The best laid plans

Awoke to the sounds of ... nothing. Very quiet. No wind blowing, no birds stuck anywhere. Not even anyone walking around here or there. T was soundly sleeping and all was quiet upstairs. I couldn't quite see the clock from where I was, and with it being so dark in the mornings these days, I couldn't tell from looking outside whether it was moments away from sunrise, or still the middle of the night.

So, I took out the cards from the top left-hand drawer, and passed the time by playing solitaire. After several futile attempts to actually win a game, I gave up and began to read yesterday's paper. Nothing there that was news to me. At least nothing I cared about.

Eventually, I tired of amusing myself and settled down to sleep in my usual spot. Then suddenly, the light came on and we were being coaxed outside. Yeah! Everyone was awake - although I was the only one who seemed happy about it. It's no fun being awake when everyone else is sleeping!

The usual flurry of activity filled the air and our world was all hustle and bustle. Breakfast was served, lunches were made, and pretty soon people went off to work.

T was feeling very rested, although content to catch some more Zzzzzs, but I was super tired and looking forward to a deep and peaceful snooze. At first, everything went to plan, but then all hell broke loose!

Through the many open windows in the house came a loud, obnoxious, persistent noise. When it first jolted me awake, I tried to ignore it, then shut it out with my paws, but I finally couldn't take it anymore. I leaped out from behind the washing machine to find T still sleeping soundly.

I kicked her bed!

"Hey! What's the matter with you? Why are you still asleep? Can't you hear that?"

"I can now, thanks very much," came the sleepy reply. She listened for a moment before asking, "Where is that coming from?"

Well, duh! "From outside!!!!!!!"

"Yes, I figured that. But where outside? It sounds like it's coming from the direction of our home. You don't think anything is going on there that shouldn't be going on, do you?"

Oh, great. Now we were both in a panic.

So, I made enough noise to convince Jenny - who didn't seem at all bothered by the noise - to let us outside. And once we were successful in that endeavour, we called on our pal Alice, who had by now grown into quite the beautiful teenager. We almost didn't recognise her!

"Whatz the prob?" she asked. Teenagers and their twitter speak!

"We just need you to hop down the street a bit and see where that noise if coming from. We're worried that it's something bad happening at our place."

She screwed up her cute little nose in confusion. "This place?"

"No, our other place."

"Ah," she acknowledged, then smiled, as she turned toward the fence.

Alice disappeared down the rabbit hole - clearly she wanted to conduct an undercover investigation - and within a short time she was back with the news.

"All that noise is just the roofers at the second house from the lane on the eastern side of the street. Actually, it looks really good."

We were relieved. "Did you manage a look see at our place, just to make sure it was okay?"

"I thought you would ask me that. And yes, I did. The only problem is that the flag had fallen down - probably from all that wind yesterday. But it's okay. I got Sammy Sparrow and Claude Squirrel to open the latch so Harley and Copper could come in the yard and help us put it back."

What a relief. That flag is very important to us, and it simply wouldn't do to have it lying down instead of flying proud!

Suddenly, and humorously, my head was filled with a visual of Copper standing on Harley's shoulders to accomplish the task. I grinned. "And they didn't mind?"

"Nope, but they said something about you owing them tictacs ... whatever that means."

A knowing chuckle escaped my lips.

Alice stayed to chat for a while - she has a boyfriend, you know! - and then I finally managed to get the sleep I had been craving.

Despite the ongoing noise, which we quickly got used to now that we knew it wasn't a problem for us, we spent the afternoon sleeping inside and out, with the only interruption a couple of treats to keep our hunger at bay. The hours easily passed by until Leon came home and we all went exploring the neighbourhood.

Alice was right - that house does look good with its new roof. And thanks to our friends, our flag is exactly where it's meant to be!

M