Page 25 of The Vet from Snowy River
‘You keep animals now?’
‘Sure. We have a sleepover room with cages which connects to a grassy area out the back. Dogs recovering from snake bite, rabbits with hotspots who need to be on antibiotics, that sort of thing. Your Auntie Hannah runs her practice more like an animal hospital than a day clinic, so there’s always a house guest or two that needs its ears scratched or its water bowl filled.’
Poppy gave a noncommittal grunt, so he decided to sweeten the bait.
‘You’ll love Jane Doe and the gang.’
‘Who are they?’
‘Jane is a lost dog. She was brought in to the clinic a couple of weeks ago and we delivered eight pups. The mum’s a labrador, father unknown.’
‘I guess puppies are kinda cute.’
‘You should see the fat one. He’s a heartbreaker.’
Josh stopped on the footpath when they reached the clinic and looked up at the old Cody building.Hisold building … his and Hannah’s, and Poppy’s, too, one day. The midday sun was shining down on the granite gneiss blocks, making the façade gleam, and the fresh white he’d painted on the windows of the upper storeys gave the building a touch of the elegance it must once have had. Before some butcher architect in the seventies tacked on a plywood storefront to the ground floor.
‘Here it is. Home.’
Poppy looked up. ‘It’s, um … big. I guess.’
‘Yep.’
‘And kinda bodgy looking.’
He pulled her ponytail. ‘I’m working on that. Clinic’s on the bottom floor, you and me are in the middle, and Hannah’s got the top floor.’
‘I do have a bed, right?’
‘Bed, doona, pillows.’ He wondered if this was the right time to mention he hadn’t got the hot water working on his floor yet. Nope. Some news was best delivered over pizza.
They didn’t make it upstairs.
A rap on the windowpane from inside distracted him from his building-gazing. A woman was eyeballing him from the reception area, pointing at her watch.
Shoot. His noon appointment had arrived ahead of schedule.
‘Looks like you’ll have to show yourself around the apartment, Pop. Sandy—that’s the receptionist, you’ll need to keep on her good side if you want access to the high calibre biscuits—will show you where to go.’
‘Whatever.’
‘Come on, let’s drop your bag inside. Me and Han usually use the side door to get in and out without cutting through the reception room, but you see that woman staring us down?’
‘With the big hair?’
He grinned. ‘Kelly Fox. Went to school with me. She’s a little snippety, but she has a kid not much younger than you. Let’s say g’day.’
‘I’m not here to meet people, Dad.’
‘Whatever,’ he said, giving her his best Poppy impersonation. She frowned at him and he laughed. ‘Come on, at least come in and meet their guinea pig.’
He pushed open the front door of the clinic and ushered Poppy in ahead of him.
‘Kelly,’ he said. ‘And Braydon, isn’t it? Let me just grab your file and we can go through.’
Sandy’s eyebrows disappeared under her fringe when he walked over to the counter to collect the chart she was waving at him. ‘Is that your daughter?’ she whispered.
‘Sure is. Poppy, honey, come and meet Sandy.’
