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He was beat.

‘Letter for you, Josh.’

‘Thanks, Sandy,’ he said. He gave the ancient terrier he was holding a final pat and then handed him back to the owner waiting on one of the chairs. ‘Monty will be fine, Mrs Singh. We’ve removed the cyst, and pathology came back clean. Pop back in a week from today and we can nip those stitches out for you.’

‘Thank you so much.’ She turned her attention to the little guy who was clearly thrilled to get away from the big scary vet and back to his indulgent owner. ‘Who’s my brave little man?’ she gushed. ‘You are!’ She bestowed a flurry of affection on the dog, and Josh smiled as he turned back to the receptionist desk. If hugs and kisses cured pets, he’d be out of business.

‘Looks official,’ Sandy said.

Josh weighed the letter in his hand, his eyes on the logo of the Southern Snowy River Regional Council in the top corner. ‘This is either bad news, as in another fool complaint has been lodged by our mystery vet-hater; or it’s good news and my approval permit to restore the front of the building has come through. Which, I wonder?’

Sandy finished swiping Mrs Singh’s credit card, then waited until the lady had made it out the front door before turning to Josh and grimacing. ‘You-know-who isn’t in the right frame of mind for bad news today, Josh. Maybe open it on the down-low until you know for sure.’

‘Hannah? Why, what’s up? She was fine this morning.’

‘Been out since lunch at a foaling down near Dalgety. Foal hadn’t developed properly and she had to send it over the rainbow bridge. She’s pretending she’s totally fine, but she was out in the back office when she got home, filing.’

‘Hannah Cody, my younger and stroppier sister, wasfiling?’

‘Uh-huh. You can see why I’m worried.’

‘Might be time to crack the secret stash of chocolate biscuits, Sandy. Just let me know where you keep them and I’ll take one in to Han.’

‘Nice try. The location of the secret snacks is a mystery that I will take with me to the grave.’

He sighed. ‘It was worth a shot.’

‘Besides, she’s gone. Walking her sad off down by the lake would be my guess.’

‘It’s never easy losing a patient.’

‘Mmm. Listen, Josh, I have to run. The kids have soccer practice and they’ll give me grief if they’re late.’

‘Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow.’

Quiet settled over the clinic as Sandy locked the front door behind her. The pets tucked up in the sleepover room were behaving for once, Poppy was four hundred kilometres away and Hannah was out finding some peace by the waters of Lake Bogong.

Shoot. This alone thing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Shrugging, he ripped open the envelope, and studied the contents within.

Applicants: Joshua Preston Cody and Hannah Celine Cody

Land to Be Developed: Lot 36 DP 129334 – 36 Salt Creek Flats Road, Hanrahan.

Proposed Development: Removal of 1970s window bay and store front and reconstruction.

Determination made under section 3.16 Land and Heritage Management Act.

Determination: APPLICATION REFUSED

What? His gaze stumbled over the words a second time before his brain comprehended their meaning. Refused? What on earth?

Reason(s) for Refusal: Council has received submission from the public contesting the compatibility of the proposed reconstructions with the character of the local area, pursuant to blah blah blah…

He stopped reading. This was nonsense; the character of the local area was currently being totally disfigured by the tacky seventies-era ply-and-glass shopfront. Which anyone with a particle of knowledge about Federation architecture would know.

Surely he could object?