Page 7 of Refurbished

At home, Ramsey drank his weight in water, then headed to my bedroom, where he sacked out on the bed, clearly done for the day. I went to my study and spent some time there, letting the clicking soothe me. The stress from the day and my worry over North and South all slipped off my shoulders.

I finally lay on my bed and reviewed the day. Dinner went well, and I still didn’t love the idea of seeing him in my kitchen in the morning, but he seemed to be a nice enough guy. I knew the raccoon kits were safe for another night. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I set an alarm because I planned to visit the raccoon kits before work.

When I got to the Sanctuary in the early afternoon, I didn’t see Eion around, but I did smile when I saw the black bear sniffing around her enclosure. I stood a few feet from the fence. “Hello, sweet bear. I think you are a girl bear. Bethany?” I was pretty sure I had heard Eion call her that. “You still look beautiful. Do you happen to know where Mr. Eion is? Is it Dr. Eion?” He did say he was a vet. Looking around, I wasn’t sure whether to yell or wait. I walked a few feet toward the enclosure behind the bear, where I could see the alpacas.

“Do you want something?”

It was that same disembodied voice as last time, but I knew now it was certainly not Bethany talking to me. “Oh, hi. Eion?”

“Do you want something?”

He wasn’t exactly friendly, was he? “I came to see North and South.”

“Fine. You can go see them. They are still in quarantine. Same room they were in when you left.”

“Okay. Thanks.” He didn’t respond again. The room was a lot like a doctor’s exam room, with cages lining the wall, and I easily located my sweet raccoon kids. “Hi guys!” I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to take them out or pet them. I’d have to ask next time what the rules were. Looking around, I stuck my finger through the bars and rubbed behind North’s ear. He already looked bigger than when I brought him in.

All but one other cage was empty, and inside was a fox. It had a cone on its head, like the kind you put on a dog. There was a long incision on its hip with a row of staples holding it closed. Some other parts of its coat had been shaved, and there were stitches. I knelt down in front of the cage. “Hi there, gorgeous. You’ve had a rough go, eh?” My heart broke a little for the animal. There was no way to know what had happened without asking, but it appeared Dr. Eion had performed surgery on her hip. How did he deal with hurt animals all the time? It takes someone with a huge heart to handle these babies and keep moving forward. There was a tiny crack in my heart for the grumpy, silent man who ran the Sanctuary.

Two days later, I returned and went through the same process. I stood in front of Bethany. “Hello?” This was apparently how we were going to interact, which was fine, but before I went to see the boys, I pulled out a notepad with a few questions I hoped he would answer.

“Why are you here?” He made it difficult for me to like him.

“Same reason as last time.” This was my third time here. I would think he’d know by now.

“You can go see them. You know where they are. Don’t bother asking if you come back.”

“Oh, I will come back, Dr. Eion. But right now I have questions.”

“What?”

“I have questions.”

“I heard you the first time. What are the questions?”

Unable to help myself, I huffed. Would it really hurt to come talk to me? I assumed he was busy with the animals, which was why he wouldn’t talk to me face-to-face. I pushed ahead before he got mad. “Do you know the gender of South? You referred to North as he, so I am guessing.”

“Yes. South is also male. They will need to be neutered when they are older.”

Okay, well, that’s good to know, and I’d been thinking of them as male.

“What’s the name of the fox? And what happened?”

“Did you say something else?” I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t happy.

“Yeah. Sorry. I was asking about the fox. Does it have a name? What happened?”

“No name. Not sure what happened. She was in a box on my doorstep the other morning. I assume it was hit by a car. Is that all?”

“Yeah. Dr. Eion, thanks for taking care of these animals. They are lucky to have you.”

Per usual, he didn’t say anything else, but I suspected he heard me. I went and spent some time talking to North and South, then visited with the fox a little, and before I left, I talked to Bethany. I smiled on my way out because I was getting to know more of the residents each time I visited.

North and South were going to be fine and had a great place to live out their lives.

Chapter four

EION