Last one. She smiled softly through the slim bars of the last kennel. The tabby cat within was curled comfortably on the towel she had given him and he had bundled up in the corner. He didn't open his eyes, flicking his ears in acknowledgement to her presence. She made a quick visual inspection of his cage: clean and cozy.
Good. Deeming the kennel's and it's resident's states satisfactory, she nodded to herself and left the feline in peace. On her way out, she called out "goodnight" and got pleasant responses from those still awake.
As she walked through the door of Feline Furr-adise, the section of the sanctuary devoted to cats, her phone chimed, informing her she had a text message. She ignored it. Checking off her mental to-do list before closing up for the night was very important to her.
Supplies are sufficient. The dog and cat kennels are cleaned and locked. Their residents are content. Liz should be in the lobby...
In the lobby, Liz waited patiently for Ella by the counter, petting Piper. Ella approached the blonde with a warm smileâ€â€the tenants of Second Chance Rescue owed their superb medical care to the vet before her. She glanced at the fun Dollar Store decorations celebrating Halloween, smiling at the memory of a certain St. Bernard mix's sulky mood toward being dressed up as a wizard. He ended up with a loving family wanting to meet him again this upcoming weekend.
Which reminds me... Ella addressed the woman quickly before she headed home:
"Gonna need to move Benji's appointment to about three, Liz, is that alright?" The veterinarian responded with an "I'll let you know" and left with a nod.
Piper stood on her rear paws, asking,
"Okay, can we go home now?" Ella nodded.
"Yes." She had not forgotten the text and pulled the flip phone from its clip on her belt loop to check the ID. She flipped the phone open one-handedly to read the reminder of a Halloween party by "Alexinho" and smiled.
"Better get going. I got a party to get to." With that, she picked up her satchel and Piper's leash and left the rescue.
Everything's locked. Check.
Piper practically dragged Ella home because she wanted to try on her costume As soon as she walked through the door of her townhouse, she got to her Halloween night plans. First stop: the spoiled brats she called her babies. Lucky in his NASA rocket engine backpack, Piper as Minnie Mouse (she had such a girly side), a moody Pebbles dressed as Frankenweenie, and fussy Echo having a Beanie Babies tag attached to his collar.
"I wish you would've worn the Mad Hatter hat," Ella muttered wistfully as she pulled his muzzle away from the heart-shaped tag.
Next stop was her own costume: the creepy-looking Tim Burton
[color=black]Cheshire Cat. As she put on the ears, she tipped her head to the right to contemplate the hair extension clips she'd bought. After a lot of thought, she put them in, turning her brown locks black with blue stripes. With some difficulty, she pulled off a messy braid down the back of her head and pulled over her shoulder. She walked out to oohs and ahhs from her fur-children.
"Remember, no barking at the little kidsâ€â€Lucky." "Yeah, yeah, I get it," Lucky replied, pairing the assurance with an eye roll that brightened up real quick.
"I can bark at the older kids though, right? The really old kids?" Ella drew a deep breath and looked around the room; Pebbles was dozing on the rug.
"Fine." She gave Piper a pointed look that meant "you're in charge." She grabbed Echo around the middle, said her good-byes and final reminders to be good, and drove to Alexi and Seb's apartment.
By the time she got there, she was trying
so very hard to contain her agitation at Echo asking "are we there yet" every time the car stopped. She spotted a familiar blur pass the car when she put it in park and killed it.
"We're here." She turned around, reaching to unbuckle his seat belt.
"I expect you to be on your best behavior, Pequeno." He smiled at her the way dogs always seemed to do, assuring her quietly that he would be. She opened the car door and surprised him by simultaneously whipping off the Beanie Baby tag and attaching a miniature hat to his head.
"C'mon!!" She ignored the protests, but the price for the hat trick was his refusing to walk. She relented just this once, carrying his whining, wriggling butt into the building.