Salvaged (14 page)

"I hadn't thought about it like that."

"I think you're in very good hands, relatively speaking of course.
I believe that he's good for you. You're good for each other."

"So I have your blessing if I end up becoming interested?"

"You have my blessing once you have his parents blessing. And
by the way, I don't think that there's any doubt whether or not you're
interested."

We talked more about the day and my new friends, and then at
ten o'clock there was a knock at my bedroom door.

"Come in."

"Are you sure you're ready for me?"

As I made my way to the door, I heard growling. "What in the
world?" I swung open the door. "Riley?"

He was wearing a football helmet, shoulder pads without a shirt,
cutoff sweatpants, cleats with no socks, and a baseball bat rested on
his right shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am," he said in a deep voice. "Did someone
call about needing me to come kick some monster butt tonight?"
He was trying to be serious and keep himself from laughing, but I
couldn't hide my amusement. He looked completely ridiculous.

I decided to play along and started fanning myself with my
hands before throwing my arm across my forehead. "Why yes, sir,
I did." It was a very bad Scarlett O'Hara impression. "I need a big
strappin' young man to save me."

"Well..." Riley doubled over laughing but tried to regain his
composure. "I'm here to save you!"

I dramatically sighed. "Oh thank God!"

Before I knew what was happening, he scooped me up and threw
me over his left shoulder. One of the shoulder pads poked into my
rib, but I was laughing too hard to care.

"I've got you, Miss; you'll be safe tonight," he said, stomping
toward his bedroom.

As he swung me around I saw his dad standing at the bottom of
the stairs looking up at us like we were crazy.

"Hi, Pops!"

He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Carrying me into his room, Riley threw me onto his bed and
started beating his chest with his fists. "Bring it on!"

"Riley!" At this point I was laughing so hard that tears were
streaming down my face.

He hopped onto the bed and jumped while still beating his
chest.

"Riley! Stop, Riley! I can't laugh anymore! My stomach hurts!"
I felt like I was falling and then realized we were lying on the floor.
The bed had collapsed, and we were sprawled out on the ground.

"What in God's name is going on up there?"

"We're just havin' some fun, Dad."

"What kind of fun, Riley? Never mind, don't answer that!"

"It's okay, Dad; we're just playin' around!"

"Your dad probably thinks we're up here doing some weird teenage mating ritual."

Riley wiped tears from his eyes. "There's no telling what's going
through that man's mind."

I jumped up and raced to my room. "Don't move, Riley. Don't move!" Throwing open my dresser drawer, I grabbed my camera and
ran back to his room. "I've got to get a picture of this!"

Riley stood up and posed in various positions while I snapped
away.

"Enough up there already! People are trying to sleep down here
for crying out loud!"

"Yes, sir."

Riley removed his cleats. "He's probly been sitting on the bottom step this entire time. He's so freakin' paranoid."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing he doesn't know how you
really feel about me."

He looked at me over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Oh,
you're gonna bring that up, are you?"

"No. Subject dropped."

"Thank you. It was embarrassing enough the first time."

"So do I get a performance like this every night?"

"I don't think so. I already broke the bed, and I think I pulled a
groin muscle."

"Don't tell your dad; he really will lose his mind."

He laid the sleeping bags onto the floor and climbed in.

"You can sleep on the bed, Riley. It isn't fair for you to have to
sleep on the floor too."

"Need I remind you that we broke my bed?"

"We didn't break your bed; you did!"

He shrugged and then propped himself up on his elbow. "Sleeping on the floor is no big deal. I go camping all the time, and that's
much harder. You wake up and you've got a rock in your back and a
twig up your butt or something."

"Ooh, sounds so appealing. I'm sorry I've been missing out." I
threw my hair into a knot and then climbed into the sleeping bag
next to him. "I really do love sleeping in a sleeping bag. It's the most
comfy thing ever. It's got to be the closest thing to actually being in
the womb."

"I can't believe you've never been camping. You'd love it."

"You think so?"

"I know so." He grinned and pumped his eyebrows up and down.
"I was right about the Coney, wasn't I?"

"Yes, Riley, you were right about the Coney."

"So, will you go camping with me if I plan a trip?"

I raised my eyebrows back at him. "Will you wear the helmet
and pads again?"

"Not while I'm camping, but I'll wear it again ... when you least
expect it."

"I can't wait. That was the highlight of my day."

He frowned. "That was the highlight of your day? I think you
just shattered my heart into a trillion little pieces."

"It was one of them-one of the highlights of my day."

He smiled again. "Go to sleep, Charlie."

"Atticus, don't you look beautiful this morning! And so well rested."

"Thanks, Gramps!" I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I slept all
night last night."

He waved his right hand in the air. "Praise the Lord! I've been pra-
yin' that God would send a guardian angel to protect you at night."

I pictured Riley in his hero costume. "He did, Gramps. God
sent me a guardian angel."

"God is good, Atticus. Isn't he faithful?"

I couldn't have agreed more. "Yes, Gramps, he is. He's very faithful."

"So Thomas tells me that you'll be startin' counseling with
Joshua Crawford tomorrow mornin'."

"Yes, I will, so I won't be in for work until about nine thirty or so."

"That's not a problem, Princess. I can't tell you how glad I am
that you'll have somebody to talk to, especially with the anniversary
of the accident right around the corner."

I groaned. I'd been trying to forget that the anniversary was
next Monday. I was hoping it would come and go without anyone
noticing.

"Are you plannin' on doing anything special on that day?"

"I hadn't thought about it, Gramps." That was a lie of course; I'd
probably spent hours debating whether or not I should mark the day
in some special way.

"You know, you don't have to do anything if you don't wanna."

"I know. We'll see." It was time to change the subject. "So what's
on the agenda at the clinic today?"

"Well, we've got a lot of boarded animals right now with it bein'
summer vacation time and all. I was thinkin' you could start with
feedin"em and playin' with `em a little."

"Sounds great."

"Later this afternoon I've gotta head on over to the Truman
place to check out some horses. You can join me if you'd like."

"Awesome."

As we pulled in behind the clinic, I could hear the dogs barking.
This was always one of my favorite moments of the day. The animals
got excited because they knew that people were arriving and they
were about to get some company.

Walking into the clinic felt like entering heaven. Among the
crazy, hectic, and cruel world sat this clinic-a refuge. Within its
walls was a man who loved me more than life itself, and I could
spend my time caring for the wonderful creatures who visited.

The clinic hadn't changed at all. Just inside the door sat a bucket
of dog treats. He must have been using the same brand because
when I picked one up and smelled it, the scent was familiar.

Eight orange plastic chairs lined the walls, and there was a small
coffee table with animal magazines and a Bible stacked on top. The
wall above the chairs was decorated with a scripture:

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after
his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after
his kind: and it was so.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and
cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the
earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:24-25 (KJv)

I smiled at the memory of my grandmother standing on a ladder and
painting the words. I'd been sitting on the floor watching her as I
played with a new litter of puppies and she sang hymns.

Me-Maw worked at the clinic every day answering the phone,
cleaning cages, and anything else that needed to be done. She did
it all because she loved working alongside her soul mate. Seeing as
how she spent all her time here, so did my dad. He was literally
raised in this clinic. My grandparents had a small bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen added to the back of the clinic so that Me-Maw
could care for her child and assist her husband simultaneously. After
Me-Maw passed away several years ago, Gramps moved into the
clinic permanently. Aside from my family visiting over the summers,
he didn't have any other family, so he figured he'd move in with the
animals and they could keep him company.

As I walked past Gramps's office, I saw Me-Maw's white vet
coat still hanging on the back of Gramps's desk chair.

As we walked toward the back of the clinic, the noise became
almost deafening. I walked amongst the cages greeting all the animals. Smaller breed dogs were always my favorite, but there were
several larger ones that I felt compelled to pet as well. I noticed one
small dog in a cage, and unlike the other dogs, it wasn't clamoring for attention. The small dog (which looked like a poodle mix)
huddled in the back of its cage, and its rear leg was in a small cast.

"Gramps, what's wrong with this one?"

"Oh, I call that one Baby. Someone stuffed it in a paper bag and
threw it in the trash. Connie West was walkin' by and heard the poor
thing cryin', so she got it out and brought it to me."

I opened the cage door. "Poor Baby."

"Be careful, Atticus, she's very skittish. She dudn't like people
much."

"Well, who can blame her?" I slowly reached into the cage and
placed my hand just an inch or so from her nose so she could get
used to my scent. "Hey there, pretty Baby. Are you going to let me
pick you up?" Reaching in with the other hand, I slowly removed her
from the cage. As I held her close to my chest, she fell asleep.

"Well, look at that, she likes you," Gramps whispered. "You've
always had a way with animals."

He brought me a sheet and fabricated a sling so that I could
keep her close by for the rest of the day, and then I got to work.

The morning passed quickly as Baby and I fed the other animals
and sterilized equipment. I was lost in thought when Gramps interrupted to tell me that I had visitors.

Walking into the reception area, I was greeted by Anne, Tammy,
Tess, and a cheery blonde-headed girl that I'd never met.

"Oh, look at the puppy!" Tess squealed, running over to me.

Anne made the introduction. "This is Jennifer. She's on the cheer
squad with us. I thought you might enjoy making a new friend."

"Hi!" Jennifer said excitedly. "I'm so happy to meet you. The
girls have told me so much about you."

I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too, Jennifer."

"And don't worry," she added. "I'm on Team Attie."

"Team Attie?"

"Yes, the squad is sorta dividing into two camps. Team Attie or
Team Tiffany," she explained. "So far, Team Attie is bigger."

"Why the two teams? Shouldn't a cheer squad be one team?"

"Well, evidently Tiffany doesn't think so. She's already trying to
cause problems for you."

"She's never even met me. What's she upset about?"

"Who knows? She likes to be the talk of the town, and now that
you've arrived, she's losing ground."

"Oh." Unfortunately, my fear of being the enemy of the girls on
the cheer squad was coming to fruition. At least part of the team
anyway.

Anne interrupted my thoughts. "We came to see if you wanted
to get some lunch with us."

"I don't know. I need to ask my Gramps."

"Gramps says go ahead." His voice bellowed from the back
room. He'd been eavesdropping.

"Give me just a minute. I need to put Baby back into her cage."

As I entered the holding room, Gramps was busying himself by
putting away supplies.

"Gramps, are you sure it's okay? You don't mind?"

"Go, Atticus. Don't you worry about me."

"All right then." I carefully placed Baby back in her cage and
told her that I would be back soon.

Walking back out into the reception area, Tammy hopped up
out of her chair. "Let's get moving."

"Thanks for inviting me, girls. I appreciate it."

Tess gave me a small hug. "We couldn't stand the thought of you
having to work all day. It is summer, you know."