I received twin growls in reply.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Ducking past them, fearing for my legs, I went into the kitchen. Though without knowing of the cats, I had indeed bought tuna in packets. Opening one, I put some tuna on the former owner’s cracked plates. The cats had joined me in the kitchen without my knowing, and I turned, plates in hand, to find them staring at me.
“Don’t you guys know how to knock? Jeez.”
I slowly set the plates on the floor, then backed away. The pair lunged for the fish before I’d even straightened, gobbling their feast. “Right, chow down, there’s more where that came from.”
Letting them eat, I joined Magnus. “Had you told me about them, I’d’ve bought cat food.”
“I had other things on my mind. Tuna will keep them, right?”
I shook my head. “For the moment, but long term, tuna isn’t good for their organs.”
“Ah. A cat person, I see.” Magnus grinned.
“I’ve had cats,” I said, smiling. “A long time ago. My dad hated them. But he let me keep them as it stopped me from pestering him. They never did like him.”
“Can’t blame them.” Magnus shifted his arm in his sling. “Your pa sucks, big time.”
“So does yours,” I retorted with good humor.
“I know it. We both have sucky dads.”
After I added more wood to the fire, I sat beside Magnus. The cats busily washed their faces in the kitchen doorway, apparently at ease with us now that we’d brought them a gift offood. First one finished his or her bath, then approached to sit on Magnus’s sleeping bag and stare into the fire. The other soon followed to make a bed on mine.
“Oh, look,” Magnus drawled. “Our kids have come home.”
“I guess we’ve been adopted.”
While the cats slept, Magnus and I sat watching the fire, talking of this and that. I suppose we got to know one another, not just as former enemies, but now as companions. We each depended upon the other. As I’d never had anyone depend upon me before, I found the feeling both frightening and exhilarating.
I made meat sandwiches for lunch, both of us offering the cats pieces of roast beef from our fingers, and munched chips while washing it all down with water. I poured water into an old bowl for the cats and watched them drink as though they’d never drunk clean water before.
“Poor things,” I murmured, gently running my fingers down their backs.
“Mind if I take a nap?” Magnus asked, lying down on his sleeping bag. “I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Go ahead.”
While he and the cats slept, I screwed the hasp onto the back door, then secured it with the padlock. After spending a few minutes kicking myself for not buying locks for the bedroom doors, I stood watching Magnus and our new friends sleep in front of the fire.
“Tomorrow,” I murmured. “Tomorrow, I’ll get locks and cat food.”
I turned toward the kitchen, thinking to open a few cans of the soup I’d bought for our supper when the nearest bedroom door slammed open.
I spun around, reaching for my baton, and instantly recognized the invaders.
Chapter Thirteen
Magnus
“Howdy, boys.”
The two Raggedy Andys looked from Jade and her baton to me, then back again. “We was here first,” said the idiot on the left. “You got no right to kick us out.”
“Actually, I claimed this house first,” I said, standing slowly. “I put the plywood up. I suggest you bug out before the lady here gives you an ass kicking.”
