Reality Bytes by Jane Frances

Author:Jane Frances [Frances, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594930799
Google: XasWAAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 597263
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2007-01-01T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“I’m sorry, Virg,” Toni apologized as she held Virgil flat to the floor in order to stop her from running out the back door. She edged around the wood, only releasing her companion once the gap between the door and the jamb was becoming too narrow for her hand. “You know you’re not allowed out here just yet.”

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning. Toni had planned on having a read and a coffee in the sun, but Virgil’s determination to escape as soon as the door opened made carrying anything outside impossible. So, while Toni had dragged one of her outdoor chairs from under the eaves and into a sunny spot in the middle of her lawn, she sat in it empty-handed.

“Oh, Virgil, don’t look at me like that.” To avoid looking at the mottled lump that appealed to her from the windowsill, Toni turned her chair so it faced the back fence.

It wasn’t the most inspired view. The jarrah pickets that comprised the fence were broken only by the jarrah picket gate that gave access to the lane. A smattering of shrubs skirted the fence line, but apart from that grass grew right to the boundary. She did a visual sweep of the rest of her garden. That wasn’t exactly inspired either. She never gave much thought to her backyard. Essentially it was all lawn, with a clothesline and garden shed flanking a side fence. A single plane tree had been planted off-center by whoever owned the place around twenty years prior. A deciduous tree, it provided welcome shade in summer and let the sunshine through in winter.

Toni gave an envious thought to the back garden immediately across the lane. The yard—Lisa’s—had been fully landscaped. Before Lisa moved into Cathy’s, her backyard was used as an extension to the house. She entertained there, relaxed there, even cooked there.

Toni did another sweep of her barren landscape, imagining what it could potentially look like if she put some time and effort into it. Her gaze came to rest on a small mound of dirt in the far corner. A now-dead rose lay across the mound. She had placed the flower there after burying Virgil’s dove. The dove had no mark, no blood or signs of broken skin. The poor creature had no-doubt died of fright. Toni turned her mind to the two information sheets she’d found packaged with Virgil’s bill. One detailed Virgil’s respite care; the other was a fact sheet outlining the damage domestic and feral cats were doing to the environment, along with tips to pet owners for the responsible management of their feline charges.

Toni followed the respite care instructions to the letter, kept Virgil indoors, administered her antibiotics at the right times. The other sheet, well, Toni had always thought herself a responsible pet owner. She curfewed Virgil from sunset to sunrise and kept a bell on her collar. According to the fact sheet, these steps weren’t enough. Apparently, many cats learn to hunt without their bells

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