“You call 911?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you mark a route incident?”
Caleb looked at the scanner beside him.
Because at the time, a route incident had seemed absurdly unimportant.
“I forgot.”
His supervisor sighed.
“Caleb.”
“I know.”
“We’re already over target this week.”
“I know.”
“You’ll need to document it.”
“I will.”
“Any chance you finish by six?”
Caleb looked at the remaining fourteen packages.
“No.”
Another sigh.
“Do what you can.”
The call ended.
Caleb checked the time.
5:24.
Sofia’s presentation began at 6:30.
He finished his last delivery at 6:19.
The school was twenty-two minutes away.
He called his sister Rosa.
“She there?”
“Front row.”
“Tell her I’m coming.”
“Caleb.”
“I know.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
He arrived at 6:41.
The classroom presentation had started.
Parents lined the back wall.
Caleb slipped through the door.
Sofia was standing beside a poster about the Ohio River watershed.
She saw him.
For half a second, her expression remained serious.
Then softened.
Caleb stood near the door.
He mouthed:
Sorry.
She continued presenting.
Afterward, she came toward him holding the poster.
“You missed the beginning.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Caleb looked at her.
He could have said work.
Traffic.
Delivery problem.
Instead:
“A cat stopped me.”
Sofia stared.
“That’s the worst excuse you’ve ever made.”
Caleb laughed.
“I know.”
On the drive home, he told her the whole story.
By the time he reached the part about Lumi grabbing his pant leg, Sofia had forgotten to be angry.
“She actually held you?”
“Yes.”
“With her paws?”
“Yes.”
“Did she bite you?”
“No.”
“Scratch?”
“No.”
“She just held you?”
“Like this.”
Caleb demonstrated by wrapping two fingers around his own pant leg.
Sofia’s eyes widened.
“And then you followed her?”
“Yes.”
“That was smart.”
“Was it?”
“She found the old man.”
“True.”
“What if you didn’t follow?”
Caleb looked ahead.
“I’ve been wondering that.”
Sofia became quiet.
Then:
“Did he die?”
“No.”
“Good.”
His phone buzzed at a red light.
Message from Emily.
Dad is stable. They’re keeping him overnight. Doctor thinks low blood sugar plus dehydration and blood pressure medication. Thank you again. He keeps asking whether the cat has an owner.
Caleb smiled.
Sofia looked over.
“What?”
“The old man’s okay.”
“Can we meet the cat?”
Caleb laughed.
“Maybe.”
The next afternoon, Lumi was sitting on the rear windowsill of Lantern Books when Caleb arrived.
He saw her immediately.
“Of course.”
The bookstore’s back door opened.
A woman stepped out carrying flattened cardboard boxes.
She was perhaps sixty-five.
Silver hair cut to her jaw.
Round glasses.
Green cardigan.
“You must be Caleb.”
He stopped.
“How do you know that?”
She looked at Lumi.
“Neighborhood intelligence network.”
Caleb raised an eyebrow.
“Cat told you?”
“Emily Greene did.”
The woman extended her hand.
“Nora Bell.”
“Lumi’s person.”
“I thought nobody owned her.”
Nora looked offended.
“I own her.”
Lumi jumped down from the windowsill.
Nora corrected herself.
“Emotionally.”
Caleb smiled.
“She gets outside often?”
“She has access to the enclosed courtyard.”
Nora pointed toward a small gate.
“Unfortunately, she has also discovered that if she climbs the old rain barrel, jumps onto the fence, walks across the bakery roof, and comes down the fire escape, the word enclosed becomes theoretical.”
“You know this?”
“I have security footage.”