was one to lie. Her family may have had a lot of opinions about her, but no one could ever say that she wasn’t truthful.
“So, as my tech, you’ll be helping calm animals, as well as perform general maintenance. A lot of basic checkups and just making sure that none of them are getting destructive with their behavior.”
“Has that been a problem in the past?”
“Oh yeah, when I first started working here, a lot of the pigs were chewing at each other’s tails, the barriers, and everything that they shouldn’t have. There’s been a lot of work put in, and we’ve still so much to do. Did you know that they just started putting nose tags on their calves this last year?”
“Wait, what?”
Nova wasn’t the most experienced vet tech, and she’d only worked on a few farms, but as far as she knew, that was basic care. Step one of owning livestock.
“Yeah, like I said, we’ve done a lot of work. But if you’re game to try, I’m still game to bring you on.”
“Oh, I’m game, alright,” Nova said excitedly. “I’ve always liked a challenge.”
“Alright then, let’s finish up your tour.”
The rest of the tour took slightly over an hour, at which time Nova’s feet were starting to scream. Apparently, there was more to see, but Elizabeth had been called away to deal with… something. Nova hadn’t quite caught the details from the garbled walkie-talkie.
Nova didn’t mind, however, and tried hard not to wiggle in excitement as Elizabeth quickly escorted her back to the pigpens. She got the impression that the vet was walking slower than she would have liked, but Nova appreciated the consideration. Slow and steady was her mantra, as she always said. Sure, she might take longer to do something, but it would always get done.
“Alright, so take about two hours for your lunch—you can go to the worker’s shack I showed you if you want—then come back here. I’ll have Solomon or Silas meet you here for onboarding paperwork.”
“Do they really all have ‘S’ names?”
Elizabeth paused in mid-step of her quick exit. “Rich people,” she said as an answer, and Nova instantly knew exactly what she meant.
“Wild.”
“Anyway, once you finish your onboarding paperwork, feel free to head home. You’ll be paid for the full day, so don’t worry.” Score! “Have a nice night. I look forward to working with you.”
“And I look forward to working with you.”
Elizabeth gave a nod then hopped into a golf cart beside the pens, racing off as much as a golf cart could. Nova watched her leave and waited until her boss was out of sight before throwing both of her hands in the air and letting out a squeal.
Yes!
Life definitely hadn’t been easy for Nova lately, and landing a job as a vet tech that paid very well was basically going to change everything. She had been so sure that she was going to have to tuck tail and go back home to her family in the UK that she could hardly believe she had landed the gig.
Good luck was definitely not something she normally had. And the fact that her boss was a black woman in a male-dominated field? Bonus.
Once she was done squealing, she turned around to lean against the pens and look out at her new kingdom—metaphorically speaking, of course. A large sow came trotting up to her, Peggy if Nova remembered correctly.
“Hey there, big lady. Come to officially greet me?” Nova laughed, pressing her leg to the slats of the fence so the pig could sniff at her. She knew better than to stick her hand right in front of an animal that wasn’t acquainted with her yet.
But Peggy just sniffed for a moment then honked several times, talking up a storm. Nova listened, thoroughly amused. Elizabeth had said that Peggy was a character—actually, the word she used was diva—but it was fun to see that character on full display so soon.
“Is that so?” she asked, chuckling at the very vocal creature. “Tell me more. Tell me all the gossip.”
Peggy grunted then proceeded to launch into another long series of snorts, squeals, and sounds. It was pretty entertaining, and Nova was so enthused that she almost missed a slithering streak go right by her foot.
But she didn’t miss it, and her head snapped in the direction of the movement.
Was that a mud snake? Nova hadn’t seen one of those in a while.
“You hold that thought, Peggy,” Nova said, turning away and following after. She should probably