February 2

 Lilliakilly was here, having hitched a ride—unbeknownst to Mark Moon, who had made a milk delivery to the manor.  She’d dragged along a very reluctant Booie, who all evening had been attempting to keep his fat stripes clear of cow pies and other rural horrors—like these unbelievably underfed farm cats.  Brodie kept inching slyly close, just to watch the pampered cat’s eyes pop in panic.

At the moment, all the animals were silent; they were watching Quim the raccoon totter back to his place in the straw.  He’d just delivered a startling prognosis.  Spending the last thirty-two hours in his study, testing and analyzing, Quim was 100% certain about his conclusions.  He felt he’d been at fault by overlooking the blizzard, but this time he was on top of things and absolutely sure.  None of the animals (except Beamer) had yet sensed what Quim assured them was most certainly coming, but they all believed him—his forecasting reputation was just that good.

Beam was first to speak.  “Well!  As remarkable as Quim’s news is, I think we can use it to our advantage.  Remember, we know things the humans don’t.  And I believe this situation will really rock them.”  There was a smattering of appreciative laughter. 

T.T. signaled for attention by swinging his skinny black tail in the air.  “I say we adjourn for a lick or two of milk,” he said.  “That’ll give us a chance to modify our ideas to include Quim’s information.”

Thus decided, the goats and ducks moved outside into the darkness to graze through the brittle grass.  Reuben the basset hound and some cats lined up by the milk buckets.  T.W. Verne put his head under his wing for a quick nap in the rafters.

“Really,” Booie said to one of Lovey Faye’s cats who was interested only in drinking cream, “This is truly frightening news.  It might even be dangerous!  Don’t you think we ought to…”

“Let the humans know?” asked the grubby white Siamese, a gleaming drop sliding from her whiskers.  “The human I live with—I think she already knows.  And Beamer’s right…why try to cathumicate with the rest of them?  They don’t get it, do they?”

Booie was thinking about the Wrightleys’ welfare, but knew this scrawny creature was right; there was no way to tell his humans even if he wanted to. But it bothered him …was it really his own pelt he was worried about?  He wondered how he might “cathumicate” (giving hints even humans will understand) with Jefferson, when he caught Lilliakilly’s warning eye on him; keeping the humans in the dark was essential.

Several cows mooed in protest when discussions renewed, but before long, everyone’s Long View plans had been finalized.  Elsy’s mission was to goad Edward Tedward Boovington the Third into joining their cause.  But with or without him, the animal community was committed to stopping the Long View factory.