A Home for Shimmer (7 page)

‘She wants to be friends, doesn’t she?’ I said to Josh.

He nodded.

Suddenly Ginger sprang forward and biffed Shimmer on the nose with his right paw and with that, he turned and walked out of the room. Shimmer didn’t seem to mind at all. She came over to me and leaned against my legs, her tail wagging as it always was.

Josh and I laughed. ‘Ginger was letting her know who’s the boss,’ said Josh.

We went downstairs followed by Shimmer, who seemed very at home already. Ginger was at his bowl eating and at the smell of food, Shimmer went to join him. Ginger promptly biffed her on the nose again so she retreated under the table.

I glanced at Mum and Dad to see if they were going to be cross that Shimmer had got out, but Dad grinned. ‘Hey, I think they’re going to be all right. Shimmer’s caught on fast not to bother Ginger when he’s eating, and there was no spitting or hissing. They’re just establishing a few ground rules.’

He got up and put out some more food in a second bowl for Shimmer, though was careful to put it at a distance from Ginger, who glanced over at the puppy for a moment then carried on eating his Whiskas. When he’d finished, he went towards the stairs.

‘Look,’ said Dad. ‘Ginger’s tail is up, that means he’s OK with things. If he wasn’t, his tail would be down.’

Excellent
, I thought.
That’s one hurdle over. If things carry on like this, Mum and Dad’ll have no reason not to let Shimmer stay.

After breakfast, Shimmer and I went back up to my bedroom, where she got busy chewing the shoelace on one of my trainers.

‘I think we’re going to have to buy you some toys,’ I said to her, pulling it out of her mouth. ‘Shoes aren’t for chewing, and you have to be on your best behaviour for the next few weeks so that I can keep you.’

Shimmer gazed up at me and put her paw on my knee. She was so sweet, I just had to kneel down and give her a cuddle. ‘I won’t let them send you away,’ I said as I nuzzled into her furry neck. ‘I won’t.’

Shimmer replied with a woof.

‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘Woof, woof.’

I took a quick photo of her with my phone and sent it to Caitlin. She texted back immediately:
Adorable
.

It was then that I saw that there was also a text from Natalia. In all the excitement over Shimmer, I’d forgotten about her saying that she’d call me with her brilliant idea.
Check ur emails
, she’d texted. I went to my desk and opened my laptop. I soon saw her message.

At the bottom, she’d added a web address.

I pressed the link, looked at the home page and scrolled down. At first it didn’t make any sense to me, though I did what she had instructed and explored the site. As I clicked through the pages, the penny dropped. I got exactly why she’d sent it. I knew that Caitlin would get it too, so I quickly sent her the link.

I picked up my laptop, went out into the corridor and called, ‘Family conference. In the kitchen. Now.’

Haha
, I thought as I went down the stairs and almost fell over Shimmer, who ran in front of me on the way.
Mum’s not the only one who can call everyone together!

Soon we were all seated around the table. Ginger had positioned himself at one end, in a position of superiority again, from where he regarded Shimmer. Every now and again, Shimmer would approach the table and try and put her paws up. Each time, she was met with a biff on the nose from Ginger. Shimmer didn’t mind at all. She kept going back for more and every time Ginger biffed her, her tail wagged even more. Even Mum had to laugh. ‘They seem to be getting along well, don’t they?’ she commented. ‘Probably because Ginger knows Shimmer is a pup and not a threat.’

‘Or more likely, even Ginger can’t resist Shimmer’s cuteness,’ I said.

‘Hmm, maybe, but cats often establish themselves as the boss in a household,’ said Dad. ‘So, Amy. What’s so important?’

I opened my laptop and clicked on the link that Natalia had sent me then turned the computer around so that everyone could see. ‘Natalia sent me this
brill
idea. Check it out.’

‘What are we meant to be looking at?’ asked Josh as he squinted at the home page.

‘Just explore and use your brain, you dingbat,’ I said. ‘Take your time.’

I let them have a few minutes looking at the site then Mum leaned back and actually smiled. She’d got it. I grinned back at her.

‘Not a bad idea . . .’ said Mum. ‘Not bad at all. Better than the horse stables idea.’

The website that Natalia had sent me was for a farm shop and café just outside Bath. The shop was bright and clean with baskets full of gorgeous-looking local produce, fruit, vegetables, herbs, a meat counter, shelves laden with chutney, jam, marmalade, a counter with scrummy-looking homemade cakes. Another page showed a café which was located in a barn, but not like our shabby-looking barns – this one had been decorated and looked authentic, but was spotless and bright with smiling teenagers in green aprons behind the counter.

‘And there’s more,’ I said and pressed through to another page which showed an area with goats and chickens. ‘We’ve got it all here,’ I said. ‘We have the barns, the stables, the land.’

‘Amy, love, this sort of venture costs a lot of money.’ Mum had her worried face on again.

I wasn’t going to be put off. ‘No problem. We’ll put together a business plan. Get a loan,’ I said. All that watching
Entrepreneur Challenge
with Natalia hadn’t gone to waste.

Mum laughed. ‘Get Amy – businesswoman of the year.’

‘There might even be grants for this sort of thing,’ said Josh. He’d sat through endless episodes of
Entrepreneur Challenge
when Natalia had stayed for sleepovers.

‘What do you think?’ I asked. ‘We’ve already got a tea shop of sorts but imagine if we made it nice and decorated it so that people would actually
want
to come here.’

‘Well, I
could
make cakes,’ said Mum. ‘And jams and chutneys. Start our own business . . .’ She had a dreamy look in her eyes, but then looked round and put her ‘we’ve got to be practical’ face on again. ‘Maybe . . .’

‘Mr O’Neill could bring his vegetables,’ said Josh.

‘Good idea, Josh,’ I said. ‘I don’t think there’s anything like it around here, Mum.’

Mum nodded. ‘There’s the supermarket in the village and the café at the back, but it’s not really very nice.’

‘If we could make it really fun and pretty, people would come here instead,’ I said.

‘You’re right, farm shops
are
all the rage these days,’ said Mum. ‘People want to know where their food is grown, where it comes from, what it’s been sprayed with.’

‘Though it hurts me to say this about my sister,’ said Josh. ‘I think you might be on to something, Amy. What do you think, Dad?’

I felt a rush of excitement. ‘But that’s not all,’ I said. ‘The shop and the café could make money. The money could pay for an animal rescue centre.’

‘Running a café and shop
would
see us through times when the clinic is quiet,’ said Mum. ‘I’m not sure about a rescue centre though, Amy.’

Dad still hadn’t said much but I
knew
it was a good idea. I wasn’t going to give up. ‘People are getting fed up with big supermarkets, and smaller places selling organic produce are becoming really popular. We did a lesson about it at school. And . . . and . . . Natalia’s going to send me some fundraising ideas. And I bet Caitlin would have some good ones, too. We wouldn’t have to rely totally on the shop. We could run events, special sales – I don’t know, we’ll think of something. I’m sure people will want to help. What do you say, Dad?’

‘It’s definitely worth considering,’ he said, ‘but it would be costly. I just can’t imagine how we’d make it work. But let’s try putting together a business plan.’

‘Natalia could help with the plan,’ I said. ‘She’s a whiz at things like that.’

‘How old are you again?’ asked Dad.

‘Eleven going on forty,’ said Mum. ‘Richie, I have a good feeling about this. I can see it. “Silverbrook Farm Produce”. We need to do some market research and see what the competition is round here. There’s bound to be some but, Amy, you’re right. I haven’t seen anything like it in the local area. Josh, maybe you could design us a logo for the labels and advertising. Something showing the farmhouse, maybe in summer, with roses growing up the arch above the front door so it looks countrified.’

Josh got up. ‘I’m on it,’ he said. He was brilliant at art and was always designing things on his computer.

Mum got up to get some paper and soon she and Dad were bent over a notepad making lists.

It was a good job they were preoccupied because it was then that I saw that, while everyone had been busy looking at my laptop, Shimmer had helped herself to the sausages that had been left on the side counter. A last gulp, they were gone and Shimmer began to hiccup again.

‘Er . . . while you’re doing that, I’ll take Shimmer out,’ I said and made a quick exit before anyone noticed that their breakfast had disappeared.

Chapter Eight

To the Rescue

March

On the first Saturday in the Easter holidays, we set off on our road trip. Destination: the rescue home for dogs and cats. Mum looked very smart in a navy trouser suit and her hair tied back, and I could see that Dad had made an effort too because, for once, he wasn’t wearing odd socks, and Shimmer was wearing a new red collar specially purchased for the trip. And Mum and Dad said Caitlin could come too, which would make it double fun.

On the journey, we made up a list of questions to ask when we got to the centre.

‘Ask how much it costs them a year to run the place,’ said Mum.

‘Megabucks, I bet,’ said Caitlin.

‘Where would you find that?’ Josh asked.

‘Exactly,’ said Dad. ‘Put that as question number one. How do you find the money to run a rescue centre?’

‘It says on their website that people are asked to make a donation when they adopt an animal,’ I said. ‘That gives some money. We’d have to have a similar site so people can read about the animals, how much it would cost, how to donate. You should take a look, Josh.’