walk-in clientele.
The five small tables in the coffeeshop were all occupied and served by a temp Shona hadn’t yet met.
Anna sat in the far corner and gave her a wave.
As the shop’s next-door neighbour, the young country doctor had breakfast at Kristy’s pretty much every day now.
Always accompanied by her huge Maine Coon, Elvis, who currently perched on the chair next to her, his amber-yellow eyes eagerly watching all the goings-on around him.
“Now, that really crosses the line,” an upset woman exclaimed. She was sitting one over from Anna in the company of a man, most likely her husband. The couple were clearly recognisable as tourists by the travel guide on the table. “Miss! Miss!” She emphatically waved the waitress over.
“Can I help?” the new waitress asked nervously.
“There are already two dogs and a cat, and now there’s a llama in here!” she complained indignantly. “What would the food hygiene authorities have to say? Please make sure this beast leaves immediately!”
“But ...” The waitress apparently had no idea how to handle the situation.
“She’s an alpaca, not a llama,” Shona said coolly to the woman, who was looking round for support but received only frowns from the other guests.
“Same difference,” the woman snapped. “I for one can’t stand its presence.”
“We are a pet-friendly shop,” chirped the waitress, obviously remembering the sign in the display window.
“And a very animal-friendly community,” Collum jumped in. He had just entered the bakery and heard the last sentence. “Is there a problem?”
“Dogs are one thing, but a cat and then this ... erm ... alpaca, that must be against code!” The woman was getting more and more upset, and her companion looked increasingly uncomfortable.
He put a hand on her arm to calm her, which only seemed to fuel her fury further.
She slapped his hand away and rose with so much momentum that her chair fell over and landed on the ground.
“I’m going to complain. To the police or town hall or Food Standards!”
“Did you know that alpacas spit when they feel threatened?” Shona asked innocently, struggling to stay serious. She knew perfectly well that Nessie would do nothing of the sort, but she couldn’t help herself. She had a pretty good idea what was about to happen.
“It’s a danger to the public!” the woman shouted. “I’m going to the authorities right now. This shop must be closed down.”
“You can save yourself the trip,” Collum replied politely, and Shona wondered how he could look so well-rested, as if he had not been on a major bender last night.
“I’m the mayor of Kirkby, and I can assure you that everything is in proper order.
These pets are allowed to be in here, and they do not pose any danger. ”
“That’s not for you to say! I’m sure Food Standards will have a different opinion on that,” the woman objected.
“Well, I cannot speak for Food Standards,” Anna intervened. “But as Kirkby’s doctor, I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“Indeed I am. And according to our community’s by-laws, every owner of a food-serving business may decide whether or not to allow animals on the premises, as long as all hygiene standards are met in the food preparation.” Anna smiled angelically from underneath her blonde curls.
“That would never fly in the States,” the woman objected once more.
“But as my place of business is in Scotland, I get to decide,” replied Kristy, who had come into the coffeeshop.
“We Scots love our animals; they are part of our lives – and they are as welcome in here as my human patrons. I’m sorry you don’t feel comfortable in their company, but I’m sure you understand that I can’t change my rules for one guest. Feel free to finish at your own pace.
Your order is on the house. And I wish you a great rest of your holiday.
” She nodded curtly at the troublemaker and returned to her sales counter.
Shona was impressed. She had never seen her shy cousin be so assertive.
A few customers, who had watched the scene with growing interest, broke out in spontaneous applause, which the angry woman took as her prompt to leave, imperiously telling her husband to follow along.
He mumbled a sheepish apology and left behind her.
“Wow,” gasped Shona as the door slammed shut. “The police and Food Standards? Some people don’t have real problems.”
“I’m sure they’ll post one-star reviews all over the internet,” said Kristy, suddenly looking rather dejected.
“Don’t worry about that! Even if they do, some of us can just comment with something like ‘cats and camels with your coffee’ and that will bring in a tonne of new people,” Shona reassured her.
“And your regulars will never abandon you, anyway,” added Anna, who stood up and gave Kristy a regretful smile. “I’m afraid duty calls. Will I see you at choir practice tonight?”
Kristy nodded, and her smile returned as well.
“We’re tourists too, and we find your bakery just wonderful,” an elderly lady who had been patiently waiting in the queue for her turn chimed up. “We’ll leave you a great review! But tell me, does Kirkby also offer whisky-tasting?”
“That’s very kind of you, thank you,” Kristy replied happily. “And aye, we do have a distillery. But it only opened yesterday, so I’m not sure if they offer tastings yet.” Kristy gestured at Shona.
“Visitors as friendly as yourself are always welcome!” Shona approached the woman and shook her hand. “I’m Shona Fraser from the Golden Alpaca Distillery, and if you’re interested, I’d be happy to welcome you later.”
Kendrick sat on the wooden bench in front of his cottage, enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun but at a bit of a loose end.
He’d only had time to rest this past half hour; until then, the entire day had been a whirlwind of activity: the movers had arrived at eight o’clock in the morning, and it had taken them only an hour to place all his belongings in his new cottage.
For the next hours, he had unpacked boxes and installed lamps until his rather minimalist household was all set up.
Most of the things in his old place had stayed with Glenna.
When he was done, he had driven to the large supermarket in Inverness to stock up on supplies for the week.
As luck would have it, he had promptly bumped into his twin sister Kyleen, who had teasingly enquired if he was already done with his rural relocation after only one day.
With a wide grin, she had shoved her phone at him; the display showed the latest post on some Highland blog.
It’s topic: the distillery opening in Kirkby and the ‘insidious assassination attempt’ on the business’s mascot.
Seriously?! That was how this amateur reporter had phrased the accident?
To make matters worse, the blog post featured an unflattering photo in which both Kendrick and his van were clearly recognisable. Thank you very much for that!