I breathed a sigh of relief, thanking my lucky stars for running into Stella. “That’s good. Thank you, Stella.”
She smiled sweetly. “You’re a very nice person, Cachi. I’m sure you’ll be great with the animals.”
I sat back in the seat as she drove, feeling like I’d won the lottery.
Once we got to the shelter, I was surprised by how large it was. They had two separate sides. One was for dogs and the other was for cats and other small animals. They even had a cat room which was a large space set up with multiple cat trees, hideaways, and bookcases which the cats used as cubbies. Some had more than one cat curled up, sleeping together. Probably littermates.
As Stella showed me around the shelter, she took me to the sick room. “This is where I work with the doctor. We have a very sick, orange tabby kitten who has to be isolated which is why he’s here. He was born with respiratory problems but with lots of care and love, he’ll hopefully recover enough to be put up for adoption very soon.”
She smiled, and I was already a little in love with this place.
“Well, what do you think, Cachi? Would you like to be a volunteer here?” Stella asked after our tour finished.
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” I really hoped the lady doing the hiring would accept my explanation about not being able to show ID.
She smiled, reaching out to shake my hand. “Can you work tomorrow evening? We need someone to clean the cages. Volunteers start the night shift at nine. And, like I said, it’s not afun job, but it’s a good one to get a volunteer started. At least that way, you’ll know if you want to stay, since it is the dirtiest job in the shelter.”
“I no care. I’m happy,” I said, giving her a big hug of thanks.
I decided to walk home; it wasn’t far from the shelter. I felt happier and more normal than I had in weeks.
REX
I woke up the morning of the raid, feeling like shit. My back hurt, my head was pounding, and as I rolled over in bed, realized that I must have hit my hip harder than I thought when I’d fallen because the pain was agonizing.
I ran my hand down my hip, knowing immediately where I’d taken the impact as I winced. Throwing aside the bed covers, I looked down at the angry looking, multicolored, grapefruit sized bruise on my right hip. I tentatively prodded at the bruise and winced again as it throbbed with pain…below the waist.
I pushed myself up to a sitting position, suddenly feeling my ass where it pressed into the mattress beneath me. I reached over and pulled my comforter off my feet and wiggled my toes slowly. For the first time in weeks and weeks, they moved.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” I shouted, sitting forward and running both hands down my thighs, over my shins. I could feel my hands on the skin of my legs but the tingling sensation of numbness hurt like a bitch and wasn’t abating. But that was okay. For the first time in months, I threw my head back and laughed. “Oh, my God! The feelin’s comin’ back!”
Lola appeared in the doorway, wiggling her entire body like she did whenever she was happy. I grinned, laughing as I held out my arms to her. “Lola girl! The feelin’ is back!” She scooted into my bedroom with her little wrap around her midsection and I reached down, pulling her into my arms. After cuddling her for a minute, I set her on the bed and then put all my effort into getting my legs to move.
The tingling numbness felt miserable but anything was better than no feeling at all. I couldn’t lift my legs more than two inches off the bed as hard as I tried, concentrating until I’dbroken out into a sweat. “That’s okay,” I said out loud. I glanced over at Lola and smiled. “One step at a time, right, girl?”
She barked, and all I could do was chuckle. I bent down and grabbed the backside of both knees, amazed to find that I could feel that too. I maneuvered them until I was seated at the side of my bed. I glanced at the clock. It was only a little after seven a.m. and I knew my friend would be headed out to the office for a briefing shortly. I couldn’t wait to share my news. As our team medic, he’d know about this sort of thing better than anyone else.
“Alain! Alain!” I yelled.
Rapid footfalls sounded as he ran down the hall. He charged into the bedroom looking hilarious wearing only boxer briefs…brown boxer briefs with a strategically placed, bright yellow banana, right over his goods. His tousled hair stuck up on top of his head, making him look like one of those troll dolls. I instantly started laughing as he looked me up and down with narrowed eyes. “Nice banana.”
He ignored the comment and frowned. “Your hair had bloody well better be on fire, Rex! Have you any jolly idea what time it is?” he asked.
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you? I figured you’d be up for an early mornin’ briefin’.”
“No, old bean. Candy has us coming in at eleven since the raid isn’t scheduled until nine tonight.”
He suddenly sounded startled as he came closer. “Oh, golly-gosh, are you all right? You have a massive bruise on your cheek.” He reached out and ran a tentative finger over the Steri-Strips I had applied to the cut.
“I took a tumble from the chair last night but that’s not what I wanted to tell you.” I could barely contain my grin as he frowned.
“Well…out with it then.”
“Alain, I’m not sure what’s goin’ on, but I woke up with some feelin’ below the waist.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, I say, old chap!” He sounded wide awake now and excited as he glanced at my bare legs.
“What I said, but in English.” I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me. “I can feel somethin’ below the waist. It’s tinglin’ and feels like…I don’t know, numb or somethin’.”
