January 31

The raccoon reached the rose beds where the scent of humans and disturbed soil was strong. But there was also an urgent undercurrent, something that seemed to subtly rise and fall.  Quim gathered dead rose petals and some skeletal leaves from surrounding beeches and oaks; then heading back toward his lair, he collected a crushed maidenhair frond—also a few acorns for breakfast.  With a bone-cracking yawn, he descended into his study, determined to discover what Perrypark’s elements were trying to tell him.

As Quim went underground, a black specter faded in and out of the fog as she ran down Long View Road.  The Polydactyl Princess had been absent from Lovey Faye’s for an entire day—she’d gone out River Road to see Tammoes at the dump.  He’d repeated again the same thing he’d been telling her for several weeks and the Princess was eager to share this news with Lovey.

An hour later, Beamer woke from a vague dream, a prescient notion still haunting his thoughts. 

 Before stretching his stripes and checking out his milk bowl, he let his mind wander through the past month’s events.  Recently, with the help of Krebs, Cor and T.T, he’d been successful in getting an important message to the Shenango cat community—tomorrow evening at Mooner Farm, everyone would meet to discuss their ideas for stopping the Long View Project.

Shifting to the present moment, Beam was disappointed to find that Jake had forgotten—again–to buy milk.  What that guy needed, the cat muttered, was a wife.  Someone like Jude, Beam was sure, wouldn’t forget to buy milk. 

There was a sound at the cat-door—Beamer’s reverie was broken by Pansy’s arrival.  She leapt in, licking dampness from her toes.  “Hope it’s not too early,” she said; “I left before Patrick woke up ’cause he gets worried if I’m gone too long.”

“Not too early,” Beam assured.  “Wish I could offer you something to drink….” he trailed off, looking sadly at his empty bowl.

“I came to tell you that the Nerd Hall guys are meeting at the Escher tomorrow.  Something’s floating in the fishbowl and I thought you ought to know.”

The echo of Beamer’s dream stirred again and he forgot all about milk.  Of one thing he was very sure: the animal and human worlds were coalescing in a way that was unique and exciting, and that was very good.