And that was the end of it. After Holl gave her unequivocal "no," Ruth Ann backed down.
"Hey, no problem," she told Holl with an engaging smile. "See ya around."
Three whole normal days passed filled with bicycling, reading, and living off her mom's barbecue (her mom loved to barbecue, but that's a story for another time). The next day Holl woke up to the cat purring on her chest.
"Oof," Holl said but she stroked the ginger monster anyway before her stretching encouraged him to leap off. The sun was well up and she could hear her parents stirring in the upstairs bedroom, floorboards creaking circuits between the bed, bathroom, and closet. It took her a while to realize why this morning felt different.
This morning she had slept in. Usually Mal, the dog, began his daily efforts to wake her just a little after sunrise. She would wake just enough to push his nose down and go back to sleep and they would repeat the cycle for the next hour and a half before Holl would give in and take him outside.
This morning was quiet. Holl sat up and looked around. The cat sat on her windowsill, still purring and looking from the window to Holl, almost as though she were jerking her head. Hey, dummy, look outside.
Holl got out of bed and peered out the front window. There was nothing there, just the yard, trees, and occasional neighbor out mowing their lawn before it got too hot.
The stairs creaked and groaned with her parents' footsteps and Holl rushed out of her bedroom to meet them. "Mom! Dad! Have you seen Mal?"
They had not seen Mal and after searching the house for him Holl got dressed so they could expand their search to the yard and surrounding houses. One fruitless morning of searching later and Holl's parents were ready to call it quits for the day. It was a gorgeous Saturday and they were determined to enjoy it.
"Holl. Hon," her dad said. "We've done all we can for now. We talked to the neighbors, called shelters, the city. We walked all around our neighborhood and this afternoon we'll put up posters. We'll just hang around here for a little while. I'm sure he'll come back around again soon. Mal probably ran off after a squirrel. He's always heading off on little adventures."
This was true, but it didn't help Holl feel any easier. This wasn't the first time Mal ran off only to return hours later, his fur full of burs and mud, wagging his tail and begging for dinner.
Still. Holl didn't feel right about doing nothing. How Mal had gotten out she didn't know, but it wouldn't hurt to do some more patrolling.
She packed a lunch, told her dad where she was going, and took off on her bike.
