"The two had been scratching at the side of the house for hours. Johannes lay back, his fingers poking through a hole in the armrest, as he settled into a state between wakefulness and drowsiness. Maeve was visiting her sister's family, who lived two miles down the road. She had left three hours before, after cooking a meat stew. Logically, Maeve would be back soon; after all, he hadn't starved since he’d had a good late lunch after she left. And it made sense that the two were scratching at the house—except nothing felt rational in that moment.
His lanky, wiry figure had some pieces of attention-grabbing detail. His hands trembled, stirred by the anxious beats of his heart. Bernard, the dog, began barking on the porch. John stepped outside to find Bernard wagging his tail excitedly with a kitten he had cornered. He grabbed a piece of jerky from a jar he had resting between the chairs and gave it to Bernard, who was all ears, then sent him into the yard for a moment. The kitten pounced on the piece of jerky, and to John's surprise, he decided to take it in.
He began to sing a lullaby that he had sung to all three of his children. Once back inside with the kitten, he poured some milk from a bottle into a bowl, before attaching a nipple to it. “Just a little,” he said, as the kitten’s tiny teeth found the nipple.
Maeve opened the door, closed it behind her, and removed her jacket before noticing him. “What did you find there?” she asked, looking tired.
“A little friend that Bernard brought home,” he replied.
“How sweet. Beth loved the meat,” Maeve said, smiling.
“I’m glad,” John answered. Then, his gaze drifted to the window, darkened by the night sky. “I wish Paulie, Georgia, and Maggie could visit again,” he said, pausing to swallow.
“Me too,” Maeve replied, her eyes sparkling with a hint of nostalgia."
