“Cleo?” he whispered. “C’mon, girl… Let me take you home. You can come in the house.”
His mom wouldn’t like that, but he might not tell her. At first. He wouldn’t lie—he never lied to his mom—but not saying something wasn’t exactly a lie, right?
“Cleo, it’s me—”
A suddenclangmade him jump, something metallic clattering on a shelf behind him. Bobby’s heart thudded in his chest before he saw a rusty can rolling lazily across the floor.
“Cleo?”
He pulled out his flashlight and turned it out, flashing the light toward the rusty can. Two rabbits froze in his beams.
He sighed and frowned. It wasn’t Cleo.
Still, he searched the entire shed, carefully looking behind and under everything he could. He found more rabbits and a hole in the far corner where they could come and go as they pleased. Smart for the rodents—they’d be safe in here.
He walked back outside. It was late morning, but the sky was already darkening. The heavy clouds overhead pressed low, and the wind carried the sharp scent of rain and manure. Bobby moved around the perimeter, calling softly.
“Cleo? Hey, girl? You hungry?”
A bush rustled behind him. He froze.
Then—squawk!A pheasant burst out of the brush in a chaotic flurry of wings and feathers.
Bobby yelped, stumbled back, and landed on his butt in the mud.
After a moment of silence, he grinned and shook his head. He didn’t get scared of much, but that one got him.
Pulling out the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt, he clicked the side button. “Avery? You there?” Static. He tried again. “Avery, I’m at the shed. No sign of Cleo. You see anything?”
Only more crackle and hiss. Bobby frowned.
“She’s probably ignoring me again,” he muttered. Or left her radio on the ATV when she went inside. Typical.
Avery pretended she didn’t like him, but he knew she did. Still, whenever she was around her friends—especially Ryan Perez, herboyfriend—she acted like Bobby was just her annoying little brother. And Avery thought Gianna was awesome—she was older, had gone to college before her accident, and was very pretty. Bobby didn’t really pay attention to that, but Jake’s best friend, Andy, had said that Gianna washot. Bobby had to ask Jake what that meant. He’d laughed and said that it meant that Gianna was beautiful.
Why couldn’t Andy just say she was beautiful? Dad always said to say what you mean and mean what you say.
Bobby looked toward the horizon, where the three structures of the Mendoza property loomed in the distance. The barn, the garage, and their house. They looked hazy in the damp air. He wanted to keep looking for Cleo, but Avery told him thirty minutes, and he was already late. If he was much later, she’d tell their mom, and he might get in trouble. And if he got in trouble, he couldn’t keep looking for Cleo.
Maybe Avery had found her? No, she would have told him because she knew he was super worried. And she was worried, too; she liked Cleo, even helped him look for her after school all week.
He climbed onto his ATV and fired up the engine, heading across the muddy field toward the Mendozas, which was shorter than going back to the road. Thunder crashed in the sky, and a few drops of rain began to fall, barely anything, but that meant it would start raining before two. And Mom told them they had to be home before the rain.
He was really worried about the cat, but he also didn’t want his mom to worry.
He sped up and halfway across the field, the back wheels spun out.
“Aw, c’mon!” he muttered, rocking the ATV gently with thethrottle. No luck. The tires dug deeper. Jake was going to kill him. Bobby knew better than to take the ATV through the field after a rain, especially this field, which had been fallow for so long, and now he was going to have to leave it here. He was supposed to stick to the roads. Fortunately, he didn’t have a long walk—the barn loomed in front of him, on the other side of a small creek that didn’t look all that small anymore.
His boots squelched with each step, up to his ankles, every step heavier and heavier. He barely made it across the widening creek. He knew that it met up with Whisper Creek on the other side of the road, and that if this creek started really running, then Whisper Creek would get too high and flood. Which would be bad for his mom’s vineyard that she walked in every evening because she missed Daddy so much.
He hoped it didn’t flood. It would make his mom sad.
By the time he reached the barn ten minutes later, he was tired and doubly worried about Cleo.
The wooden door creaked as he unlatched it, pushed it open, and stepped into the dim interior. There was still alfalfa that the sheep hadn’t eaten in the middle of their pen, and they moved around, agitated. Probably because of the thunder. They bayed and several walked over to him. He petted them as he passed. He liked sheep much more than goats, who could be mean and butt you with their hard heads and eat holes in your favorite shirt.
Avery said she’d search the barn for Cleo, but the cat only liked Bobby, so maybe she hid from his sister. He called for her, searched everywhere he could think of where a cat might hide, and Cleo wasn’t there.
