19
The next morning Ursa wasn’t on the couch when Jo went into the living room to wake her. She wasn’t in the bathroom either. Jo opened the door to the screened porch and found Little Bear curled up on the rug, looking dozily at her. Next to him was an empty bowl.
Ursa knew she wasn’t allowed to feed the dog on the porch. She must have let him in during the night and given him food to keep him quiet while she crept away. Jo had no doubts about where she’d gone.
She returned to the house and verified that Ursa’s purple shoes were missing. The clothes Jo had laid out for the morning also were gone. Jo hurriedly dressed, ate, and made the usual lunch food. She packed enough water for her and Ursa. When she carried her gear outside, she shooed Little Bear off the porch and gave him his bowl of food on the back concrete slab.
She drove onto the Nash property in the predawn darkness. She assumed Gabe would be up early, milking the cow and whatever else he did in the morning. She only hoped she didn’t have to go to the cabin door. As the car jounced down the wooded driveway and turned toward the barns, her headlights fell on Gabe, lantern in hand, his jeans covered to the knee in rubber boots. He’d heard her coming. Jo rolled down her window. “Ursa’s gone.”
“Shit. Let’s check the kitten barn.”
“That was my first guess.”
He waved her on to the barn, following at a jog. They entered the barn and walked toward the back wall. The light from Gabe’s lantern fell on Ursa. She was asleep with the six kittens, her curled body forming one boundary of a warm nest, the mother cat’s body the other. Jo and Gabe didn’t move, neither willing to disturb the beauty of the scene.
The mother cat got up and stepped over her co–den mother, waking her. Ursa shielded her eyes from the light of the lantern. “Gabe?” she said.
“And Jo,” he said.
Ursa squinted up at them.
“Why are you here?” Jo asked.
Ursa sat up, hay prickled in her tangled hair. “I don’t want to never see the kittens or Gabe again.”
“Shouldn’t that be Gabe’s decision?”
Ursa stood and looked at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but Jo and I disagree—about where this is going.”
“Where what is going?” Ursa said.
“You,” he said. “I think you need to find a stable home, wherever that may be.”
“I have a stable home in the stars.”
“He really doesn’t want to hear this again,” Jo said. “I have an egg sandwich in the car for you. Are you coming with me?”
“I’d rather stay here.”
“Here on Earth we don’t always get what we want.”
“But you and Gabe don’t know what you want.”
“I’m in no mood, Ursa.” She pulled her out of the barn by the hand and let her go. “You’ll walk to the car or stay here and risk Gabe calling the police.”
“Would you?” she asked Gabe.
He didn’t answer.
“I’m leaving,” Jo said.
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