Chapter Twenty-four
‘Glad to see you’re OK, Roisin,’ Dexter says as we walk into the canteen two days later. Unsurprisingly, the hospital had decided to keep Roisin in for observation.
Roisin’s face breaks into a huge smile. ‘Thanks to you, Kat. I honestly don’t know how to thank you. You’re a better person than I am. From what Ed and Nicolás tell me, you were underwater for ages trying to get me out.’
I dip my head slightly. ‘It probably seemed longer than it was.’
‘That’s not how they told it.’
When I look up, I try to fathom the expression in her eyes. Surely that’s not respect.
‘We haven’t always seen eye to eye, Kat, and I’m sorry. Stupid to fall out over a man, don’t you think?’
I hold my tongue.
She rubs a hand over the back of her neck. ‘Anyway, I owe you my life, literally, so anything you need, ask.’
‘Ferrari? World peace?’
‘Ha! I’m good, but I’m not a magician,’ she says. ‘But seriously, just ask.’
‘No need to repay me, but thanks.’
She hesitates as Dexter wanders over to speak to Sofia. ‘And about that other thing…’
When I shrug, no clue what she’s talking about, she elaborates. ‘Nimble. I’m truly sorry, in all respects.’
We hold each other’s gaze for a few seconds then she saunters off towards Victor, who is waiting for her at the entrance to the adult sloth play area.
Dexter and I are sitting with Mariangeles and Federica when Javier comes in. ‘Dexter, a call just came in from a couple who’ve found a baby sloth. They think they saw the mother take off into the trees, but it was too well camouflaged for them to be certain, and they thought it might be injured. They’ve wrapped the baby in a blanket for now.’
Dexter rolls his eyes. ‘We need a better marketing campaign. People are still picking up babies when they don’t know that that’s half the problem. The mother may never return now. Where is it exactly?’
Javier gives him the address and coordinates and a pulse ticks in Dexter’s cheek as he thinks. I can almost see the question marks forming inside his head.
‘I reckon that’s about half an hour away. Victor, come with me. Luciana, can you redistribute mine and Victor’s duties, please, and bring Carlos up to speed when you see him?’
‘Sure thing,’ Luciana says, scraping back her chair and collecting in the dirty plates and cups.
‘Kat, you’re shotgun on this. We may need you to take care of the baby whilst Victor and I try to track its mother. Hopefully, she isn’t hurt, but there are electrical pylons near those coordinates, and I strongly suspect the baby has fallen from her grasp when she has hit a pylon.’
‘What do you need?’
‘Nothing. We’ve got it all in the truck. Let’s go.’
As we trundle along the track to the location where the couple are caring for the infant sloth, I take in Dexter’s furrowed brow. He really cares about the sloths, and about preserving as many of them as he can.
The heat inside the truck and the events of the past few weeks catch up with me, and as Victor and Dexter converse in rapid-fire Spanish, I feel my body dragged under by sleep. The jolt of the truck stopping and my head hitting the window rouses me, and I wish I’d stayed awake as I’m all groggy now.
A couple who I estimate are in their late fifties, and who have that quintessential British look about their dress– white linen shirts, above-the-knee cream cotton shorts, straw sunhats, and walking sandals– are sitting at the side of the road, a red Mitsubishi SUV off to their right. The woman is holding a baby-blue blanket, and I half-smile at the irony of the blanket’s colour. As we approach, her husband comes forward to greet us, whilst she remains seated, as if she doesn’t want to disturb the baby.
The man starts to speak in Spanish to Victor, but relief floods his face when Dexter introduces himself and they switch to English, although Dexter does make a point of translating every so often for Victor’s benefit.
As Dexter feared, where they found the baby is very close to the pylons. Victor picks up the baby and puts it in the truck bed for safekeeping whilst he and Dexter set off to search for the mother.
I chat with the couple, who only arrived the day before yesterday, and were astonished to come across the baby. He’s a doctor, so his first thought was to care for it.
They seem a decent pair and we swap stories of home and our experiences of Costa Rica so far. They can’t believe I gave up my job on a whim to look after the sloths, but the doctor applauds it, says I’ve found my calling, as he did his. I tell them they don’t have to hang around for the others to come back, and that they should go off and enjoy their holiday, but they’re determined to stay with me until Victor and Dexter return, as they want to know if the baby gets reunited with its mother.
Half an hour later, crashing in the undergrowth leads me to think we might be in luck, but it’s Victor, followed by Dexter, who shakes his head sadly.
‘She’s nowhere to be seen.’
‘We’ve searched everywhere we can think of,’ says Victor, ‘but, as you can see, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.’ He points to the tall trees all around us, which stretch out for miles. I note their star-shaped leaves with interest. I must ask Victor what they’re called later.
We chat with the British couple for another five minutes or so, then they have a final peek at the baby sloth lying cosied up in the blanket in the truck bed, the woman wishes it luck, and they take off in their SUV.
As the dust from their tyres settles, I look at Dexter. ‘What now?’
He gives a sad smile. ‘We have a new recruit for the sanctuary. Come on. We’d best head back.’
Once we’ve secured the baby sloth in the crate, we climb into the truck and my thoughts are full of the baby in its blanket during the ride back. Part of me wants to cradle it on my lap, but I know that’s not the best way to care for them. I can’t help the human in me wanting to do that, though.
When we arrive back, Dexter says, ‘I’ll take him to Luciana after we check him over.’
I nod. ‘I’ll go update Sofia and Carlos and ask what they want help with. See you later?’
His eyes crinkle at the corners. ‘You can count on it.’
Victor rolls his eyes good-naturedly. ‘ Ay, ay, ay , young love.’
I give his arm a friendly shove and he grins before loping off in the direction of the adult sloth cages.
But when I enter the sanctuary foyer, Carlos is giving a talk to a school group, Ferdinand as ever round him like a belt.
Mariangeles walks out of Carlos’ office. ‘Hi. Did you manage to find the mother?’
My mouth downturns as I shake my head.
She sighs. ‘Happens too often. All we can do is take care of the little one now.’
‘Yeah, Dexter has taken him to be checked over, then I think Luciana will be looking after him.’
She nods. ‘Best place for him, apart from with his mother, of course. Oh, I almost forgot, a letter came for you.’
I blanch. A letter? From who?
‘Let me just go get it.’ She spins around and heads into the admin area where we receive and sort the mail.
She returns a moment later, holding a buff-coloured envelope aloft. ‘Here you go.’
I resist the temptation to snatch it from her, I’m so curious to find out what it contains and who it’s from.
‘Thanks,’ I say when she hands it over. ‘Well, I need to go see Sofia, so I’ll catch up with you later.’
‘No problem. I have some supplies to order. Roll on dinnertime.’
I laugh. Mariangeles is rake-thin, but she eats like food’s going out of fashion.
Before I go to see Sofia, I nip to the ladies. Whatever this is, and whoever it’s from, I want to read it in private. No one knows I’m here, except for Mum, Aidan and Becca, and at a push my ex-boss, but he doesn’t know where in Costa Rica I am. So why have I received an official-looking letter?
I tear open the envelope, careful not to damage its contents. Inside is another envelope, with my home address on it, bearing the frank of the University of Glasgow.
My hearts leaps then dives. Oh my goodness. The application I made to the vet school. Whereas I ripped the first envelope, here my dexterity deserts me. I fumble with the seal, and finally manage to open it, careful of the precious cargo inside.
Dear Katherine MacDonald
We are writing to inform you that due to an error, you were incorrectly informed the Veterinary Medicine & Surgery BVMS course was oversubscribed. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. We are delighted to advise you that you have been accepted onto the course, which commences on Monday 11 September…
I’m glad I’m sitting down on the toilet seat lid already. How can life be so cruel? This letter should have arrived months ago if I was going to be accepted. Despair washes over me. I should be ecstatic at this news. It’s what I’ve wanted, but now… I’m settled here, with Dexter, the sloths, the team. The irony isn’t lost on me. Last month I was coming for a holiday, to escape my dead-end job and the boredom of my life. Now I live in a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica and have just been offered a place to study veterinary medicine at Glasgow uni. The beginning of a headache drums at my temples.
I sit for a further five minutes, hoping the answer will magically come to me, but it doesn’t and finally I give up for now, tuck the letter into my pocket, wash my hands and leave the ladies.
How I wish I’d told someone now that I’d applied, but I was so afraid of being rejected, and having everyone’s pity, that I didn’t even tell Becca. What I wouldn’t give to have her to lean on now. No, it looks as if this is one dilemma I have to work out on my own.