Chapter 11
Alisyn studied Shane from the corner of her eye as they walked down the street toward the festival with Shayna and the kids. He hadn't said much all morning, and he kept his gaze lowered, constantly kicking pebbles along the sidewalk. It was so unlike him.
They made it to the edge of the festival. Music and happy conversation sounded. Delicious aromas of pies, cider, and sausages wafted over. It was the only time of year that so many people were gathered in one part of town.
"Pony rides!" Piper tugged on Alisyn's arm. "Can we?"
"Face painting!" Miles jumped up and down. "I want to be a tiger. Grr!"
"No, I want to paint a pumpkin," Lacie said.
"I want a caramel apple," Cooper said.
Shayna turned to Alisyn. "What are we supposed to do? There's only three of us."
Alisyn gave her a nod and turned to the kids. "We have plenty of time to do all of those things and much more, but we can only do one thing at a time.
"Ponies!" Piper begged.
"No, pumpkins." Lacie glared at her sister.
"We don't want to be carrying pumpkins around all day," Shane said. "It'd be better to do that last."
Lacie folded her arms. "All the good pumpkins will be gone."
"It'll be fine," Alisyn assured her. "Look at that stack of pumpkins—it's nearly as big as a house."
"I guess." Lacie stared longingly at the kids painting pumpkins.
"Face painting?" Miles jumped up and down, clinging to Alisyn.
She shook her head. "That'll have to be later, too. Your parents are going to want a lot of pictures since neither of them can be here this year, and they're not going to want you to have your faces painted in all of them."
Miles pouted.
"Were we this hard to please?" Shayna asked.
Shane shrugged but didn't say anything.
"Caramel apples?" Cooper begged with his eyes.
"Let's hold off on the sugar," Alisyn said.
Cooper grumbled.
"Ponies!" Piper grinned. "I win!"
"Not so fast," Alisyn said. "Nobody wins. Let's walk around and see if there's anything new this year."
The kids all grumbled as they walked around the crowd to see the various booths. A group of teens ran by, all dressed in Halloween costumes.
"We should've worn ours," whined Miles.
Shayna turned to Alisyn. "Do you ever feel like you can't win?"
She laughed. "All the time, but soon they'll be having so much fun they'll forget all about their complaints."
"You think so?"
"Definitely." Alisyn grabbed Miles' hand just before he crashed into a couple walking their way. "Stay close to us."
They all stopped at a booth full of animals in kennels under a large white tent.
"Look at the kitties!" Piper ran over to a kennel and squatted down, talking to the kittens who came over and sniffed at her fingers.
"Is she okay doing that?" Alisyn asked.
The woman running the booth turned to her and smiled. It was Nicole Crawford, who managed the skate rink. "Of course. We—oh, hi Alisyn. Hi, Cooper—it's the whole gang! How are you?"
"We're good." Alisyn smiled back at her. "What were you starting to say?"
"Just that you can talk to all the pets. We want them to be used to people. That's why they're here. Hopefully, we'll get to see them all adopted today."
Shayna gestured toward a rooster. "Do you really expect to adopt them all out today?"
"That's the goal." Nicole smiled and turned to someone else who was asking questions about a basset hound.
All the kids were busy walking around, checking out the pets. Alisyn stopped in front of a kennel that had a pile of ferrets sleeping in a tiny hammock.
"What are those?" Shane asked.
Alisyn jumped, not realizing he was so close. "Ferrets. They're so sweet. We used to have some when I was a kid."
"How many are in there?"
"I see at least five, but you never know with those guys. They just climb all over each other. There could be five more underneath."
Nicole came over. "You want to hold one?"
Alisyn grinned, feeling like a kid. "Can I?"
"Of course." She opened the kennel and reached in, pulling out a little orange, white, and brown one with fur sticking way out.
"I didn't realize they were so fluffy," Shane said.
"I've never seen one with so much fur," Alisyn ran her hand along the long, little body.
"This one is a cinnamon angora ferret. She goes by Cinnamon," Nicole said and handed the fuzz ball to Alisyn. "She's such a sweetheart."
The little ferret yawned and stretched. Alisyn snuggled her close. "She's so adorable."
Shane smiled at her. "So are you."
Alisyn's face warmed. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she handed the ferret to him. "Hold her."
"I've never… Okay." He cradled Cinnamon, but she was starting to wake up and darted up to his shoulder. His eyes widened. "Is it supposed to do that?"
"Yes, she is." Alisyn rubbed Cinnamon's soft fur. "I had a couple that loved to hang out on my shoulder or in my hoodie while I walked around."
"A couple?" Shane shivered as the little creature walked around behind his neck to the other shoulder. "How many did you have?"
"Five." Alisyn reached into the kennel and pulled out a little gray ferret with black legs and a tail. Black also lined the little pink nose into the shape of a heart. "They're kind of like chips—you can't have just one." She giggled as the ferret sniffed her nose.
"That's Dusty. He's another little love," Nicole said. "Make sure none of the others get out. I'm going to help this woman over there with the cocker spaniel."
"Sure thing." Alisyn snuggled Dusty until he climbed up on her shoulder and got tangled in her curls. Laughing, Alisyn freed Dusty and then she wrapped her hair into a bun, giving the little guy freedom to move around, which he did.
Shane kept pulling Cinnamon from his shoulders and cradling her in his palms, but she wanted nothing to do with that. She scurried up his arm to his shoulders as soon as she made it to his hands each time. He turned to Alisyn. "These guys are sure active, aren't they?"
She nestled Dusty and nodded. "They are. But we would be, too, if we slept as much as them."
"Are they nocturnal?" He pulled Cinnamon from his shoulder and she ran straight back there.
Alisyn giggled. "No, they just sleep a lot. Eighteen hours, if I remember correctly."
"A day?"
She nodded and felt the weight of Dusty climbing into her hood. "Time for another nap already?" She reached back and petted him.
Lacie and Cooper came over, asking questions about the ferrets. Shane handed Cinnamon to them and they both giggled in delight as they balanced her together.
"Why do they smell like that?" Cooper asked, scrunching his nose.
"They just have a light, musky scent," Alisyn said. "You get used to it, and it's really not that bad—they've had their odor glands removed."
"Doesn't smell like it to me."
Piper ran over. "Hey guys, come look at the bunnies!"
Cooper and Lacie handed Cinnamon back and followed their sister.
Alisyn's heart warmed as she watched Shane using baby-talk as he spoke to the fluffy ferret.