The Circle of the Paw

Chapter 25

     The cold air burned with every inhale. His forepaw ached as the broken shards of claw jammed into his fur with every step. His head felt like it was going to crack like an egg. Yet, the black cat pressed on. Block after block and street after street. Akhi dodged cars and around humans pouring salt on the sidewalks for hundreds of tail-lengths before finally arriving back at the Benveniste's backyard. He pushed his frame through the slit in the fence.

He was panting heavily through his nose as he approached the rubber flap of the rear doggie door. His teeth were shut tight like an iron vice, gripping the purple sock dangling from his mouth. He paused for a tailwag to catch his breath and noticed the frozen bowl of Shmuckey's ocean blend food waiting outside the door. He furrowed his brow with determination and pushed through the doggie door. Akhi let the warm air and familiar smells waft over him as he entered the kitchen he hadn't seen in many moon cycles.

The room was busier than when he had left. There were several uniformed police officers strategizing with each other. No one paid the cat much mind.

Akhi began trotting from the kitchen into the living room when he saw them. Jacob and Abigail were sitting on their couch, speaking with a detective in a dark wool suit. Their faces were pale and their eyes were red from crying.  Akhi dropped the sock in the middle of the living room's yellow rug before jumping onto Abigail's lap and meowing furiously.

"Cagney?!" Abigail smiled through her tears and hugged Akhi with her bare, warm arms. She sniffled. Even though he was bigger than before he left, her embrace engulfed the cat's body. For the briefest of tailwags, Akhi enjoyed her hug before he began to meow again.

"Where have you been, Cagney?" Jacob let out a hysterical laugh in the middle of crying. He furiously scratched the back of Akhi's head.

As much as he wanted to stay in their arms forever, Akhi knew why he had returned. He jumped down onto the living room rug and sat on his haunches. He began to gently tap at the purple sock in the middle of the rug while looking up at his humans. He meowed as loud as he could.

"Is this your cat that ran away?" the detective asked.

Abigail ignored the question and focused intently on the sock.

That's it, Akhi said to himself. You remember this.

"Yes, that's him, officer," Jacob replied. "What are the odds he found his way home the same day Noah..." he trailed off.

"Ma'am, want me to take him to a vet to get him checked on?" the detective offered.

"What's that thing he's got there on the rug?" Jacob asked, narrowing his eyes.

Abigail remained silent. Akhi could see the small hairs on her arms begin to stand up. She began to shake slightly as she held her breath. Her pupils expanded to twice their normal size. She stared, wide-eyed at the purple sock.

Akhi meowed again.

"Jacob," Abigail exhaled and swallowed. "That's Noah's sock."

She locked eyes with Akhi and fumbled for breath.

"I put them on him this morning," she exclaimed.

"Are you sure that's his, Mrs. Benveniste?" the detective asked.

"That's his sock!" she screamed.

Akhi picked up the sock in his mouth and ran to the front door. He began to scratch at the wooden door.

"Oh my god," Jacob whispered. "You don't think...?"

Jacob and Abigail looked at each other before jumping up off the couch. They each grabbed a coat before opening the front door and following Akhi outside.

As Akhi ran down the steps of the stoop with his humans in tow, he could hear the detective behind him speaking into her radio.

"We might have a lead on the boy."

The journey back to Mole alley was demanding and took longer. The snow was sticking to the ground and had risen past his paws. Each step in the powdery white cold was difficult and Akhi was almost ready to pass out from exhaustion. But with Jacob, Abigail, and the detective behind him, he trudged onward.

Upon reaching the alley, Akhi squinted through the snowfall. He could just make out a jumble of fur, covered in a thin layer of white. He began to meow furiously as the trio of humans approached the mound in the middle of the alley.

Jacob was the first to walk over. He poked at the mound to better understand what it was. The whole mound began to shake off the snow and come apart.

"It's a bunch of dogs," the detective said in surprise.

"As more of the dogs rolled away from the pile, they revealed what they were guarding inside the mound.

"Noah!" Jacob cried. Abigail ran over and together they lifted up their son out of the warm bowl of fur. Noah looked as though he had just been woken up from a comfortable nap. Jacob took off his jacket and put it around the boy. His parents began to cry as they hugged him.

"This is officer Ramirez," the detective spoke hurriedly into her radio. "We need an ambulance at the corner of South Mole and 13th Street. We found the Benveniste boy." Her excited breath was visible in the cold. "Repeat, we found the boy."

From the edge of the group of animals, Commander Lupo nodded at Akhi before giving his subordinates an order. With Noah safely in the hands of his parents, the dogs began to run towards the other end of Mole alley, away from Akhi and the Benvenistes. Akhi assumed that the Gibborim were heading back to their respective homes and the humans that were missing their most cherished animal friends. Akhi laid down in the snow, exhausted, as the wails of approaching ambulances and police cars echoed down the alley. Halima walked over and laid down next to him.

"Oh my god," Abigail gasped. 

She handed the sleepy Noah over to Jacob and walked over to the indent in the snow where the mound had stood. There were two animals huddled at the bottom of the warm pile next to where they had found Noah. A lone fox remained behind, laying its head on top of Misha's abdomen. Abigail recognized it as the fox that she occasionally saw in her backyard. When Abigail approached the two canines, the fox looked up at her with sad eyes and whimpered softly.

"It's Misha," Abigail announced. She pet the wounded dog resting on the cold ground. "She's badly hurt."

She put her arms underneath Misha and began to lift, but stopped as the fox began to growl.

"Don't worry, girl," Abigail whispered. "I'm just going to get her help."

"The fox stood back and hung her head before whimpering again.

Abigail lifted Misha's body and brought her over to Jacob and Noah.

"We need to get her to an emergency room," she announced.

"I'll take her," Jacob stated.

The detective took off her suit coat and wrapped Misha in it.

"I can do it," the detective offered. "It's best if you two stay in the ambulance with your son."

"Don't forget to bring Cagney," Abigail said loud enough for the cat's ears to perk up. "He saved Noah's life."

Jacob and Abigail both looked over at the black cat that was laying in the snow just a yard away. He lifted his head and their eyes met. With the flashing lights of the police sirens illuminating the alley walls, it almost looked like the cat nodded at them.