Crime and Cherry Pits by Amanda Flower

Author:Amanda Flower
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks

Chapter Twenty-One

The next morning, Esmeralda and I led the sheep back to the orchard. It felt odd to be walking around the farm in the morning without Huckleberry. We had just been apart one night, but I really missed my little pug. And I was dead tired. I had stayed up until three in the morning baking more goodies for the booth. Next year, if I got into the Cherry Farm Market again, I would plan ahead a little better.

Esmeralda also seemed to be a little down in the mouth with Huckleberry away too.

As we followed the sheep into the orchard, I said, “You miss Huckleberry too?”

She looked up at me with disdain and flicked her tawny tail back and forth before making a 180 and marching away.

She missed him. I knew it.

While the ewes got right down to business trimming the weeds, Panda Bear waddled over to me for some head scratches.

“You’re a sweet boy,” I told the bundle of wool.

He closed his eyes in bliss.

Across the orchard, I heard Esmeralda yowl.

“Esmeralda!” I ran to her with Panda Bear and the ewes right behind me. I gasped when I found the little part Siamese cat’s tail caught in a snare. “Oh my goodness!” I fell to my knees next to her.

She was tugging hard on her tail, and it only made the snare tighter. I placed my hand on the back of her neck to calm her and, as carefully as I could, I removed her tail from the snare. The lucky thing was she was a long-hair cat and most of her tail was fur. A good amount of fur got caught on the snare, and she had a bald spot on the right side, but the wire hadn’t broken the skin. There wasn’t even a red mark. Even so, Esmeralda was livid.

She hissed for all she was worth and bolted to the gate. She stopped just on the other side of the electric fence and began licking her tail as if her life depended on it. It worried me that she might actually be hurt.

The sheep watched with dumbfound expressions. I can’t say I blamed them. I knew I looked the same way.

There was no way I was leaving the flock in the orchard if there was a chance there were other snares or traps for them to wander into. I clapped my hands at Panda Bear. “Back to the barn.”

He stared at me, and after I made some shooing motions, he seemed to understand what I was getting at because he walked out of the orchard. The four ewes followed him.

When I was through the fence, I looked behind me. Nothing seemed to be amiss in the orchard. Ten yards away, I saw the property line for Tanner’s farm. He wouldn’t hurt my animals, would he? I shivered and felt sad it had gotten to the point that I was suspicious of my neighbor. But I couldn’t think of another person who would care in the least what I did in the orchard.

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