He opened the door slowly. Inside, what would normally have been warm and glowing and filled with laughter was cold, dull and empty. He opened the door wider and stepped inside, turning the light on. The wolf followed him, and sat at his feet while he hung his coat on the hook on the wall. O'Connell didn't have the courage or stupidity to try and throw the wolf out, so he closed the door and let the wolf stay inside. He decided to go around turning on the lights he needed and turning on the heater to warm the place up. As he entered the family room, he stopped in his tracks.
Standing in the middle of the room was a ginger tabby cat with soft green eyes. O'Connell looked down at the wolf. No, it would surely kill the family cat!
"Please don't," O'Connell whined to the wolf. The wolf looked up at him, then started advancing on the cat. Gingernut hissed, and the wolf baulked. The wolf came a little closer, and Gingernut backed away. The wolf got close enough to sniff the little cat, and Gingernut decided to sniff the wolf as well. Gingernut then licked the wolf, who licked her back. O'Connell let out a sigh of relief. He then walked over to the fireplace and lit it, before stroking both Gingernut and the wolf.
"You need a name," O'Connell told the young wolf and Gingernut greeted her master. It was obvious the cat had missed him, and this made him feel good. The wolf gave a small 'woof'.
"Okay, how about... Lucky?" O'Connell suggested. Luck woofed in agreement. O'Connell let Lucky and Gingernut rest in front of the fire, and walked over to the diningroom table. As he had expected, there were some notes left for him. He picked up one and read it.
"Hey Sweetie! I'm so sorry we have to leave you, we feel terrible. I'm sorry we won't get to see you before you go back to the military. We really miss you. We've put up the Christmas tree and have some pressies there for you. Don't worry about us, we know you are too busy with the army to get anything. Just make sure you get to come see us soon. We'll be home for New Year, so I'm sure we'll see you then. There's plenty of food in the cupboard. You don't have to do much with the orchard; everything's fine. Just make sure you feed Bourke and Gingernut. Their food is in the usual place, in the bottom cupboard. Don't forget to clean Gingernut's litter box. You can just empty the old stuff and put some new litter in. Don't let her outside, it's too cold. Bourke is in the barn. He doesn't get on well with Gingernut, I'm afraid. You'll have to bring him in the house soon, though, because you might get snowed in and you have to feed him. Stay warm, light a fire, put on the heater. I've moved some of your stuff to the guestroom, so you can stay on the bottom level. That saves electricity, so you don't have to heat up the second level. I hope you don't mind. I put out some warm clothes for you to change when you get home, they're on the bed. Don't forget to clean your teeth every day, preferably twice, and wear clean underwear. I bought you some new pairs, they're nice and warm. Don't go outside without two jackets, woolly gloves or mittens, warm socks and preferably a scarf. You can borrow some of mine if you want. We all love you and miss you very much.
Love, Mum.
The rest of the notes were from his other family members. He read them and felt better. He then looked at his watch. He realised he was wet from the snow, so he decided to go and change into the clothes his mother had left out for him, and unpack some of his stuff.