Ahmed tilted his head in acknowledgement, and Betty turned her gaze toward Zoey.
“And the websites?”she asked.
Zoey sat up straighter—Betty seemed to have that effect on everyone—and said, “We’ve had a lot of traffic.The kitty cam is almost constantly being viewed, and not just by people locally.We’re definitely going to have to find new kittens for that, though I have some footage of the twins we can add to our channel.”
“And we’ll have to update the list of adoptees in the next few days,” added Daisy, who had been sitting silently in the corner.“Do you think we could use the mom and kittens that just came in for the kitty cam?”she asked Raven.
Raven considered the idea.“Yes, I think that would work well.We don’t have any kittens that need to be hand-fed at the moment, so why not?”
“Well, it sounds like a very positive start to our collective endeavor,” pronounced Betty, just as the food arrived.
A few moments later, after filling their plates with dal, biryani, tandoori chicken, and vegetable curry, Mal cleared her throat to get Raven’s attention.Raven raised her eyebrow.
“Did you want to discuss the other idea now?”Mal asked.
“Good idea,” said Raven.She turned toward Betty.“Mal and Daisy have been doing some research, and”—she nodded toward Lance—“I’ve had an offer of assistance with managing a new project that we hope you and the board would consider.”
“Go on,” said Betty, putting down her fork.
“We’d like to propose we raise the money to add a rehabilitation wing to the rescue center.It would fit on the land I have leased to the center, and it would allow us to expand… take in cats and maybe even some dogs that need extra support to transition from their situations to new homes.”
“Like the one I read about recently, down-island?”
“Exactly,” said Raven, hopeful that Betty would like the idea.
“Do we know how much we would need to raise?”
“Initially we would need about ten thousand,” said Lance, “to engage an architect, come up with the plans, do research, get permits, that kind of thing.Then we would see from there—though I am willing to donate my time as project manager.”
Betty nodded, taking in all their information, and Raven waited, hoping they could get her on side.If Betty agreed, the board would agree, because Betty was that kind of person.If she wanted something, she usually got it.
“What kind of research have you done?”she asked Mal and Daisy.
“We looked at the stats from the area.The number of hoarding incidents has been increasing as our population grows, and we want to be able to reduce the number of cats that need to be put down,” began Mal.
“Also, we thought we could create an education program,” added Daisy, “to increase the rate of spaying and neutering.And to reduce the number of kittens born every year.”
Betty nodded and asked more detailed questions about the numbers as she took a bite of food.
Mal elaborated on the facts and figures, and about what she had learned from phoning other shelters that had expanded in recent years.“I wanted to get their take on the lessons they learned.”
“And how many more staff would you need to bring on, do you suppose?”asked Betty, before she took another bite.
“It depends on what we choose as a model,” said Mal.“But probably a resident vet—or at least one that could be on site a few times a week—a vet assistant, and people trained in rehab techniques, though a lot of them could be volunteers.”
“It sounds like you’ve thought this all through,” said Betty, once she had asked a few more questions and sat back from her empty plate.“Tell you what.You send me a report, and any revisions I need once I’ve read it, and I’ll take it to the board meeting at the end of the month.”
“Really?”asked Mal.
“Yes.And good job, by the way,” said Betty.“You came prepared, you had answers to my questions before I asked them, and you have a vision I can get behind.You, young lady, should consider going into management.”
“Thank you,” said Mal, beaming.
“Yes, you and Daisy have done a lot of work.Thank you,” Raven said, pleased that they had been so thorough.She would need to give Mal more of a leadership role as they moved forward.The young woman was ready to grow, and as her boss and friend, it was Raven’s job to help her do that.
“Now,” said Betty, when they were all finished eating and had begun to talk about other subjects.“What’s for dessert?I could really use a gulab jamun about now.”
“I anticipated that,” said Lance, nodding at the waiter coming toward their table.The server carried a tray of round sweets soaked in syrup and another tray of other Indian treats.“And how many of you would like chai?”
