Day Two Without Butternut

It had been another long day. Something had gone wrong with the plumbing at the Gull, and straightening it out had been an exercise in misery. I could rebuild engines, fix wiring, and weld with the best of them but PVC plumbing was beyond my abilities. Everyone got the day off while I got to wait for the plumber to come and exorcize the demon in the drains. It did allow me to fix up the deck's lighting, and examine Margie's books. Everything seemed in order. I polished silverware, cursing Maine's water supply while the plumber did things and investigated areas I'd no interest in knowing about. Word had gotten out that I was not exactly happy, and people gave me a wide berth. Sometimes it's good to have a reputation for a bad temper and carrying firearms.

I returned to Gerty late that night and was surprised to see Audrey's gray sedan in the marina parking lot. Maybe Nathan had talked her into arresting me for Enoch's death. I rather hoped not.

I boarded Gerty and didn't see Audrey anywhere. Thinking she must have been here for someone else, I opened the door. There was a shout as an orange streak burst from my stateroom and flew across the deck. Before it could slide through the scupper again there was a course correction and an orange fluff ball bounded up my pants to my shirt and alighted on my shoulder. Furious purring, familiar after seven days of listening to it, filled my right ear.

"Hey little guy! What are you doing here?" Butternut smashed me in the nose with the top of his head. Moving carefully to avoid dislodging him, I brought him back inside to see Audrey grinning at use both. In the corner Nathan looked faintly amused.

"We tracked down your cat. Some woman with frizzy hair said she remembered you and was sorry you turned in Butternut. She said he had gone on a hunger strike and was refusing to eat." Audrey walked over and petted the orange gremlin. "I told her of the pictures you took of him, and how much you missed him."

"I didn't miss him," I insisted, scratching my cat's chin.

"Much," Nathan added.

"I've got to side with Nathan, there, Duke. You look like you just met your first love," Audrey said.

"Audrey, he's never had that expression on his face when he been dating anyone. I think this officially is a first for him," Nathan added.

"I do not have any unusual expression on my face," I answered, knowing as I did I was grinning like an idiot.

"Anyway, the fizzy haired woman gave us a hard time, but we got your cat out of hock. He is here to keep you out of trouble," Nathan rumbled.

I had my cat back. Audrey and Nathan had brought back my cat.

"Thanks guys." I plucked my cat off my shoulder and left him on the counter while I filled up his sink with water. He jumped in and swam in circles.

"That cat is troubled," Nathan observed.

I looked up sharply. "My cat is not afflicted. People are afflicted, not my kitten. Besides, he's not even from Haven, are you, Morgan?" The kitten chirped at his new name, and wandered out of the sink to me. I grabbed a towel and wrapped him up in it.

Audrey looked at me. "Actually, Duke, Butternut is from Haven. He was dropped off a couple of weeks before you picked him up. One of the folks moving inland found him under their house, abandoned. Their daughter was allergic, so they arranged to drop the kitten off at the shelter in the town when they moved too. The frizzy haired woman had thought it funny that here was this cat that was from Haven was going back to Haven."

I shrugged. I hadn't known my cat's back story. I didn't really care if he was Troubled. I'd tried not to remember the liger dream, or rather how the liger had a ringed tail, and how Enoch had been found after that dream. My boy was back home. I couldn't turn him away again. I'd missed him far more than I thought I would.

"So," I said, "What do you think, Morgan?" The kitten chirped at me again and snuggled into the towel and my chest.

"You're naming the cat Morgan?" Audrey asked.

I nodded. "Morgan Butternut Spider-killer." Morgan purred his approval. I went to a cupboard and pulled out Morgan's favorite spider. When I tossed it Morgan took off after it, and growled loudly to warn anyone else that this was his spider. After he killed it, which involved much jiggling of legs, he dropped it at my feet.

Nathan considered the cat. "Why Morgan?"

I pointed at the book with chewed corners that Eleanor had given me. Nathan picked it up, found the poem Cat Morgan Introduces Himself and read it. He snorted in suppressed amusement before handing the book to Audrey, who openly grinned.

Cat Morgan had introduced himself properly and had come home. I had my beer-swilling, water-loving, fetch-playing maniac back where he belonged. Life was good.

Author's Note: If you are curious about the poem, it is real, and was one of the few not included in the musical Cats. You can google it.