Dark River Road by Virginia Brown Page B

There was a lot more to teaching than just giving tests and homework, he knew that much. Sometimes they had to stay after school, too, and help Mama with stuff he thought the janitors should do. But Mama said hard work never hurt anybody, and she looked okay, so he figured it was true.
    Chantry sat outside with Shadow for a long time, waiting until Rainey fell asleep watching TV and he could go inside without attracting attention. Anytime Jack Daniel showed up at the dinner table, Rainey got unreasonable.
    He looked up at the sky again, where the moon still hung behind lacy tree branches. He thought about his father again and wondered what it’d have been like if he’d lived. If he hadn’t gone to that terrible place to be killed. If he’d stayed with his family. Not that it mattered now. It was just a dream. He knew that, just like he knew he couldn’t change what had happened. But he could change the future. Mama told him often enough that he could, that he held his own destiny in his hands.
    “There is an entire world out there for you, Chantry, but you have to be prepared for it. If you are not, you will pay a price. It is up to you to decide how high that cost might be. Just remember that there is a price for everything you do in life, even though it may not seem so at the time.”
    He wondered sometimes if she’d been talking to him or herself, wondered just how much she regretted marrying Rainey. She’d said once that she couldn’t regret anything that had brought Mikey into her life, but she’d not said she was glad she’d married Rainey, either.
    Chantry put his head back against the side of the garage and Shadow curled up beside him, his body warm against his leg. He sat on the damp ground for a long time while the moon made its arc through the sky. He’d committed himself to long days now, but he didn’t regret it. If it’d keep Shadow alive and close, it’d be worth it. He just had to figure out a way to do what he’d said he could do.
    That Friday he went by Cane Creek Animal Clinic to talk to Dr. Malone. The vet took care of cows, horses, goats and sheep as well as dogs and cats. He had another vet come in from time to time to help out, but not many stayed in Cane Creek that long.
    “Hey Chantry,” Malone said with a nod. “A little busy here, so tell me what you need.” The vet wasn’t big on social chit chat.
    “A job.”
    Malone looked over his shoulder at him, studied him for a minute. “Thought you were in school.”
    “I am. After school, weekends, I’m free. I’m pretty strong, and don’t mind hard work.”
    “That right?” Malone swabbed off the stainless steel table with a rag and some kind of spray stuff in a clear plastic bottle. He wore his graying brown hair pulled back in a ponytail on the back of his neck and had a scrub jacket over a black tee shirt. Some people said he was an old hippie because he believed in natural remedies as well as modern medicine, but no one ever said he wasn’t good at what he did. Malone shrugged. “Got a boy that comes in to help out right now.”
    “Okay. Keep me in mind if it doesn’t work out.”
    “Yeah. It’s not working out real well. He doesn’t show up half the time, doesn’t clean like I tell him when he’s here. Can you think for yourself?”
    Chantry met his eyes and nodded. Hope made his heart beat faster. “Try me.”
    “All right. Got Mrs. Tidwell’s sick cat in that last cage on the bottom. The cage needs cleaning pretty bad. There’s the disinfectant. See how clean you can get it.”
    Chantry got a bucket and the disinfectant, a scrub brush and some rags and approached the cage. It stunk something fierce. His stomach rolled. A fat white cat squatted in the middle of a wad of newspaper, eyes slitted and glaring up at him as if daring him to even try. He knelt in the front, and slid open the latch slowly. The cat hissed, sharp teeth showing. He waited a minute, then started talking softly to the cat. It wasn’t