Chapter 1
“If you tell me one more time that this is for a good cause, I might ask the driver to turn around.”
Ettie looked across the back seat of the taxi at her sister. “I haven’t said it that many times.”
“You’ve said it enough.” Elsa-May looked out the window at the snow along the roadside. “I still don’t understand why you were so determined that I come with you.”
“I thought it would be nice to get out of the house for a while.”
“We have plenty to do at home. Christmas is only two weeks away, and I haven’t started the fruitcakes for Jeremiah’s.”
“There’s plenty of time for that.”
Elsa-May turned back to her. “What’s going on, Ettie? I feel you’re up to something.”
Ettie looked out her own window. “We’re going to the animal shelter’s Adopt-a-Pet Christmas Event. There’s nothing mysterious about that.”
Elsa-May didn’t look convinced, and Ettie was glad when the taxi turned onto the road leading to the shelter.
The day before, Ettie had made the same journey alone. She had spoken with Gordon Jameson, the shelter manager, and completed the adoption paperwork for Tall Tales, the African grey parrot she and Elsa-May had encountered before. She had paid the fee at the front desk and put the receipt in her bag with the rest of the papers.
There was only one problem. Elsa-May had made it perfectly clear that she did not want Tall Tales living with them.
Ettie was hoping she might feel differently once she saw him again.
The shelter had asked to keep Tall Tales for one more day because he was popular with the children and they wanted him at the Adopt-a-Pet Christmas Event. Ettie was to collect him the following afternoon. Gordon had assured her that the paperwork was complete and Tall Tales was hers, but Ettie had thought it best not to mention that to Elsa-May just yet.
After all, Tall Tales was going to be a Christmas present. He would be an early one, because a parrot could not be wrapped in paper and hidden in a cupboard for two weeks.
Elsa-May would hardly refuse a Christmas present once it was sitting in front of her. She might complain about it, but that wasn’t the same thing.
The taxi pulled up outside the animal shelter. A large hand-painted sign beside the entrance read ADOPT-A-PET CHRISTMAS EVENT.
Elsa-May read it through the window. “Why are they calling it a Christmas event when it’s only the middle of December?”
“It seems fine to me. I think you’re being picky. They hold it now because they want as many animals as possible to be adopted by Christmas. Nobody wants a dog to spend Christmas in a kennel.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” Elsa-May turned to Ettie. “Before we go in there, I want to make something very clear. We are not bringing home another pet. We have Snowy and we have Kelly, and a dog and a cat are quite enough for us to look after at our age.”
“I haven’t suggested bringing anything home.”
“No, but I know you. We’re going inside to have a look, and we’re coming home with the same number of animals we arrived with.”
“We didn’t arrive with any animals, so that will be easy to manage.”
“Then no animals is the number we’re leaving with.”
Ettie paid the driver and thanked him. Then she turned to her sister. “I heard every word you said, Elsa-May.”
They climbed out of the taxi. Greenery had been tied around the posts beside the entrance, and red bows decorated the doors. Several families were heading inside, while others were coming out. A young couple passed Ettie and Elsa-May with a cat carrier held between them.
“At least the event seems to be working,” Ettie said. “That cat has found a home.”
“That’s wonderful, as long as all the animals find homes with other people.”
Ettie headed toward the entrance before Elsa-May could say anything more.
The shelter was much busier than it had been the previous day. Volunteers in green aprons moved between the enclosures. Photographs of other animals needing homes had been pinned to display boards, and a steady stream of people moved through the main room.
There were Christmas decorations around the shelter, although they were simple. Paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling, greenery had been wound around several posts, and red ribbons decorated some of the animal enclosures.
Just inside the door was the front desk. A young woman with a long braid sat behind it with a receipt book and a pen. A round tin with a slot cut in the lid stood at her elbow, and a card taped to the front of it read DONATIONS.
Along one wall were tables with cakes, cookies, preserves, handmade pet toys and raffle prizes. A sign explained that money raised that day would go toward feeding and caring for the shelter animals.
Elsa-May stopped walking. “Why are there buckets on the floor?”
Ettie looked. Four buckets stood in a row at the mouth of the corridor that led to the dog kennels. A drop of water fell from the ceiling into the nearest one.
A man in a green apron came toward them with a fifth bucket in one hand and a box of paper cups under his arm. He put the bucket under a damp patch on the ceiling and set the box of cups down on the refreshment table. “Mrs. Smith, I’m glad you could make it. You’ll have to excuse the buckets. The roof over the kennel block has picked this week to start leaking. If you see me run past with a mop, that’s the reason.”
“This is my sister, Elsa-May Lutz,” Ettie said. “Elsa-May, this is Martin Webb. He works here.”
Ettie had met Martin briefly the previous day. He was in his forties, with thinning brown hair and a pleasant manner.
Martin shook Elsa-May’s hand. “I work three days a week, and every other day they can talk me into. We’ve had a good turnout already. Two cats have found homes, and a family is filling out the paperwork for one of the older dogs.”
“That’s good news,” Ettie said.
“It certainly is. We’d like every one of them in a new home by Christmas.” Martin glanced across the room when someone called his name. “Excuse me. That’ll be the puppies. Somebody has let them out of the pen again.”
When he hurried away, Elsa-May whispered, “How do you know that man?”
“I must’ve met him before. Perhaps when we were both here last time.”
Elsa-May sighed. “You’re not looking at me. Now I know you’re up to something.”
“I’m not up to anything.” Ettie looked toward the refreshment table. “Would you like some cake?”
“Since you obviously don’t intend to tell me, I might as well have cake.”
They went over to see what was available. A handwritten card beside the cakes explained that the money raised from the refreshments would help feed the shelter animals over Christmas.
The woman behind the table was about seventy, with gray curls and reading glasses on a chain around her neck. A name badge pinned to her apron said NOREEN.
“We have fruitcake, spice cake or lemon,” Noreen said. “I made the fruitcake myself, so I’m supposed to tell you it’s the best one. The spice cake is better, but don’t tell anyone I said so.”
“I’ll have the fruitcake,” Elsa-May said.
“I’d like the spice cake, please,” Ettie said.
Noreen cut the slices and put them on paper plates. “Is this your first time at one of our events?”
Ettie nodded. “Yes.”
“Then you picked a good one. We’ve never had so many people through the door. Gordon has been here since six this morning, and he was here until all hours last night as well. I told him he’ll wear himself out before Christmas.” Noreen counted Ettie’s coins into a cash box. “He won’t listen to me, because he never does. That man would sleep here if we gave him a blanket.”
“He seems very dedicated,” Ettie replied.
“He’s run this place for twelve years, and I’ve been a volunteer for nine of them.” Noreen nodded toward the door, where a tall man in a dark suit and a red tie was shaking hands with a family on their way in. “That’s Howard Vance. He’s the chairman of our board. He comes twice a year, once for the Christmas event and once for the summer fair, and both times he tells everyone how hard he works.”
Elsa-May looked at the man in the red tie. “What does he do the rest of the year?”
“He signs things. I suppose somebody has to.”
Another customer came to the table, and Noreen turned away to serve her.
Ettie and Elsa-May carried their plates to the end of the table, where they could eat without being in anyone’s way.
Elsa-May examined her fruitcake. “They could have been a little more generous with the slices. My fruitcake is much nicer if I do say so myself.”
“That’s not the point. The money goes to the animals.”
“I know where the money goes. That doesn’t make the slice any bigger or make it taste any better.”
Ettie ate some of her spice cake and glanced around the room. From where they stood, they had a good view of the animal enclosures and most of the people attending the event. Martin had caught two of the escaped puppies and held one under each arm. A third puppy ran between the legs of the chairman, who stepped back and nearly fell over.
Elsa-May chuckled. “That puppy has spirit. I haven’t made up my mind about the chairman.”
A loud whistle came from the far side of the room. It was a cheerful tune, the kind a man might whistle on the deck of a ship. A group of children over there began to laugh.
Then somebody called out above the noise of the crowd. “Land ho!”
Elsa-May stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth. “I know who that is.”
Ettie kept her eyes on her cake. “There are a great many animals here.”
Elsa-May put her fork down on her plate. “Ettie Smith, is that bird here?”
“He lives here, so I don’t know where else he would be.”
“So that’s what this outing is about. I already told you about that bird. We’re not taking him home.”
“We came to support the shelter. If Tall Tales happens to be here, I can hardly help that.”
From across the room came another shout. “Where’s my cookie?”
The children laughed harder.
Elsa-May picked up her fork. “I am going to finish this cake even though I’ve had better. Then we will walk around the place once, to be polite. And when we come to that bird, we will keep walking, and I mean that.”
Ettie sighed. “We’ll do whatever you say.”
Elsa-May ate another mouthful of fruitcake and watched Ettie the whole time she chewed it.
Ettie finished her spice cake. Noreen had been right. It was very good, but she wasn’t going to tell Elsa-May because then she might have to share.
