Chapter Seventeen
Seventeen
Clipping
Responsible person required for housesitting/petsitting role on Loor Island. Accommodation needs updating but has sea views. Pay negotiable depending on experience, but the successful applicant will have private access to a beach and a herb garden. Must have genuine love for animals and be willing and able to follow instructions carefully. For more info, please email me at your earliest convenience.
What if I actually applied and got it? In a few weeks, I’d be living in my own private space on Loor Island. No more sharing a flat with strangers and failing at a job I hate. I’d have a whole new life. A chance to start again.
‘Nemo, how would you like to be an island cat?’ I ask. The gig is probably looking after a pack of sighthounds or an aviary of birds, which would likely preclude our application.
He doesn’t reply. Not even the merest hint of a miaow. He just stares at me, inscrutably.
I could email for details, just on the off chance. The pets could be giant rabbits. Nemo wouldn’t bother a giant rabbit. Or I might have to take care of the occupants of an expensive fish-tank, which would doubtlessly be entirely cat-proof.
Hamsters, on the other hand, might be a problem; that could definitely end in tears. But what if it was exotic fish or giant rabbits?
‘We could live somewhere with a cat flap,’ I say.
He narrows his eyes and does the slow blinking thing he always does when he’s pleased.
‘You could be master of your own domain.’
Nemo begins to purr.
It’s worth an email, surely.