In the doghouse #2
“Definitely Hamish. Alvarez is the bay,” Marlin confirmed, sounding like a proud new da.
“Then, hello Hamish.” Kendrick checked the alpaca’s feet, then his eyes, ears and mouth.
“Your teeth are too long, but we can trim them down, and you’re underweight, but other than that, you’re alright, pal, aren’t you?
” He took another piece of carrot out of his pocket and fed it to the animal.
Then he turned back to the humans: “Do I want to know what this menagerie is all about?”
“The animals are from a travelling circus that went bankrupt. We bought them and picked them up in Fort Augustus earlier today. Shona thought they would be good company for Nessie, and the three of them desperately need a good home. Win-win,” Marlin summarised smugly.
“So you’re telling me Shona wants Nessie to have more suitable company?”
“What’s so surprising about that?” came her slightly irritated reply.
Kendrick was annoyed with himself. Why had he said that out loud?
After their first, unpleasant encounter, he had strictly kept any doubts about her animal husbandry to himself, or most of them anyway.
But the fact remained that alpacas were not pets, even if they were as cute and cuddly as Nessie and this fellow here.
“Nothing, it’s great,” he said in an attempt at de-escalation.
“It was not my idea, by the way, but Da’s,” Shona elaborated. “But maybe it is really nicer for Nessie to have friends who look like her.”
“It is. She’ll be thrilled.” Kendrick went to the next alpaca, a cream-coloured mare, and examined her too.
When he was done, he made his way over to the third.
“At first sight, they’re all a bit skinny and their teeth are too long, but other than that, I can’t see anything wrong with them.
I’ll trim down their teeth so they can eat better.
If you like, I can take some blood to test later.
And I’d like to deworm them, just to be on the safe side.
Other than that, just give them plenty of good food and they’ll be fine.
” He stroked the reddish-brown animal and looked round.
“Aye, we’ll do all that. Including the bloods,” Marlin decided, and Shona nodded her agreement.
“And what about these two?” Kendrick asked as he pointed at the huge grey wolfhounds. The two were huddled against the wall behind Shona like some ghostly shadows.
“Also part of the bankruptcy estate,” explained Marlin with a twinkle in his eye. “They couldnae care less for me, but it was love at first sight between them and Shona.”
“I see,” Kendrick replied with a smile and tried to lure the dogs to him but found them unusually shy. “Do you think they’re afraid of men?”
“Hard to say. We haven’t had much time to work them out yet.” Shona frowned. “With me, they were super trusting right away, and they’ve mostly ignored Da. Rupert too. Maybe they’re just a bit afraid generally, with the new surroundings and all that.”
“Or they were mistreated by a man in that circus,” grumbled Kendrick. “Let’s not cause them any further stress today. Did you get any sense they’re ill?”
Shona shook her head and Marlin agreed: “No’ at all. Like the alpacas, they mostly just seemed happy to get away. They’re too skinny, but otherwise they seem in good shape.”
“Okay, then I’d suggest we give it a few days before I look them over. Let them settle in first. Take them home and feed them, but don’t give them too much. Just let them get used to everything and if anything out of the ordinary happens, give me a ring,” he implored Shona.
“What should I feed them?”
“Why don’t you ask Isla and Jon for some kibble?
They have good big-dog food for Polly. You can also cook them rice with chicken and add a few eggs.
But as I said, don’t overdo it. That could upset their gastrointestinal tract, and wolfhounds are prone to stomach torsions and other nasty issues anyway. ”
Shona stared at him in alarm. “But I have no idea how much is too much and ...”
“Don’t worry, you’ll do fine,” he replied reassuringly.
“Get a bag of Polly’s food from Jon and give them half of what it lists for forty-kilo dogs tonight.
They probably don’t weigh much more than that right now, although they should be quite a bit heavier given their size.
But we’ll know their exact weight when I’ve checked them out.
Give them a handful of cooked rice each and crack an egg or two on top.
We don’t know how they were fed in the past and if they got wet or dry food. ”
He looked at the two dogs again. They didn’t seem particularly frightened but still made no move to come closer.
Instead they stood behind Shona and watched him closely.
Because of their shaggy fur, he couldn’t tell exactly how malnourished they were, and he would prefer to have a close look first. But that would have to wait. His gut told him not to rush it.
“Don’t overthink it. No matter what they were fed in the past, I reckon they’ll be happy with anything you give them at this point.
And then check what comes out the other side.
If they get the runs, we’ll do something about it straight away.
If not, feed them three servings of this mix throughout the day tomorrow.
The day after that you can increase the amount a little, and in three days’ time I’ll have a look at them and we’ll take it from there. Sound good?”
Shona swallowed and seemed slightly overwhelmed. He couldn’t blame her. She had taken on a real challenge here!
“You can do it. It’ll be alright.” He smiled at her encouragingly.
“But what if they’re really sick?”
“Then we’ll give them the care they need. You can call me at any time, day or night. I’ll come over right away.”
Marlin cleared his throat loudly, and Kendrick realised how suggestive his words had sounded.
Or maybe not. Certainly not to those who had no idea of the chemistry between him and Shona.
He himself hadn’t thought about it at all in the last few minutes either, focused on his job as he had been.
But now his thoughts were drifting in an entirely different direction. This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
“Okay,” Shona agreed quietly, and he couldn’t tell if she had picked up on the double entendre or not. Her eyes radiated what Kendrick interpreted as concern and nothing else.
“Well, that’s settled then,” he continued in a businesslike manner and stretched back up to his full height. “Shall I take care of the alpacas right now so we can tick that off the list?”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Rupert agreed. “Marlin, why dinnae you take your daughter and her two bodyguards home, and I’ll help Kendrick with these alpacas?”
“Where will home be later?” Kendrick wanted to know. “The guest stable is probably not the ideal forever home.”
“We will set up a stable in the barn at Shona’s distillery. Tha’s where they will live. The meadow over there is big enough and already has an electric fence. That’ll do for now, and later on, we can fence in the entire property,” explained Marlin.
“What a great idea! Four alpacas living at the Golden Alpaca Distillery.” Kendrick grinned. “The moment our mayor hears that, he’ll send out a press release I bet.”
“You’re truly one of us if you’ve already figured out how Kirkby works,” Rupert said with a laugh, while Marlin just rolled his eyes.
“Collum left me a message earlier. He wants to send out a press release about the reintroduction of birds of prey and needs a quotable soundbite from me. That’s why I thought of it. He’s hardly going to stop at the alpacas, is he?”
“Nothing is sacred to that man,” growled Marlin. “If Collum McDonald had his way, he would transform our Kirkby into a Highland Disneyland for American tourists, and he’d force us to walk around in kilts every day.”
“You’re being dramatic, Da,” scolded Shona, back to her cheerful demeanour. “And you know that having a few more visitors around is a good thing. This morning you said yourself that a herd of alpacas at the distillery would be a tourist attraction. So what’s the difference?”
“When I say it, it’s completely different from when Collum says it,” Marlin claimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.