While Dukee was licking his side, Mia watched as a lizard crawled across the dirt in the flower bed.
“Hey, isn’t that Larry?” Mia blurted out.
Dukee stopped licking and looked out the window, “where? I don’t see him.”
“Just wait,” Mia watched with anticipation.
Just like that, Larry climbed up onto the ledge outside of the window, “Hey kids.”
“Hi Larry,” Dukee and Mia said in unison.
“You two are looking healthy. What have you been up to?” Larry stood up on his back feet.
“Well, I’ve been playing on this curvy carpeted thing that Mom got me a while ago. It has feathers hanging on it that I like to lick,” Mia inched forward.
“I’ve been climbing up on top of the walls. See, it’s a nice place to just hang out,” Dukee pointed.
“Wow, that’s pretty high,” Larry looked in the window past Dukee.
“What about you, Larry?” Mia asked.
“Well, I got my house in order now and I really like it. And you know what? It’s almost as nice as the place that I had in St. Augustine,” Larry said.
“Saint who?” Mia asked.
“St. Augustine. It’s a few miles north of here. I had a place right by the big fort up there,” Larry said.
“Well, if you like it so much why did you move here?” Dukee licked his shoulder.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense,” Mia said.
“Well, you see, it was kind of a silly accident. One day I took a stroll into the parking lot by the fort and climbed up the tire of a truck. I wanted to see what the inside of the truck looked like so I climbed up to the window. As I was looking in the window, I heard a couple of people coming. I quickly jumped into the bed of the truck as they climbed into the cab,” Larry made hand movements showing his jump.
“Oh, no,” Mia perked her ears up.
“Then what did you do?” Dukee asked.
“Well, I sat in the back of the truck as they pulled onto the street. I thought, well, I’ll just have a long walk home. I thought that they might stop somewhere else in the city, but I was wrong. They didn’t stop until they pulled into a driveway three streets over from here,” Larry explained.
“Oh wow, so you moved because you had no choice,” Dukee said.
“Yep, that’s about right,” Larry thought for a moment. “But it’s okay, I lived there a long time, It was time for some new scenery.”
“But that’s kind of sad that you had to move when you didn’t plan to,” Mia said.
“Well, I had thought about moving once before, but I just didn’t. This is a nice area though. I have the canal that I go to every day,” Larry said.
“Well, as long as you are happy,” Dukee said.
“Yeah, I am… Well, speaking of the canal I’m going to go down there now and rustle me up some grub. It was nice talking to you two again,” Larry went down onto all four feet.
“See ya, Larry,” Dukee waved.
“Bye Larry,” Mia said.
Larry waved and climbed down the wall of the house. Dukee and Mia watched as Larry crossed the flower bed and hopped down onto the grass. He scurried across the yard and Mia and Dukee could no longer see him.
“That’s kind of sad that he had to move from where he loved,” Mia looked at Dukee.
“He said he’s happy here,” Dukee looked at Mia.
“Yes, he says that, but is he really?” Mia backed out of the tunnel.
“I’m sure if he wasn’t happy here that he’d find a way back there,” Dukee watched as Mia walked over to her water dish.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Mia said.
Dukee watched as Mia drank some water from her dish. He pictured in his head Larry holding on in the back of the truck. Mia hopped down from the table and crawled into her tent. Dukee just sat there and looked out the front window.
Please join me again for more of: Two Cats And A House.