Just like in the kitchen, he opened the taps in the bathroom, too, and found that after the initial cough, they worked just fine. Perfect.
Next, he made sure the old refrigerator was cold enough to store his food, and looked around in the kitchen, sighing at the amount of dusting and wiping everything he’d have to do.
“Cleaning supplies….” He felt like face-palming. He hadn’t gotten any cleaning supplies.
He needed to start a list. At least the old coffee maker in the kitchen was in working order, and after wiping it down with water and ancient dish soap and running three pots of water through it, he deemed it clean enough to make fresh coffee.
Through the power of caffeine and some sandwiches, he managed to get himself going again. He went to check out the shed where he planned to make his woodworking space and ended up spending most of the evening clearing it up and planning on where to put the little tools he had.
When he finally decided to call it a day and worry about the rest tomorrow, he showered, changed into some comfortable pajama pants, and heated up some soup for himself. It really wasn’t enough for a man his size, but he was used to getting by with little when need be. Besides, he was going to go shopping for more food and everything else he needed anyway, so he’d just eat out tomorrow while he was in town.
He walked outside after eating and padded around the backyard, feeling the grass and pine needles under his bare feet. Smiling, he looked over the water to the lights that were still on at Lotte and Joie’s.
The silence was deafening, and he loved it.
At least right until he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye and yelped. Whirling around, Makai looked for whatever it had been.
A soft, tentative meow made the culprit obvious. A small gray cat with a huge round belly sat in the light pouring out of his open door.
“You are a cat,” he said, then snorted softly at himself. “You’re also very pregnant.”
The cat tilted her head as if he was stating the obvious. Then she made another pitiful sound, a mew more than a meow.
“Okay, I think I bought some tuna, you can have that.”
And that’s how a cat adopted Makai and how he ended up falling asleep to the sound of loud purring instead of the silence. Definitely beat a cellmate’s snoring.
