“Morning,” I said, sleepily.
“Care for some coffee? Gonna get the machine started up.”
“Sure.” I rubbed my eyes again and got out from my sleeping bag. I was surprised to see that the rain had stopped.
I glanced back behind me toward the shelves. Henry’s towel was still empty. Crouching on my knees, I peered beneath the shelf. “Henry,” I called. Nothing. He must’ve found another spot somewhere and was sleeping soundly.
Lee came back with a paper cup of coffee and a donut, and held them out to me. “Thank you,” I said, taking them gratefully.
“That storm must’ve kept you awake,” Lee said.
“No, actually. I was exhausted. I’d been on the road for seven or eight hours when I hit it, and driving through that thing absolutely wore me out.”
“You’re lucky you’re in once piece,” Lee said, sipping his coffee. “So you’re just passing through, huh?”
“Since it seems like the rain has finally let up, yeah, I think I’ll be moving on. I’m heading to California.”
Lee nodded. “Not much for a young person like yourself to do here. What do you have going on in California?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Nothing,” I admitted. “Guess I just picked it because it seemed like the furthest from home.”
“Where you from?”
“Georgia,” I said, and Lee laughed, his cheeks going pink.
“Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Lucky the flooding didn’t hit Armstrong—sometimes we get mudslides and such, but we were lucky this year. You should see what happened to Phoenix.” He whistled. “Be careful on the road, I’m sure you’ll encounter some hairy shit out there. And you’re bound to encounter more rain. It’s not over yet.”
“Oh, great.”
“No rush. Stick around for a while. Reynold wouldn’t mind having you stick around for a few days, I’m sure.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, “But I probably should get going. Sooner I get to California, the sooner I can figure out what the hell I’m doing.”
“Right.” He jutted a thumb towards the minimart. “I’ve gotta get the shop all set up and the pumps turned on.”
Lee went off to do his thing, and I stood in the garage doorway and surveyed the town of Armstrong in the daylight. Dark gray clouds hung overhead, and with the forest of pine trees surrounding the station and Armstrong road, the little sunlight barely made it to the ground. It almost felt like it was reaching evening rather than the morning. The pavement was scattered with debris and trails of muddy water flowed down the road carrying branches and pinecones and other things ripped loose from the storm. I heard thunder rumbling off from somewhere in the distance.
Further up the road, I saw a crossroads with a bent stop sign, and past that I could just make out what looked like a few shops or other businesses lining either side of the street. That was probably the entire town right there, if it could even be called a town. A community, more like it. A stop for people on the way in to the national forests to refuel and maybe get something to eat, and for people to retire to.
I went back inside and found the big bag of cat food that Reynold had left out. “Henry,” I called, shaking the bag up and down. He always seemed to meow when he was about to be given food, and I listened out for his call—but heard nothing. “Henry?” I filled up the bowl and then shook it, but he still didn’t show. I frowned, and crouched down to peer beneath all the shelves and cabinets. I looked under the car, then popped the hood to see if he was hiding up in the engine. Nothing.
“Henry!” I called. Now I was getting nervous. I walked around the garage, searching for places he could hide. Surely, he wouldn’t have gone outside. He’d never wandered away from me before—I mean, I’d only had him for a few days, but every time I’d let him out of the car he’d always stick close by. I ran to the garage door and took a quick peek outside. Again, nothing.
“Hey, Lee,” I said, peeking into the minimart. He was watching the TV.
“They’re talking about the CEO of that company BluTech who resigned,” Lee said, gesturing to the TV. “Can you believe she just up and left? Must be nice to be a multi-millionaire if you can just quit your job.”
“Oh, really?” I wasn’t distracted, and not really interested in the news at that moment. “Hey, you didn’t happen to see a cat when you opened the garage, did you? Small, black.”
“A cat?” He shook his head. “No. You have a cat with you? I was wondering why Pinky’s old litterbox was out. No, I didn’t see any cat coming in. But I wasn’t exactly paying attention…”
“Okay,” I said. “There are no ways a cat could escape, are there?”
Lee frowned, slowly getting to his feet. “No… Not other than the garage door. You can’t find him?”
“No,” I said, the panic starting to show in my voice. I hurried back to the garage with Lee following behind me. I dropped back down to my hand and knees and did another look under the shelf and the car. “Henry? Henry where the hell are you?”
Grabbing the bowl of food, I went out front, shaking it and calling his name. Lee was rifling around the garage in all the same spots that I had checked before, but Henry wasn’t there. He must’ve gotten out somehow. This whole time I’d thought that he just wasn’t the kind of cat to wander off on his own, but I’d assumed way too much.