SHEILA.... Following the directions that Fanny had given me, it took me almost an hour to walk the distance. I was half wishing that I had brought the car, but it was an opportunity to have a closer look at the town and find out how to get around. There were some interesting little shops and I made a mental note to visit them again with Jill. I hadn't realized that Fanny's house was that close to the outskirts of Greyleith, and the vet was at the end of the street, surrounded by vacant lots. Fitting, considering that people would be coming and going with animals. I stopped outside to read the sign.... "Feathers and Fur". So he looked after birds as well as animals. That was interesting. The sign needed painting, but was still easily read. For an instant I wondered if he would even be open since I had forgotten, in my haste, that it was Saturday, but then Fanny would not have suggested I go if he'd been closed, and I could see movement through the window. Now that I was here, I felt a little nervous. Here I was, a stranger, hoping to get a job in a place I hadn't even moved to yet. Well.....in for a penny.....as the saying went.
     A little bell tinkled, as I pushed the door open and I entered a room full of people and animals. A little taken aback, I paused and looked around. I hadn't expected that many people. He would be way too busy to talk to me today, and I almost backed out again. A plump lady with a cocker spaniel puppy, smiled at me and shifted over to make room beside her on the bench. I took a deep breath and went over. At least I could take a rest after that walk and then maybe call Jill to come pick me up.
     He's busy today."I ventured.
     "Oh, he's always busy, dear. You just sort of take your chances, and if you don't mind a bit of a wait, you eventually get in. Are you picking up a pet?"
     "No, actually.......I was told that he might be able to use a receptionist and I came around to see about the job, but he's way too busy to talk to me today."
     "You aren't from here then, are you Dear." It wasn't a question, and I shook my head.
     "No, though I hope to move here shortly. My sister and I have recently bought a home and we are trying to work out a plan for moving in as soon as we can."
     "Oh.....are you one of the girls who's bought Fiddler's Green? We heard it had been sold to sisters. Funny thing that......it was for sale for ages and no one seemed interested. It's a ways out of town and not many want to be that far out. I imagine the place needs a fair amount of fixing up.My name's Shirley Wilson, by the way."
     I introduced myself and explained that the things that needed fixing at the house had been taken care of by my brothers. I didn't think it would make much sense to tell her that everything was perfectly fine, since everyone seemed to assume that the place was falling apart. I looked around the room and realized that there weren't as many people there as I had thought at first. There was Mrs. Wilson with her pup, a gentleman with a large cockateil in a cage, a little girl and her mom with a cage that held a brown and white guinea pig, a teen boy with a dog of undetermined breed asleep on his feet, and another lady with a big grey cat in a cage. The cat was keeping a wary eye on the dog.
     The little girl's mom leaned over...."Did I hear you say you were looking for a job here? If so you've come to the right place. Our James hasn't the first notion of how to keep the place in order and as Shirley says, we just come and take our chances. He's a wonderful vet and so good with the animals, but he surely needs help here."
     Just at that moment a door opened and a middle-aged man came came through with a girl carrying a little kitten. He went to the desk and shuffled some papers a bit and then ran his hand through his hair distractedly. "Look Jenny....things are in a bit of a muddle. How about if I just write this down and send the bill along next week."
     "Sure Dr. Jimmy.......that would be fine. I'll get Mom to give you a call and settle up." She smiled at everyone in the room and the door bell tinkled as she left.
     "So.....which of my little friends is next, then." He inquired, and the man with the bird got up and followed him through to the examining room.
     "Mommy.......we were next!!" the little girl with the guinea pig said in a loud, indignant whisper. "We were here first!"
     "I know dear, but maybe he is in a hurry and we can wait a bit longer."
     I took a deep breath....."Do you suppose I should just pitch in? I can at least get everyone sorted and take down the particulars if it would help speed things up a bit. And I can have a look and see if he has things entered in any sort of order." To my surprise everyone nodded enthusiastically.
     "My dear girl. If you can make things run smoothly by all means give it a go. You can be sure we won't mind and if James even notices you I'll be surprised." Mrs Wilson laughed and waved her hand at the desk across the room.
     Just as I got there, a phone started ringing, and looking about, I finally located it under a pile of veterinary circulars. "Hello......Feathers and Fur.....Sheila speaking......can I help you? ..... Yes, Mrs. Grey......what can we do for you today?..... Muddles is due for shots? Yes, of course.....just a sec til I get a pen and pad.......Ok......and Muddles is a dog? ..... No I'm just new here, so please bear with me til I get sorted." I took the particulars that I thought might be important and booked Mrs. Grey and Muddles in for next Tuesday at 10 a.m., and looked with dismay at the desk. There were papers everywhere.... circulars, bills, invoices and all kinds of odds and ends. Where on earth should I start......well maybe get the room sorted out.
     "OK folks......" I gave them a shakey smile. "Let's at least try to get you sorted. Maybe if you come up one at a time I'll take your names and why you're here and do a bit of a run-up on the little guys and the vet can go from there." I could see another room through a partially open door and upon peeking in, saw that it was another examining room. The first person at the desk was the Mom with her little girl and I wrote out their names, and the name of the pig, and why they were there, and sent them into the next room with the page from the note pad, just as the vet came out with the bird gentleman.
     "Your next patient is in there Dr." I smiled at him." I'll look after the billing information here. You can go right in." To my surprise, he did just that. I took down the name of the man and his bird and explained that we would send the bill off at the first of the week.
     "Bout time that Jimmy got some help around here." He said grumpily."No idea how he manages to stay in business."
     For the next hour and a half, I sorted papers, answered the phone, and wiped the examining room tables down with alcohol, and sent the next person in line in to wait their turn. Four more people came in with pets and I took down their names and information,and they joined the line-up of patients. During all this, I ventured to have a look at the computer to see how he kept files, and found his system rather a mess. I sorted things out as best I could into files for cats, dogs, birds and miscellaneous pets, and rather enjoyed the whole thing. Except for a curious look whenever the vet came into the reception area, he made no comment. Everyone was very kind and patient and made comments about how it was time someone came in to help out, and I wondered why he hadn't got anyone in before. Mrs. Wilson answered that question when I stopped a moment to ask ,explaining that someone had been here until a month ago and she had left suddenly with a young man and had never come back. "School kids!!" she said in a tone that told me exactly what she thought of them.
     As the last person left with promises from me to send the bill at the first of the week, I looked up to see the vet leaning back on one of the long benches, and smiled tentatively at him, wondering what he would think of my poking about in his stuff without asking.
     "So......it looks as though I have a new receptionist. Who are you anyway?"
     I introduced myself and told him that Fanny Abbot had suggested I come and apply for the job.
     "Well......you're hired on the spot.I should have known that Aunt Fanny would put her two cents worth in. I think we can safely say that you've passed whatever test I might have given. My name's James Cannon by the way in case no one told you, and I'm very pleased to meet you. I suppose you wonder how I ever manage in this mess. I love the animals, but paperwork and organizing are not my strong points. You may have noticed that." He laughed and I noticed that he had a very nice smile and very blue eyes. His hair was thinning a bit, and a little long, and he was not much taller than I was.
     I explained about my situation and he agreed to come in for a few hours on Sunday morning if I would as well, and we would go over all the records and systems and I could start as soon as I could get sorted. He thought he could manage to keep things in some sort of order if I came in on weekends to get everything ready for the next week, and I said I could do that and felt some excitement at the thought that I could actually make plans to leave the job at home and move here sooner than I thought. Oh..... just wait til I told Jill!!! I hoped that she wouldn't be upset that I would be able to move here soon.
     Things were happening just so nicely and I couldn't help wondering if maybe the house magic stretched this far. There didn't seem to be any more customers for this day, and James suggested that he drive me back to Fanny's and that was fine with me, since I had been gone way longer than I had planned. Jill would be frantic, and it had not occurred to me, in all the fuss, to call Fanny and explain what was taking me so long. When we got there, however, I found that Jill had taken the car and gone home. That surprised me a great deal, but Fanny assured me that she had explained to Jill that no doubt I would get the job and that she need not wait if she wanted to go and that she, Fanny, would make sure that James would drive me home. I had a moment of unease that Fanny seemed to so easily anticipate what would happen, but then again....it turned out that James was her nephew and she no doubt knew his circumstances at the veterinarian office well enough to guess what would happen. It was a little unsettling though.

SHEILA..... On Sunday, I found that I was looking forward to going to the pet hospital and learning a bit more about what was happening there and how James managed the books. Jill seemed happy that things were working out so well, and I really hoped that she would be able to manage her job so she could move in shortly as well. Perhaps if the job with James paid enough, I could support us both for awhile til she found something. It hadn't occurred to me to inquire about salary. I promised that I would not be long, and with a wave, drove off.
     I thought how lucky I was to be able to get this sort of work. I remembered a time when I had been quite young and Mom had taken me to visit a friend of her's that lived near Gran's. The woman was a vet and at that point in my life I wanted to be a vet. That was before the visit. During the visit, the woman mentioned the many years of university after high school and I realized in a flash that I was never going to make it. I absolutely hated school and couldn't wait to be done with it. The thought of many more years just wasn't going to work for me, and that was the end of my dreams of becoming a vet. Now here I was working as a receptionist for a vet and I figured that was the best of both. I could help with the animals, and didn't have to go back to school.
     As I drove up to the building, I could see that there were people inside even on a Sunday. Sure enough, there were people waiting with their pets and James was in and out with one after another. He flashed me a look of apology on his way by and I smiled. Back behind the desk and right back into sorting the room out again. Eventually everyone had been taken care of and we spent the next couple of hours going over the books and the filing system. James was kind enough to say that the little system I had worked out yesterday was better than his own and wondered if I would mind entering all his patients into it. I didn't and could and did and we managed to put everything into order so that during the week, until I got back, he should be able to manage not to get things in too much of a mess. He seemed to be a very pleasant person, and I wondered if he had a family, but didn't feel comfortable asking and he didn't offer any personal information.
     Back home I told Jill all about the day and we chatted for a bit about what she would like to do as far as looking for something in the area. I told her that James and I had discussed a salalry and that it would be adequate for both of us if we were careful, and she thought that she might approach her partners about a buy out offer. I made plans to put in my resignation as soon as I got to work on Monday. I would have to give a bit of notice, of course, but wanted to plan to move to Fiddler's Green as soon as I possibly could.