“I’m happy to be of help to you. What can I do for you?”
“I’m Anne. Cherice said you’d been talking to her about shipping antique furniture she buys and sells online.”
It took him a moment and then the references clicked. “Oh yes. Cherice is Sam the fencer’s sister. I spoke to her when we first arrived.”
“That’s right. Well, I’m a sculptor and up until now I haven’t been able to take on commissions any bigger than will fit in my truck. I’ve got a minivan like yours and even when I lay sculptures down it means I can’t do any really big work. Several of my good customers, art galleries, you know, want me to do much bigger work but with no suitable way of shipping them to New York, I haven’t agreed. My career won’t really take off until I can do that but I don’t trust just anyone to deliver my work. I always take it myself, usually with a couple of the teenagers from town to help me lift it. But with your big rig, I could do half a dozen works and crate them up for you to deliver all at once. That’s to New York. Would you be interested in that?”
Absolutely. Would you want to come along with them to make sure they arrive safely?”
“The first time I would, yes.”
“That would be fine. There’s three seats in Animal’s cab so it’d be me as primary driver, a second driver, and you. I guess there’d be lifting equipment at the gallery end and we’d have your young men to help at this end. Or should I hire a forklift truck?”
“No, no. I work in bronze so the insides are hollow. They’re heavy but don’t weigh tons.”
Bronx talked to Anne for a while and she went home to contact her galleries, show them some designs she’d already drawn but never made, then to begin work. So that meant trip to New York and back sometime in the future. Bronx wondered if he’d be able to get a load to fill the truck with on the way back. Maybe if he made it known around town he was going, people would order things and he could transport them. It was worth looking into later. He made a note to remind himself.
Before he could return to his spreadsheets the builder arrived, and then it was time to pack up, shower, and get ready to meet Nevis for dinner. The day was almost gone but each day he could see little bits of progress made. Slowly but surely his new life was coming together quite successfully. All he needed to do was convince Nevis to mate them, and everything would be perfect.
* * * *
Ten days later all the external building work was completed. The new laundry-cum-bathroom was installed, tiled, painted, and ready to use. The new living room and bedroom walls were painted and the floors had been stained and just needed another twenty-four hours to be completely dry, and at last the three of them would be home alone again in their trailer.
So Nevis took Walter to the outskirts of Pine Corner to the animal refuge there. When she arrived, the young girl at reception smiled at her and said, “The puppies are to the right, and the kitties to the left.”
“I was more looking for bigger dogs. Full grown ones, or almost grown.”
The girl looked at her in astonishment. “But everyone wants to adopt the puppies. They’re so cute.”
Nevis smiled back at her. “They are cute, but I’m not everyone and I’d like some big dogs please.”
“The older dogs are at the back of the yard, but we don’t have very many.”
Nevis thanked her and turned right, walking past the cages. The puppies were cute indeed and very loveable, but no one would mistake Bronx or York for a tiny puppy. She looked at each of the older dogs. One of them, a female, stared at her with sad, haunted eyes that almost made her cry. This little dog had evidently had a hard life and deserved to be adopted. But she was only half the size of Bronx. She’d be no disguise for him at all. Regretfully Nevis kept walking.
She went all around the shelter twice, and there was no dog big enough to be mistaken for her men and no dog she wanted, apart from the sad female, whose big brown eyes watched her every move. Yet she was a complete lady and didn’t cry or whine at all. Nevis knelt in front of her cage. “What’s your name?”
The dog came over and licked her finger but she didn’t have a name tag on. Nevis stood up. “I’m sorry. I’d really like to help you, but I can’t.”
The dog silently bowed her head and Nevis’s heart almost broke. “Ah, fuck it. I’ll take you.”
The dog looked up as if she understood every word Nevis was saying. Nevis went and told the girl at the desk what she wanted, checked that the dog had been inoculated and collected the paperwork, paid for her and a carry cage, then asked, “What’s her name?”