Julian was awakened by Patch’s early morning demands to be fed. He looked at the clock on the night stand—6:30. He tried ignoring the cat, rolling over and attempting to fall back to sleep. However, the combination of turning in early the night before and Patch’s insistent meows precluded any success at that course of action.
Julian sat on the edge of the bed, running his hands through his hair. Patch gave a half-purr, half-meow of triumph and trotted out of the bedroom. Julian got up, went to the living room, opened the front door, and took a deep breath of the cool morning air that flowed through the screen. Then he followed Patch into the kitchen.
Evidently, at some point during the night, hunger had won out over her pride. Patch had cleaned up last night’s dinner.
“So you finally de
