Chapter 9: Rain Search

They searched the building first, because Magnus insisted on the building first.

They searched the pear tree, the cellar steps, the basement furnace room and the stack of flattened boxes by the recycling.

Magnus went through each with a flashlight and a calm voice.

He said "Admiral" at an even pitch, like a man calling a patient from a waiting room.

The calm voice did not last past the cellar.

"He's never done this," Magnus said. "Six years, never once. He's afraid of the street."

"He's not afraid of anything. He took on a pear tree."

"The street is different. There are cars."

His hand holding the flashlight was shaking, and this time Teddy did not tell himself it was the cold.

"Hey," Teddy said.

"I should have closed the door."

"Hey. Look at me."

Magnus looked.

"We're going to walk Division, and we're going to look under every parked car.

"If he isn't there, we'll walk Clinton. Then I'll call Poppy, who has been awake since the Obama administration, and she'll bring the van."

Magnus was quiet for a moment.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because he's your cat, and you're upset."

"That isn't a reason."

"It's the only reason," said Teddy.

They walked in the rain.

They called his name down every block from Clinton to Division.

They passed the shuttered bakery, the Thai place with the neon sign, and the bar that smelled like fry oil and beer.

Teddy talked, because he always talked.

He told Magnus about his first plant, a spider plant he'd stolen from a dentist's office at nine years old.

He told him about Gresham, and the house with the bad gutters, and his mother who put basil in everything.

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