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a
cute name,” Summer said as she roamed her hands all over the cat
feeling for internal injuries and broken bones. Then she put her
stethoscope on and listened to her breathing as she said, “And how
old is Vixen?”
    “I guess five or so.”
    “Well, she’s a very pretty cat and in very
good health. I need to take an X-ray on this one leg,” Summer said
as she gently lifted the cat. “You can come if you like…” Summer
paused for the woman to voice her name.
    The woman looked greatly relieved and said,
“You can call me Autumn. Thank you I would.”
    They walked back to the lab and Summer laid
down the cat. The machine made its mechanical sound and a second
later Vixen meowed.
    “Oh good, she’s awake. What perfect timing,
Ms. Vixen. Why don’t you give her some love, and I’ll check the
results of the X-ray.
    Summer examined the film finding what she
suspected and then came to inform the woman of her findings.
    “Hi, Vixen,” she said, gently giving her a
pet. “How are you feeling, girl?” Summer said, petting the cat to
ease her anxiety.
    “Why did you say Vixen had perfect
timing?”
    “Well, normally to get a cat’s X-ray they’d
have to be sedated.”
    “I see.”
    “Well, it’s as I suspected. She came down
hard on her back legs and has a tiny hairline fracture on her left
metatarsus. It doesn’t need to be cast, but it should be tightly
wrapped for a few weeks, and I’m sure she’s not going to like that
very much.”
    “But she was unconscious,” the woman
said.
    “Yes. The pain can knock her out for a time,
but it looks as if she has a slight concussion. She should be fine,
but you’ll need to monitor her for the next twenty-four hours. Can
you do that?”
    “Yes, definitely.”
    “You’ll have to keep her off her feet as
much as you can, and if she sleeps you need to wake her up every
couple of hours to make sure she’s coherent. Normally I’d keep her
overnight, but as you can see the clinic is closed and I have no
staff to help watch her. I don’t see why, under these
circumstances, you can’t do that job. I’ll give you my number and
you can call anytime with any questions or concerns. Let me get her
leg wrapped and then you can take her home. No outside time for a
couple of days until we know all is well and there are no lingering
problems.”
    “Thank you so much, Doctor.”
    “Not a problem. If you could write down your
number, I’d like to call later and check to see how she’s
doing.”
    The woman thanked Summer again on their way
out of the clinic and Summer headed to IHOP to meet Tori.

Chapter 5
     
    It was good to talk with Tori. No matter how
sad Summer was, Tori knew how to cheer her up, and she likewise
knew what made Tori happy. Since they both had a good cry the night
before about the sadness of Sister Mary Louise’s departure, they
talked instead of all the fond memories they had of her. Summer
also told Tori what Aunt Myrtle said about having known Mary Louise
when she was a child and her connection to her grandmother Ivy.
    It was heartening that the woman they loved
so much was practically family in more ways than they originally
thought. Pancakes and comforting talk of past adventures was just
the ticket to make them feel better.
    As they were finishing up their late
breakfast, they got a text from Sister Margaret, asking them to
come to the orphanage to talk to the police. They had some general
questions to ask and thought it would be easiest if they all met
there since the Reverend Mother had no intention of going to the
police station. She had played her “I raised you, boy” card with
Joey Bertrand, the sheriff, and won hands down.
    The sisters were right, the questions were
mostly, “When was the last time you saw her?”; “Has she been in
contact?”; “Do you know anyone who might know where she went?” It
was all very disturbing. Summer felt if maybe she had made more of
a fuss about her being missing that maybe she wouldn’t be