“I aim to please.” His expression grows more serious. “But really, you did the right thing in there.”
That’s the problem, isn’t it? Most people think there’s a hierarchy of who deserves saving. Humanoids first, everything else if there’s time and it’s convenient. But fear is fear, and love is love, and Velara crying over Applesauce felt exactly the same as any humanoid mourning their family.
“Different priorities,” I say instead of getting too philosophical at seven-thirty in the morning.
Kam nods like that explains everything, and maybe it does. We work in silence for a while, the familiar routine of maintenance and inventory soothing in the way that manual labor always is after the adrenaline fades.
It’s after lunch when my phone buzzes with a text from Mom:Hope you’re staying safe at work, honey. Love you.
I text back a quickLove you tooand am about to put the phone away when it buzzes again. Different number, local area code.
Hi Ryder, this is Joy from Jingle All the Way. Got a favor to ask. You free to talk?
Joy. Right. Grum’s mate, the Christmas enthusiast who somehow managed to domesticate the grumpiest orc in the Zone. We’ve met a few times at community gatherings, and she seems nice enough, if a little intense about holiday decorations.
Sure. What’s up?
My phone rings almost immediately.
“Ryder! Thank goodness you answered. It sounds like you all were up all night. Did I interrupt a nap?”
“No?” The hair on my neck stands up. My gut’s been in the business long enough to smell trouble coming.
“It’s fine. What do you need?”
“Okay, so you know how I’m always trying to help people out? Well, there’s this woman I know from way back who’s in a bit of a situation.”
I settle against the bumper of the engine, already sensing this is going to be more complicated than Joy’s making it sound. “What kind of situation?”
“A pet-sitting situation. She needs help caring for animals over the holidays, and I immediately thought of you because Grum mentioned how you volunteer at those rescue places. She called me a few minutes ago, completely overwhelmed because she got way more bookings than she expected.”
Busted. I’ve been keeping the rescue work separate from firehouse life, not because I’m ashamed of it, but because some things don’t need announcing. Some people think I’m too soft for emergency work. It looks like everyone in the Zone knows about my extracurricular activities.
“Joy—”
“Her name’s Laney, and she’s the sweetest thing. Wants to be a veterinarian. Inherited her grandmother’s place up in the mountains, struggling to make ends meet. She’s got all these people wanting her to watch their pets for the holidays, but she’s realizing she might be in over her head.”
Something in Joy’s tone makes me pay closer attention. “What kind of pets are we talking about?”
“Well, that’s the thing. She started with regular dogs and cats, but then some veterinarians started referring their more… challenging clients. You know, the ones with exotic pets or special-needs animals. The kind that need someone who really knows what they’re doing.”
“And she doesn’t.”
“She worked for a vet in high school and wants to go to vet school, so she knows plenty about animal care. But handling a dozen different species all at once while living alone in the mountains? That’s a lot for anyone.”
I can picture it. Some well-meaning woman drowning in chaos because she can’t say no to an animal in need. Story as old as time. Sounds kind of like me.
“What exactly are you asking me to do?”
“Just… help out? For two weeks or even a few days? She’d be grateful for any time you could give her. I mean, you’ve got vacation time coming, right? And it’s not like you ever take any time off, anyway.”
True on both counts. I’ve been accumulating vacation days for three years because there’s never been anywhere I wanted to go or anything I wanted to do more than work.
“Joy, I don’t even know this person. She might not want some stranger, anOther, showing up to—”
“Oh, she definitely wants help. I could hear the panic in her voice when she called me. Apparently, she’s got everything from snakes to pregnant cats to pigs that have figured out how to open cabinets.”
That does sound like someone who needs help.
