Not my circus, not my alpacas #2
“Is that something you discussed with Kendrick?” She frowned.
The vet had said something along the same lines a few times.
Was it really so bad that she treated Nessie like a dog?
Of course she wanted her furry baby to be happy.
And it wasn’t as if she had chosen the alpaca as her pet!
Nessie had been so affectionate and trusting with her since her rescue from Loch Ness that it could only mean she liked things as they were, right?
“No’ just Kendrick. Rupert too. But tha’s not the point.
The point is that alpacas are herd animals and it’s wrong to keep one by itself.
I know you love your Nessie very much and take good care of her, but she cannae go on living like this forever.
No matter how great a mascot Nessie is for the distillery, I bet she’d be much happier out in the pasture than indoors. ”
“But ...” she began miserably and stopped.
Her da, her uncle and Kendrick were right.
Nessie was much happier since she had moved to the stable to be with Azzedine, she knew that only too well.
Couldn’t those two simply stay together?
No, probably not, because Nessie was still afraid of other horses, and Shona had no idea what Kendrick’s plans for Azzedine were.
She thought it unlikely that he would keep the gelding, given he could never ride him.
“Anyway, I thought we could have a look at the alpacas. They need a new home, and Nessie would love a mate.”
“And where would we put them?”
“You have the barn by the malting floor. We could convert part of it into an alpaca stable. And the large meadow gives them plenty of outside space. I’m sure they could become a real attraction for your business.” Marlin smiled broadly. He had apparently thought it all through to the T.
“Hm,” Shona grumbled. It wasn’t a bad idea. And if the Golden Alpaca Distillery had not one but a whole herd of mini-camel mascots, there would be lots of opportunities for great social media pics. “And you think it would be easy to do? I mean, converting the barn into a stable?”
“It’d be easy enough. For starters, we would partition off a large box for all of them.
They stick together and dinnae need individual boxes.
Tha’s something we can do very quickly. Same for the pasture.
You still have that mobile electric fence.
Tha’s enough for now, and we can make it look nicer over time. ”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve got it all planned out,” she said, smiling. “But it’s nice of you to make me feel as if I had a say.”
“You always have a say. I would never go over your head.”
“Right ...” Shona groaned. This was how it had been all her life: her father was incredibly supportive of her, no matter what her plans were.
At the same time, he was a master manipulator, or to put it more kindly: he was highly skilled at making her choose exactly the path he thought was right.
Though there was no need to complain about it.
Her da had a lot more experience in most of life’s matters than she did and provided excellent advice.
Only sometimes did she wish for the space to come up with her own ideas.
Sooner or later she might have realised herself that Nessie needed different living arrangements.
That opportunity had now been taken from her.
As was so often the case. Was that a problem?
Maybe not in this specific situation, but in the long term it was.
“Princess, you know I mean well when I share my ideas. You can always say no if you dinnae like them. If you dinnae want those alpacas, we dinnae have to get them – even if that means that poor Nessie ...”
“Fine, fine!” she cut him off. “We’ll go and check it out. Maybe there’ll be other bidders willing to pay more for them.”
Marlin gave her a pitying look. “You really think anyone round here would spend money on animals that have no real use?”
“That’s not true. Some of the local farmers keep alpacas!”
“We’ll see.” Marlin apparently considered the discussion over. He finished his coffee, stood up and put the empty cup back on the counter. “Shall we get going then?”
Resigned to his plan, Shona rolled her eyes but didn’t argue further.
Instead, she got up too, put the cups in the dishwasher and fetched her raincoat and bag from the office.
By the time she had locked the large front door, Marlin was already in his old Land Rover, trailer attached.
She shook her head as she got in. “So you came here all prepared to pick up a few animals, just on the off chance, eh?”
“Sure. Why would I go to Fort Augustus to buy alpacas and no’ be prepared to take them with me right away?”
“I suppose. I’m just wondering why you went through all the trouble of convincing me of your plan if you were going to do it anyway. Or are you saying you wouldn’t go if I had said no?”
“Shona, Princess, dinnae overcomplicate things. It’s all good, isn’t it?” Marlin patted his daughter’s knee and started the car. They drove the next few miles through the Scottish rain in silence.
“What would you have done with them if I hadn’t agreed?” she asked after a while.
“I would have put them with my sheep,” he replied. “I can still do that.”
She waved it off. “Never mind, let’s get there first.”
“Was that Kendrick just now?” Marlin asked a little later, as a large van came towards them at a brisk pace.
“I think so,” said Shona, trying to get a better look at the vehicle in the rear-view mirror. “Why is he speeding home like that?”
“Probably an emergency,” said Marlin and shrugged. “He disappeared pretty quickly from the harvest festival after he danced with you.”
“That wasn’t on me.” Shona aimed for a detached tone of voice. She had no idea what her da knew, but she sincerely hoped her cousins hadn’t gossiped about her Inverness adventure with Kendrick.
“Why would it?” he asked, clearly surprised. “I heard his sister and ex-girlfriend showed up. I just wonder what they wanted and why he didnae come back. You left pretty early, too.” He gave her a quick sideways glance and she could have sworn his eyes flashed with a hint of suspicion.
“What are you implying?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just sharing my observations.”
“Of course.” She raised a brow. “As for Kendrick and the two women, I can only tell you what the grapevine says, which I’m sure you already know. And I was tired and went to bed. Alone, by the way.”
“More’s the pity.”
A pity?! Now her da had her really confused. “What’s a pity?”
“Well, the whole thing. That you went home alone and that you dinnae know what’s going on with Kendrick. I was kind of hoping that you and he ...”
“Da!” she shrieked. “Where did you get that idea? Anyway, Kendrick and I … That would be worse than cats and dogs.”
“There are plenty of examples of cats and dogs that get along perfectly well. I happen to think the two of yous would be an excellent match. I also thought there was a spark between yous.”
“A spark?” She had no intention of discussing sparks of any kind with her da, least of all those between Kendrick and her.
If her father with his bloodhound instincts realised she wasn’t not interested in the vet, he might take matters into his own hands and wouldn’t rest until she had a ring on her finger.
“It was pretty obvious,” he claimed.
“Rubbish!” She shook her head vigorously. “I’m sure he feels even less of a spark than I do. I’ve heard that his ex is now dating his sister and that they want him to help them have a child.” A bit of juicy gossip should distract him from the dangerous trajectory of this conversation, she hoped.
“You dinnae have to believe everything people say. And even if there’s something to these rumours, it has nothing to do with you.” Marlin was undeterred.
“This whole thing has nothing to do with me, Da! Why don’t you focus on the traffic for now, and if we return home with three alpacas in tow, you can ask Kendrick yourself.
” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened Instagram.
Her da couldn’t stand it when people started fiddling with their phones while talking to him and usually punished them with silence.
Which was exactly the response she was hoping for.
“Aye, I’ll do that,” he replied, a wide smile on his face.
If earlier today she had considered her dungarees as a sign of defeat, three hours later she had only a weary smile for her fashion-related meltdown.
She could officially say that the country life had done her in!
How else could she explain that she was now the proud owner of another three alpacas?
The circus animals named Alvarez, Petunia and Hamish had climbed into the horse trailer as joyfully as if they were expecting a trip to paradise.
To boot, she also had two new wolfhounds, Orla and Higgins, who were said to have some incredible tricks up their non-existent sleeves.
The two-year-old litter mates, inseparable as they were, were crammed together into the back seat of the old Land Rover.
They were huge! The off-roader was rather spacious, but these two barely fit back there, and one of them had their gigantic head on Shona’s shoulder.
“Aren’t they gorgeous?” Marlin said happily, beaming like a benevolent Father Christmas. She had rarely seen her da in such high spirits.
“Aye.” What else could she say? She had been doomed the moment they entered the dilapidated circus tent where the auction was held. Everything was in such a pitiful state, and Shona couldn’t imagine anything of value among what was left.