Page 60 of The Day After Christmas
‘I don’t think that’s how it goes.’
‘Still, the principle’s there. It would be a start.’
‘But you said we’d need a lot of volunteers.’
‘You would. Good luck with that.’
‘What about a sponsored something? You could run the London Marathon or sit in a bath of baked beans?’
‘Oh, thank you very much.’ James laughed again, this time grabbing her and tickling her stomach.
‘Stop that.’ Felicity cackled. ‘You know I hate being tickled.’
‘That’s what makes it so fun.’
‘I think you in those short shorts would be just the ticket,’ said Felicity, still giggling.
‘Oh you do, do you? Well, think of something else. My running days are long gone.’
‘Wait,’ said Felicity. His hands were still on her. ‘Wait. I’ve got it.’
James finally stopped tickling her and raised his eyebrows.
‘How about an open day at the centre? We could get a load of food vans on the car park and get Saskia along to talk about the RSPCA and introduce people to the animals. It would be really cool.’
James nodded, his blond hair even more ruffled than usual now. ‘I like that. And what? You charge entry or something?’
‘Yes, and maybe we have a raffle or a prize draw or something?’
‘That’s a bloomin’ good idea.’
‘I know, right? And then we get… we get a celebrity to come and open the place or sign autographs or something? That would get people along.’
‘Do you know any celebrities?’
Felicity’s shoulders sagged. ‘Not exactly. But we can find one, right?’
‘Exactly. You can always ask Tristan. He’s a theatre director. He must know some famous types.’
Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘He couldn’t even give me our father’s number. He’ll never get his act together in time to help us.’
‘Well, we’ll have a think. Someone must know someone.’
‘Let’s do it. An open day would be super. Love that, Mr Penguin Man,’ said Felicity, kissing his cheek.
‘Hey, it was your idea, Crazy Cat Lady. You are a bloody genius.’
‘I aim to please.’
‘Out of the question,’ said Andrea the next day when Felicity cornered her in the office to tell her the plan.
‘Oh, but seriously, it’ll work! I know it will work. We never show this place off,’ Felicity wheedled, waving a hand around.
Andrea scoffed. ‘That’s because it’s a total dump that hasn’t been properly deep cleaned in about ten years.’
Felicity screwed up her face. Then mimed rolling her sleeves up. ‘Well, what better than an open day to give us just such an excuse. Come on, please let us? It’ll be brilliant and we might make some money. We can get a load of kids to come pet the animals and, ooh, and we could invite the local press and get them to do a story, you know, save our local animal rescue centre-type thing. Come on, Andrea. What do we have to lose?’
‘I can think of a few things. Our reputation. Our minds?’
