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After about ten miles of country road, Clover turns down a driveway that leads up hill.
"The farm is on the side of the mountain?"
"Looks that way."
There are several unmarked cars, vans with 'Animal Control' on the sides, and police cars with lights flashing blocking our view of whatever home is on the side of this mountain.
Before we even get out of the car, a truck with a trailer hitched to it parks next to us. Two women step out of the cab, one of them our age and the other, my mother's age.
Clover lets out a long breath. "Looks like we've got back up."
We get out of our car and walk up to the two women. "Hey, Dani," Winnie says with a wave. "Heard from Hailey you might need a trailer and some extra hands."
My instinct is to demur or admit we have no idea what we're doing, but that's old Dani. New Dani hears Goldy's voice in my head telling me to fake it until I make it. "I'm glad to hear that. Thank you so much for coming out to help. This is my sister, Clover. Clover, this is Winnie and Grace Hardiwick"
Before we can weave our way between the multiple police cars parked in front of the house and track down the sheriff, another truck shows up with a trailer. Jared and Liz get out of this one.
I relax. With all this help, maybe we really can do this.
***
In a small group, we walk around to the back of the house. None of us want to go inside, where it appears the roof could collapse on us at any moment. Animal control comes out the back door with a big dog on a leash. The dog is so thin his ribs show beneath his skin.
The sheriff follows the dog out and waves to us.
I cross the barren yard to him and stick out my hand. "Hi, I'm Dani Weston. Owner of Weston Animal Sanctuary."
He holds up a gloved hand that is filthy with dirt and I definitely don't want to know what else. "You don't want to shake my hand, but it's nice to meet you. Follow me and I'll take you to the farm animals."
"Thank you."
We fall into step behind him as he crosses the yard in long strides to what looks like little more than a lean-to. Before he goes in, he turns to face us. "There are a lot of animals here. If the shelter can't take all the dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and lizards, you think you could take them until we take this case to court and the animals can be adopted out?"
I glance at Clover, who lifts her chin and throws back her shoulders even as the rain sprinkles down on us. "We can handle it."
"If you can't take 'em all, Winnie and I can take a few," Grace says.
"We'll help at your farm when we can, too," Winnie says.
"I've got land," Jared says. "I can foster a few."
My eyes burn at the way everyone steps up and I push down the part of me that wants to argue that I can do this on my own. It's quickly becoming clear that running a sanctuary farm is going to mean knowing when to ask for help and when to accept it.
I smile at the sheriff. "We'll do the best we can."
Inside, the lean-to is dark and the overcast, rainy day isn't offering much light, but I can just make out the forms of three large animals.
"Alpaca," Jared says. He and Liz move past me and start toward the animals, but the big, fluffy alpaca cower back, their hooves scuffling on the dirt floor.
"It's okay," I say in the voice I use when I'm talking to Skidmark or Mari. "We're here to help you."
I step forward as my eyes adjust to the darkness. I can make out the alpaca, the whites of their eyes showing. Their bodies are covered in thick fur that appears to have fallen out or been shaved off in clumps.
I reach out a hand. "It's okay, babies. We're going to take you to a safe place."
"Dani," Jared says in a low voice as he hands me a pair of plastic gloves. "We don't know what kind of disease or parasite these animals might have."
I take the gloves and pull them on, cooing to the alpaca the whole time. They settle a bit and I reach out again with a gloved hand. I glance back at the sheriff. "Do you have anything I can feed them?" Food always seems to make animals like me better, so I figure it's worth a try.
