Albia Pet Store, Shelter and Veterinary Surgery

Albia Pet Store, Shelter and Veterinary Surgery has always been my favourite place to go, all of the sweet and gentle animals that were up for sale or adoption were fantastic and each one was full of character and had their own personality; I was entertained for hours each week, just spending time watching the rodents scurrying in their play cages or the birds flying around the back room, seeing the fish swimming around one another and the little houses inside their tanks, watching the lizards and other reptiles moving in different ways and, my favourite part of it all, on a Friday afternoon after school, the shelter was opened to the public and you were allowed to just stay and play with all of the bunnies, cats and dogs. Every day on my way home from school I would visit the animals at APS, I would spend two to three hours after school helping the animal care team feed and groom the animals and, when we needed it at home, buy food, treats and toys for my dogs and budgies. As a child, I had two dogs, named Spot and Patch and we had three budgies called Oskar, Griffin and Hatch.

Over the years that I would volunteer, I became close with all of the staff there, knowing each of them by name, their families and their own personal pets, I got to see many of the animals, both in the shelter and the store, going to their forever homes, coming back to use the Vet Surgery as their care providers, and was even given things for free as a thank you for helping out in my free time.

Now, at twenty two years old, I get to train as a veterinary nurse at my favourite shop. My university encourages two full days working within a pet store, veterinary surgery or shelter, which is perfect for me, and the store has offered to pay me for the two days, and help me with my university fees by paying for almost all of it. I only had to pay £3,000 of my whole tuition, which was for three years I would be at university. My professor was blown away at my work even within the first semester, with all of my previous experience from my whole childhood of volunteering and was even more impressed, by the fantastically wonderful generosity of APS’s paying for my education. My now formal co-workers were ecstatic to have me properly working with them, and we bonded even more now that I was there properly, throughout the daytime during the week.

Yesterday, I went into the pet shop for a quick visit as we had run out of Patch’s favourite snacks, and as I picked up the packet, my friend Jesse came over and whispered into my ear,

‘Wanna see something amazing? We got a crazy delivery this morning.’ I looked at him in anticipation and nodded. He took me out the back of the store, past the staff room and bathroom and opened a door to a hallway I’d never even noticed was there. The hallway was a little dark, as half the lights didn’t work, which was about right for this part of town, if you didn’t use it, there wasn’t really any point in maintaining it. We walked down the hallway until we reached a door at the middle righthand side, the door was large, industrial with no window and a thick padlock was clasped over the handle on the door to a loop on the wall. Jesse pulled out a long slim key, as he unlocked the padlock, he kept saying,

‘This is really cool, totally something you’ll love’ he pulled open the door and a brilliant light filled the hallway, I blinked to adjust my eyes and we stepped inside the room, Jesse closing the door behind us, bolting it from the inside. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I knew what I was seeing really was crazy. The room was filled with brand new animals, none that the store had ever had before, that I had only ever seen or heard rumours of, animals that belonged in stories, in folk lore, urban legend and fantasy stories, animals that belonged in the category of the mystical and mythical creatures, but here they were in real life, they existed.

‘Amazing right, Elodie? And guess who’s been put in charge of them?’ I didn’t know how to answer, words were failing me, so I nodded at his first question, then once I registered that he had asked me another, I looked at him,

‘Who?’ I asked, stuttering finally able to speak. He smiled a bright, knowing smile and then pointed at himself with his thumb and pointed at me with his finger of the same hand. I stared at him, tilting my head in disbelief, checking I had understood him correctly.

‘Yes, Elodie, we’ve been put in charge of the mythical department, along with Dr Brady. She’ll be their Veterinary doctor, she’s actually been trained for these animals, and she’ll help you learn, privately alongside your university studies. Cool right?’ I couldn’t believe my eyes, I slowly nodded then began walking round the room, looking into all of the different enclosures and cages for the creatures that were in there. Jesse passed me a new name badge and told me to go home, the dog treats were on the store, and he’d see me in the morning.

Today, is my first day as part of the official mythical department animal care team. Of course, due to the nature of the animals within our care, the department was codenamed, “Legendary” and our badges were marked with this word only. So, to most, it just looked like the staff members were being recognised for their work, rather than what their extra special duties were. As I walked into the store this morning, Dr. Brady and Jesse were waiting just outside the staff room for me, I put my things away and joined them. Dr. Brady passed me my own key for the door, and we walked down to our new workspace. We looked at one another, Dr. Brady indicated to me and I unlocked the door.

‘Whoa, here we go.’