Rescue Nova

A Bad Day

On Saturday morning, Leila and Kimberly both woke up feeling sad. Today was the day they'd all be saying goodbye to Lucy. Kimberly and Leila would miss that cat, but they were used to saying goodbye to foster pets. The thing that they were most sad about was how hard this would be for Nova.

"Poor kid," Leila sympathized as she and Kimberly sat in bed trying to get up the energy to take on this day. "She's going to miss Lucy so much."

"We should do something special for her today. This week has been almost as hard on her as it's been for us."

"I can't go anywhere today. I have job hunting to do."

"One day won't make a difference."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing yet. Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't know. We can't really afford much, hence, the need to job hunt."

"There's that art expo going on this weekend. She might like that. And she'll love the bounce house they have in the kids' area."

"Yes, that's perfect. We better get up now. Shannon will be here soon to pick up Lucy, and we still have to get Nova up so she can say goodbye."

•••••••••••••••

Nova was holding Lucy on her lap as they all waited for the lady from the animal shelter to arrive. Nova sniffled and held back tears as she petted the cat. Leila and Kimberly sat on either side of her offering support. There was little they could say, but they wanted Nova to at least feel their presence.

"She's going to a happy home, isn't she?" Nova asked. She'd been told that already, but she wanted reassurance.

"Yes," Kimberly answered, "a very happy home."

"Losing the first one is always the hardest," Leila counseled. "When Kimberly and I had to say goodbye to the first animal we fostered, it was hard for me, too. But you get used to it. You just learn to take comfort in knowing they're going to be all right."

It was then that they all heard the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Leila said.

"Are you ready?" Kimberly asked Nova.

Nova nodded and stood up to put the cat in her pet carrier. "Bye-bye, Lucy. I love you."

Nova gave Lucy one more kiss and put her in the carrier. Then, not wanting to be there when the cat left, she ran to her room.

•••••••••••••••

After Lucy was gone, Leila and Kimberly went to Nova's room. They found her sitting on the side of her bed crying softly. They came in and sat with her. They soothed her until the tears stopped. Then they tried to take her mind off of Lucy.

"How about we do something fun today?" Leila asked as she rubbed Nova's back.

"Like what?"

"We thought you'd be interested in the art expo. We can look at cool things people made, and there's a special area just for kids. There's even a bounce house. What do you think?"

"Yes, I wanna go."

•••••••••••••••

The family drove to the art expo, arriving just after eleven thirty. By the time they arrived, Nova's mind was no longer on Lucy. The little girl had taken her mommy's advice and accepted that she had to let Lucy go. The cat was in a loving home, and Nova knew it was okay to move on and have fun.