Page 46 of The Vet from Snowy River
It ignored her, but in a very empathetic way.
CHAPTER
14
By the end of the week, Jane Doe had taught Josh that her day wasn’t done until he’d taken her out for a late afternoon stroll about the park. Saturday was no exception. When he reckoned the old girl had sniffed enough trees and park benches and rhododendrons, he headed back to the clinic and found Hannah sitting on the bottom step of the inner stairwell.
‘Hey, it’s the weekend andI’mthe sucker on call,’ he said. ‘What are you doing spending your time off sitting here in the dark?’
She leaned back and crossed her arms. Even in the dim light spilling down from the landing upstairs he could see she had her cranky face on.
‘If this is about the orange juice from your fridge,’ he said, ‘I’ll replace it next time I go to the supermarket. Pinky promise.’
He held out his little finger but she batted it away.
‘I thought you’d solved the city council problem, Josh.’
‘What, that silly chicken complaint? I went down there, didn’t I? I even booked an appointment with—’ Oh, crap. The appointment had been for Monday morning up at the council office on Quarry Street, and with the excitement of having Poppy home, he’d totally forgotten about it.
‘Barry O’Malley?’ said his sister.
‘Yep. I should have gone to see him the other day. Shoot.’
‘That might explain the letter that I just got from Barry. Hand delivered, in person.’
‘Our local member came here?’
‘He asked to see you, but you were out with your girlfriend here, piddling on trees in the park, so he gave me the lowdown.’
‘The lowdown on what?’
‘Read it and see,’ she said, shoving the letter in his hand.
He flicked on the overhead light, then took a seat next to his sister on the bottom step. Jane Doe flopped to the floor with a grunt.
To Hannah Cody and Joshua Cody
Cody and Cody Vet Clinic
Yeah, he knew what their names were and what their business was called. He scanned down until he reached the meat of the letter.
… failed to address the complaint received by council from a member of the public regarding chickens … council is obliged to deal with all complaints … subsequently received a second complaint, details of which are attached.
Josh lifted the letter to reveal the second page.
A complaint has been received by council that indicates subsection 12(1) of theCompanion Animals Act 1998has been broken by owners and staff of the Cody and Cody Vet Clinic as a result of their continued practice of exercising dogs in the area outside clinic grounds without ensuring said dogs are wearing collars identifying the dogs’ names and the owners’ addresses or phone numbers.
‘What the fruit?’ said Josh. ‘This is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.’
‘Yeah,’ said Hannah. ‘Pity you weren’t here to say that to Barry.’
He turned back to the cover letter.
… where complaints are not addressed, council reserves the right to deny renewal of, or suspend for a period of 90 days, constituent privilege. In this instance, that privilege would be the veterinary practice business licence on issue to Hannah Celine Cody and Joshua Preston Cody of 36 Salt Creek Flats Road, Hanrahan.
‘What was Barry O’Malley’s take on all this?’
‘He said it sounded like a crock of shit, but he’s obliged to respond to all complaints that aren’t anonymous.’
