The next morning I got up bright and early, feeling thoroughly refreshed. I went outside to get our Sunday papers which were always left on our door step because they were too thick for the letterbox. Instead I found something else. I gave a little shriek that made Dad and Gran come running. A dead tabby cat, its eyes wide open and glazed over, lay on our doorstep.
"Sorry," I told them. "I just got a fright."
"Oh, the poor thing," said Gran sympathetically. "It must have lay there to die during the night."
Dad leaned over, his forehead creasing into a deep frown as he peered at the cat. Straightening his back, he nudged the cat with his foot. A slight movement was all it took for us to realise that it hadn't picked our doorstep to die on. It had been killed. Before Dad could push us back inside I saw the animal's insides spill out from the gaping hole in its torso. It was only then that I realised there were blood drops from our gate to our front door. Feeling sick, I backed into the house with Gran who looked more than a little shaken. I made her a cup of coffee while Dad disposed of the body and cleaned up outside.
"What happened to it?" said Gran when he came back inside.
His face was grim. "It looks like some sort of animal ripped open its stomach and then carried it to our door, for some reason. I don't know how it did it so neatly."
"Could a dog have done it?" I asked. "I thought I saw a dog outside last night."
"Maybe," he conceded as he scrubbed his hands. "Still seems strange. Why did it carry it here? And so carefully. Bizarre."
"Poor kitty," I said sorrowfully.
"Do you still want a dog after this?" Dad asked.
"Yeah. But we should rescue a kitten too now."
"Don't push your luck. Especially after last night."
Gran almost crowed with excitement, immediately distracted. "Oh, yes, last night. How was work?"
Dad's face turned pink. "Aw, leave him alone, Gran," I said. "But you won't get away with not telling us anything so you better spill, Dad."
He rolled his eyes, knowing full well we would gang up on him all day if he didn't talk.
"Okay, okay! I lied about having to work. Erin is a medical secretary in the hospital and we decided to go to the pictures together. As friends. Perfectly normal. No big deal."
"I don't hold hands with my friends. Grandmother, do you?"
She shook her head. "No, granddaughter, I don't."
"Oh, stop it," snapped Dad much to our amusement. "And you're one to talk Perdy. You just happened to bump into Amelia's brother last night?"
"Eh, yeah actually!" I said indignantly.
"Amelia's brother?" Gran's eyes gleamed with this new piece of information.
"Don't turn it around on me, Dad! What were we supposed to say? No Amelia, your brother can't be seen with us? Pfft."
Dad laughed heartily, a rarity in our house. Gran and I glanced at each in bemusement. He hadn't given me any grief for going out without his permission either. Maybe this Erin woman was a good influence on him. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of him having a girlfriend but if it made him lighten up a bit then I would reap the benefits.
I spent most of the day cleaning to sort of make up for sort of sneaking out to the cinema. Sort of. Gran went out for the afternoon with her senior citizens club and Dad possibly had to work. Either he was working or he was pretending to work so we wouldn't know he was with his new girlfriend - ick - either way he wasn't at home. Tammie popped around for a while to make sure I had gotten home okay.
