Free Chez Stinky by Susan C. Daffron Page B

back in a few minutes for your walk. We’re going to try something different today. It might be fun.” She carried the plastic carrier up the stairs and into the house. As she opened the door, she closed off her nostrils, bracing for the olfactory impact. She let out her breath and took a tentative sniff. Much to her relief, the house actually did smell better. Kat put the carrier on the floor and went to open the kitchen window to let in some fresh air. As she walked around the house, memories of staying here with her great aunt returned. The living room had a collection of somewhat tattered-looking rag rugs, where she used to sit and play cards. The rough-hewn wood floors were worn from years of abuse by dog and cat claws. As if to emphasize the point, a big orange cat appeared from the bedroom and sauntered over to greet Kat. He curled his wide body around her right leg and meowed.
    “Hi, Louie. How’s it going?” She bent down to scratch the cat’s head as Murphee hissed and made thumping noises from within her carrier. Murphee was obviously extremely unhappy about all the new smells and animals, but Louie appeared unconcerned. It might be a good idea to put Murphee in a dog- and cat-free area, since she didn’t seem impressed with the large, friendly feline or the even larger dog she’d met so far.
    Kat got all Murphee’s paraphernalia out of the car, including her food bowl. After setting up the cat’s new habitat in the bathroom, Kat fed her and went off to find the other cats who supposedly lived here. Because of the smell, she hadn’t really explored the house to determine where the feline contingent tended to hang out. They were eating the cat food, but she still hadn’t caught a glimpse of Tripod, the three-legged cat, anywhere. Presumably he was still alive and around somewhere.

    After feeding the cats, Kat faced the prospect of taking Tessa out for her walk. Once again it was daunting, but she’d been thinking about the problem and had an idea for how she might be able to walk Tessa without causing herself undue bodily harm.
    The primary issue was simple physics: Kat didn’t have enough weight to offset the force of Tessa. More weight could slow down Tessa. In horse races, they put weights on the horses to even the field. If Kat could weigh down Tessa somehow, the dog might actually tire herself out. And a dog that’s asleep is usually behaving itself.
    On her way back to the motel the day before, Kat had stopped at the local feed store for supplies. At the store, she purchased medium-size and giant dog harnesses, a sturdy leash, two plastic water bottles, and a small nylon saddle-horn bag that was probably supposed to be used for trail rides. That night, using a needle and thread from her travel sewing kit, she had attached the saddle bag to the medium-size harness.
    When Kat went out to the Tessa Hut, she was prepared. She had collected Chelsey from the basement without incident and tied her leash to a tree while she dealt with Tessa. Linus and Lori were milling around waiting for the walk to start.
    She called Linus over to her and put the giant dog harness on him and attached the loop end of the leash through the ring on the top of the harness. As usual, he was obliging and wagged his tail. “Your job is to be the boat anchor, Big Guy. I hope you’re up for this.” Linus wagged again, which Kat took as a ‘yes.’ He followed her to the doorway with the leash dragging behind him.
    Tessa started barking furiously as Kat approached her enclosure; she had begun the levitation routine and was bouncing behind the chain link fence. Kat gathered up her supplies and entered the enclosure. Tessa started to lunge at her, but paused briefly as if she remembered that this human didn’t like being jumped on. Instead, she jumped up around Kat, getting extremely close to her, but never actually touching her.
    Holding the harness out in front of her, Kat waited for the right moment and slipped the harness