It was the weekend at last and Amelia was relieved to have a couple of days off. She’d been so busy at school and worn out by the evening, she’d forgotten about Jules saying he’d leave the key to the kennels at the surgery with Cynthia for Sophie and Rufus to pick up. So, knowing how frantic Sophie was about getting them, she was surprised when Jules rang early on Saturday to tell Sophie that if she was really interested in seeing the kennels, he would meet her and Rufus there this morning and let them in.
‘Okay, fine, yes in about an hour, we’ll be there… thanks. What? No, we haven’t changed our minds. We didn’t know the keys were there or of course one of us would have picked them up.’ Sophie sounded slightly defensive. ‘Well, thanks we’ll see you then.’ The call ended and she turned to face them, frowning.
‘That was Jules, he said he left the keys to the kennels in the surgery on Thursday and is surprised we didn’t collect them, but no one told us they were there,’ she said indignantly.
‘That’s right, he left them there on Thursday. I remembered him saying at the concert that he’d do that,’ Amelia said. ‘Sorry, I suppose I should have told you, but it’s been a manic week and it completely slipped my mind. Anyway, he told Cynthia to contact you, I heard him, to tell you they were there.’
‘She… no one told us. Jules has just found them still in the surgery. He was quite annoyed until I said we hadn’t been told,’ Sophie explained, ‘even though I rang earlier in the week to ask. Anyway, he’s meeting us there so we can see how bad it is. Why don’t you come with us, Mum?
‘Yes, let’s all go,’ Rufus said, ‘then you can see if Jules was right to shut it down so leaving all those pets for you to care for over Christmas. I feel you are as much a part of this as us, Amelia.’ He grinned at her.
She had shopping to do and her lesson plans, but why not go? She’d been so affected by this kennel closure, that she might as well see them. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Jules would be there.
They set off in Rufus’s car and about twenty minutes later, on a road surrounded by farmland they reached the start of a drive, with fields either side of it and ancient trees. Beside the gate was a faded notice declaring: ‘Birchwood Kennels, Cattery and other pets welcome. A home from home.’
Jules was there already and had unlocked the gate and was waiting on the driveway inside. When he saw them, he started his car and they followed him up a tree-lined drive, bumping along and bouncing off potholes. Rounding the corner, they saw a large house of faded red brick with the skeletons of creepers crawling up to the roof. Jules stopped his car outside it and got out with Dickon.
Amelia, Sophie and Rufus joined them. They faced a stable block with an archway between them. There were a couple of birch trees with their silver bark beside them, which, Amelia supposed, gave the house its name.
‘This is where the animals you had used to live,’ Dickon said, bounding up to her. ‘Dad will show you how dangerous it was to leave them here.’
Sophie was looking round with interest. Jules, having greeted them, handed Rufus the keys, explaining which one locked the gate to the drive, the house and now the kennels.
‘Thanks, I’ll try and remember. I never had to lock anything when I was last here as my aunt and uncle saw to that.’ He took a breath, looked round. ‘I must say the place looks a lot sadder than the last time I saw it, the flower beds full of weeds. If only I’d known sooner, then I might have been able to help them.’
Jules said, ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it, you were away studying. You are here now.’
Dickon was running all over the place, full of life as Amelia remembered him before he started school. He ran though the archway and then back towards them. ‘It’s all broken back here,’ he announced, ‘some of the roofs are missing.’
‘Keep with us, Dickon,’ Jules said. ‘I told you there would be dangerous places and we don’t want them to fall on you.’
Jules caught Amelia’s eye, his expression almost defiant.
Sophie had gone very quiet. She glanced at Rufus, who looked worried. He went towards the arch followed by the rest of them. Jules unlocked a door in the archway, and they had a glimpse of what must once have been a stable, with an old desk in the centre and pictures and leaflets mouldering on the walls.
‘Apparently, they left their animals here and they were taken later to the kennels by Dodi or Jim, so no one saw the state of them,’ Jules said.
‘And they have no roof or even a door,’ Dicken went on.
Rufus looked more and more unhappy as they went through the arch and turned down a muddy path. There was a group of buildings round a small yard. Amelia thought how nice they must have been when they were new. Each place had its own small hut and a run at the front, though now some of them were cobbled together with rope or bits of wood and bricks, and two, as Dickon had said, had lost their roofs completely.
Dickon acted like a tour guide pointing things out. ‘Animals could get out of that one and look at the hole in this bit!’ Finally, Jules said gently, ‘We can see it all, thank you, Dickon. You and I will get going now. We’ve got shopping to do and you need another school jersey.’ He glanced at Amelia.
‘I didn’t get him enough jerseys. He gets so grubby at school.’
‘There’s so much mud about,’ she said, ‘and they seem to get covered in it, the boys anyway. He’s not the only one.’ She smiled at him, feeling sorry that Jules had to deal with it all without his wife. She wondered if Cynthia was helpful, but rather doubted it.
‘Thank you anyway, Jules, for letting us in to see the place.’ She lowered her voice. They were standing close to one another, Sophie and Rufus further away taking everything in, talking quietly together.
‘I am shocked at the state of it, no wonder you shut it down. Amazing that no one else saw it. That other vet, how could he have let them take in pets with it like this?’
‘I think it only got really bad when the winter came, but as you see, I had to do it for the sake of the animals and Dodi and Jim. They could easily have been charged for cruelty to animals, though I’m sure they didn’t mean it. It just all got too much and Dodi was struggling on alone, Jim not being up to it. That generation have a sort of pride, don’t they? Getting on with things, not asking for help.’
‘But you are getting all the flak for it, yet you saved them from…’ She paused. ‘Possibly prison? People ought to come and see how bad it is before blaming you,’ she finished sternly.
He smiled. ‘If people had seen the state of it, I’m certain someone would have reported them or not left their animals here, warned others it was not safe. By not having people going to the actual kennels to settle their pets in, they avoided it. While I was here seeing to their sick cat, I insisted on seeing them.’ He sighed, remembering. ‘Dodi was very upset, but it was better that I persuaded her to close it. Now they are both happily settled with her sister and well out of it. But, as you can see, it has to be completely rebuilt, and that will be expensive. It’s up to Rufus or his aunt to decide what to do about it.’
‘You did the right thing, and kindly too,’ she said, feeling a sudden closeness to him. Their eyes met and then Dickon came whooping over to them, holding something in his hand that he thrust at them.
‘Look, I found this snail shell. The snail’s not in it so I can take it home.’