Nala's World by Dean Nicholson

Author:Dean Nicholson [Nicholson, Dean and Jenkins, Garry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

13

Separate Ways

The first rays of sunshine were seeping through the windows when I heard the sound of someone rattling the door and coming into the cave.

“Rise and shine.”

I recognized Tony’s voice straight away—along with the sarcasm. We’d had a very late night out in a nearby bar, and he knew that neither of us was going to be shining brightly today. Well, not for a while. I groaned a reply, then hauled myself out of my bed. It took me a moment to adjust to the light, but as I did so, I saw Nala edging her way out toward the half-open door, as was her habit first thing. I would normally follow her out; I’d never grown bored of that first breath of fresh, sea air each morning.

Today I simply wanted to crawl back into bed. So I left Tony to watch her trot off and headed over to the little stove in the far corner. I needed a coffee. A strong one.

It took me about fifteen minutes to revive myself. Then I stepped out—very slowly—onto the beach. The sun was already inching its way higher into the sky to the east. The temperature must have been touching seventy degrees already.

I expected to find Nala in one of her usual spots, in the rocks at the water’s edge perhaps. I’d put some food out on the step to the cave, but that hadn’t been touched. I went back inside. There was no sign of her in any of her favorite corners further inside the cave either, which was odd. It wasn’t like her to miss out on her breakfast.

I stepped outside again. She sometimes sloped off to the foot of the cliff nearby where she lay in the shade, so I took a quick stroll up and down the beach, shouting for her as I went along. There were a few other little nooks and crannies where I’d also seen her play in the past. But she wasn’t there. I was puzzled. It wasn’t totally unusual for her to disappear like this, but she’d never done so for so long, especially at the start of the day. Maybe someone at one of the restaurants was feeding her. A couple of the waiters there had taken a real shine to her and often gave her little tidbits when I stopped and had a drink or a snack. One would bring out a plate of grilled fish for her every now and again.

I tried hard not to fret too much; she must have found something to entertain herself. She’d be back soon enough.

By now the rest of the team had begun to arrive. To get to the cave, they had walked down from the far end of the beach, where their cars were parked. When I asked if they’d seen Nala at one of the restaurants, they all looked blank and shrugged their shoulders.

Whatever fuzziness I’d been feeling when I’d woken up had long gone. I was wide awake now and trying hard not to panic.

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