Chapter 28: Dale under Siege
SNOW was sleeping on the driver’s seat of the carriage between Arthur’s legs.
“Snow, aren’t you cold? Wouldn’t it be better to take a nice long nap inside the carriage?” asked Arthur.
“Meow.” Leave me alone.
“The wind’s pretty chilly, though.”
“Meow.” Here good.
Rude cat. Arthur my human, thought Annie.
Though Snow was responding to Arthur’s sweet suggestions, she was insistent on doing things her way. Olivia couldn’t help but smile at the heartwarming exchange, though Annie’s thoughts that spilled in were not happy.
Annie the horse adored Arthur, and she apparently didn’t like Snow, who was basking in Arthur’s affection at the moment.
“Arthur, you’re popular with both humans and animals,” remarked Olivia. She didn’t think she’d be bored during this carriage ride, not with listening to the cat and horse.
Every once in a while, Lara’s horse Greta would say something utterly unconcerned like, I no care, and that, too, was funny.
Marlais wasn’t that much farther.
“Lara, we’re back. Thank you for taking care of things,” called Olivia when they got home.
“Welcome ho— Oh, Arthur, why do you have a cat? It’s so pretty!” exclaimed Lara.
“Hi, Lara. She belonged to someone in the capital, but they were arrested. And now she’s our cat. Her name’s Snow.”
“A-Arrested…?”
“We’ll tell you the whole story later,” said Olivia. “First, I have to introduce Snow to the goats.”
Olivia tried to take Snow from Arthur, but she said, No! and grabbed onto his shirt with her claws.
Rob was very welcoming to the cat. Big cat. Hi cat! Hello! I Rob!
Snow was uninterested. She didn’t seem to dislike Rob, but also didn’t show him any affection.
“I’ll take her to Pete,” said Arthur.
“I think she’s basically your cat now, Arthur,” said Olivia.
“Cats have always hated me. Snow’s not a normal one.”
“She’s a smart one. She can tell you’re kind.”
Arthur smiled. Olivia held back a grin at how overjoyed he looked as the two of them went to the goat barn.
Thanks to Dale, Pete and Pepe were pretty used to cats now.
“Baa.” Another cat came.
“Baa.” Another cat.
That’s all they said. They didn’t seem too concerned.
“Olivia, Dale’s not coming out,” said Arthur once back inside.
“I saw him in a window upstairs when we came home.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Well…”
She thought back to Dale’s panic and smiled sadly. He was lying in a patch of sunlight upstairs and became so excited when he heard the sound of the carriage pulling up, thinking, Come! They come back!
But then he saw Snow in Arthur’s arms as they came in, and it was suddenly all, Ack! Cat! Big cat! No! Cat no!
He ran off in a panic screaming that and hid somewhere.
When he did, he was thinking of the time the merchant’s wagon left him behind and he was left alone walking along the road. Dale had apparently grown up in a city. He wasn’t very good at hunting his own prey out in the wilds, so he was always hungry. Eventually, he’d come to a town or village and wander around to the humans looking for food.
The problem was, there were other cats living in these populated places, and they had their territories. No matter where he went, the boss cat would chase him away and try to bite him.
“I’ll go look for Dale,” said Olivia. “You give Snow some water. Then we need to bathe her.”
Olivia went upstairs and searched for Dale. “Daaale. Where are you? Don’t be afraid. You can come out.”
No. Cat scary. Big cat scary.
“She’s not scary. We felt bad for Snow because there was no human to care for her. I’m sure you and her will get along.”
No get along. No need cat. Cat scary.
“There you are. That’s where you were hiding.”
No! No! I no go out!
Dale was in a corner under the bed. His body was all scrunched up, his eyes glinting yellow. He was normally very nonchalant, but it seemed he had quite the terrifying memories from his wandering times when he was chased, nearly bitten, and forced out of the boss cat’s territory.
Olivia thought she generally understood what he felt, since his terror was leaking from his heart every once in a while, but she was still surprised at how extreme his fear of other cats was.
“Are you going to stay in this room forever?” she asked. “You know this house better than Snow does. It’d be nice if you could show her around.”
No.
“All right. You can live here until you want to meet Snow. Do you want to eat dinner up here, too?”
Yeah.
“If you change your mind, just go say hello to Snow.”
No.
Olivia gave a little sigh and left the room.
Arthur was sitting in front of the stove holding Snow after he washed her. Snow was busy licking her damp fur, and she was now as white as her namesake.
“How’s Dale? He’s not going to come say hi to Snow?” asked Arthur.
“Dale’s afraid of cats. I’m sure he’ll come out eventually. He’s under the bed in our room right now. He said he wants to eat his dinner up there, too.”
“Oh.”
“When he was still a kitten, he ended up chased by every cat in charge. He’s been through a lot. Cats can have scars on their hearts the same way we humans can.”
“Is he going to be all right? Should we really leave him there like that?”
“It’s fine. He’ll come out eventually. Dale’s smart and resilient.”
After that, Dale spent a whole day in the upstairs bedroom. When he needed to do his business outside, he’d rush down the stairs at high speed and go out. Once he spent some time in the forest, he’d rush back up just as fast and bolt straight under the bed.
But then on the second and third day, he came out to the top of the stairs where he peered down from, eventually coming down a few steps until he was in the middle of the stairs.
Snow didn’t seem to care about Dale. She was as at ease as if she’d lived there her entire life. She explored the gardens, peered into the forest, then came back and fell asleep in front of the stove.
Today, too, she walked around the garden, sniffing things. Olivia was with her and looked upstairs to see Dale looking glumly down at Snow.
“Should be soon, now,” said Olivia later.
“What do you mean?” asked Arthur.
“I was just thinking Dale will end his self-imposed besiegement soon.”
“I feel kind of bad for him.”
“Dale will do things at his own pace. Let’s just keep an eye on it.”
Snow would sometimes glance upstairs but seemed unconcerned.
She learned with one warning to stay in bed when there were customers in the restaurant. The moment anyone walked in, Snow would go over to Rob’s bed in the corner of the kitchen and curl up. And Dale would watch her from the top of the stairs.
“Olivia, Dale’s come out of the bedroom,” said Arthur one day.
“Oh, you’re right. Just pretend like nothing’s out of the ordinary. If you call his name or something, he’ll probably just go straight back under the bed. He’s got his pride, after all.”
“Seems cats and humans have a lot in common.”
“They do. They’re full of personality.”
Dale spent more and more time looking down from the top of the stairs but didn’t seem to have the courage to actually come down.
A week passed since Snow came, then ten days. The customers for the day had gone home, and Olivia and the others had finished eating their dinner as well. Lara had already gone to the outbuilding.
Olivia was chopping dried medicinal herbs in the kitchen. Arthur was searching for the drafty cracks in the restaurant walls and filling them in with clay plaster. “Winter dries out the wood which makes cracks,” he said.
“Arthur, look,” said Olivia as she indicated with her eyes towards Dale who was coming down the stairs, standing off against Snow, his back arched like a bow and his tail puffed up like a bottle brush.
Bed mine! thought Dale.
Huh? thought Snow.
That my bed!
Come.
My bed!
Come.
You no bite me?
I no bite.
You no bully me?
I no bully.
Really?
Really.
Dale turned himself diagonal to Snow, moved towards her, then away again, then back towards her, and repeat. Snow, lying in Rob’s bed, watched Dale calmly, her long tail slowly swaying like she was waiting for Dale.
Eventually Dale booped his nose against Snow’s, then pushed his head against hers.
Come, thought Snow, and Dale hesitantly settled between Snow’s paws. She narrowed her eyes and started licking his head. He closed his eyes in enjoyment.
The two purred together. Arthur and Olivia nearly wanted to burst into applause when they saw it, but they didn’t want to scare the now-at-ease cats, so they just put their hands together.
“I’m so glad,” said Olivia.
“Yeah, good thing it turned out like this,” said Arthur.
No bed for me, said Rob.
“What?” replied Olivia. “Oh, you’re right. Your bed is full now.”
“Rob, tomorrow I’ll make you a new bed,” said Arthur. “Think you can hold on just for this one night?”
Rob whined. No bed for me.
“I’ll get you a blanket, Rob,” said Olivia. “Could you sleep in front of the stove, just tonight?”
All right.
The next day, Arthur, who loved working with his hands, made another bed for Rob, the same size as the one he had before, and Olivia lined it with a blanket. Rob stepped into it, seeming relieved to finally have a bed, and curled up. Dale immediately joined him in the bed, followed by Snow. Rob had to really pull in his paws in order for them all to lay down.
“Well, that was a failure,” laughed Arthur. “I should’ve made the bed one size bigger.”
“Kind of looks like it. Sorry to ask, but do you mind making another one?”
“Not at all.”
“I’m so glad I have such a kind husband.”
“Bit overboard to say that just for making a box. It’s nothing.”
Mates close.
Olivia looked back when she heard Dale’s thought. He was practically glued to Snow’s side and had turned just his head to look at her and Arthur.