She jiggled at the latch of the gate to free it, and then gave it a hearty shove, which made it groan and creak in protest, and walked its considerable weight almost to the far end of the road, until it was most of the way open.
There.Thatwas better.
The freshness in the air hit her like a wine distilled from childhood and freedom. From here, she could probably find her way to the Devil’s Leap swimming hole with her eyes closed. She’d get there by texture: the scratch of the blueberry vines when you dove down the dirty path, the stones, some smooth, some coarse, arranged by nature, that formed a risky sort of staircase up to the top of the rock—
A text interrupted her reverie. It was Rachel:
The house looks gorgeous! I’ll be in Sac tomorrow—how about if I come by around two?
Avalon texted:Perfect!
A little rustle and a thud next to her feet made her jump.
“Well, there you are!”
The cat had long white legs and a brown tabby saddle and its homely face was the sort a child might draw—comprised of spheres and triangles. He was also missing about a third of his tail. But it had a certain rakish nonchalance that conferred presence. He reminded Avalon of Humphrey Bogart.
“Well, hello, Humphrey!” She knelt to get closer to cat height. “Do you come with the house?”
He wasn’t wearing a collar but he was plump and a quick peek told her he’d been divested of testicles, so maybe he was someone’s pet roaming far afield.
“Prrrrrp!” He bumped her hand with his hard little noggin. His eyes were as yellow as doubloons, but little shavings of darker gold floated in there, lending him an air of mystery.
She scratched him under his chin until he purred. She was vaguely aware of other ambient sounds. Squirrels making their scolding chuckling sounds from up in the trees. Was that bleating off in the distance? The creak and scrape of metal. She didn’t pay much attention to that last one.
The cat was much smarter.
Its eyes flared hugely and—VROOM! It was out of there.
“Whatthe—” Avalon gave a start and turned to look behind her.
Just in time for that long metal gate to collide with her forehead and smack her flat.