Norman's Neighborhood

Twenty-one

Evelyn briefly explained her position as live-in caregiver to Millie McKittrick, and described the circumstances of the dog's arrival.
"He must have been exhausted, poor boy," she commented. "He fell asleep in the middle of the floor, for a couple hours!"
"Then it must have been Norman! I suspect he has narcolepsy," Dena replied. "He does tend to conk out and sleep for ages. I'm so glad to know he was safe with you during the storm! And isn't that funny that Miss McKittrick called him Normandy?!" She thanked Evelyn for calling, took down her phone number, and promised to let her know if and when they found the dog.

"Ding ding!" David's text notification alerted him while he was trying to study. There was a test coming up in his biology class the next morning, on a topic of particular interest to him - infectious disease. He glanced at the phone, and - seeing that the text was from his mother - tapped it to open the message.
"News of Norman - We know he had shelter in storm. Call when you can." He called immediately.

*********

When Norman landed on the ground, he stumbled a bit before regaining his balance. He looked around at the little group of people, who in turn were watching him. Who were they? How had he come here? Where was "here"?

The tall man, who had hair the color of Logan Scott's, crouched down and spoke softly to the large gray dog. Extending a hand, palm up, he rubbed his fingers against his thumb invitingly.
"Come here, fella. Let's make friends." Norman edged forward hesitantly.

"Hannah -" Anna whispered, placing a gently restraining hand on the eager little girl's shoulder, "We don't want to scare him. Shhh..." she warned, shaking her head slightly as Hannah half-turned toward her mother and opened her mouth in the beginnings of protest. Sarah took the opportunity to scowl disapprovingly at her younger sister while piously holding a finger to her own lips.

**********
Kathy Benson printed out another stack of posters, instructed Daisy and Todd to get into the car, and set off.
"We're going to put more posters up in the area where Norman was seen," she explained to her kids. She had taken down the address given to Dena by Evelyn Uluivuya, speculating that the missing dog may have been noticed by others in the surrounding area.
"We didn't come this far from home before," she commented, slowing the car and pointing to a house with a tidy yard. "That's the house he was in during the storm."

The threesome put up posters wherever they found an available pole. A few blocks down, the stack had dwindled to four. Todd suddenly exclaimed,
"Mom! We're almost to Zane's!"
"Oh - so we are!" Kathy responded. "We should ask to put one up at their market...but it's Sunday. They won't be open."
"Let's go there anyway! Please, Mom, there's prob'ly a pole or something we can put a poster on. Or we could stick it on the door!" Todd decided, nodding vigorously in agreement with his own suggestion.
"Sweetie, we can't just put posters on doors without permission," Kathy explained, smiling to herself. Todd was so much like his father - somewhat impulsive, endearingly naive...

"Mom?" Daisy's voice interrupted her mother's thoughts. The kids were proficient at that - and Kathy recognized it as a good thing. If not for their busy minds...
"Mom!"
Kathy glanced in the rear-view mirror with a small, apologetic smile.
"Sorry, sweetie - what is it?"
Daisy took a big breath and huffed it out. "I'm worried about Norman. What if somebody just keeps him? What if - "
"All we can do is all we can do. We'll just have to hope that he's safe somewhere with someone who will do the right thing. Here we are," Kathy noted, pulling into the small parking lot at Thessaloniki Market.