Life and Otter Miracles by Hazel Prior

Author:Hazel Prior [Prior, Hazel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Animals, Friendship, Humorous, General, Nature & the Environment
ISBN: 9781473597570
Google: 6VqDEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2023-08-16T23:00:00+00:00

24

Button, Candlestick, Pickles and Poison

JULES AND JACK had gone. Phoebe was spending a good deal of time in bed, recovering. Al tiptoed around the house, understanding how badly she needed rest. He also realized that something was on her mind but didn’t press her about it.

She was finding it hard to concentrate on anything, even her Sherlock Holmes audiobooks. She couldn’t shake off this vague feeling she should be working something out, but her brain wouldn’t function. Hopefully, if she unplugged it and plugged it in again later, it might begin to work again.

She had unwillingly left the care of Coco and Paddy to Carol for a week. Now she was itching to get back to them. So when Christina rang to suggest another late-afternoon otter-drawing session, Phoebe accepted, even though she feared she would be playing gooseberry. She was missing all the otters and wanted to get beyond just drawing the lines of their backs. It would be a fine thing to get on to ears, eyes and noses. There was good news, too. Apparently, the protesters had not been seen for the last few days and it didn’t look as if they were coming back. This might have had something to do with Jules’s video, Phoebe reflected. She was beginning to feel charitable towards her sister again.

Al dropped her at the sanctuary and took himself off to the village shop to stock up.

The first thing Phoebe did was to check out Coco and Paddy on the video screen.

‘Aha.’

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere. He had come in so quietly she hadn’t noticed him at all. But there he was, standing beside her. She had no idea how long he’d been there.

‘Hello, Dan!’ she said.

‘Hello, Phoebe-the-Wild-Cub-Carer.’

He handed her a long package, perfectly wrapped in brown paper. ‘Here it is. I hope you like it, and I hope Christina likes it. I asked Ellie about it, and Ellie definitely likes it. So that’s a good sign.’

Phoebe undid the string and pulled out the candlestick. It was fashioned out of dark oak with clear graining, and curled around the body of the stick was an exact likeness of Miaow. Her posture was perfectly catlike. Her little paws were dainty and her eyes had a lovely, affectionate expression as if she were purring. There were fine cuts in the wood to give a suggestion of fur, and even her whiskers were full of character.

‘Wow. It’s amazing. You’re a genius!’

Dan shrugged his shoulders.

‘I can’t do a lot of things that other people do very well, such as skiing or making jam or saying the right things at the right times. But the thing I can do is carve wood.’

‘You certainly can!’

As she was admiring his handiwork, Carol stepped in.

‘Look, Carol. Look what Dan has made for me, as a present for Christina. She’s going to adore it, isn’t she?’

Carol rubbed her hands on her jeans before taking the candlestick to examine it. ‘It really is very special, Dan. The life in that cat … it’s incredible.

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