To Love a Stray

Chapter 6

I trot along the trail at a leisurely pace, the mid day shadows fall on the grass beneath the trees and I pause to stretch out in the shade for half an hour just to enjoy the view. I turn my head to lick at an itch on my side and spend ten minutes grooming my shinning hide. Sometimes loneliness bothers me and I remember the werecats I had come into contact with nearly six months previously. Thanks to counselling I had finally sort for my rapes and the passage of time I now realise that at the time I came into contact with them I had been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I still have my demons but now I have strategies to deal with them, that and time for my body to recover after my miscarriage often had me wondering if things could have been different for me and if I would have been able to adapt to living in a clan.

Occasionally I would trespass onto Williamson land and go visit my uncle but I never stayed long for fear Pete would smell me or see me and I would have to face either him or some of Wade’s warriors. I had made more of my scent covering gel and lotion and used it religiously but I was still too wary to chance an encounter with another werecat.

My home was now an old hunting shack long forgotten by humans deep in the forest of a national park. My backyard was several hundreds of acres complete with trees for climbing and a lake for swimming in. Rugged hillside country keeps me in excellent shape and there are plenty of feral goats for hunting if I chose to eat freshly killed meat. The only thing I lack is companionship. The call of a bird from a tree nearby stirs me from my reflections and I stretch lazily before heading for the small pond where I usually swim after running on all four paws. Further down the stream I know I can catch fish either in a net or by hand for my supper and I think about what I will have to eat later.

I walk the four hundred yards from the pond to my shack naked carrying my discarded clothes in my hand as I climb the steep path nimbly. I pause just off the back porch I have added and look out over the valley below my home, it is peaceful and quiet but at times it seems too much so. Inside the shack is cool despite the heat of the day and I pull clean clothes from an old dresser to put on. I glance at my new mobile phone and stare at it pensively for a few minutes before turning away with a frown. Lunch is a packet of trail mix and two packets of spicy jerky that I wash down with plenty of water before returning to the small cleared area around the back of the shack with my mobile in hand.

I place a call to Doc Caruthers just to hear a friendly voice but it’s the middle of the day and he is busy working unable to talk for more than a few moments. I stand looking out into the wilderness, my stomach full of butterflies and my heart pounding painfully before I punch in the number and lift the phone to my ear. I swallow nervously as I hear the phone ringing and I am just about to hang up when I hear the click that is the precursor to someone talking.

"Yeah hallo," I remain silent unable to speak for the lump in my throat as my eyes fill with tears.

"Hallo? Any one there?"

"Hey Pete," My voice is kind of choked and comes out very faint.

"Hallo?" There is a note of disbelief in his voice and I hear something brush the phone as if he has covered it with something, "Can you lot shut up? I got a bad connection here!"

"Hey Pete," My voice comes out normal and I hug myself when I hear his sharp exhale of surprise.

"Tawny! Rosy! Are you all right? Where are you? Do you need something?" Pete says with a rush.

"I’m fine. I’m fine I got all I need. I just wanted to hear a friendly voice," I say and my voice trails off.

"You got a friendly voice here," I hear his relieved laughter, "fact is there are several more friendly voices if you want to hear them. Sam, Edwin, Steven and Malcolm are with me, I’m at Wade’s at the moment."