Jerome Stoltfus knew it also, but he didn’t care. “I spent this whole Wednesday morning with the state veterinarian and people from the Health Department. Can’t be having pets in public places.”
Pug wanted to smash Jerome. “Harry, this will all calm down. Just for the next few weeks.”
Jerome flared up. “Few weeks, hell. Animals got no place in a federal building. Says neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow or whatever will keep you from your appointed rounds. Doesn’t say anything about cats and dogs. From the looks of it, that fat gray thing couldn’t even get to the corner, much less your appointed rounds.”
“I resent that!” Pewter spat.
Mrs. Murphy, sitting next to Pewter in the mail cart, concurred. “Jerome, we can scratch your eyes out before you know what hit you.”
“And I can bite you until you bleed!” Tucker, standing foursquare in front of Harry, meant every word.
“That dog’s growling at me. That dog’s vicious. I can impound Tucker, you know.”
“For Christ’s sake, Jerome,” Pug, at the end of his rope, hissed, “there has never been a vicious Pembroke corgi in the history of man!”
This stopped Jerome for a moment.
“Pug, I like you. I think you are a fine postmaster, and the volume of mail in this county has tripled in the last five years. You’ve done a wonderful job coping with that, plus the federal rules, which would stop Einstein. But I am not removing Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker from the post office. I mean it.” Harry put her hands on her hips.
“Then I’ll write you a citation.” Jerome smacked his hands together.
“Will you kindly shut up!” Pug raised his voice. “Harry, Richmond’s in an uproar. The damned media will get their teeth into the story. Crozet, Rabies Capital of America.” He sighed.
“I gave Jerome my paperwork. Dr. Shulman can vouch for the splendid health of my family. I won’t do it.”
“I can put you in jail. I can impound your animals. You have contempt for public health. For the public good.” Jerome was on a roll.
Pug wheeled on him, but Miranda intervened. “This is dicey. We can all see that, but, Pug,” she lowered her voice, “you are going to muster out these two little kitties and this adorable and very helpful puppy when the new building is completed, aren’t you?”
Pug blanched. “Now, I didn’t say that but, well, there will be a new set of workers, you know, and if Harry brings her animals they’ll want to bring theirs. It will be like a zoo.”
“It’s against the law.” Jerome, not necessarily relishing Harry’s discomfort, finally was in a position of some power. It went right to his head.
Harry, in control of herself, said quite calmly, “Pug, I guess I knew this was coming.”
“But that won’t be for at least seven months, given building delays—you know how that is—a year. But for now, take these guys home, will you?”
“For good.” Jerome snapped his lips shut, the lower one slightly jutting outward.
Harry looked at Miranda, whose eyes brimmed with sympathy, then she turned back to Pug. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to run the P.O. today. I quit.”
“Me, too.” Miranda scooped up Pewter as Harry picked up Mrs. Murphy.
Tucker, thrilled, strutted in front of the humans as they walked out the back door.
“Aren’t you going to fire her?” Jerome prodded.
“Fire her? She just quit, you complete and utter asshole!” Pug clenched his fists. He wanted to smash in Jerome’s face.
Jerome took a step backward. “She’ll be crawling back. She’ll be here tomorrow. She has to work for a living. What would she do without the post office?”
“You don’t know Harry very well, do you?” The square-built man jammed his hands in his pockets. “She won’t be back. She won’t ask for her job back, and you just cost me one of my very best people. She’s never late for work. She’s never even missed a day’s work, and neither has Miranda. You don’t find people like that every day.”
Jerome shrugged. “She was breaking the rules.”
“We’ve got too many rules in this damned country, and you know why, Jerome? So assholes like you can get a job enforcing them. God knows, no one else would hire your sorry ass. Now, if you need your mail, pick it up. Otherwise, get out of my sight before I lose all semblance of restraint.”
Jerome skedaddled out the front door.
Harry slid behind the wheel of her truck, parked at the rear of the small brick building.
“Move over,” Miranda ordered her.
“Why?”
“I’m driving.”
“Why?”
“You’re too upset to drive. I don’t want you to have an accident. Go on, move over.”
It wasn’t until that exact moment that Harry realized how much Miranda loved her. She burst into tears.
“Ah, Mom, it will be okay.” Mrs. Murphy, on her hind paws, put her front paws on Harry’s shoulders.
Pewter licked Harry’s left hand, while Tucker licked her right hand.
“Home?”
“Fair’s.”
Miranda turned over the old 1978 Ford, the V-8 engine rumbling deep, pleasing notes. The old pickup was running on its eleventh set of tires, fourth set of brakes, third clutch cable, and a brand-new exhaust and muffler. Ran like a top.
Within ten minutes, Miranda pulled into Haristeen Equine Clinic.
Harry noticed a white truck with the state emblem on the side. “Miranda, I think the state vet is here. I’d better not bother him.”
Just then the state vet, a tall man, not much more than thirty-four, ambled out and climbed into his truck.
When he drove off, Harry and Miranda walked into the clinic, and Harry no sooner saw Fair than she started bawling.
“Skeezits, what’s wrong?” Fair hurried over to her, calling Harry by an old nickname, wrapping his strong arms around her.
“Quit,” Pewter succinctly said.
Miranda spoke since Harry couldn’t at that moment. “Oh, Fair, that Jerome Stoltfus has opened Pandora’s box. What a mess. He’s got everyone in an uproar, and Pug Harper came into the post office with Jerome. He told Harry the kitties and doggy had to go. For a time. But then I asked him if that wasn’t really going to be permanent when the new building was up. He said as much.”
“I won’t work without my babies,” Harry wailed.
“Are we babies?” Tucker thought for a moment.
“Tucker, she’s upset. We’re her partners and friends,” Mrs. Murphy reasonably said.
“I won’t. I quit. I can’t live like that, Fair. I know millions of people get up, go to offices, sit in front of computer screens, but I’ve only got this one life and it may be kind of a small life but, still, it’s my life. I’m not living like that. I want to be with my animals and I want”—she caught her breath, then said with vigor—“to be outside. Working in the post office was too much inside as it was.”
“I understand.” He held her tight. “Miranda, what about you?”
Alma, Fair’s secretary, discreetly stayed behind the reception desk.
“I quit, too.” Miranda smiled broadly. “Times are changing.”
“Guess they always were. I mean, I guess someone thought that in fifth century B.C.” Harry was recovering.
Alma softly inquired, “Mrs. Haristeen, could I fetch you some water or coffee?”
“Alma.” Harry wiped her eyes. “I would love a Co-Cola. I think I cried myself into dehydration.”
“Come on, let’s sit down.” Fair propelled her to the sofa.
Miranda followed.
“You’ve got patients.” Harry felt guilty.
“My patients are in good shape today.” He sat next to her as Alma handed her an ice-cold Coke and a glass of ice.
She returned to give Miranda one and then Fair.
“Thank you, honey.” Miranda poured the bubbling liquid over the ice cubes, which crackled in the glass.