Hairy Tail Collection

by Campbell, Jamie

  The others shrugged, perhaps. “Why would anyone want to import lizards?” Jessie’s face twisted with disgust every time she mentioned them.

  “For pets,” Harry replied, his frustration growing. Hannah figured it must be a guy thing, surely no girl would be insane enough to like the scaly creatures. “I think your theory might be worth following up. We could also try asking pet stores if they know people trying to sell the animals.”

  Hannah felt a plan starting to form in her mind. The sooner she worked out what was happening, the sooner they could get the shelter back to normal. And the sooner she could stop jumping at every sound inside.

  “We can go after our shift,” Harry offered.

  Hannah shook her head. “I think this is a job for Jessie and I. What do you think?” She turned her attention to the girl, looking a little surprised at the mention of her name.

  Her face lit up. “Sure, I’d love to. Beats sitting around here, waiting to be bitten. Do we keep anti-venom in the first aid kit?”

  “They’re not venomous,” Harry added, suddenly not in such a good mood anymore. He stood to go back inside, his lunch finished. He left the girls to it, seeking solace with the snakes.

  Two hours later, Jessie and Hannah were more than relieved to be leaving the shelter. They cleared their investigation with Cory and left on a mission. They needed to get their shelter back.

  The first stop was the police station. Cory had arranged for them to speak with Officer Edwards. He already knew Hannah from her time in helping them solve a dognapping ring. He would at least take them seriously.

  “So, what’s up?” Officer Edwards said as he invited them to sit at his desk. They were surrounded by rows of cubicles, each one cluttered with paperwork. The police station was obviously a busy one – and filled with messy people.

  “We keep getting lizards and snakes in the shelter,” Hannah started. “We wondered if they might be being imported by someone who shouldn’t be doing it. Have you heard of anything like that?”

  Officer Edwards leant back in his seat, rubbing his chin as he thought it through. Finally, he replied. “We haven’t had any reports of missing or stolen reptiles.”

  Jessie replied eagerly. “We thought they wouldn’t report it if they were stolen or illegally imported.”

  “You’re right,” the policeman nodded. “But sometimes we hear whispers of things going on. We have informants all over town that keep us in the loop of anything that might be going on.”

  “Any whispers about animals?” Hannah asked hopefully.

  “Afraid not, Miss Wilson. Cory would have been the first person I would have called if we heard something like that.”

  “Do you get many people importing things illegally here in Mapleton?”

  “Sometimes, we do. But they mainly go to Shroveport where there are bigger docks. It’s only smaller type vessels that sail into our harbor. A few fish over the allowed limit is the extent of our smuggling operations.”

  Her shoulders slumped as she tried to think of what else could be causing all the reptiles to end up at the shelter. If they weren’t missing or stolen, then how did they all end up out in the open and exposed to injury?

  “Have you seen anything like this before?” She finally asked.

  Officer Edwards shook his head slowly. “Sorry, it seems a bit of a strange one. Have you checked with the local pet stores?”

  “That’s next on our list.”

  “They might have their ear to the ground when it comes to the animal world in Mapleton. With any luck, they’ll know of someone missing their private collection of reptiles.” He smiled encouragingly.

  After making him promise to call Cory if he found anything interesting in his travels, Hannah and Jessie left the policeman alone. Their trip wasn’t wasted altogether, at least they had another set of eyes trying to solve the mystery.

  As they picked up their bicycles, Jessie looked at her watch. “The pet stores will be closed by the time we get there. Do you want to grab a cold drink on the way back to the shelter?”

  Hannah hadn’t realized how long they had been waiting to see Officer Edwards. Racing back to the shelter didn’t seem that appealing. “Sure, why not? Harry loves all the snakes, it won’t hurt him to be alone with them for a while longer.”

  They rode to the nearest corner store and purchased an ice cold soda each. Sitting on the seat outside, Hannah realized she had never truly been alone with Jessie before. She didn’t know what to say to the girl.

  Thankfully, Jessie didn’t have a problem talking. “It sucks that summer is almost over. It’s going to be weird going back to school.”

  Hannah didn’t mind school, she relished the learning part. However, the socializing, the events, the bullies, she could do without. “I guess summer can’t last forever.”

  “Nothing really lasts forever.”

  Something in her wistful tone made Hannah instantly think about Jessie’s parent’s divorce. She would have assumed the girl would be happy to get back to a routine so she didn’t have to think about it all the time. “How are your parents going?”

  A sadness flooded Jessie’s face. “My dad moved out last week. It’s just me and my mom now.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Harry said your parents are divorced too?”

  Hannah nodded, remembering the day her father had moved out. She stayed in her room all day, refusing to believe it was happening. With his last box loaded into the car, she had watched him drive away from her window. “For almost three years now.”

  “Does it get easier?” Jessie asked hopefully.

  “I guess it depends on your parents. I don’t see my dad very much but my mom is great to me. She can be really annoying, but she’s my dad too, in a way.”

  “My dad used to call me his princess.” She stared into the street, trying to blink back the tears. “He promised to stay in touch and that we’d see each other all the time.”

  Hannah remembered her father saying the same thing. Then he moved to a big town two hour’s drive away. The occasional phone call on her birthday or at Christmas was all she got now. Still, she didn’t want to make Jessie any more upset than she already was. Divorce was hard, she wasn’t going to make it any harder.

  “I’m sure your dad will do as he says,” Hannah said, even though she didn’t believe it. “You’ll probably see more of him now because he’ll feel guilty for not living with you and seeing you every day at breakfast.”

  The edge of Jessie’s mouth twisted into a smile. “I hope so. My mom kind of gets involved in her own stuff. She forgets I’m there sometimes. Did your dad remarry? Do you have brothers and sisters?”

  “He lives with a woman who has two kids – a boy and a girl. They don’t have any children together.”

  “Do you like them? Or is she really mean to you?”

  Hannah hadn’t spent enough time with them to actually form an opinion. Her father liked to keep his new life very separate. “I guess they’re okay.”

  A momentary silence settled over them, both girls thinking about the divorce and how their lives could have been different if things didn’t end badly between their parents.

  “We should get back,” Hannah finally sighed. “But if you ever want to talk about anything, just let me know.”

  Jessie couldn’t resist giving her a hug. “Thank you.” They got back on their bikes and headed to the shelter.

  Chapter 5

  “Come on, little ones, we’ve got to get back,” Hannah called out to the half dozen dogs she had running around her feet.

  A fluffy black poodle cross jumped up, leaning on her knee and staring into her eyes. Hannah thought for sure that if he could talk, he would be asking for some more time to play.

  “Oh, go on then, another few minutes,” she replied to his silent question.

  Hannah didn’t have the heart to corral them in just yet. She was a sucker for the animals and they knew it. But it wasn’t much letting them expend all their
energy before having to go back to their cages. She let them enjoy their freedom.

  Glancing through the window of the shelter, she could see Harry cleaning out the cage of the iguana. The lizard remained completely still while he did it, as if pretending he would be invisible if he just didn’t move. Hannah figured that was kind of cute. Perhaps the creatures weren’t as bad as she had thought. As for Harry, she still wasn’t so sure.

  After another half hour, she finally got the dogs back into the cages. Her shift had ended an hour ago but that didn’t matter. She said goodbye to everyone and rode home.

  The weather was still perfect for the summertime, hot days and balmy nights. Hannah tried to enjoy it as much as she could. That probably included going to the bonfire party, but she wasn’t so sure of that either. She would have to delay Veronica for a little while yet.

  Arriving home, Hannah rifled through her handbag for some lip gloss, her pout chapped from the sun. As her hand clasped around the tube, there was something else in her bag.

  She pulled out a folded piece of paper, unable to recall putting it in there. She often wrote notes to herself to remind her about things, but she couldn’t remember doing that recently.

  The note wasn’t in her handwriting but she did recognize the scrawl. Harry had been the one to put pen to paper. She read through:

  You looked beautiful today, you took my breath away.

  No matter how many times she read it, the words didn’t change. Nor did it change the way it made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

  It was sweet, but just a note. She couldn’t fall in love with Harry all over again because of a note. It wasn’t going to happen, no way. She replaced it in her handbag and tried to forget about it.

  Coco was outside with Billy, throwing him the ball and then having to retrieve it herself. Billy never liked giving up the ball when he had chased after it. There was something about the game of fetch he just didn’t get.

  “Hey, honey, how was your day?” Coco asked, sitting on the decking for a break.

  “Pretty good.”

  “Still lots of slithery thing?”

  Hannah nodded and sat beside her. She was all too aware that it was the same place her and Harry had sat together only a few weeks earlier. “Lots. They freak me out.”

  “I tend to find the things that freak me out are the things I don’t fully understand.”

  She let the words sink in, they actually sounded pretty logical. “So you think I should get to know the animals?”

  “It couldn’t hurt. Face your fears,” Coco said resolutely. “Is anything else bothering you?”

  The note instantly flashed into Hannah’s mind. She didn’t know if her mother would make a big deal out of it if she brought it up. She played it safe instead, perhaps Veronica would be better for love advice. “What was your first love like?”

  Coco’s eyes glazed over as she delved into the past. “His name was Drew Schenty and I thought he was the grooviest dude on the planet.”

  “Did you date him?”

  “Of course I did, I was quite groovy myself back then. We would hang out at the beach or at the drive-in cinema. We would share milkshakes and laugh at nothing.”

  Despite the generation gap, Hannah could imagine her mother as a teenager. She was probably more like Veronica than herself, but the image made her smile anyway. “Were you together long?”

  “About a month.”

  “Only a month?” She had made it sound like it was an eternity, two connected souls forever entwined. “What happened?”

  “I found somebody else I liked better,” Coco laughed. “Young love is fleeting.”

  “But you said you loved him.”

  She nodded her head happily. “And I did. I loved him until I found someone else to love. The point is, Hannah, you’re so young you are going to fall in love with a lot of boys before you find the one you know is really the one for you. Harry is your Drew. You’ll always remember the way he made you feel and you’ll always smile about it. But you won’t miss him forever.”

  Her words were starting to sink in. “So you think I should get over Harry?”

  Coco rubbed her back in comfort, just like she had done since Hannah was a baby. “I think you’re old enough to make your own decisions. If you feel like your time with Harry isn’t over, then you owe it to both of you to address it. If you think it is over, then be kind and move on. Boy’s hearts are fragile too.”

  “Harry wants to get back together,” she blurted out, not entirely meaning to.

  “How does that make you feel?”

  “Scared. But a part of me is excited about it too. It’s like nauseous butterflies, they’re not all good.” Billy stood in front of her, nuzzling her hands for a pat. She absentmindedly pet him. “What do you think I should do?”

  “Hannah, I’m not going to tell you what to do. Just do what you think is right. You’ll work it out,” Coco answered as she stood. “I’m going to put something on for dinner. Make sure Billy has used up all his energy before coming inside.”

  Once alone, Hannah pulled Billy onto her lap, giving him a hug. “Why can’t boys be more like you? Huh, boy?”

  He gave her an all-knowing look before settling in for the cuddle.

  Chapter 6

  “This is getting ridiculous,” Jessie moaned as they left another pet store. “I didn’t know Mapleton had so many places to buy animals.”

  Hannah was growing tired of their endless search too but wasn’t going to complain about it. She didn’t want to sound like Jessie. They had already been to a dozen pet stores and nobody knew of any reptiles that had gone missing or been sold illegally. It was turning into a wild goose chase.

  “There’s only a few more to go,” Hannah pointed out. “If it means getting rid of all the snakes and lizards at the shelter, I’ll go to a hundred stores.”

  Jessie shrugged, agreeing. “Why couldn’t we be overrun with bunnies or something? Why slithery things?”

  “We’re just lucky, I guess.”

  They entered the next store on their list, printed first thing that morning by Cory. The girls were not much use to her at the shelter, part of the task was to keep them busy and out of her hair. If something came from it, then it was a bonus.

  The man behind the counter seemed friendly enough, greeting them as the buzzer on the door sounded. “Hey, girls. What can I do for you?”

  Hannah took the lead. “We work at the Mapleton Animal Shelter. We have had a bunch of snakes and lizards come in that people have found. We’re asking all the pet stores if they know of anyone missing some reptiles?”

  He rubbed his chin as he thought about it. “No-one’s come looking, no. But I have had to order in some special snake food for a customer.”

  “Someone asked for it especially?”

  He nodded, he kind of looked like an old Zac Efron. “I don’t normally have snake food, there isn’t a real demand for it in Mapleton. But this guy came in and said he had run out and really needed it fast.”

  Jessie and Hannah exchanged a glance. At least it was something, more than they had received from any of the other pet stores. “I don’t suppose you could tell us his address so we could talk to him?” Hannah asked, not really expecting a good answer.

  “I shouldn’t.”

  Jessie stepped a little closer, smiling like an absolutely innocent little girl. “We just want to find the owners of the snakes we have, that’s all. Please help us? We promise not to tell them where we got the address.”

  His eyes flicked between the two girls. Hannah plastered on her best smile, the one that usually got her out of trouble with Coco. It worked about eighty percent of the time.

  Finally, he sighed. “I guess I could read it out loud. If you happen to overhear, then I can’t do anything about that. Hold on a second.”

  Hannah made a mental note, you could get what you wanted from the male persuasion if you smiled at them enough. That might come in handy later on.

&
nbsp; After typing painfully slow into his computer. The man took a deep breath. “840 Somerton Road, Mapleton,” he read off. He pretended to see the girls standing there for the first time. “My, I didn’t see you there. I hope you didn’t overhear me.”

  Jessie giggled. “Of course not. Thank you for your help.”

  “I hope you find the owners,” he called after them.

  To be thorough, the girls continued on to the remaining pet stores. Partly because they wanted to do a good job, partly because they didn’t want to return to the shelter.

  None of the other stores had unusual sales of exotic pet food or knew of any missing animals. Or, if they did, they weren’t talking to them. Hannah and Jessie left the last store with nothing but sore feet and a quickly fading determination.

  “Should we check out this address?” Hannah asked as she held up the small slip of paper.

  Jessie shrugged, indifferent. “I guess if it means not having to go back and wrangle with those slimy snakes, then yes I think we should.”

  They hopped on their bikes and peddled across town. In the heat of the day, it was nice feeling the wind in their hair. If nothing else, at least the cycling was keeping them fit. Wasn’t Coco always going on about Hannah needing to get outside more?

  The girls pulled up at the address, confused. “Are you sure this is the right place?” Jessie asked, looking around at the empty field.

  Hannah checked the address for the ninth time, comparing the handwritten details to the stenciled number on the curb. “This is definitely it. There’s nothing here.”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “Unless grass counts.”

  “It doesn’t,” Jessie stated simply. “If there were snakes here, then they’ve gone now.”

  “Perhaps they got their address confused?” Hannah suggested, not really believing it herself. Who doesn’t know where they live? Even a five year old knows that.

  “Or they gave the pet store a bogus address on purpose.” Jessie wasn’t as optimistic as her friend. “If you were doing something wrong, you’d give the incorrect address so they couldn’t trace you.”