Bad Luck

Damage Control

Chapter 2

Damage Control

Marie's Clinic was in the same small building I lived in.

The two-story brick building was our home and also Marie's workplace. The ground floor had been split into a small pet store at the back of the building, and Marie's Veterinary Clinic at the front, taking most of the ground level's space. A narrow L-shaped staircase was carved into the pavement, starting from the side of the front building, and going down to the entrance of the basement.

Marie lived on the first floor, where I also used to live, until last year when she let me move into the basement. All the junk that was stashed in the basement was now crammed up in my old room on the first floor, and my things had been all moved downstairs.

I bought the paint, a couple of new furniture, and decorations for the basement with my own money. That basement was now my pride and joy, half of every paycheck I received from work had been spent decorating it.

It had fairy lights hung on the wall next to the bed with art and drawings of cats scattered all around the room. I placed a few vintage decorations around as well, the results of many months of scavenge-hunting in garage sales and old stores around town.

I even had a bathroom for myself down in the basement, and a small little kitchen area by the corner with an old microwave, a small cabinet, a countertop table, and a mini-bar – all presents from Marie.

Eventually, I had to crawl back upstairs to ransack Marie's kitchen so I could refill my food storage in the basement. Or when I wanted to eat something else that wasn't ramen noodles or frozen lasagna.

So, half of my money went to the basement and the other half I gave to Marie. But where did all this money come from, you may ask?

Well, basically from the Pet store. It had been my idea to open the store. I kept bringing injured animals to Marie's Clinic all the time and she kept complaining that I was going to get her bankrupt soon if I didn't stop, so I suggested putting the store in a small portion of ground level at the back of the building while the front was left for her Clinic. The store had only a few products for sale for the people who came to treat their pets.

I offered to work there during the afternoons after I got back from school, so I could help with the bills. It was a small Pet store, but there was enough space to sell biscuits and treats, some rubber toys, a few trendy leashes, grooming tools, and cute bows matching some little outfits. And for the owners, we had animal keychains, bowls, pins, and mugs with a picture of dogs, birds, and cats printed on them.

Whatever profit I could make from the sales in the store was my payment, which I gave to Marie to help pay for the treatment of all the stray animals that I used to bring home. What was left was mine to use as I pleased.

Before you judge Marie and say she was cold-hearted to take my hard-working money, you have to understand it wasn't just the work hours that she had to give away whenever I arrived with a hurt stray animal in my arms. There was also the cost of medication, antibiotics, and a place in the clinic for the animal to rest and recover. There was also food, electric bills, the cleaning up... You add all that up, you end up with a giant bill by the end of the month.

Plus, Marie already gave up her Saturdays working for free at the Municipal Animal Shelter, so, you see, she was far from being cold-hearted.

She loved animals as much as I did.