Tossing her a few cheese crackers, he though of how her frantic purrs used to disturb his dreams as she dodged his sluggish swats to pace across the down pillows, massaging one silver head then the other with her tiny claws, anxious to see which would finally rise to deliver her breakfast. Her confusion the damp November morning only one head popped out from under the quilt still flashed across her green eyes on similar dawns.
He thought he saw the look again a few hours earlier, or maybe it was just the eerie reflection of the fiery red sky that woke up the harbor that day. After all, his mind had grown increasingly uncomfortable from the shifting winds ruffling Rosie's whiskers. Curling her closer into his coat, comforting himself with the responsibility of her happiness and safety, he worried about his new seafaring companion.
He knew that she missed their home and that she would likely be better off lounging on his sister's windowsill, watching the weather from the comfort of a radiator than stuck in a wandering dinghy, staring the first Nor'easter of the year square in the face. Frankly, his task would be easier with one less worry, but after losing the brightest part of his household he felt he should begin this new journey with a small reminder of her smile, or at the very least the one thing that could always bring it out on mornings just like this.
