Chapter 6 #2
“It only works when you’re a minor,” he pointed out. “I’m not a minor now obviously, but I haven’t really done anything about it. I went into the military, bitter and angry, but learned to make peace with it.”
“Yes, but making peace isn’t the same thing as potentially getting that land back,” Tiffany added. “There are abuses all over the world, but we don’t have to let them stand.”
He looked at her and laughed. “I wasn’t even thinking about that until I ended up injured, and home was starting to look like something I would need a little more of.
I’m doing much better now,” he shared, as if to ward off any comments, “but knowing that she’s still there brings it all back up again. ”
“That’s because you haven’t really dealt with it,” Tiffany suggested. “You should definitely contact a lawyer.”
“I have,” he admitted. “I just haven’t heard back yet. And, if she hasn’t sold it, is it because she isn’t the true owner of the property or maybe that’s got nothing to do with it, and I have no legal leg to stand on.”
“But it was your mother’s place?” Tiffany asked.
“Yeah, it was my mother’s place, and then she was killed in a car accident.
My grandfather passed away soon after. The next thing I knew, I was shipped off to foster care, and, of course, my first foster family was convinced something must be wrong with me because my own aunt wouldn’t even take me in. ”
“Good God,” Tiffany muttered, staring at him. “Sometimes people are the absolute worst.”
Lindsey listened closely to this conversation, getting more horrified by the moment.
“As we sit here working with abandoned or unwanted animals,” he noted, with a small laugh, “I think we can all agree with that.”
“And yet, in so many cases, it’s not like people are trying to be assholes, but circumstances have beat them down,” Lindsey interjected.
“Especially right now with so many families struggling with basics, how can I blame them for giving up a pet when they’re having trouble putting food on the table? ”
“No, I hear you,” he said. “Having come from a very different set of circumstances, and now getting back on my feet again,” he shared, “I do understand, and it would be great if we could help these animals stay with their families. I’m just not sure I would even know how to start.”
“We start by giving them an option to keep the animals,” Lindsey noted. “We run a program in town where we literally offer them pet food on a monthly basis, to try and keep the pets at home with them.”
“And does that do it?”
“Sometimes it does,” she said, “and sometimes it takes more than that. Most importantly, if we can get more animals fixed in the first place, we wouldn’t have this rampant problem.”
“And it is rampant,” Tiffany agreed. “It’s definitely one of the biggest problems in my practice, and why I do so much charity work myself. I’m just trying to keep it all under control, but that is one way I can do my part. The problem is, not everybody wants to do anything at all.”
When they were finally done—with all the animals checked, files opened, and each sent off to their respective cages—Lindsey looked back at the animals, many of whom were stressed, wanting to hide, and all in various stages of settling in.
She sighed. “It’s so traumatic for them.
Yet we know that we’re helping them. It’s just that they don’t know it. ”
“Of course not, and that’s where the challenge comes in,” Tiffany shared, as she stared at the latest group.
Lindsey nodded. “It’s a challenge in so many ways because you want to do more but there’s not necessarily more that we can do.” She looked over at Sterling. “Right?”
He smiled and nodded. “That’s a pretty good way to look at it. We do what we can do. … Are you sticking around for dinner?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Is that an option?”
“Of course it’s an option,” Tiffany declared warmly. “All volunteers get fed. It’s a thing.”
“Yeah, but an extra person at the table at the last minute? There may not be enough food.”
Tiffany burst out laughing, and even Sterling had to chuckle. He said, “You have no idea how much food is produced here every single day.”
“And it doesn’t go to waste?”
“No, not with the number of mouths we’re feeding. Plus, they are masters at creatively using any and all leftovers.”
“They?”
“The kitchen is Dwight’s and Toby’s domain,” Tiffany noted, with a smile, “and God help us if we didn’t have them. I’m telling you, if neither of them were here, and they expected me to cook, no way anybody would eat more than once, and we would lose all our volunteers.”
Lindsey giggled at that. “I can cook, but I’m definitely not a pro at it.
Certainly not savvy enough to feed twenty people or so three times a day.
My grandmother was one of those old-fashioned cooks, where you did everything from scratch.
As much as I appreciate how it was done back then, it is definitely not how I want to spend my life, just cooking away for hours and hours on end.
Yet my grandmother seemed to make it work for her. ”
“It was the times though, wasn’t it?” Tiffany noted. “When I look at what everybody did without all these modern conveniences, it seems pretty incredible to me. Yet somehow they managed to do it.”
Lindsey nodded. “I know, right? I always find it mesmerizing. My grandmother took so much pride in what she was doing, and it was one of those lovely lessons in life,” she said, with a smile.
“Did she teach you the recipes?” Tiffany asked.
“Yes, though that doesn’t mean that I took to it the same as she did,” she replied, with a wince.
“She definitely had the natural knack for it, though she would say nothing was natural about it. She believed in repetition and that anybody could be good at it as long they kept at it. So we grandkids were never allowed off the hook. That was something she was pretty strong on, all of us pitching in and helping out. I’m glad for that now because, in addition to many things she taught me, I am a decent cook, but I could never take on something massive like this operation. ”
“Luckily you don’t need to,” Tiffany declared, as she hooked an arm around Lindsey and headed for the main cabin. “Thankfully we are blessed to have Toby and Dwight.”
“I don’t want to be in the way,” Lindsey protested awkwardly. “I mean, you guys have enough people here right now already.”
At that, Timber stepped out to greet her. “Absolutely we do, but the day there isn’t room at our table for one more,” he announced, “is the day we close up shop.”
She stared at him and shook her head. “You won’t let me off the hook, will you?”
“Nope, you come here and work,” he stated, “so the least we can do is feed you.”
She burst out laughing. “Now that sounds like my grandpa all over again.”
“Yeah, that’s the old way of it, no doubt, but not a lot of people follow that today,” Timber said.
“But then again, not a lot of people today have circumstances where volunteering on a grand scale happens on a regular basis.” He smiled and waved them inside.
“Come on in and get some food. You look a little weary.”
“I do not,” she protested good-naturedly, as she stepped in behind him and was met with at least one dozen faces. She winced and held up a hand. “Hi, I’m Lindsey.” As she looked around at the men, she was surprised to see a few women here too, and all nodded in greeting.
One of the men asked, “Did you get conned into helping?”
“Considering I brought a big load of animals a few days ago, it only makes sense that I help out with these too.”
“Oh yeah, it sure does,” he agreed, with a laugh. “Which means they can get you to do more.”
She chuckled. “That’s the way of it though, isn’t it?
” she asked. “I’ve been volunteering for a long time, and, once someone knows you’re ready and sometimes available, they will most definitely call.
” She smiled, then shrugged. “I do a lot more work for some of the various centers in town now,” she added.
“What kind of work?” someone asked.
“Besides volunteering, I’m an accountant,” she replied. “So, I keep a couple shelters in order and ensure they are in good standing on their tax status and whatnot.”
“That’s a challenge in itself,” one of the men stated, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t want to be out there dealing with that.”
“Most people wouldn’t,” she agreed, with a nod, “but it is my thing.”
“Is that a family business or something? How did you get into that?” Sterling asked.
“My granddad was an accountant way back when,” she said. “And I went into the same industry. He was pretty happy about it. My grandma had the farmer-rancher thing going, though it’s been a while since they had lots of animals like they used to.”
“That goes for a lot of people, and, if you’re not using those skills, it’s hard to keep them.”
Lindsey nodded. “That’s very true too.”
Sterling set her up with a chair at the table, and she looked around and asked, “Do I serve myself or …”
“No,” Sterling replied, “I’ll grab us each a plate.” And, with that, he took off and soon arrived with a plate for each of them.
As she accepted it, she sat down, and looked around. “Okay, so everybody is eating. What’s the system here?”
Just then Toby arrived, took a look at her, beaming. “Now look at that. We’ve got company.”
“What do you mean, you’ve got company?” she asked in a teasing tone. “I swear to God, you live here with all this company.”
“We do,” he said comfortably, as he placed a few bowls with extra food on the table in front of her. “Now you eat up. You need to put some meat on them bones.”
She snorted at that. “Please don’t. I work hard trying to keep extra meat off them bones.”
He laughed. “Don’t you fall prey to all that nonsense about men wanting super skinny women,” he explained, “as that’s all malarkey.”
“As if you would know,” she quipped.
He grinned at her. “Ha, not too many people catch that on the first go-round.”
She smiled up at him. “It’s all good in my world.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, as he dumped more food on her plate, “but you still need to eat more.”
“And here I thought I was,” she protested, as even more food ended up on her plate. She finally demanded that he stop, knowing she couldn’t eat all that.
He continued to laugh. “You’ll do just fine.”
She rolled her eyes at that but managed to tuck into the huge meal pretty well. When she raised her head, she muttered, “Holy crap, that was good.”
Toby nodded at Dwight, and both beamed at her. Toby replied, “You’re welcome to eat with us anytime.”
She burst out laughing again as Tiffany nodded.
“She’s been helping me in the clinic with the intakes,” Tiffany shared, “so Lindsey’s more than welcome to come back.”
Lindsey responded in a giggling tone, “As soon as you volunteer, and you end up on their radar, it’s all over, and suddenly you’re on their speed dial.”
Timber chuckled. “Any time it’s too much, you just let us know. We hate to spoil the goodwill.”
She smiled back at him. “It’s all good. If I can’t come, I can’t come, and there are definitely days I can’t come,” she stated, “but, if I can, I’m happy to help. I would rather be busy than staying at home and doing nothing.”
Timber frowned. “And yet you have your own business.”
“I do,” she confirmed, “and sometimes I work evenings. Sometimes I work weekends, and sometimes, during busy tax times, I just work. No break allowed there,” she said, with a groan.
“Yet, when it’s not, I have a pretty good handle on it.
So, that’s one of the reasons I try not to take on too many clients, to keep some semblance of a work-life balance. ”
“I’m not even sure what that means,” Tiffany muttered, followed by a sigh. “Between this place and my clinic, it seems as if I’m always on the road.”
“That’s because you should be here full-time,” Toby suggested.
“Sure,” she pointed out, “but people in town need me to care for their pets at my clinic.”
“Do you think they would come here and do the extra drive?”
“It’s really not that far out of town,” she admitted, “but I don’t know whether they would or not.
People are funny,” she said, “and generally prefer to go only as far as they need to in order to get the service they want. But I suppose, if it’s somebody you had a really good relationship with, and they feel you’re the best vet for their situation, they might travel here.
… I’m not sure I’m ready to put that to the test though. ”
“No need to,” Timber said comfortably. “If it gets to be too much, you just need to take more time off.”
She smiled at him. “More time off,” she repeated, with a cheerful note. “Are you implying I get any time off?”
He frowned at her, opening his mouth, probably about to apologize.
“It’s fine,” she said, as she patted his arm. “I’ll let you know if it gets to be too much.”
“Yes,” he agreed, “but you need to let me know before it’s too much, not when you’re on a crash-and-burn routine.”
She burst out laughing. “Good to know, and I wasn’t planning on crashing and burning anyway.”
“No, no,” he clarified. “You’re not planning on it, but that’s not exactly reassuring.”