The Marvelous Mrs. Oppalberry

By Tristan Blackwood

A whimsical tale of mutual rescue between four friends who meet one another through a series of chance encounters. One is terminally ill with no friends or family of his own, and the other three are in need of a forever home with a family that they can call their own. Take a journey with Mrs. Opalberry to an enchanted wood and meet her very special friends. Meet the lovable dachshund Blair, who, along with Mrs. Opalberry, will prove that at our darkest and most troubling times, there is always a ray of light in sight. And sometimes it can be seen walking right up to us on four little furry legs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890614346

Book preview

Table of Contents

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About the Author

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The Marvelous Mrs. Oppalberry

Tristan Blackwood

Copyright © 2024 Tristan Blackwood

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2024

ISBN 979-8-89061-433-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89061-434-6 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

For Adria, my beloved feline who has been abandoned, abused, and starved for love and care. I rescued you, but who really rescued who.

For Paula.

For Wild Cat Foundation.

1

It was July 15; the day was hot and sticky typical weather for the city of New Orleans around that time. The city was filled with tourists, and the traffic was backed up while the line of patrons waiting to get into Cafe Du Monde was beginning to get longer and longer. The police were riding around on their horses, and the street cars were full of people some of whom were going to the shops, some were going to dine, and others were heading to the pubs. For the most part, the city was filled with an air of excitement and joy, but closer to uptown New Orleans on Jefferson Highway at Ochsner Medical Center, it was a completely different story for quite a few people indeed. On the third floor in room 358, there was a young man of thirty-two years of age lying in a hospital bed who was one such person by the name of Casey Peterson. He had been in the hospital now for approximately two weeks, and he was rather anxious to get back home, which was several miles away in Lafayette. He had to be flown to New Orleans because at the time, there were no rooms available for him. As usual, there was the same old things on the TV that he had seen so many times, and he could not get up to go walk around the halls because of all the IV tubes preventing him from doing so. Food and nutrition were now entering his room to deliver his lunch; it was chicken and vegetables again, and it would be fine for him if only they would put more seasoning on the vegetables even if it was only a pinch of salt. The young lady who had brought in his lunch tray took his dinner order; he wanted a sandwich, turkey, and American cheese would be suitable since he had tried everything else on the menu and was getting tired of hospital food in general.

Not very long after she left the room, there was light knocking on the door. Casey swallowed what was in his mouth and told the person to enter the room. It was the doctor, Dr. Lark, and he had come to see how he was getting along and to give him an update on his recovery process. His doctor informed him that he was doing very well, that he would be able to go home in a few days, and that he must stay away from alcohol at all costs because he did in fact have a bad case of cirrhosis on his liver. He knew that quitting would be the best thing for him really; he had been an alcoholic for several years, and it was all due to two things: the loss of his roommate, the main contributor, and secondly, it was his job. Casey was a warehouse manager for a company by the name of Dubois's, a company that specialized in providing durable medical equipment to people who were hospice patients. He had been working there for five years now, and according to him, it was five years too long. He loved working with the patients for the most part, but what caused him the most anxiety and worry was upper management, the dispatchers, and customer service.

Three more days had passed. Dr. Lock had now released him, and he would be on his way back home to his apartment in Lafayette. He was happy beyond what any words could describe at this news even though he would have to go home with home health because the doctor had put him on a special medication that he had to take through an IV bag. He would not be able to return to work for three weeks, which was perfectly fine with him because he could certainly use the time off to rest and maybe spend a little more time at the animal shelter that he loved to volunteer at. He enjoyed spending as much time as possible there when he had a spare moment for several reasons, the most important being that it was a no-kill shelter that rescued homeless animals before they were taken by the pound. He himself had gone on several rescue missions and on one specific occasion had even climbed on top of a house to bring down a poor terrified tabby cat. His service at the shelter gave him a sense of purpose in his life, and he felt that he needed the animals more than they needed him at times. They and Mrs. Thomas, the owner and operator of the shelter, were like family to him since he did not have one to call his own. They had all passed on now, not that it was that large of a family, to begin with. It was Mrs. Thomas herself who would be picking him up from the