Danger

It's 4:30 in the AM, two hours before daylight. Ghost has had his first trip outdoors, and now he's curled up on his spot next to Uncle Joel. Little Bear isn't allowed outside but doesn't care because when Uncle Ghost is outside he gets a full-contact belly rub from Daddy, just him. He's had that, too. Uncle Joel's paid up, and now he can read his book till daylight.

I don't know where Click is. Normally that wouldn't bother me much. She was alive and well an hour ago - I always count noses when I wake up, and she was fine then.

Except there's an owl outside, and we don't like that. It was an owl almost got Butch that one time. Maybe it was an owl that finally did get him, I'll never know. The owls here ought to have Beechcraft logos tattooed on their wings.

Then there's a second owl, much closer. That's unusual. Ghost's head comes up; he ignored the first one, but unusual is bad. Where's Click?

They go at it again. Even LB raises his head now, and LB is an oblivious dumbass. Unusual is very bad. Where is Click? If she's outside, she should have come in by now. Unless she can't.

If they're hunting, why are they making so much noise? My fear, now, is that maybe they're done hunting. Where the hell is Click? Maybe she's just pinned down somewhere, laying low. Click's smart.

But I really, really want to know where Click is, and I want it right now.

I get up - she's got two beds up in the storage loft. The heater's been on long enough they'll be warm. Maybe she just didn't feel like dealing with the dogs. Just as I rise, I hear a crunching noise up over my head. That sound, I know. Click's food bowl. Okay: Click's cool. Back to my book.

A couple of minutes later, Click jumps down. She ignores LB and heads under the booth table. Down there is the hole where she can get in and out of the Lair. What the hell? She knows better than that; she can hear. I get up again, go over there. She's curled up on the bench, nearer the heater. She looks up as if to ask, "On a scale of one to ten, how stupid do you think I am?"

Yeah. Okay. I go back to my book. Daylight soon.