Gabriel's Tale - Chapter 10: Edinburgh?

Chapter 10 – Edinburgh?

The next morning the sun decided to sleep in, but Gabriel was up bright and early anyway.  He was feeling much more hopeful as Theodore led him to the lane where he could expect the lorries from Edinburgh to queue up with their deliveries.  Theodore explained that the way he could tell they were from Scotland was by the driver’s accent.  If he said words like “wee” or “lad and lass” or “dinnae” instead of “don’t” he could be fairly certain the lorry would return to Scotland in the evening and maybe all the way to Edinburgh itself.  Of course, Theodore had no way of knowing for sure—he was just a cat—but a cat who was rather sure of himself.

So Gabriel waited in the shade of an alley until he spied such a truck.  Sure enough there were several by mid-morning.  He carefully approached each one, gave each a sniff, and listened carefully to their drivers.  He was trying to figure out how to get into the back of one when the driver saw him.  Gabriel froze.

The driver stared, then smiled and crouched down and called Gabriel to him with an outstretched hand.  “Come 'ere laddie.  Dinnae be feart.  Ah hud a wee Westie juist lik' ye whe ah wis a wee lad.”

The man sounded friendly enough, but how could he be sure?  He sniffed the air and remembered how the man smelled who had tried to catch him and how the man smelled who’d helped him and taken him on board the ship.  This man had the same kind of scent as the second man—very safe.  Gabriel’s ears perked up as his tail began wagging wildly.  He jumped up and lobbed his little legs in the man’s direction.

“Jings, lad, ye sure aur eager!  Dinnae ye hae a master?”  Gabriel licked the man’s face.  “Ah guess nae,” the man said.  “Listen, why dinnae ye come wi' me while ah mak' this delivery?  Mibbie th' hain gaffer wull will let ye hae some cooncil juice 'n' a bawherr tae sloch.  Then we kin heid back tae Edinbruh.”  Edinburgh?! Yes! Gabriel pranced about in his excitement.  “Weel, noo,” the man said, “aurn’t ye a happy wee fellow!”

It was dark by the time the truck rolled into Edinburgh.  “Ah juist need tae caw in th' lorry.  Then we kin gang hame.”  Gabriel jumped out and stood by the warehouse door contemplating what he should do.  True, I’m in Edinburgh, but I have no idea where to look for Poetry.  Should I go with the man?  Or should I head off on my own?  The man is very nice, but what if he puts a leash on me.  I might never be able to get away to look for Poetry.  He had to take the chance he had now to leave and continue his search.  Gabriel felt a little sad about leaving the kind man, but when he thought of how much he missed Poetry and how far he’d come, he knew he’d better get going.

When the man returned to the lorry and saw that Gabriel was gone, he shook his head.  “Ah jalouse th' wee fellow hud somewhere he wantit tae be.  Ah hawp he’ll be a' richt.”

He walked to his car as light snow began to drift to the ground for the second night in a row.  He drove the few miles to his house where he told his wife and children about the wee white dog he’d found in Hawkshead, but who had decided to continue his journey on his own.  The children in turn had their own tale to tell.  While at the park in town they’d met a family who had a cat that ran away.  They were posting flyers all over the city.  It was a Calico cat and her name was Poetry.

©CathyGilleylenSchultz

Chapter 11:  How Can This Be?