“What’s going on?”Simon asked, using his stern teacher voice to call the room to order.
The girls stopped, both of them on their hands and knees, and looked up at their parents.
No one spoke for a moment, then Sally squeaked, “Dash got away, and we can’t find him.”
“What do you mean he got away?”asked Sarah.Riley refused to look at her.“How could he get away from the storage room?”
“Um…”
“Riley?”Sarah’s eyebrows drew together as she glared at her daughter.Why did Riley always push things a little too far?
“Um… I just wanted to see how fast he could run on the shiny floor.”
“What?”
“We were running in the gym in our sock feet and sliding.I wanted to see if he could do that here.At home we have carpet.”
“And where’s Dot?”
“Dot’s in her carrier,” said Sally quickly.“In the storage room.”
“Go get her.Bring her out here,” said Simon.“She’s probably wondering what’s happening.”
“Yes, Daddy.”Sally ran toward the back room.
“Walk!”said Simon, and she stopped, then walked to the hall behind the studio.Both Simon and Sarah turned toward Riley.
“Are you sure he’s out here?There’s no way he could have gotten into the kiln room?”
“No.”Riley said.“We closed the door right away.”
“Good.Because in there he could knock over someone’s work and get hurt.I’ll go help Sally search in the storage room.”Simon walked out, and Sarah turned toward Riley.
“How could you?”she asked, exasperated.
“I’m sorry,” said Riley.
“Well, being sorry won’t help us find Dash,” said Sarah, straining her ears to listen for any little paw steps or mews.She heard nothing but murmuring from the other room.
“I’ll find him,” said Riley.
“You’ll have to,” said Sarah, pointing toward the shelves at the other end of the room.“You start at that end, and I’ll start at this end.”
Riley, looking sheepish, scampered to the far end of the room and got down on her knees to peer under the shelves.Sarah bent down and peered under furniture and shelving at her end of the room.A moment later, Simon and Sally returned and, at his direction, she set Dot’s carrier down on the floor.
“Maybe he’ll come out if Dot is here,” he said.
“Good thinking,” said Sarah, crouching down to peer under another shelf, hoping to see a pair of blue eyes peering back at her.
The four of them each took a wall and worked methodically along, peering, crouching, and standing.They were all disappointed.“Where could he have gone?”asked Sarah.“Are you sure you didn’t leave the door open at all?”
“No.We didn’t,” said Sally.“He has to be here.”
But he was nowhere to be found and, a half hour later, Sally and Riley were both crying in frustration.Sarah felt like doing the same, but while a good cry had its benefits, it wouldn’t find a lost cat.
“Any other ideas where he could be?”asked Sarah, standing up again after looking under all the furniture for the tenth time.
“I’ll look in the kiln room,” said Simon.
