Read Online Jackie's Wild Seattle by Will Hobbs - Free Book Online Page B

very gently applying pressure to the syringe in your right. At the business end the syringe had a tiny nipple. Before I knew it, I had calmed down.
    My first squirrel was nursing contentedly. It looked so innocent, so adorable with its tiny hands and tiny face and big eyes. I thought of Tyler and how dumb he would think this was. “Do you mind if I ask you a question, Jackie?”
    â€œNot a bit. Let’s talk when we can. It’s always such a circus around the clinic, with the volunteers and all, and you’re gone so much of the time with Neal. Oh, half a cc if their eyes are closed, one cc if they’re open. Watch carefully. Overfeed ’em and they die on you.”
    â€œGot it…. The man who roared up the driveway, picked up Tyler, and roared off…that’s his father, right?”
    â€œCor-rect,” Jackie said, after a slow intake of breath. “Most of the time, Tyler walks. He lives a couple miles up the road. His father picks him up when there’s something he wants Tyler to do.”
    â€œWhat does his father do for a living? Scare people?”
    â€œDid he scare you?”
    â€œWell, yeah. I can tell he scares Tyler, too. We were talking in the driveway today and Tyler yells, ‘Jump behind the bushes.’ That’s pretty extreme. Then I saw the guy. Scary is as good a word to describe him as any. He looked angry. He looked mean.”
    Each of us had an empty tub at our feet. We were both done with our first squirrel and set them down in their bedding.
    â€œWell, Shannon, it’s like this. Gary Tucker is not exactly the number one fan of Jackie’s Wild Seattle. Every time he comes here it makes his blood boil. The years come and go and he hates me as much as ever, hates this place, hates everything the center and I stand for.”
    â€œAlrighty, then. You don’t beat around the bush, Jackie.”
    â€œLife’s too short.”
    Here’s what I found out as we fed the squirrels:
    Â 
    1) Tyler’s father had wanted the land Jackie’s center is on. He’s a mechanic, and he needed more land to expand his shop space and park more vehicles.
    2) Jackie first started the center in her garage and backyard in north Seattle. Before long she needed more space, lots of space.
    3) Jackie made a better offer on the land and Tyler’s dad lost out. He was fried because Jackie had money that was donated from a small family foundation, while he had to work for a living.
    4) Tyler’s dad tried to get the town of Cedar Glen and the county to stop the sale of the five acres to Jackie because the wildlife would cause a public health problem.
    5) The town and the county liked what Jackie wanted to do with the land. She could give wildlife programs to school groups and 4-H and so on.
    6) Tyler’s dad got even madder because he was from Cedar Glen, born and raised, and Jackie was an outsider.
    7) Years later, now that the probation department and the judge had arranged for his son to do his community service with Jackie, Gary Tucker was all riled up again.
    Â 
    â€œI knew it would stir up all that bad history,” Jackie said. “That’s the last thing I wanted. Believe me, I can do with less stress in my life. I told the judge all about Tyler’s dad and me, but he still wanted to give it a try. Working here has done a lot of good for a lot of teenagers over the years.”
    â€œHad any of them been involved in cruelty to animals?”
    â€œA couple others. The judge, the probation department, his therapist—everyone agreed that working here was exactly the therapy Tyler needed. Theoretically, it should help a lot: taking care of injured animals, helping them, getting to know them, feeling compassion for them.”
    â€œI guess I finally have to know what it was Tyler did.”
    â€œHe broke a dog’s back, then drowned the dog in the creek. Fortunately, somebody saw him.”
    I winced. I tried to