Juno Thevictorian Is/Was Missing!

Oh, dear! The Pony and I headed off for school this morning without a backward glance. And without a backwards trip, like yesterday, when I forgot my glasses but remembered them before we got to EmBee and the county road.

We were a little bit late, because Hick waxed all chatty until 6:10 about how he is DONE with work, and ready to retire. Aren't we all? Like...in 166 more school days? So that put us 10 minutes behind, and we needed to stop for gas, which we could have done after work, except that The Pony wanted to grab a donut. Make that three. Two for breakfast, and one for lunch.

Juno did not run around the porch to greet us. I didn't think anything of it, because some mornings she's there all human-eyed and loving, wanting a pat before I disappear into the garage, and some mornings she's off gallivanting about the countryside, picking up burrs in her silky egg-fed coat. I heard her barking around 5:40, I think. On the porch. A whimpery yip. Probably at that devil of a poodle across the way.

When we got home after 5:00, I pushed the garage door opener and saw a cat run out. CATS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE GARAGE RIGHT NOW! As you may recall, my furniture from Mom's house has been stashed there, including the kitchen table of her own mother. With six chairs. No cat-clawing is going to befall them on MY watch!

After parking T-Hoe, I walked around to inspect my table. It looked okay. I heard my sweet, sweet Juno on the side porch. Whimpery-whining, excited to see me, eager for cat kibble. I started talking to her as usual. "Do I hear my sweet, sweet Juno? Does Juno want some kibble? Did Juno miss me today?" Imagine my surprise when I stepped through the door to find Ann. Poor dumb Ann. The black german shepherd/lab mix. I don't know why SHE was so excited. I tolerate her. But she's not a favorite. I patted her anyway, which I do grudgingly most evenings. I even gave her a bigger handful of cat kibble than normal. Because my sweet, sweet Juno wasn't there. Ann is the nervous type. She whiny-whimpered as she partook of her begrudged treat.

I called to my sweet, sweet Juno. Waited for her to run around the porch from her house. From the front. Out of the yard. No Juno. I bent over to look in her house. No Juno. That was very odd indeed. She is never far from Ann, though they get along like me and my sister the ex-mayor's wife. In the house, I asked The Pony if he had seen her.

"No. She'll come running."

"Take this baked potato skin from last night outside. She may want it. She missed her cat kibble."

"Huh." The Pony was perplexed when he came back from the dog pans. "I don't think Dad fed the dogs this morning. Their pans are empty, and usually they have some left. Besides, Ann was eating something dead."

"I hope it wasn't Juno!"

"Nah. It was about the size of a paw."

"I hope she's okay. It's not like Juno to miss me when I come home. I hope Dad didn't lock her in the BARn again. Did he go to the BARn last night?"

"I don't know."

Of course, speak of the Hick, and he appears. He came in the kitchen door.

"Have you seen Juno? She wasn't here this morning. And she's not here now. Not in her house. Not on the porch. She was limping for the past two days. I hope nothing's happened to her."

"Well, CRAP! She was running around over at the BARn last night. I'll go see if she's in there."

Let the record show that this was almost too much for my heart to bear. My sweet, sweet Juno locked up in the BARn all day? Alone? Unable to carouse? No water? No food? No love?"

It was almost worse when Hick returned, and declared that my sweet, sweet Juno HAD been in the BARn all day. Because I could imagine her yipping with delight when she heard the sound of Hick's Gator approaching. Picture her gamboling about Hick's feet when he opened the door. Imagine her joy at seeing him after a day all alone in a metal BARn. Worshiping her imprisoner, when I her true rescuer, was a hundred yards away. Unthanked.

When Hick came back inside, I told him to feed Juno. "She'll be hungry after missing her food this morning, and her dozen eggs through the day cat kibble this evening."

"There's food around there right now. In them pans."

"No. They're empty."

"They have food."

"How would you know? You haven't been around there. The Pony just came in five minutes ago ans said they were empty."

"Okay. I'll go give her some food." He went out the laundry room door. "C'mon you stupid mutt."

This is the third time Hick has locked my sweet, sweet Juno in the BARn. Now he's also letting the cat in the garage. He SAID she must have slipped in there. He doesn't even go in the garage. His car is outside because of my furniture that HE had the bright idea to put in there. So the cat would have had to walk right under his nose while he was getting their kibble this morning. IF he really locked the cat door in the big garage door like he said.

When Hick retires, I'm going to give him a checklist on a clipboard to fill out and turn in to me several times a day. Let's hope my furniture is not still in the garage.