“Yes, ma’am.” April nodded. “What do you want me to do first?”

“I haven’t been in the shelter since Saturday night. You’ll see what you need to do.” Maudie smiled. “I imagine that you’re thinkin’ I’m out of my mind, hiring a person on the way they treat my cat, but I’m a good judge of character. I’ve been wrong a few times, and when I am, I admit it, fire the person I hired, and get on with life. I speak my mind. I don’t pussyfoot around things, and if you don’t like me at the end of the day, you know where the door is. But for now I’m glad to have you, April. I’ve got a feeling you and I are going to get along just fine. Leave the door open. Willie likes to go visit his buddies.”

April gave the cat a kiss on the top of his head, got to her feet, and put him back in his chair. “Thank you, Miz Maudie. I appreciate this job more than you’ll ever know.”

“You are very welcome. Now I’ve got to go check on a couple of cats that got their little testicles removed this morning. I’ll holler at you about three, and we’ll have a fifteen-minute break. Do you like coffee, tea, or maybe a soda pop?”

“Sweet tea is my drink of choice.” April headed toward the closed door.

“Mine, too. See you in a bit.” Maudie disappeared through a door on the other side of the office.

The stench of dirty cages met April when she walked into the large room. If it hadn’t been air-conditioned, it could have been much worse—that’s what she told herself. Two dozen cages on one side of the room held cats that were meowing at the top of their lungs. Half that many cages on the other side held puppies and small dogs. April crossed the floor, opened the cabinet doors on the far end, and took stock of what all was available. Pads to put in the cages, food and water, but nothing was organized. She could fill water bowls from the stainless-steel sink at the end of the cabinets, but the dish soap was on a shelf beside the extra bowls. When she got finished with the cleaning, she fully intended to get the place put to rights.

“All right. Let’s get to work.” She opened the first cage and decided to move the little orange kitten in it over to the only empty cage in the place. “You can stay in here, darlin’ baby, while I clean up your apartment. Has it been a long weekend?” she crooned to the kitten as she carried it over to its temporary cage.