Chapter 1
Sterling Monroe sat outside the bus stop.
He just watched the world go by, wondering at the state of affairs that had brought him here.
The fact that Timber—a good friend from their military days and perhaps more of a mentor now—was picking him up gave Sterling a sense of connectedness that he was surprised to feel.
When a shout came from the side, he turned to see his old buddy limping toward him.
Sterling got up, and they exchanged hugs. He stepped back to check out Timber. “You are looking better than I expected.”
Timber snorted. “Yeah, sometimes even the good end up doing okay,” he quipped. “Come on. The truck is over here. This is Toby. He’s a volunteer and one of our head cooks.”
Sterling shook his hand. “Sterling.”
Timber interjected, “Sorry, but we’ve got a bunch of shopping to do first, before we head to the Haven.”
Sterling shrugged, tilting his head. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got nothing to do and no place to do it.”
“Not for long, not if you are open to it,” Timber offered. “It all depends on how you feel about giving us a hand out there.”
“I’m all yours, Timber. You know that,” Sterling stated. “I’m just not sure what I can do for you though.”
Timber began, “We need help in various situations. We’re trying to find ways to recoup some of the money that’s gone into setting up the Haven.
That’s where your K9 training will come in handy, as well as possibly boarding horses and dogs.
As for our rescue operation itself, we’ve already built a lot of infrastructure very quickly, out of necessity really.
We lucked out to have as many as forty-something volunteers at one time involved in that.
Yet I would love to see these remaining volunteers finding a new career, something they enjoy, whether part-time or full-time positions, even if they don’t stick around here. ” Timber shook his head.
“Sounds as if you’ve gotten a little bit over your head.”
“Ha. My original plan was to build all the infrastructure myself, no matter how long that took. But then Badger and Kat got involved, and suddenly all hell broke loose. In no time I had a volunteer construction crew you wouldn’t believe.
Once that got started, everybody wanted to come help, so they did,” he added, with a note of humor.
“Toby here and Dwight handle cooking the food most of the time,” Timber explained, “and foodstuffs are some of what we’re heading off to pick up right now.
Meanwhile we’re still building infrastructure as needed at the Haven.
We’ve got bunkhouses, treatment centers, paddocks, miles of fences, and even special training centers.
Buildings are going up everywhere you look,” he noted, with a laugh, then just shook his head.
“Wow,” Sterling said. “Sounds great, Timber. Seems you’ve done one hell of a job pulling this off and getting it all coordinated. I understand what you mean about trying to find a way to recoup some of the costs. Sounds expensive already.”
“I’m doing okay for money, but I don’t really talk about it.”
Toby snorted. “Occasionally I catch him staring off in the distance, looking worried. So, I try to reassure him that all must be done with a balance between the amount of responsibilities and a certain amount of trust that everything will work out.”
“Listen to you, the old wise one,” Timber quipped.
Sterling nodded, asking Toby, “Does that make him feel any better?”
“I’m not sure it does,” Toby acknowledged, with a smile. “Only so much one can say to reassure somebody who has already put out hundreds of thousands of dollars on this project.”
Sterling whistled.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Timber murmured.
Toby continued, facing Sterling. “Timber’s always helping other people and had worked with Badger’s group before. So, when Kat and Badger put out the call for volunteers, a lot of people showed up. It was crazy times, but an awful lot of fun was had as well.”
Timber smiled and added, “Some of the volunteers are still there too.”
“Are you paying all of them?” Sterling asked Timber.
“Nope, not a one. Wish I could, although they get room and board and plenty of work to keep them busy. A lot of them are in the same situation as you, basically looking for a place to land and something to do while they sort out what they’ll do next in life.
Some have opted to remain nearby, looking at small plots of land to build their own home on. ”
Toby added, “It’ll be a permanent home for me now.”
“Are they all vets?” Sterling asked.
“Yeah. All veterans, of some division of the military or another,” Timber replied.
Toby pointed at his friend and boss. “Yeah, Timber is not at all particular about who needs help. He is there for anybody who needs it, and he’s pretty good at helping guys get comfortable and get started doing something new with their lives.
“You’ve got to love that,” Sterling replied. “So, Timber, are you okay with adding me in?”
“Absolutely. When I told the guys how you’d spent a lot of time training animals, they all nodded. I was hoping to start some training programs. So you are a perfect fit, Sterling, if you choose to do that.”
Toby nodded. “I suggested Timber take on boarding horses and dogs too. Of course we can look at a bunch of other avenues for income streams as well.”
“No doubt,” Sterling noted, “as running a rescue takes a lot of money.”
Timber frowned. “I don’t know about any incoming money, but apparently we have over fifty dogs arriving today, involving a lot of outgoing money.”
“Wow.” Sterling didn’t know what to say to that. That number was far out of the realm of normal for him.
Toby explained, “Apparently one of the local rescues is overwhelmed with nursing mothers and puppies. Taking care of them is one thing, but then we’ll also need to find good homes for them.”
Timber added, “Meanwhile, they must be dewormed, vaccinated, neutered or spayed, all that good stuff.”
Sterling frowned. “Exactly, and all that costs money.”
Toby agreed, “No wonder the shelters get overwhelmed.”
Timber frowned at Sterling in the rearview mirror.
“We’ll need someone organized and detail-oriented to oversee the actual costs for the care of each of these dogs, plus advertising and whatnot to find them forever homes.
So, Sterling, with your gift for training dogs, maybe you can keep an eye out for that special canine that could be trained to have a specific job? ”
“Sure,” he said, “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Toby nodded. “I will too, as Timber’s got enough on his mind.”
Sterling asked, “Were the local shelters happy to hear about Timber’s operation, or were they worried it was competition?”
Timber shrugged, but Toby explained, “I think they were happy, once they saw he was the real deal. I’m sure a lot of well-meaning people want to help animals, but they underestimate what it really takes—in time and money and dedication—to do it right.
Anyway, not that she has to help out, but Tiffany, Timber’s partner, is a local veterinarian herself, and one of the other guys has just connected with another vet in town, Keisha.
Therefore, we have an awful lot of free assistance coming through for the animals.
That’s particularly helpful while we sort out what we are doing and how we are doing it,” Toby shared.
Sterling nodded. “That’s got to be one of the biggest challenges, just figuring out how to set things up.”
Timber grimaced. “Yeah, and the two animal doctors have done a hell of a job getting our treatment centers organized. We sat down and gave some real thought as to the layout of multiple sets of paddocks, all connected to each other, as well as the holding pens, treatment areas, barns with stalls, and all that.”
Toby stated, “It’s all pretty impressive really. It just grew before our eyes.”
“If there is money and a willingness,” Sterling noted, “growing is what you would expect.”
Toby sighed. “Maybe, but I don’t think anybody really expected it to be this quick or this big. Even you, Timber, right?”
“Hell no,” he admitted, “not until Badger and Kat got it all moving on steroids.”
“Exactly,” Toby confirmed. “They had a lot to do with the explosive expansion. When we got that volunteer crew of forty guys all out here working on the place, that’s when I hung up my tool belt.
Then I could help Dwight in the kitchen.
After all, with crews working long hours, they all had to be fed. ”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Sterling noted, “and that is a lot of hungry men.”
Timber had to laugh. “Badger and Kat moved so fast in getting me the proper help that we didn’t even have places to put most of them.
So Kat had temporary housing set up. Then one of the first things we threw up was a bare-bones bunkhouse, followed by barns and treatment centers, to get the animal sanctuary started.
Then we went back to fixing up a proper bunkhouse because, one way or another, we needed a place to put people.
” Timber shook his head. “And it’s just grown from there. ”
“It’s great that it’s growing,” Sterling pointed out, “but keeping control of everything in some organized manner is no small feat.”
“Exactly,” Toby replied. “Luckily we have Shirley for that.”
They stopped at a grocery store, and Toby hopped out, papers in hand. A few minutes later, he came back out again, and then Timber drove around to a loading dock. Minutes later, a forklift loaded a full pallet of food onto the back of the truck.
Sterling stared at the pallet, then frowned at Toby and Timber. “Are you serious?”