Finding Midnight (17 page)

“NO. No, that isn’t…that’s ridiculous. Why
would anyone in their right mind steal a cat from an old woman?
That’s just crazy talk,” Summer said.

“Crazy talk for a crazy lady. Maybe he’s a
good Samaritan and was saving the cat from the crabby old bat,”
Tori said, then she paused and Summer imagined the wheels turning
in Tori’s mind when she continued, “Or maybe it’s like
Men in
Black
where this vessel she’s talking about is actually a
universe and is on the cat’s collar—oh shoot, that can’t be, you
have the collar.”

“Okay, now who’s talking crazy? There’s
nothing that says this collar is from the cat I saw in the window.
You said it yourself, there are probably hundreds of cats in the
neighborhood or the forest, any one of which could be the owner of
the collar,” Summer explained.

“Then why was the cat so scared? You said he
looked terrified. Why would a cat be afraid of its owner?”

“I don’t know. There could be tons of
reasons.”

“Like?”

“Okay, well, maybe the renter found the cat
and brought it in the house until he could see if anyone had any
lost pet flyers up. The cat doesn’t know this guy so he’s scared,”
Summer brainstormed.

“That’s pretty weak, but even if it were
true it could still be this Morti,” Tori rationalized.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Or maybe the renter just
had his pet delivered from wherever he lived before and he’s still
freaked out about his new accommodations,” Summer guessed.

“That’s even lamer than the first one,” Tori
insisted.

“Well, I’m not going to theorize on why the
cat was scared. It’s highly unlikely it’s the cat I’m looking for.
I’ll just focus on combing the forest and neighborhood. I’ll check
for posted found notes. I’ll check the board at work and at Homer’s
Market,” Summer said.

“But you don’t even know what the cat looks
like,” Tori declared.

“I know he has green eyes. He’s chubby and
he’s mostly black,” Summer said.

“Right. That’s helpful. That description
describes half the cats in town. Is he long haired or short haired,
black and grey, black and brown, black and orange? I mean, come on,
Summer. That’s not a lot to go on,” Tori complained.

“No, but it’s more than I had when I thought
he was a rat. If I find a lost cat, I’ll take a picture on my phone
and show it to Ms. Midnight until we find the right one.”

“IF you find the right one. For all you know
the cat could have been killed in the woods by a coyote, or a
mountain lion. Even a raccoon can kill a cat,” Tori told her.

“I know. Everything you said is true. Morti
may be dead. He might be a figment of Ms. Midnight’s imagination.
He might even be the cat next door, but wherever he is, I’m going
to try and find him. If you had seen how important this was to her
when she had asked me to find him, you wouldn’t give up either,”
Summer said.

“I’m sorry, Summer. I may not agree with you
on the old lady’s sanity, but it’s obviously important to you to do
this, so whatever you want me to do to help, just say it,” Tori
relented.

“Thanks, Tori. I really appreciate it,”
Summer said.

“Sure. No problem.” Tori sighed. “I’ll see
you tomorrow?”

“Yep. Hey, thanks for helping sort things
out. You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.”

“Ditto, Summer. Ditto.”

*****

The following day was work as usual. Sully
seemed to be feeling better. Usually antibiotics took a full day or
two to kick in, so she was hopeful it was the prescribed tea she
put over his food. Dr. Stuart concurred that even if it wasn’t the
reason for Sully feeling better, it certainly wouldn’t hurt him.
All the things Ms. Midnight suggested for the tea would be
beneficial to him and probably would help the antibiotics get their
work done.

It was a huge relief to see him feeling
better. One more day and she might not have had to carry the fire
extinguisher around with her wherever they went.

Hunter had shown up for deliveries that day,
but seemed to be avoiding Summer at all costs, which seemed odd to
her since Tori had told her when she had been on vacation he had
been curious about her whereabouts.

On her way home from work, she hit Homer’s
Market for some items and also to check on the Community Board for
any lost animals. She started a list of numbers from the board at
work and there were a few here at the market that looked
promising.

While looking for something interesting for
dinner, she thought she saw Hunter leaving an aisle she had just
turned down. She called out, but there was no response. She kept an
eye out for him at the checkout line, but never did cross paths
with him. She assumed she had been mistaken and it might have been
someone who looked like him.

When they got home she put Sully in the yard
and headed to the crumbling house next door and knocked. Still no
response. She checked the mailbox to see if her note was still
inside, but there was nothing except dust and a tiny scared spider
within.
He must have received the note then
, she thought,
puzzling on why the renter hadn’t made contact.
Maybe I should
leave my number and that way if we miss one another again, he can
call.

She pulled a prescription pad out of her
pocket and scribbled down another note, this time with her
cellphone number. She deposited it in the mailbox, panicking the
tiny spider into retreat through a tiny hole where the box had
rusted through.

With Sully snoozing on the floor and finally
breathing freely, she took out her list of numbers and started
calling. Twenty minutes later with a very short list of two
possibilities, she set out to take pictures of the lost cats.

The first stop was at a dry cleaner’s. An
ancient Asian man was behind the counter who did not speak a word
of English but yelled commands at the headphone-clad teen boy in
front of a nearby computer playing some kind of ‘shoot ’em up’
game. The boy was clearly annoyed by this but turned to Summer and
asked, “Can I help you?” without a trace of accent.

“Yes. I called about a cat that someone
found?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s back in the back. Follow
me,” he said and then yelled at the ancient man something in their
native tongue. The old man responded unsmiling to the boy then
turned again to Summer with a wide grin and a bow of his head.

“Here he is,” the boy said, opening the door
to what looked like a small break room and directing her attention
to the tattered, mewing cat making its way towards them. The cat
was clearly a tomcat and almost as ancient as the smiling, nodding
man behind her. Tufts of hair were missing here and there and the
tip of one of his ears was missing. He was mostly black and had
green eyes, but he was definitely not what anyone would call
chubby. Summer felt the poor thing probably had never seen a vet in
its entire life.

Summer explained she was not the owner of
the lost cat, only a friend helping to look for the missing cat.
She took a picture and handed the young man her business card,
telling him if the cat needed any medical attention she’d be
willing to waive the fee for a checkup. He thanked her and showed
her to the front of the store all the while yelling Chinese at the
nodding, smiling old man who followed them.

The second place was a residence where a
young child answered the door. Behind her were at least five other
children of various ages running around screaming. A moment later,
a tired-looking woman with an infant in her arms took the place of
the small greeter.

“Yes?” the woman said while the baby pulled
at her lips.

“Hi. I called earlier. You said you had
found a cat?”

“Yes,” the woman responded in exhaustion.
“He’s in the shed out back. Could you just let yourself in the
yard, I’ve got dinner on the stove and I don’t want to burn it.

“No problem. I’m doing this for a friend, so
if it’s all right, I’ll take a picture of the cat and call you if
it’s hers?”

“Sure, whatever. Just make sure to secure
the gate. It’s hard enough to keep track of all these rugrats
without them getting out of the yard.”

“I understand. No problem. Thank you,”
Summer said, but the door was already being shut before she
finished the words and she heard the woman scolding the little girl
who had opened the door about the dangers of strangers and how she
shouldn’t ever open the door without mommy.

Summer made her way around the house to the
gate and into the yard. It was big and strewn with anything that
might entertain a child at play. There was a swing set with a
slide, a pint-sized basketball hoop, and several bikes in different
colors and ranging in size. There were yellow tractors, red fire
engines, a pink Barbie corvette and a small soft-sided pool with
bright colored toys floating on the water.

She spied a small blue storage shed, made to
look like a small house with windows and a shake roof. The windows
were open to let in a breeze and peering out of the screened window
was a very young cat, probably only four to six months old. He had
long soft grey and black striped fur. He also had pretty green eyes
and was well fed but not fat. He still had his kitten fur that
stuck out in all directions, giving the illusion of his being
chubby. When Summer petted the cat she saw his fur made him look a
lot bigger than he actually was. She took a picture of the cat,
gave him a couple of much-appreciated pets and secured the gate
behind her and made her way home.

When she pulled into the driveway she caught
a glimpse of someone going into the house next door. It was not
enough to make out any features of the person, not even whether
that person was a man or a woman, but it was more than she had seen
in the past.

She went to the door and knocked. Nothing.
She knocked again. Still no answer. Obviously, talking with the
neighbor was going to be a lot harder than she expected. She headed
home to revise her list and printed out the pictures from her phone
to show Ms. Midnight next time she saw her.

*****

As one might imagine of life with a growing
puppy (and most especially a hellhound growing three times faster
than a dog), Summer was quickly in need of dog food and a trip to
the feed store for one of those huge bags of kibble. She also
needed a bigger collar, a heavy duty leash and some grooming
supplies, so on the way into work she swung by Junebug Feed and
Farm Supply.

It was a little out of the way, just out of
town, but she could get a large bag of food (maybe delivered) and
they would definitely have something big enough for a growing
hellhound.

When they got out of the car, Sully was
enjoying smelling all the new and strange smells. Pickup trucks
lined the parking lot and Sully wanted to sniff each and every one.
Summer thought this was cute. He’d probably never smelled a cow,
pig or any other farm animals that the different farm trucks
provided him.

“Come on, boy, let’s go get you some chow.”
He would have preferred to sniff some more trucks, but willingly
obeyed Summer and trotted behind her. The shop bell jingled as the
door opened and a waft of more new scents occupied Sully’s
attention. One of the farmer’s dogs came over to investigate Sully.
He smelled Sully’s butt and Sully smelled his in the usual dog
greeting etiquette. The dog was intrigued by Sully and wagged his
tail playfully as did Sully, but when the farmer saw the hellhound,
that was the end of the pleasantries. The farmer whistled which
drew the attention of the intended dog and the dog obediently came
to the farmer when he gestured with his hand a ‘heel’ command.
Sully was going to him too, but Summer caught him with a tug of the
tiny leash when she saw the scowl on the farmer and three other
wary customers.

“Sully, come here,” she said.

“But I want to play,” he said, which only
she could hear.

“I know, sweetie, but some people are…well,
they’re a little scared of you,” she whispered to him as she led
him away from the farmer and toward the back of the store where
there were horse leads she thought might make a better leash.

“Why are they scared?”

“Because they’ve never seen anything like
you before. You’re very big and getting bigger every minute. People
are often scared of what they don’t know or understand,” she
explained.

“Why haven’t they seen anything like me
before?” he said.

“Because you’re a hellhound,” a man’s voice
said from behind.

Summer turned to find Hunter standing there,
looking very handsome indeed.

“Hunter. What are you doing here?”

He suddenly went a little pale, as if he
hadn’t really thought this coming over and talking to her through.
“I, uh,” he said, looking down at the bag of cat food in the crook
of his arm and on the stitches she’d sewn on him a few weeks ago.
“I’m grabbing some cat food…uh…for a friend,” he said
anxiously.

“Oh. I thought maybe you got yourself a
pet,” she said.

“Me? Heck no. I don’t like to be tied
down—too much responsibility for me. I like to go where I want,
when I want,” he said arrogantly.

“Right,” she said, shaking her head. “How
are the stitches?”

He moved the bag to the other side and said,
touching the area she was referring to, “Oh, fine. All healed,” as
if it was totally normal.

“I forgot,” she said, whispering and leaning
into him, “you heal really fast.”

He nodded, looking around to see that no one
heard her whispering. Though there were a few farmers around
craning their necks to get a look at the strange dog with the
woman, they were all out of earshot. “I see you still haven’t taken
my advice about raising a hellhound.”

“No, and how many times are you going to ask
me that? I told you, I’m taking care of him because he doesn’t have
anyone else,” she said defensively.