Page 34 of Black and White, Twice the Might

Enoch gives her a shy smile. “Hi,” he says softly.

Elaine smiles at him. “Ready to come and see some sick and injured animals?”

He nods. “My brother is coming as well.”

“Excellent,” Elaine replies. “Have you finished, or shall we wait a bit?”

“Nope, we’re done,” I say, looking at Enoch. “Shall we go?”

Enoch nods and stands up. “See you all later.”

I stand up and drop a kiss on Sly’s head. “Have fun without us,” I say to him and Xander.

“We will,” Xander replies, grinning. I shake my head, walking out with Temp, Elaine, and Enoch.

“I bet they go to the fair and have lots of unhealthy food,” Enoch says.

I nod. “Very probably,” but what I don’t know, I can’t complain about.

CHAPTER 13

When Molly first mentioned that Elaine and Temp looked after animals, I was expecting maybe one or two. The garden had at least twenty-five cages, all with different animals in.

“Whoa,” Enoch says, looking around. “All these animals are sick or injured?”

Elaine nods. “They are.” She moves to one of the cages and opens the door. “This little badger has a broken leg but hasn’t let us get near him to help.”

Enoch moves slowly forward. “Look at you, Mr Badger. I’ve never seen a badger in real life before, and you look amazing.” He drops down on his knees by the cage entrance. “Can I stroke you?” he asks softly, slowly putting his hand in the cage. “Look at your poor leg. Bet that hurts, hey.” He touches the badger's leg, and I feel his magic in the air. “Whoa, look at that. Your leg is fixed.” He takes his hand away. “Can you stand?”

We watch as the badger stands up. His leg looks perfect, and he walks around with no hint of a limp.

“Look at you, Mr Badger,” Enoch says happily.

“Well done, Enoch. Molly was right about you. You do have a gift with animals.”

Enoch grins at her. “What happens now?”

“We’ll keep him in overnight and release him tomorrow.”

“You hear that?” he says to the badger, “You can go home tomorrow.” And with a final stroke, Enoch stands up, smiling brightly.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.

“Why don’t we leave Enoch and Temp to look at the animals, and we can sit over there?” She says, pointing to a garden table set on a pretty patio, so we can still see them both.

“We can do that,” I say.

“Excellent, have a seat, and I’ll get some drinks. What do you fancy, hot chocolate?”

“Please,” I say with a happy sigh. I can’t remember the last time I had hot chocolate, but it’s just the thing needed while sitting outside in the cold.

I sit at the table and look around. Even with the cages, the garden is stunning and filled with fragrant colourful flowers.

It doesn’t take Elaine long to make the drinks and she was soon back, carrying a tray, with four mugs of hot chocolate, a bowl of marshmallows and a can of whipped cream, with a jar of chocolate sprinkles.

I jump up and take the tray from her.

“Thank you, Ebby,” she says, smiling at me, and sitting down.