The Countdown to Christmas by Penelope Janu

Author:Penelope Janu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Published: 2024-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

By the time I’ve given Mrs Jones’s cat his annual shots, clipped his claws and seen two more clients, there’s no sign of Jasper. After locking up, I give a talk about animal welfare at a local high school and spend the rest of the afternoon at an alpaca farm trimming hooves. It’s not until I’m walking to Cinnamon’s paddock with a bucket of feed and hay that I see what Jasper was up to.

Christmas bush. The leaves on the tree, planted near the chicken coop, are small, slender and green, and the star-shaped sepals are as red as the baubles on my Christmas tree. Jasper must have dug a hole a metre wide. He shouldn’t be digging a hole that big. He shouldn’t be digging any hole. A hose from the bore tap lies on one side of the tree and the earth is wet around it. There’s no nursery in Wattle Valley, and no delivery to Ming Ong on Tuesdays. Where did Jasper find the tree?

I now have banksia trees, bottle brush trees and a Christmas bush. I touch the delicate new growth. I look around as if Jasper might appear. I told him to rest. Is he resting? Is Sergeant Scott watching out for him?

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