Fallback by Lori Whitwam

Author:Lori Whitwam [Whitwam, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Limitless Publishing LLC
Published: 2015-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

***

I doubted anyone got much more sleep that night. As soon as dawn began to make an appearance, we were all up and loading in for the next leg of our journey. Jocelyn dished up portions of trail mix in the kitchen, and the earliest arrivals were able to enjoy theirs with a bit of fresh goat milk. I downed my breakfast quickly, then took my pack to be stowed in the van before heading to the barn to see if Melissa needed any help.

I found her coaxing Wilhelm from the top of a huge stack of hay bales. “How’d he get up there?”

She shrugged. “He’s a goat.”

“Wasn’t he in one of the stalls?”

“Yeah. He’s a clever one.”

Just what we needed, an evil genius goat.

Wilhelm descended from his perch, and Melissa led him toward the truck. “I’m glad we were able to unload the animals. Depending on where we stop at night, we might have to take them out to feed them, then put them right back in.”

I hadn’t thought about it, but could see her point. Plus, less stuff to muck out of the truck if they spent the night somewhere else. I peered into the back of the vehicle. “Is that everybody?”

Melissa shook her head. “Cats are still on the porch.” She latched the back of the truck and gestured toward the barn. “I saw a really big dog kennel in there. I was thinking we could use that instead of the little cat carriers. They can all go in one, and we can put a sandbox in the back.”

I followed her back into the barn. We located the kennel and dragged it to the screen porch where the cats had spent the night. The house had emptied out, everyone in the last stages of loading their gear and preparing to depart. Melissa and I loaded the cats into their more spacious accommodations and started the laborious task of hauling the crate loaded with four good-sized, squirming cats across the yard.

We set the cats down for a moment to rest our arms, and I glanced over toward the pump. Ty was there, splashing water on his face, his damp hair streaming down over his shoulders. He shook his head like Skip after a bath, then proceeded to secure his hair with a cord he pulled from his pocket. He looked up and saw us, then hurried in our direction.

“Morning, ladies. Need a hand?”

“Yes, please,” Melissa said, giving him a look that suggested she appreciated more than his offer of assistance. I couldn’t disagree.

An extra pair of hands allowed us to load the cats without further delay. As I secured the back of the truck for the final time, accompanied by a bleat of disapproval from Wilhelm, Marcus called to everyone to gather around for pre-departure instructions.

He turned his head to take in the assembled team. “Slight change of plans today, folks.” He held up a page torn from an old AAA road atlas. “Anybody notice something unusual since we’ve been on the road?”

There was a moment of silence before Rebecca spoke up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.