Page 199 of Mountain Grump
Tilda
I hold the hose,refilling Quackers’s pool with fresh water.
The internet people have already come and gone. And I was tempted to just rot on the couch, catching up on some shows. But it’s nice out. And even with the noisy distractions, my mind wouldn’t settle.
The sound of the water is soothing, and I wonder how hard it would be to set up some sort of fountain.
Nothing grand, just enough to make it sound like I have a bubbling brook running through my front yard.
Looking out at the trees and my strings of crystals swaying in the breeze, I take in how different my life is now.
And how much I like it.
I’d always thought I was an indoor cat. Never considered an outdoorsy life.
Probably because I always lived in a city, so for me the outdoors were still urban.
But this…
I know this isn’t for everyone.
And I’m still adjusting to the quiet.
And I miss food delivery.
But I don’t think I could go back.
A butterfly lazily flutters past me and lands on the bush on the other side of the kiddie pool. The one Quackers likes to sleep under.
I definitely couldn’t go back.
Careful not to splash the butterfly, I pull the hose away, and lay it under the closer bush, then I walk around to the side of the house where the hose connects and turn the water off.
With the amount of money Uncle Jack left me, and the fact that the house is paid off—leaving me without a mortgage or a car payment—I’m not worried about finding a job.
But even if I can make the money stretch for years and years, I still need something to do with my time.
Making my way back to the front of the house, I stop beside a tree and watch its suncatcher sparkle in the light.
Maybe I can make stuff?
Sell it?
Not with the beads Ethan bought me for my birthday. Those are mine. But maybe…
A sound cuts through my thoughts.
I stand still.
Is that…?
I take a step farther out into my driveway.
I stop again to listen.
And then my heart rate jumps.
Spinning around, I rush back to my front door as the sound of tires on gravel gets louder.
