Normally she kept busy in the kitchen this time of day, but today she was nowhere to be found. She had, however, left a handwritten note:
Out with Grant at Tulip Festival.
Back by Noon.
I flipped the notecard over and found a postscript scrawled on the back:
P.S. These are for the new neighbor. Tell her I’ll come by to say hi later!
I swear, nothing happened in this town without my nan first knowing about it. A little heads-up about the new neighbor would have been nice, but at least she’d made up for it by putting together a lovely muffin basket.
I took a quick detour upstairs to make myself a bit more presentable, then grabbed Nan’s latest batch of delectable baked goods by the wicker handle and headed for the door.
Octo-Cat lay snoozing in a sunspot by the entryway. The tabby hadn’t been there when I passed by a couple minutes ago, but now he was in such a deep sleep that he appeared dead to the world.Best to let sleeping cats lie,I reasoned, choosing not to disturb him until after I had some gossip to share about the new neighbor lady.
When I stepped out onto the porch, the big moving truck was still idling in my driveway but Pringle and Paisley had made themselves scarce. I hoped the wily raccoon wasn’t being too hard on the poor little dog. Although past experience told me that would be just the case.
I’d go and find them after saying my quick hello next door and put an end to this game once and for all, even if it meant putting some kind of child lock setting on Pringle’s streaming services. He’d eventually become obsessed with another film genre, but at least it would buy us some down time while he browsed.
One thing at a time, though.
As for my current task, the fastest way to the old Harlowe estate was via the woods that separate our lots, so I pushed my way through the thick canopy of trees, taking care not to upset my muffin basket.
When I emerged from the forest, I found an old woman with short white hair and a sour expression yelling into the cell phone she held out in front of her on speaker phone. I saw her profile as she paced her wide porch, but she didn’t seem to notice me standing at the edge of her property with my basket of goodies.
“I already told you,” she spat. “Wild dogs are roaming my property, and they’re upsetting the local fauna. They already scared off a mother doe and her fawn when they tried to pay me a visit.”
“Wild dogs?” the dispatcher on the other end responded skeptically over the speaker phone. “That’s not a very common problem in Glendale, not since Pearl took over at the shelter.”
“Are you suggesting I made this whole thing up?” the woman fumed.
The dispatcher immediately fell in line.“No, no. Of course not. Can you please describe them?”
Pringle came up beside me and placed a hand on my lower leg, making me cringe with fright.“Hey, toots. Whatcha got there?” he asked, gesturing toward the basket with his furry chin.
“Huge beasts,” the neighbor continued as she motioned wildly with the hand that wasn’t holding onto her phone. “One was black like a hellhound. The other had stripes.”
I glanced down at Pringle and his big, fat striped tail. No. She couldn’t possibly…
“Mommy!” Paisley let out a high-pitched bark, running across the lawn toward me and Pringle.
“There they are now!” the neighbor cried, finally looking up and spotting me.
I offered an uncomfortable wave and held the basket of baked goods out before me as a gesture of peace.“These are for you.”
“Miss, Miss, are you still there?” the dispatcher asked after several moments of silence on the old woman’s part. “Have you been hurt?”
She turned her back to me and continued.“Send someone immediately. My address is…”
I stood frozen to the spot in disbelief. What could Paisley and Pringle possibly have done to upset this woman so much in such a short period of time? And just whom had she called to issue her complaints? She wasn’t even moved in yet for goodness’ sake!
“Animal control is on the way,” she turned to inform me with a steely gaze after finally hanging up the phone.
This startled me even more than Pringle’s sudden appearance at my side. “Animal control? What? Why?”
“Seems you can’t control your animals. Shame, but someone has to do it. They should be here within the next ten minutes. I suggest you take your two dogs and leave unless you want to have them taken to the pound… or worse.” She let the implication linger between us.
“It’s just one dog. A Chihuahua named Paisley.” I bent down and snapped my fingers to call the dog to me. “She’s really very sweet. I’m sorry if her playing disturbed you.”
Paisley came running. Once she reached me, I shifted the muffins to one side and scooped the Chihuahua up with my free arm, tucking her into my armpit.“I’m your new neighbor, Angie. I live right next door with my nan. If you ever—”
“Can it, Angie. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and your hellhound already did it for you. I think it’s best if we both just leave each other alone.”
“But—”
She pointed toward the forest with a shaky finger.“Now go! Get off my property, or I’ll call the police.”
I briefly debated leaving the muffins, but you know what? She didn’t deserve Nan’s little bites of heaven, and I sure wouldn’t mind scarfing down a few to help me forget this horrible start to the day.
Good riddance!
3
“Where were you?” Octo-Cat asked drolly as I strode back inside and all but slammed our heavy front door. “And hey, why the attitude? It isn’t very becoming of you, Angela.”
I stopped mid-stomp and turned to face my tabby where he sat idling on the coffee table.“I just met the new neighbor.”
He flicked his tail and stared at me with large amber eyes that gave nothing away.“I take it things didn’t go well.”
“She was horrible. A monster!” I cried, throwing myself into the nearby armchair and sifting through the muffin basket until I found the one I wanted—a nice big cinnamon crumble.
I took a big bite right off the top, then continued speaking around my fresh mouthful of sweet and spicy mush.“She called Paisley a hellhound. And she called animal control on us! Wouldn’t even let me say hi before she shooed me out of her yard.” I swallowed my first bite and took another.
Octo-Cat pulled his ears back flat against his head until they almost seemed to disappear.“Has anyone ever told you that you eat very noisily and with far more saliva than necessary?”
I groaned.“Yes,you. And at least half a dozen times at that. Are you even listening to what I’m saying right now?”
“Believe me, I’m trying. It’s just hard to make out your words over all the smacking and snarfing. I’m trying to lend a sympathetic ear, but you’re being very rude, Angela.” His tail began to wag wildly, suggesting that if I didn’t give in to his demands, I may find myself on the receiving end of a serious hissy fit.
“Me? I’m not the rude one here, but never mind.” I placed my partially eaten muffin on top of the others in the basket, then brushed off my hands and opened my mouth to show that it was now empty.
Octo-Cat nodded his approval.“You may proceed.”
I repeated the whole thing again, becoming angrier and angrier as I did. Seriously, what was this new neighbor’s deal? Did she just hate dogs, or did she hate all living things as a rule?
Octo-Cat held up a paw to silence my tirade.“You need to keep your voice down. Did you know cats can hear three times better than humans? Right now, you’re little more than a noisy siren blaring right in my ear.” He looked me up and down. “In fact you look like one too with that red face of yours. Did you wake up on the wrong side ofthe litter box today, or what?”
I grabbed the muffins again and hoisted myself from the chair.“Forget it. I’ll go tell it to Paisley. Or Pringle. Or, hey, maybe the new neighbor isn’t quite as bad as I thought, after all.”