The Passing of Crows (part 6)

There is a universal truth throughout the cosmos: that Wednesdays are known as Hump Days. That day midweek that heralds the run towards the end of the work week and the start of the weekend. This Wednesday was no different.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, there's still Tuesday to get through. The man Michael had visited the pub and spoken with the Land Lady to see if Holly had somehow wandered there and yes whilst there he drank a pint of warm Best bitter ("Well since I'm here anyway, I might as well.") Of course the dog could not be found. He had eventually drifted away to whatever he did normally, taking his hat with him. Sam and Sparky had gone for their coffee and breakfast before parting: each to their respective places of work. Eventually the day had passed into night without further event. The Something in the shed in the front garden remained silent and watched and waited.

In the dark of the kitchen in Sparky's little house, the flap in the door that allowed the cat to come and go could be heard slamming shut. Alice had wandered into the garden as she often did in the night, sometimes to chase rodents but not today. Today- this Wednesday- would be different. Alice had an appointment. With whom she did not know. How she had this appointment, she did not know. She just knew.

You see Alice the cat was in fact a Crow, a creature from another realm where laws of physics had an altogether different meaning. This particular fantastical being was squeezed into the tiny body of this rather skinny cat with white and ginger hair. Not quite stuck with three dimensional living and a linear timeline but very nearly. Having to master walking, with only four legs, had been tricky at first but Alice had got there in the end. Restricting herself to 'meow' had also been an issue when her Human although clearly brighter than many just couldn't work out what she wanted. And just to complicate matters, a Crow had no way of knowing what form a fellow Crow might take in this world. It was random, pot luck you could say.

Alice trotted through the darkened streets- pathways she knew well from her night time activities- but now with new purpose. She had sensed the call of another Crow and somehow knew the when and the where of the situation. The odd street lamp bathed the area in an orange glow and once in a while a car would pass, headlights pointing the way.

The cat Alice was stood in the garden of the friend of her Human, who sometimes came round. There was a thing wedged in the lawn, faintly glowing and perhaps making a barely audible sigh. This was not the place where the other Crow would be found, Alice was sure but this thing intrigued her. She moved forward to sniff the structure. No smell that she could make out. However there was definately a presence, Alice could tell, not of this world for sure. It was almost...

Alice the cat was nowhere to be seen. Gone from the garden and as she would later find out, trapped inside the canister with the Something...

*** We leave this 'exciting' tale now in favour of a new story which will kick off 1 March. However fear not we may well return to see exactly what fate has befallen Alice the cat, stuck in the shed with the Something and to find out why the man Michael cannot see his own dog ***