Olivia is AWOL

This is a really short addition to the ongoing Treasure story...  I'm too crazed with the Reunion weekend to get fully into storytelling... but I don't want to lose the thread...and it's an homage to the value of friends and how much I trust they'll always be there at the other end of the phone line.

I walked through the house looking for Olivia in all her accustomed favorite places... sunbeams, pillows, a misplaced sweater of mine.  I couldn't find her anywhere.  I have noticed that cats do disappear, not even leaving behind a Cheshire Cat grin, but it was past Olivia's dinnertime.  Normally she would be parked by her food bowls, waiting for a little spoonful of something moist and tasty.  Normally I could tell time by her schedule.

I doubted whether "normal" was going to be an adjective that applied to my life anymore.

She was nowhere to be found.  The window to the maple was now secure again; she couldn't have gone back out.  I checked all the other windows and doors, closets and corners.  The house felt very empty all of a sudden. And I had no one to talk to after all the mystery and clamor that had gone on.

I picked up the phone and called Carol. " I need to do some research on the exact color of swimming pool paint."

She laughed.  "Feeling a bit stressed out?" she guessed. "Needing a relaxing swim?"

"Noooo. No, of course not. It's totally research. No. I'm lying. A tree fell on your cake. My cat is AWOL from her job of offering companionship and comfort.  I sent all the warm cookies home with my cousin Louie.  There's a Gateway to the Land of Secrets that no one is at liberty to tell me about."

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. "I'll get out my swimsuit," Carol said. "Come on over and we'll study the exact shade of pool blue."