He walked past them and stopped. He wiped a tear from Aly’s chin with one finger. “Don’t worry there, Little Squirt. We’ll find your cat.”
Then before she could say anything about what he’d called her, he walked on down the pathway.
“Little Squirt?” he heard her whisper to her mother.
“I’ll explain later,” Catherine said.
He didn’t look back but from behind him he could hear the two of them following at a slower pace, beating the ferns and woods and calling out for the cat.
He kept walking. He might make over a half a million dollars a year in salary and another mil in stock options, but hell, he had a toilet to fix.
He walked out of the woods and into the clearing near the house. Dana was walking from the front door along the crooked porch.
She turned the corner to the side of the house and froze.
A second later she screamed so loud it sounded as if she had cracked the sky.
He ran toward her.
Harold was back, proudly sitting on the porch. He had a two foot long garter snake hanging from his mouth.
Eleven
“Dana!” Catherine came running toward the house just as she saw Michael hop over the porch railing and put his arm around Dana. She was huddled into a frightened stance, looking too scared to move.
Aly was about to run past her toward the porch, so Catherine grabbed her arm. “Stop.”
“What’s going on?” Aly frowned at her.
“I don’t know, but don’t move.” Catherine looked up. “Michael?”
He was still talking to Dana, then he turned to her.
At that same moment Aly called out, “Is it Harold?” She already sounded like she was crying.
“It’s Harold and he’s fine so don’t start crying. He brought home a present.”
“Stay here,” Catherine ordered Aly and she walked to the porch. It had been years, but she could smell the snake before she got there. She stopped where she was and peered over the porch railing, then up at him. “I forgot how much those things stink.”
Aly was suddenly right next to her. “Oh, yuk! Harold! Get away from it!”
Catherine looked at her. “I told you to stay put.”
“Is it poisonous?” Aly asked.
“No.” Michael pulled his gloves out of his back pocket. “It’s only a garter snake.”
“Oh.” She watched it a second. “Why do they smell?”
“Oh, who cares!” Dana snapped from around the corner. “Just get rid of it! Hurry! Please!”
The whole time Harold just sat there with the black snake hanging out of his mouth. He was waiting for praise.
Michael put on the work gloves, then he squatted down in front of Harold, who immediately dropped the snake.
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