Six Cats A Slayin'

Stewart offered to help, but Haskell waved him away. “Won’t take me long.” He left the kitchen.

“He certainly is handy to have around,” Helen Louise said.

“He is,” Stewart said. “He doesn’t mind doing things to help out, though. He likes to keep busy.”

In the brief silence that followed Stewart’s remarks, I heard Haskell trotting up the stairs. He returned to the kitchen in less than ten minutes, I reckoned.

“Everything’s ready,” he said.

I rose from the table. “Thanks for doing that.”

Helen Louise and I got the kittens settled upstairs in their temporary quarters. After I shut the door, we stood in front of it and watched. Two little paws appeared underneath the door.

“Didn’t take them long to find that,” Helen Louise said.

“They’re all a little too smart for their own good, I think.” I turned to lead the way out into the hall. I left the bedroom door open.

“I’m going to head home in a few minutes,” Helen Louise said. “It’s been a long day.”

“Are you working tomorrow?” I asked. “I can’t remember what you told me the other day about your schedule.”

“No, thank goodness, I’m off. Henry is in charge, and he and the others can handle everything,” she said as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Good,” I said. “Any plans?”

“I’m going to sleep late.” She followed me into the empty kitchen. “Then at some point I’m going shopping. I want a new dress for this party. I haven’t bought anything new in ages.”

“You’ll be a knockout no matter what. The belle of the ball.”

She grinned. “That’s the plan.”

I laughed. “Gerry Albritton may have a heart attack on the spot, especially since you’re a good eight inches taller.”

“That’s her lookout, not mine,” Helen Louise retorted.

“Absolutely.” I drew her into my arms for a kiss. After a brief but satisfying interlude, we stepped apart. I glanced around the room. No sign of Diesel.

Helen Louise read my mind. “He’s probably sound asleep on your bed.”

“Probably.” I watched while she gathered her purse and jacket. I held the jacket for her while she pulled it on. We went into the garage from the kitchen and out into the driveway, where she had parked earlier. The streetlights glowed in the early-evening darkness, and I felt the chill from the damp air.

Helen Louise unlocked her car before she turned to give me another quick kiss. “Get back inside. You don’t want to catch a cold.”

“I won’t.” I watched until she backed her car into the street and headed the few blocks to her house.

I started to head into the garage, but a flash of movement in my right peripheral vision stopped me. I turned and headed into the yard. I didn’t see anyone or anything moving now. I halted and stared hard at the shrubbery in the beds on either side of the front door.

I waited. Nothing moved, but I was feeling the cold more every second I delayed going back inside.

Maybe I imagined it

. I shrugged and walked to the garage. When I reached the entrance to the garage, I turned to glance one more time in the direction of the front door. Still nothing.

Shrugging, I hit the button to close the garage door as I stepped into the kitchen. The house stood quiet around me. I paused for a moment before walking to the living room to survey the scene. The area the kittens had occupied needed to be cleaned, and I didn’t want to leave it for Azalea in the morning.

After setting the bookshelves upright and out of the way, I swept up the scattered litter and stray kitten hair; then I found one of those lint roller devices to remove more hair from the drapes. While I worked, a thought struck me.

What if I really had seen something or someone moving in the front yard a few minutes ago? Might have been the child who left the kittens on the doorstep. Perhaps I should have investigated further in case the child was still lurking in the shrubbery. I really didn’t think that was likely, however.

Surely the parents wouldn’t let their child run around in the neighborhood after dark without supervision. But I knew there were negligent parents who didn’t keep an eye on their children like they should. I would never have let Sean and Laura run around the neighborhood on their own at night.

I turned off the light in the living room and took the dustpan and broom to the utility room. Azalea would probably find dust or hair I had overlooked, but I had been as meticulous in my cleaning as I knew how. Then I realized that Haskell and Stewart would have the new corral built and in place by the time Azalea returned on Monday morning. The real inspection would take place once the kittens were either returned to their original home or placed in new forever homes.

Upstairs I got undressed and into my nighttime apparel of shorts and a T-shirt. Diesel lay stretched out on his side of the bed, his head on the pillow. He opened his eyes, yawned and stretched, and then appeared to go back to sleep. I climbed in with him, turned out the light, and soon drifted off to sleep.