by Minna Howard
‘Oh, I didn’t know… I… well, we have no pets, so I don’t know anything about it.’ She was shocked. It seemed that this man had been here for two minutes, and he’d done that. At Christmas time too, when so many people went away and couldn’t take their pets with them.
‘Yes, so I suppose it’s partly my fault you’ve been landed with all these animals,’ he said. ‘Les Birley, the vet who’d been here for years, is also past it, I’m afraid, or he’d have closed it himself, ages ago. He’s been here for so long he found it difficult to give up. There have been so many changes in the veterinary world and he couldn’t keep tabs on everything. I’ve stepped in for a couple of months as my uncle lives near here. Dickon and I are staying with him.’
‘We used to live in France.’ Dickon looked up from the biscuits, a ring of chocolate round his mouth. ‘Mum went to heaven, so we’re coming back to live here so I can go to school. Grandpa has such a big house so there’s plenty of room for us.’
‘Oh, I’m… so sorry.’ She glanced at Jules, who was concentrating on his coffee. ‘So, are you going to live around here?’ Amelia picked up the feeling that his wife’s demise was not a subject Jules wanted to discuss, one she understood too well.
‘We’ll see.’ Jules drained his coffee mug and got up, ready to leave. ‘You do seem to have been left with rather a lot of animals, quite a responsibility, but if it is really only for a week, I suppose you’ll manage. Be sure to call me if you’re worried about any of the other inmates.’
‘Of course I’ll manage,’ she said firmly, thinking he had no right to criticise her, as it was partly his fault that so many pet owners had been left in the lurch at one of the biggest holidays of the year.
While she was talking, she handed Dickon a freezer bag to fill with biscuits to take home. ‘What do I owe you?’ she asked Jules, looking round the room to see where her bag was.
‘Oh, nothing.’ He pulled on his coat. ‘I was in the district. The coffee and biscuits were enough. Here’s my card.’ He took one out of his pocket. ‘Contact me direct if you are worried about any of them. I hope their owners come back soon.’
‘If you’re sure there’s no call-out charge, thank you. I can easily manage, it’s not as if I have masses of entertaining to do and my daughter’s back in a few days and the owners will all be back by New Year, if not before. After all there is school and jobs to be done,’ she said bracingly, hoping Jules wasn’t planning to close her down too. She glanced at the card he’d given her. It was different to the one she had, with what looked like his personal number printed on it. She assured him that she would not bother him again and saw them to the door, Dickon happily clutching a bag of biscuits, wishing them both a happy Christmas.
Jules threw her a tired smile, which made her think that he hoped he would not have any more call-outs just now.
‘Aren’t you going to do your tree?’ Dickon said, as they passed the bare Christmas tree standing in the hall, the box of glittering baubles beside it.
‘Yes, I’m doing it later. My daughters usually do it, but I must do it myself this year,’ she said with more enthusiasm than she felt.
‘I could help you, if you like.’ Dickon was eager.
‘That’s very kind, but I’m going to do it today, and your dad needs to get on. It was so kind of you both to pass by.’ How she wished her girls were here, filling the house with their energy.
Christmas Eve was the day after tomorrow, she missed them and Esmond terribly, but children grew up and left home, as indeed she had in her time. Her life had changed, and she must go with it, but it would be a first, spending Christmas alone with a houseful of animals.
4
Later that afternoon, Amelia started to decorate her tree. It was pitch-dark outside, the blackness pressing on the windows making her feel closed in. She gave up after a while. It was quite fiddly, and nor was it much fun without the girls. She must make a good job of it before Sophie came back for New Year, but there was plenty of time for that.
She made a list of the food she needed as the local shops would shut over the holiday. She’d buy some delicious things to eat, she thought. Just because she had no one else to share with didn’t mean she had to have dry rations herself.
*
The next morning, she gave Cleo her freedom to fly round the room, shutting the door so neither Ziggy nor Osbert could upset her. Then she went into the garage to check on the tortoises, now both sound asleep, and lastly, she went to the shed to see to the mice.
There was a lot of wriggling going on in the soft bedding in the mouse cage and to her horror she saw lots of tiny, pink, naked, mouse babies. ‘But you’re both girls,’ Amelia exclaimed in horror. What on earth she was meant to do with them? Should she give them clean bedding? And if she touched them while she did so, would the mother smell her scent and neglect them? And how many were there?
The other mouse was scrabbling in the corner of the cage and she put more food in, hoping she wasn’t disturbing the newborns, wondering if the mother needed special nutritious food so she could feed her babies.
For a second, she was tempted to ring Jules, but that would be too much. This time he might take some of the animals away, thinking she had too many to deal with. It was a tempting thought, but not one she’d act on. She didn’t want him to think she was incompetent.
These babies had been born and no doubt the mother would have milk to feed them. It would be a great surprise for Bryony when she got back, especially as she’d told her the two mice were sisters.
Leaving the mice to their own devices, she got ready to go shopping, remembering that she must fill up the car as well, she was almost on empty. She was going to Vero’s New Year party and she’d need more petrol for that.
She went to the large supermarket out of the village and bought some boring essentials, returning to the village to go to the expensive delicatessen. She bought a thick slice of Stilton, chocolates, and their special smoked salmon. She had plenty of wine at home and that lovely case of champagne from Cleo’s owners. She bought some steaks and a small leg of lamb for Christmas Day from the butcher. She might get a turkey for New Year when Sophie came home. She had plenty of food and drink to spoil herself with, and with that and television and the books she knew her daughters had bought for her, not to forget all the animals, she’d happily pass the days until Christmas was over and Sophie was here.
There was quite a queue at the petrol pumps and when at last it was her turn and she was filling her tank, she heard her name being called and there at the adjacent pump was Dickon, manfully filling their car. Jules was not far away and came and finished it off for him.
‘Hello,’ he said. ‘All well with you?’
He looked more rested and tidier than when she’d last seen him. Perhaps he hadn’t had any large animals to wrestle with, or tiresome women like her, calling him out for stupid reasons. She said with a laugh, ‘Fine, thanks. Though I had a surprise this morning – the mice I was told were both girls had a litter of babies.’
‘Babies, tiny ones. I’d love to see them,’ Dickon said, before frowning. ‘There must be a daddy one though, to make babies.’
‘Well yes, that’s what I thought,’ Amelia agreed.
Jules said, ‘So you removed the male? They can get the mother pregnant again very soon after her giving birth, or, in some cases, they are apt to kill their offspring.’
‘Oh, no, I didn’t know that. I didn’t like to disturb them, and I wouldn’t know which was the male, anyway,’ she admitted, feeling foolish again.
‘He has a willy,’ Dickon said helpfully.
‘I didn’t look, but might he really kill them?’ She was horrified. Whatever would Bryony say when she found out? If she found out.
‘I’ll come round and take him out. I’m about to leave and we more or less pass your house anyway,’ Jules said, screwing back the petrol cap on his car.
‘I hate to bother you again,’ Amelia said. Surely, she’d have to p
ay his call-out charge this time, but she didn’t feel like examining the nether regions of the mice to detect the father, or worse still finding half-chewed babies.
‘It’s fine. Meet you there.’ Jules went over to pay.
They reached her house together and he followed Amelia to the shed, Dickon running frantically ahead as if he were on a mission. ‘The daddy might have eaten them already. I hope we are in time.’
‘I hope so too.’ Amelia had no idea there’d be so much drama in housing these pets for a few days. Hadn’t Bryony or her parents double checked the gender of these mice? They bred like mad, she knew that. Could the mother even be expecting again, already? Whatever would they do with so many more mice than they started with? Bryony and her family lived in a small flat, would they need cages for them all?
Jules went over to the cage and opened it. One mouse was running around on the wheel and there were squeaks and movement in the little house. Quickly he scooped up the mouse on the wheel. ‘It’s a boy,’ he announced. ‘Do you have another cage to put him in?’
‘No, ’fraid not. I’ve got a large biscuit tin we could make holes in,’ she said dubiously.
‘That won’t do at all. Dickon, please could you fetch the spare cage I have in the boot?’ Dickon ran off to do that while Amelia hovered around.
‘It gave me such a fright, it never occurred to me that they’d breed,’ she said.
‘Boys and girls,’ Jules said, a hint of wry humour in his eyes. She hurriedly turned away, realising he was quite attractive.
Dickon was back in a moment with a small cage and he and his father got the male mouse inside and Amelia filled it with sawdust and warm bedding.
‘Won’t he mind being alone?’ she asked.
‘We shouldn’t leave them together, in case he takes against them, nor do we want her breeding again,’ Jules said. ‘Perhaps the pet shop might buy the babies, but I’d leave that to Bryony to decide, when they get back.’
‘It’s so kind of you to come to my rescue again. Now can I not pay for this call-out? I really would like to.’ She eyed him firmly.
‘It’s hardly a call-out, and I can see you are doing a good job housing all these pets while their owners are away. And by the way,’ he turned as they walked towards his car, ‘I don’t feel at all guilty about closing down those kennels. If I’d left it until after Christmas, some of the animals might not have returned home at all.’
‘As bad as that? We don’t have pets now my daughters are grown up and hardly live at home,’ she explained. ‘When I was widowed, friends suggested that I get a dog, but I thought that a poor substitute for my husband.’ She laughed. ‘Anyway, we moved to this new house and I’m busy with my teaching job so it would be a tie.’
‘You could have fish,’ Dickon suggested, bouncing along beside them. ‘Or a rabbit.’
‘True. I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘So, what are you doing for Christmas, Dickon?’ She was not going to mention Father Christmas; everyone asked children if he would come, had they been good and all the rest of it. She remembered it still herself, when she was a child. Terrifying old ladies saying he only came to good children, and once lying awake almost all night, convinced he wouldn’t come to her this time.
‘We stay with my Great-Uncle Giles, he’s Great because he’s Dad’s uncle as well as mine, and whatever girlfriend he has. He usually has a different one every year,’ Dickon said nonchalantly.
‘That’s not quite true, Dickon,’ Jules reprimanded him. ‘Come on, get in the car, we’ve lots to do.’
‘So, what are you doing for Christmas, Amelia?’ Dickon demanded, as she went towards the car with them.
‘Well… I’m staying here with the animals.’
‘You could come to Great-Uncle Giles if you want, there’s so much room and so much to eat,’ Dickon suggested, clambering into the car.
‘Yes, that’s a great idea – if you’d like to, that is.’ Jules turned to her. ‘We have an open house, so you’d be welcome. As you haven’t been here that long, you might meet some new people.’ He stood by the open back door of the car, watching that Dickon was doing his seat belt up properly.
‘Well, it’s very kind but…’ She felt awkward at the invitation. Had Jules felt he had to reinforce his son’s invitation, though he didn’t really mean it? She couldn’t think of a reason to refuse. She’d only be away a few hours and surely the animals would be fine until she got back?
‘You must come, I want to show you Luna, my gecko,’ Dickon said. ‘He’s new. Great-Uncle Giles bought him for me and the cage and everything. He has to be kept warm and he eats live worms and things.’
‘Oh, well, I don’t know if I’d like that…’
‘You can hold him if you like,’ Dickon went on.
Jules took out his mobile. ‘Look, give me your email and I’ll send you the directions. Any time after twelve, you’re welcome, and if you’d like to, you can bring something to hand round with the drinks.’ His finger poised over his mobile waiting to take her email. She gave it to him. It was too exhausting trying to think of an excuse to refuse. Why not live a little, accept the invitation? It was Christmas, after all.
5
Sophie rang her on one of her solitary walks on the cliffs. She sounded more cheerful now though she said she was longing to come home.
‘It’s really dramatic here,’ she told her. ‘There’s a little hidden beach below me and you can imagine the smugglers waiting for their contraband to come in. Dom’s parents’ house has quite a lot of dark secrets apparently, even talk of a ghost, but they’ve been here twelve years and never seen it.’
‘Sounds exciting,’ Amelia said, relieved that Sophie sounded better. She went on to tell her about Dickon’s invitation to lunch with his Great-Uncle Giles. ‘It was a bit embarrassing, him asking me, but his uncle holds open house over Christmas Day, so I don’t really feel I’m gate crashing.’
‘That’s great, Mum, I don’t like to think of you being alone for Christmas, even though you have the animals. How are they, have they all attacked and eaten each other?’
‘Not yet, though I make sure they can’t get at each other,’ she said. ‘I told you about the tortoise and then,’ she laughed, ‘the mice had babies when I’d been told they were both girls.’
‘So, are they running all over the house?’ Sophie was laughing too now. ‘Really, Mum, you seemed to have been left with a zoo. And what about the parrot?’
‘Rather bad-tempered, she’s missing Jamie and Wilfred. I think they spoil her, she’s a sort of surrogate child. They left a glitzy Christmas present for her, all gold and red ribbons.’
‘I so hope they are all still there when I get back,’ Sophie said. ‘You were good to take them in.’
‘It was difficult to refuse, and their owners would have had to cancel their Christmas plans. I’ve got quite fond of Ziggy. Rather tempts me to get a dog myself,’ Amelia said.
‘Oh, Mum, then you can’t go away… oh, though, I’d forgotten, there’s a kennels, isn’t there? I suppose it’s full up for Christmas this year and that’s why you’ve been left with the overflow.’
‘Didn’t you realise that’s why I’ve got all these pets? It’s been closed down.’
‘Closed down, who by?’ Sophie sounded horrified.
‘The new vet. It had to be done, the animals were in danger apparently. He implied that it was a death trap. The elderly owners could no longer cope with everything.’ Amelia briefly explained about Jules, and his part in it.
‘That is so mean of him to close it down. The Talbots have run it for ages, and everyone around sent their pets there, whenever they needed to,’ Sophie exclaimed. ‘I thought you’d had to take in the overflow.’
‘No, their animals were booked in there then it was closed down suddenly. So, you knew the people who ran it then?’ Amelia was surprised, having known nothing about it herself and the girls had hardly been here to know much of what went on in the district.
> ‘Yes, well, not really, but I know of them, through their nephew, Rufus. They’ve been running it for years. Rufus wants to take it over when he’s finished at uni. He’s a couple of years older than me and went to study in France for a time. I don’t know him well, he’s more a friend of Dom’s, but he’d have made a go of it. He’ll be devastated if it’s closed down,’ she announced indignantly.
Amelia thought it best not to say any more about Jules, who was responsible for the closure. With luck Sophie didn’t realise that it was Jules’s uncle who was giving the lunch party where she was going on Christmas Day. She changed the subject and asked her more about her stay in Cornwall, telling her of the time she’d been there with Esmond.
6
Amelia got ready to go to church on Christmas Eve. It was something her family always did at this time of the year, though this would be the first time in her life she had gone on her own.
The local church was very old and most adults of today, being taller than their ancestors, had to stoop a little to go in, to avoid hitting their heads on the lintel. The stone step into the church was worn down from the feet of countless parishioners attending the services over the years. Amelia was cheered by the thought of the continuity of all the people coming here, in good times and sad times, since it was built.
This year the church had a Christmas tree competition and many local schools, shops, organisations and such had decorated trees which stood around the ancient, stone walls of the church and either side of the altar, dressed in every sort of bauble and glitz imaginable. All on show to collect donations for a local charity.
Knowing the church would be crowded to the rafters on this evening of the year, Amelia got there early to be sure of a seat. She saw various people she vaguely knew there, all of whom asked after her family. She made some non-committal answers asking after theirs, not wanting to arouse their pity at her spending it home alone, apart from a houseful of animals.
