Comari Dawn

Part One: A New Dawn - Chapter Five

Two hours later the cab pulled up in front of the house which I'd owned since the death of my family ten years ago. I sighed when I saw it and smiled since it appeared the neighbours had mowed the lawn and made sure the mailbox wasn't overflowing. I'd done what I could to be a contributing member of the community, though there were times when I didn't feel like I was really part of the community. For one thing I was a good ten years younger than the next youngest homeowner in the neighbourhood, and for another I was also the only unmarried person who owned a home.

"Wow Martin..." Tracy said from my lap as the car pulled to a stop, her eyes wide at the sight of the house which I'd grown up in. "Is this our house? Is it a mansion or something?" She asked in quick succession.

I shook my head discounting the mansion term, though privately I had to admit it did have a lot of the hallmarks of a mansion, though in growing up in the house I didn't think of it as such. While quite large, and rather comfortable, I still thought of it as nothing more than a large family home. "I wouldn't really consider it a mansion Tracy, though if I am perfectly honest it may fit the definition." I told her before handing the cab driver my visa card to make the payment.

"I wanna see everything!" Tracy exclaimed happily as I opened the door to let her out. As soon as her pads hit the sidewalk she yelped and jumped onto the grass before sitting down to gently massage her pads with her hands. "Sidewalk is really hot Martin." She exclaimed with small tears in her eyes.

As soon as I saw the tears in her eyes I jumped out of the cab and jumped to her side while inspecting the pads of her foot-paws. When my feet hit the scorching hot asphalt I did have to admit, even if only to myself, Tracy was right on this count. "We're going to have to do something about getting something to wear on our feet, if only to keep from burning, or otherwise injuring our pads." I commented as the cabbie got out of the vehicle to fetch our things from the trunk.

"Here you go sir?" He said, though the last bit of his statement had the vocal tick of somebody who was asking a question.

I chuckled at his question. "To be honest I think we're as confused as anyone else is." I told him while taking the bags from him. "We're all getting used to this and there's much which we still have to learn." I told him before handing him a ten. "Thank you for the assistance." I finished before heading towards the front door of the house with Tracy in tow.

After I opened the front door and placed my bags down Tracy dodged around me and then dashed into the great room with a happy shout. A moment later she came back to me, a slightly awed expression on her face. "Wow... this house is huge on the inside too." She exclaimed softly her green gold eyes wide and filled with amazement. "How do you use all of this space?" She asked spreading her arms to indicate the entire house.

I found myself chuckling softly as I thought about her question. "The truth is I don't really use the entire house right now." I told her after wiping my paws on the door mat. "Oh, and please come back and wipe your pads before going back into the house."

She looked at the door mat, realizing she'd walked into the house without wiping her feet. "Sorry Martin." She apologized quickly walking over to the mat to take a second to rub her paws against it before walking up beside me. "Can you show me... everything?" She asked, and I could see her curiosity monster in her eyes.

I sighed and nodded, "Of course kitten, though I think you could probably use a change, and I need to figure out something for you to wear which will fit you a little better than what you're wearing right now." I told her picking up the bags and heading for the stairs which lead to the upstairs bedrooms in the east side of the house. Above the garages and the kitchen were located the five main bedrooms of the house, the other four were in the basement.