Another Chance
Copyright© 2014 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 36
A little experiment: I eliminated the ellipses because some readers don’t like to be reminded that it might be necessary to think; that there might, just maybe, be a place where the author wants you to remember that real people work in starts and fits; that humans don’t normally think like a textbook. A brain that thinks in straight lines is bordering on insanity.
Grace said, “If you don’t know her, what was she doing talking to you?”
So I explained about the bobcat kitten rumbling through my head like a Panzer IV retreating from Kursk.
“All I was doing was asking the kit her name, the girl was passing through and thought I was talking to her.” I explained.
“Well ... it’s a good thing,” Grace said. “At least she thought you were talking to her and not the kitten.”
“I guess,” Hello Isabelle.
Greetings human.
Umh. That sounds ominous, I thought.
Not at all, I approve. You asked the rescued what her name was instead of naming her on a whim.
“Sometimes, I have found that cats will name themselves if you let them,” I said.
“Just for the hell of it,” Grace suggested, “Let’s take the K5 out.”
“You mean, Get away from the coming storm?” I suggested in return.
Grace giggled, “That, too.”
She turned to Isabelle and Isabelle ran to the boat house.
“There’s too many kits, we need to help haul,” Grace said.
“Where did my kit go?”
“She’s onboard already,” Grace said. Grace pointed to a short tail in the air with a head down in a food dish.
I went to the boathouse just as Isabelle was coming out with two kittens in her jaws. She had them both by the scruff.
Oh, very good, Isabelle.
It’s hard to catch two, she thought at me, They keep getting away.
“Get the sleeping bags, David,” Grace said. “I’ve got the kittens.” And she did. So did I, get the bags.
We loaded up, Carole Ann was already on the boathouse roof, tanning, that is if keeping an eye out for approaching people is tanning. Just in case you’re wondering; minus the mast, measured from keel to cabin ventilators, the K5 is almost three stories tall. She is nearly thirty feet. When stored for the winter, the boat would be lifted completely inside the house, with steel beams and decking laid so the boat could remove tension on the canvas and rubber lifting straps. Adding the five or so feet to keep the boat out of the icy water and the necessary breathing room at the cabin top the boathouse was easily 40 feet tall. The boathouse is exceeded in height only by Gustafson’s Store, and the watertower. Pentwater is a short town.
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