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said, “Don’t you dare touch those kittens, or my cat!”
    â€œOr what? You’ll get an injunction?” Charles sneered the final word. He pulled out a cell phone and punched it three times with a thick finger. “I’m calling the police. You’re trespassing.”
    â€œNow, Charles, dear. I’m sure there’s a misun … Alberta?” A tightly coiffed blonde worked her way past the big buffoon. The top of her bouffant might have reached his rib cage if she had been wearing heels instead of glowing pink ballet flats. She glanced from Alberta to the little family in the chair and squealed. “Ohmygoodness! How absolutely adorable! Aren’t they adorable, dear?” She giggled at her husband but he seemed to be impervious to cute kittens or gushing wives.
    â€œLouise, what are you doing out here? And how many times have I told you to close the window and lock the door?” To the phone he said, “Yes, I want to report a trespasser, you know, breaking and entering.” He thrust the phone away from his face and said, “Now don’t touch them, Louise. They’re those wild ones. Carrying God knows what diseases and parasites.” Then to the phone again, “Yes, they’re here now … No, I don’t think we’re in imminent danger but I want them to leave and they’re refusing … I don’t think they’re armed but they have a vicious dog … How many?” He leaned forward and stared at the cats. “Five. No, seven. There are seven of them. Yes, I’ll be careful.”
    Alberta looked at me and rolled her eyes. I shrugged back at her.
    Louise knelt beside the chair and addressed Gypsy. “Oo have booteeful babies, yes oo do, yes oo do.”
    Charles shoved the phone back into his pocket. He wrapped a hammy fist around his wife’s bicep, pulled her onto her feet, and guided her toward the door. “Stop that nonsense. Bad enough that dinner is late because of these people, and you’re going to have to change clothes and scrub up before we can eat. Now go clean yourself up and put those clothes in the wash. They’re contaminated.”
    My lower jaw nearly dislocated itself at that and I started to say something, but the plea in Louise’s eyes stopped me. She turned to leave, her shoulders drooping and her face a crimson mask, and Alberta followed her out the door, calling back, “I’ll get a crate.” The two women could have been sisters, they were so well matched in size and age. They walked together toward the back of the house and, after a quick hug, separated at the steps to the long, multi-leveled deck that ran the length of the house. Alberta hightailed it back the way we came in. I watched Louise stalk up the steps to the back door and wondered what Alberta had said to her. The woman’s shoulders no longer drooped. Her posture and movement were stiff, as if all her muscles had tightened into a knot of pure anger. I couldn’t be certain at that distance, but her hands seemed to have balled into fists.
    Not for the first time, I was happy to have Jay at my side for reasons beyond companionship. Like most Australian Shepherds, he tends to take his time assessing people he doesn’t know, but occasionally he makes a snap judgment. The first time he met Tom, he turned himself into a pretzel—his way of saying Hail fellow, well met! Now he had his gaze fixed on the man with the big voice, and his expression was not friendly. No one who didn’t know Aussies would have noticed that his hackles were up, but I knew that his coat doesn’t usually stand away from his body that way. I also knew that he had made another snap judgment, and that gave me the freedom to ignore the ogre in favor of Gypsy and her mewling brood. Jay had my back.
    As I knelt next to the chair to admire the little family, a whisper of regret blew through my mind. If I had taken Tom up on his