Intermission.
He itched. Scratching didn't help. Licking didn't help. He arched his back and stretched. It helped the crick in his back but not the itch.
She had gone, the safe woman, his human – she says his mummy. She left with the tall man that taps with his stick, who keeps the old safe woman and Brother at the other inside place. He liked living with his own human, she knew all his scritchiest places, and let him drink the water from the floor of the rain box, and fed him the mushy meat. He let her sleep on the bed with him. But, he liked visiting Brother and the old safe woman, too. She was comfortable to sit on and spoke low to them, sang them little songs and tucked crackling bags of treats in the folds of her chair. Brother liked living with her and the tall man.
He didn't like that his human left so early. She hadn't even given him a proper morning cuddle. She'd petted the tall man, cuddled him too, the two groomed each other's mouths for a longtime, every stood for a long time inside the rain box. He wasn't sure why the tall man had stayed the night, sleeping in his bed, or why they both left him so early in the morning. He liked that the tall man was calm and found the spots that wanted scritchings and had made room for him on the nighttime bed, and rubbed his back and his ears, and whispered to him in the dark. He didn't know what all the words meant, but the way the man said it made him purr.
"I've never felt like this, Dink," he said. "Not ever. Please don't let me fuck it up. Us blokes have to stick together. It's you, me, and Snatch. We need to help each other out."
His name wasn't Dink, but they thought so, so he humored them.
Later, the tall man came back alone, with a big brown bag. The birds in the yard proved a distraction, but he needed to stay apprised of the comings and goings of the house, so he tore himself away and jumped up on the counter to inspect the bag's contents. No crunchy food. No mushy meat in a tin. He stood watch while the tall man emptied the bag and put its contents in the humming light box. Then to his surprise, the tall man picked him up and before he knew what was happening he was inside the tiny cage box, being jostled about. He voiced his complaints with vigor.
"Don't worry, mate. I'm just driving you to visit with your brother."
He worried when the car started, but a few turns in recognized the route, and that calmed him. He didn't like car rides. Sometimes they ended at bad places. But this ride would end with games and tumbling, stalking and purring, and the Old Safe Woman rubbing his belly until he fell asleep.