Maria Summer's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Maria stood at the door of the Old Wooden Nursing Clinic with her hand on the rusted handle. The building had been empty for months, or so she'd been told. It was the only structure in Mirelore large enough for her dream—a veterinary clinic where no one would be turned away. She pulled the handle. The door didn't budge. Maria stepped back and saw the signpost she'd somehow missed—weathered wood with a cap of fresh snow. No name marked it, but the post itself was claim enough. Someone had planted it recently. The snow around its base hadn't settled yet. Music drifted from behind the building. Guitar strings, old and practiced. Maria followed the sound and found an elderly man in a rocking chair on the clinic's back porch. His fingers moved across the strings without looking. A small shelter stood beside him—canvas stretched over wooden poles, a bedroll visible inside. He stopped playing when he saw her. Maria pulled the folded certificate from her coat pocket, its embossed seal catching the weak winter light. "I'm a licensed veterinarian," she said. "I was told this building was abandoned." The old man studied the paper, then her face. He set the guitar aside and stood slowly. "It was," he said. "Until three days ago."