He parked in front of the house and turned off the engine. “If I asked you to stay in the car, what would you do?”

“Say yes, then stay right here.”

She was so insincerely sincere that he laughed. Then he grabbed blankets from the back. “If you can, throw that over him. Do not try to capture him, hold him, touch him or—”

“Got it!” she said as she stepped down. “Too bad I’m not Kelly. She’d sit down on the grass and the critter would crawl onto her lap.” She was looking at him.

“Nope, not me. I’m not magical. Just a grown-up kid who can’t stand to see an animal in pain. Now, no more talking. Listen and watch.”

They separated, going around the house, each carrying a blanket.

Caitlyn heard the sounds first. She waited until he came to her side, then pointed under the old house. He got down on his stomach, a small flashlight in hand, to look in the crawl space.

He stood up. “She’s under there and I think I see the problem. I’m going under and will get her out.”

“If the animal is rabid, maybe you should call someone.”

“I am the one they’d call.” He was smiling at her. “I’m going to tranquilize her and bring her out. I think she’s injured.”

“But...” Caitlyn began, then stopped. “Tell me what to do.”

“Just wait here and be ready with the blanket.”

She got down on her stomach and watched him snake himself under the old house. The floor was a foot and a half off the ground and there were old cans and bottles, rocks and millions of spiderwebs under there.

He was talking softly, soothingly, to the animal, calming it, reassuring it.

Then suddenly there was a tussle. The animal screeched and Coop moved backward, but he didn’t come out.

Caitlyn waited. It was too dark to see much and she didn’t want to disturb the mood with her questions.

It seemed like a long time before he came back out and in his arms was a blanket-wrapped bundle. He peeled it back to show her the sleeping raccoon.

“She has an injured foot and a couple of babies under there. My guess is that she thought her kits were in danger, so she protected them. Let’s go inside so I can check her out.”

It didn’t take Coop long to sew up the cut on the sleeping raccoon’s leg. Caitlyn stayed close and handed him whatever he asked for from the supplies. She was a good assistant and he knew it wouldn’t take much to train her. Too bad, he thought, she’s wasted on a bunch of fruit trees.

When it was done, he took the mother raccoon outside and put her back under the old house. He wanted her to wake up near her kits.