Page 13 of Ink & Snow
“You poor thing,” I said, wondering if compassion was the correct thing or if it would prolong the tiny creature’s suffering. It didn’t look like there was a mother coming to feed it. Its dead siblings were proof of that.
But the baby was looking at me. It was always in the eyes, that seed of sin that had taken root and started growing in me the longer I had done my old job. The baby cat wasn’t someone hurt by powerful people, but it needed help, and I was here. It had even called for me.
I did what I had never been able to do in my old job. I helped the vulnerable, the weak, the one who had no one. I picked up the baby, lifted it out of the nest of cooling bodies.
“Shh, it’s all right, I’m taking you inside. It’ll be fine.”
I’d have to find a vet. If it was necessary to put the baby down, I didn’t see why it couldn’t get warm one last time, know the succor and relief of gentle touch before the end.
I carried the basket of logs inside as well, left that downstairs, and took the baby cat who’d snuggled right into my arm up the stairs. I wrapped it in one of my towels and started looking for a vet on my phone. Surprisingly, there was one in town, not even that far away, but maybe a little too far for the black, furry icicle licking my towel.
“Fucking hell. Stupid car,” I said and just called the vet.
“Hi, this is Duncan,” said a man on the other end.
“The veterinarian?”
“Yup. What can I do for you?”
I stroked the tiny head, and the kitten leaned against my fingers.
“I found a litter of kittens. Four total, but three are dead, frozen to death, I think. I brought the one that lived inside, but I’m not sure what to do. I’d come to you, but my car died, and I’m not sure taking the kitten outside would be good for it. Is there any chance you can drop by and pick it up? I’m in the flower shop on Main.”
“Ah! With the electric car. That’s fine. I’ll call Dwayne to pick you two up and bring you over.”
“The sheriff?” I said, not even bothered by the speed at which news seemed to travel.
“Don’t call him that. He’ll think you’re in trouble. See you in ten.”
He hung up on me.
“This town is really weird,” I told the kitten. “But I guess you were born here so maybe it’s not weird for you. I’m sorry about your brothers and sisters.”
I picked the towel burrito up and carried the kitten over to the window that overlooked the front and gave me a nice view of the Village Green as Amory had called it.
It had snowed more. A fresh glaze had covered my car. Sure enough, two minutes later, a snowplow stopped out front, and Sheriff Dwayne got out.
“Let’s go down and meet him, shall we?” I asked the baby, who had at least stopped trembling. It’s tiny chest still moved, and behind my own ribs, hope stirred.
Dwayne was already at my door, peeking in through the glass. I unlocked for him.
“Morning. Duncan says you have an emergency delivery for the clinic. That it?”
“Yeah, it’s in there,” I said, holding the baby out.
“Nope. You’re coming.” He gestured to the counter on which I’d left my jacket after walking Amory home last night. “Grab that and let’s go.”
“But—”
“Now. Duncan doesn’t mess around with his patients.”
Dwayne certainly had that sheriff voice down.
Duncan had salt-and-pepper hair, a five-o’clock shadow, and a finders-keepers mentality he applied to rescues.
“She’s around four weeks old I guess, and she’ll need you to give her formula. I have that in the back.”
He went to get the formula, came back with it, and showed me how to mix it with water.
