This morning, Em started back to school. There’s a peculiar new zoning system in place for the bus, and we’re within a one mile radius of her school… so although it’s a much further walk than that, considering she is not a crow and she does not fly, the bus is no longer an option. She intends to walk from now on, but this morning she wanted a ride.

I’d say she’s excited about going back. She was in my room before I got up, worrying over the darkness outside, and having to walk to school in it. I asked if she had any idea what time it was. She did, but it’s dark! I explained that of course it is, it isn’t even six o’ clock. The sun will rise at it’s appointed time, before it’s time to go. That didn’t comfort her any. She begged me to take her, she didn’t want to walk to school in the dark. I didn’t want her to either, it would be rather ridiculous to get there two hours early. But fine. I said I’d take her, but not until closer to time. At her prodding, we left with plenty to spare. Or so I thought.

Driving her to school was an experience, shall we say, and that… I will never do again! It was absolute insanity. Combine Houston drivers with the first day back to school, and the Junior High and High School being right next to each other… I was thankful to get there, and back out again. It was a good thing we left insanely early, because by the time she walked in the door, she only had a couple of minutes to spare.

I did make it back home, yay, and now I’m getting ready to settle in and do some serious work on Disengaged. I may have to break for a nap, however, as I was up all night praying for Em’s school day and school year, and for her cat’s health. On Monday morning, Pandy became very ill. She was sick a few weeks ago, severely nauseous, and required a vet visit. Her blood work was good at the time. This time, it wasn’t, and she was in obvious pain. She had to stay in the vet clinic’s ICU through yesterday evening. She’s home now, but extremely put out with me for taking her to the vet. Trust is hard earned, and so easily lost. I’d show her the bill, if I thought it would do any good. See how much I care, cat? Obviously, I do! But all she knows, is that I took her there and left her for two days, and they did all kinds of tests, and she had an IV, and she is now highly suspicious. I admit, that hurts my feelings. I’m so glad to have her back, and she won’t even come out. She’s sulking under a bed, and I need to give her her medication. I’m sure that’ll earn me a few more points in the anti-trust department!

She’s alive though, that’s major. She had pancreatitis, which is horribly painful and potentially deadly. We have no idea why this happened, and want so much for it to never happen again. And that, is why I was up half the night praying for her health. It’s also why I’m going to sacrifice hope of reconciliation, and go give her the meds she needs.

And then, I’m going to get back to writing Disengaged. It feels good to look ahead, and… barring catastrophe, which seems to hit all too often… anticipate so many hours of uninterrupted time to do that. Does this mean I’ll get the next Mystery Lane book out by October? No. I can pretty much guarantee that, much as I’d like to. But it will get done, along with so many others.

In the meantime, happy reading!