Rescued

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Goodies

  Rescued

  By Adan Ramie

  Copyright 2016 Adan Ramie

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, places, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be resold or lent to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author!

  CHAPTER 1

  One look into the Yorkie’s gummy, red-rimmed eyes, and Chuck knew he was going to make it impossible for her to do her job. The spark of life in him was weak, but it was there; even as the woman standing over her swung her head back and forth, marking him as most likely a lost cause, Chuck knew she couldn’t let him go. Stanley was a fighter, and he needed her love.

  “Please try not to get attached to this one,” Kenna said into her ear as she leaned over the bed on which he lay. “It will only be harder when you inevitably have to say goodbye.”

  Chuck felt herself begin to deflate. Stanley was old, true; it was a fact that his eyesight was not what it probably once was; and he likely had not been part of a caring family who cared for him in so long that he may not know what it was even like. More than that, though, the dog had obviously been horrendously abused and would need medical treatment. Expensive medical treatment.

  From beside Chuck, her sister, Brenda, put a hand on Chuck’s shoulder. “Kenna’s right. You can’t win them all, Chucky. Sometimes, as much as we hate to do it, we have a duty to let nature take its course.”

  Chuck stood and shrugged off the hand. She clenched her hands and teeth at the same time. “Nature does not come in the form of a lethal injection.”

  Brenda let her hand slide off Chuck’s shoulder, but stayed behind her and lowered her voice. “You can’t think of it as a lethal injection. We would be putting him out of his misery and letting his spirit move on.”

  “We both know you don’t believe that,” Chuck said.

  Brenda stepped back as Chuck turned around and crossed her arms over her chest too tightly. Taut muscles stood out in her jaw and her forearms as she took her frustrations out on her own body.

  “Chucky...”

  “Stop calling me that. I’m not a child.” Chuck pushed past Brenda and Kenna, stalked out of the sick room, and went into the washroom to scrub off the germs and to try to scrape the anguish from her skin with the gritty soap.

  Brenda followed a few steps behind her, and leaned against the doorjamb, hand on her hip. “No, you are not a child, but you are always going to be my little sister.”

  Chuck rinsed off the last of the soap, pressed the hand dryer with her elbow, and rubbed her hands together until they were hot and dry. She stepped to the closed door, but stopped with her back to Brenda. “There has got to be something else we can do for him.”

  Brenda walked up and wrapped her arms around her younger, but larger, sibling. “Unless someone is able to foot the bill for a long, intensive surgery that might not even work, and we can find a foster family with the know-how and resources to care for him while he is recovering from what most animals would have died from, I don’t see how.” She dropped her head to Chuck’s shoulder and turned to her profile. “It would be cruel to put him through all that for nothing.”

  Chuck gently shrugged out from under the drape of her sister’s body, then opened the door and walked out into the hallway. A few doors down, she pushed open another door and walked into pandemonium.

  All around them, young animals ran, jumped, climbed, barked, and hissed. Kittens pounced on piglets, puppies yipped at rats, and a baby goat bounced happily in the middle of it all. Both sisters watched as the animals noticed them and, one by one, started to come their way.

  “I love spending time in here,” Brenda said after a moment of silence from her sister. “It’s a nice reprieve from the suffering I see in the sick room.”

  Chuck knelt down to rub her hand over a kitten’s back, and it playfully swatted at her fingers. She purposefully kept her eyes off Brenda. “Sometimes what you think is suffering is healing. It’s necessary. You should know that: you’re the doctor.”

  “What I know is that the kind of treatment that dog is going to need will put him through a lot of pain. What I don’t know is how likely he is to come out of it with a higher quality and longer life – if he comes out of it at all. We could put him through all that just to have to put him down later.”

  Brenda squatted down and tried to look into her sister’s eyes, but Chuck scooted away on her knees and picked up a pit bull puppy. Brenda sighed. “Chuck, can you afford to save that dog’s life? Because Saving Gracie’s can’t. Kenna told me just last week that we needed to tighten our belts and make do with what we have for a while, or our little homeless pet shelter will join the others in being shut down for good.” She crawled forward, rubbed a hand across the puppy’s forehead, and shoved her head between the puppy and her sister’s face. “We would have to close our doors, and forsake all the others, just for one life. It’s not right, and you know it.”

  Chuck let the puppy hop from her hands, stood up, and brushed the slobber from her hands onto the back of her jeans. She watched the little animals as they tumbled over each other. They were completely unaware of how much the sisters had given up to make sure they were healthy and happy.

  “It’s not fair, I know,” Brenda said, and reached out for Chuck. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  Chuck shook her head. Her sister’s answer, while it sounded logical, felt like a sharp blow to her chest. The shelter was about saving lives, not ending them, especially if they thought one could be saved. Unfortunately, the money-minded Kenna and her pragmatic sister had turned their eyes from one too many lives instead of to the suffering in front of them.

  “If I can find a way to pay for it, will you consider giving him the surgery he needs?”

  Brenda pulled her hair out of her slipping ponytail, fluffed it out, then put it back up more tightly before she responded. Chuck could see the cogs turning in her mind. Without money as an option to say no, Chuck knew Brenda would have no other choice but to give in.

  “I’ll have to talk to Kenna about it first.” Brenda rolled her eyes to the ceiling, then looked back at Chuck and smiled. “If she gives me the okay, and you can come up with the money and find a foster family, then I will do everything I can for him.”

  Chuck turned to her with a proud, thankful smile. “Then it looks like I have my work cut out for me.”

  Brenda patted Chuck on the shoulder, then pushed off the floor and onto her feet. As she walked away, Chuck’s mind went back to her last bank statement. Saying she was in no position to donate money to the Stanley fund was an understatement, but there had to be other ways to get things done that weren’t illegal or immoral. She just had to think of one – and fast.

  CHAPTER 2

  For the next twelve hours, Chuck reached out in every direction she could with Stanley’s story, hopi
ng to scrape together at least a down-payment for the care he was going to need. Kenna acquiesced to let Brenda start him on the antibiotics and fluids he needed in addition to the pain medication he was already on, and take the bill out of Chuck’s paycheck, but refused to allow Brenda to do any more until she had at least fifty percent of what it would cost in time, drugs, equipment, and supplies to get the dog back into shape.

  She was hanging up on the last less-than-helpful potential donor when the door of Saving Gracie’s opened with the cheerful chirp of the bird chime she had installed the summer before.

  “We’re closed,” she called out without turning around, then crossed the last name off her list. She only had until morning before Kenna would shut her and Brenda’s efforts down, and she was still four thousand dollars off her ultimate goal.

  “I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask about a dog I brought in. His name is Stanley,” said the most beautiful voice she had ever heard.

  Chuck twirled around behind the counter and almost lost her footing. She grabbed the counter to steady herself and looked up into warm, hazel eyes set wide in a heart-shaped ebony face. She had not been at work when Stanley had been brought into the shelter, so she hadn’t had a chance to meet the kind soul who had brought him into her life, but had hoped to meet her. It had only been a day, but the little Yorkie already had a place in her heart.

  The woman in front of her was more beautiful than she expected, and it took her a moment to respond. “You brought Stanley to us?” Chuck asked. She inwardly cringed at the youthful quality her voice had taken on.

  The woman gave her a bittersweet smile and nodded. Her close-cropped hair shone in the rays of sun that filtered through the uncovered windows. “I found him on the side of the road. The other shelters I brought him to said they would have to put him down, and I didn’t want to see that happen.”

  Chuck came around the counter with her hand outstretched. “That is something I don’t want to see it happen either. My name is Chuck Billard. I co-own Saving Gracie’s with my sister, Brenda, and our friend, Kenna.” ‘Friend’ was stretching it, but this woman wouldn’t want to hear the whole sordid tale, so she let it go.

  The woman shook her hand. “I’m Stella Lamb.” She stepped back and slid her hands into her back pockets as Chuck shoved hers in her front pockets. “So, how is little Stanley?”

  Chuck’s shoulders slumped and she looked down at her dirty sneakers. To have to say such a thing hurt her feelings; she could only imagine how it would feel to the person who had went to so much trouble to save the little Yorkie.

  “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to help him. The accident he was in was relatively minor, but his immune system is very weak. We believe that he was badly abused by his previous owner, and that makes it harder to get him into shape. It also makes the surgery he needs a lot more complicated – and expensive.” She felt tears bloom in her eyes, but tried to blink them away. One tear slipped through and fell to the floor at the woman’s feet.

  Stella stepped forward and took Chuck’s hand in her own. “That’s terrible news. How much is it going to cost?”

  Chuck raised her head and looked into the wet eyes across from hers, and her heart thumped hard in her chest. “A little under five thousand dollars. So far, I have raised about nine hundred, but Kenna wants at least three thousand to get started.” She shrugged sheepishly. “Most of what we do is basically charity, and sometimes cases like this... well, to be blunt, we would have to decide between saving Stanley or keeping the lights on this month.”

  Stella squeezed her fingers, then let go of her hand and shoved it into her back pocket. It came back out clutching a sleek black wallet. “Would she be willing to take payments?” She pulled out a credit card and held it up. “If so, I could do $50 a month.”

  Chuck’s mouth dropped open, but she jerked her jaw closed and cleared her throat. “I don’t know what to say.” She blushed. “Before you offer that, I have to warn you that it is possible Stanley won’t make it even with all the care we can give him here. Like I said, he’s in really bad shape. Someone neglected him for a very long time.”

  The hand holding the credit card faltered, and Stella’s mouth dropped into a deep frown. “What are his chances?”

  Brenda walked through the door and stepped up to the counter behind Chuck. “Whose chances?” she asked.

  Chuck didn’t turn, but Stella cocked her head to look over Chuck’s shoulder. “Stanley, the little Yorkie I brought in the other day.”

  Chuck knew Brenda well enough to know she was steeling herself without looking back.

  “Sixty/forty if there are no complications. Stanley is a very sick little guy, and even if we do get him past this phase, he will still need to be fostered, which requires a lot of work and know-how.”

  “I already told you I would do that,” Chuck hissed, and turned around to face her sister. Brenda’s eyes dimmed, and Chuck made a point to change her tone. “This animal got a really raw deal in life. From an abusive owner to being abandoned on the road and hit by a car... It would be unfair that he should have to die.” She tried to meet Brenda’s eyes, but her sister looked past her at their visitor.

  “The problem with my sister taking him, of course, is that she will be out of the country for three months later this year. Her current menagerie has already been divided up amongst her friends, and no one she knows could possibly take on the task of nursing this little guy back to health.” Brenda turned back to Chuck. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you taking him is a good idea. Extending his life in these circumstances would only mean extending his suffering.”

  Chuck deflated. She knew it was true, but she hadn’t wanted to admit it. All she had cared about were those sweet, trusting eyes staring back at her from within the plastic cone.

  “If you could train me to care for him, I would be happy to take him while you’re away,” Stella said from behind her. She tapped Chuck on the shoulder with the card. “I can do a hundred today, and if you want, I can help you set up a fundraiser. You’re right. He deserves better.”

  Chuck gave her sister a dirty look, then turned around to face Stella. “Are you sure?”

  Stella grinned. “Absolutely. But if I fall in love with him while you’re gone, you have to promise to give me joint custody when you come back.”

  “Oh, brother,” Brenda groaned from behind the counter.

  Chuck held out a hand for Stella to shake, and Stella took it, but pulled her into a hug instead. “Thank you for working so hard to save the little guy. He is lucky to have you,” she whispered into Chuck’s ear.

  Chuck barely suppressed a shiver, then pulled herself out of Stella’s arms before the hug turned into something else. “Let’s get this payment out of the way, then I will get you some information about my high-risk foster training program. Normally I charge for it, but because this is for Stanley, I will be happy to teach you for free.”

  Brenda stepped out of the way to give Chuck room to process the payment with a sour look on her face. Chuck ignored it. She focused all her attention on Stella – and the thought of Stanley’s upcoming battle. It would be hard, but with a lot of patience and a little luck, he might just make it.

  Stella’s fingertips grazed the back of her hand as she took back her credit card. “I would offer to take you out for drinks to discuss training, but I’m afraid I just went over my limit of surplus spending for the month.” She grinned and Chuck stared at her beautiful, mostly straight white teeth.

  “You could come to my place,” Chuck blurted, then felt her face scorch with heat as she realized what she had done. Not only was her place a wreck, it was presumptuous to think that a woman she just met would be willing to go back with her.

  Stella plucked a business card with Chuck’s name on it out of the little tray on the counter and slipped it into her wallet. “I would love to, but I have a few errands to run in the meantime. How does seven o’clock tonight sound?”

  Chuck manag
ed a nod.

  “That will give me a chance to finish my report on the psychology of human and animal bonds, then choke down a sandwich.” Stella tucked her wallet into her back pocket, and Chuck was surprised at how feminine she made the gesture look. Like the rest of her outfit, the wallet fit with the femininity of her movements only as it served to make her seem softer.

  “Nix the sandwich. I have something better to eat at my place.”

  Chuck knew Brenda was laughing silently behind her, but she chose to ignore her, and stared at the countertop in mortification until Stella grabbed her hand and a pen from the cup in front of her.

  “Text your address to this number, bring all the foster program info home, and after I’m finished with my paper, I will map my way there,” Stella agreed as she wrote a phone number in loopy script onto Chuck’s inner wrist. She plopped the pen back into the cup. “I’ll see you at seven, Chuck Billard.”

  “Seven,” Chuck repeated, feeling queasy and a little lost. She watched Stella walk out the door, and it wasn’t until the bird alarm stopped chirping that she turned on her sister. “What the hell was that?” she asked, perplexed.

  “That was you making a date with your future wife and pet co-parent,” Brenda said, and patted her on the shoulder. “I only hope you two can raise enough money so that I can fix all that’s wrong with your new fur baby.”

  “You have to,” Chuck told her, and tried to push the negativity from her mind as Brenda walked out of the lobby and through the door to the back of the shelter.

  There was so much that could go wrong, but she knew dwelling would do little to make the situation better. The only chance Stanley had was for them all to stay positive and keep moving forward. Idly, she wondered what she even had in her fridge to eat.

  On last count, she had three half-eaten Chinese food boxes, leftover tamales, and a lemon meringue pie that had gone soft in the fridge. The freezer held more promise, but everything in was freezer-burned past recognition. With any luck, a quick trip to the store after work and a furious cleaning session would help her not make a liar out of herself with the amazing woman she had promised to cook dinner for.