Scott

A perfect day almost over - the sunlit part of it anyway - Scott Ryder sat down in one of the Adirondack chairs on the front deck. He had ordered a set of wooden ones after having the plastic ones blown across the two acres of front lawn one time too many. Chivas had already selected one and favored him with a lazy blink as he took the one next to it. The sun was having its last peek of the day over Conner Ridge. On the other side it would daylight for another ten minutes or so but he had no desire to live on that side. It was the side next to the flood plain and the tornados usually came from that direction.

He had worked longer than he had planned and was tired and grimy and need to rest a bit before going in to clean up. Chivas went back to sleep. He didn't remember how old the bit Persian-Siamese cat was and the previous owner wasn't sure. Deanna had acquired him from a guy at work who was moving to New York City. He was a big fluffy thing pretty much a whiskey color with just a hint of Siamese.

Deanna had left too when the war started. About everyone in the thirty-to-forty mile wide corridor that wasn't involved in some way had left. If you stayed you might find yourself involved.

Like me, but I didn't have much of a choice. Not an honorable one anyway. Deanna was a sweet kid, hope's she's all right.

He leaned back and closed his eyes.

Damn! How long I been asleep?

No way to know how long it had been dark without looking at his watch.

Near a half hour.

He got up and Chivas immediately woke and exited his seat. Scott had been gone for several hours and he was probably hungry. He opened the door and let Chivas in and followed. He opened a can of food and put emptied it into a clean bowl and replenished the water dish.

He went to the bathroom off the mudroom and brushed his teeth and took a shower, put on a robe and walked around and checked all the locks before going to his quarters.

His quarters were in the end of the east wing, essentially a studio apartment with the bathroom across the hall. Actually two baths as he didn't care to share, even with a woman he had spent the night with. Most of the women he knew preferred having their own bath.

The apartment was twenty by thirty not including the closets. A double bed in one corner and a dresser and chest of drawers were the only bedroom furniture - most of another corner was occupied by a large L-shaped desk with several computers and related equipment. A corner mini-kitchen with a microwave, countertop oven and coffeemaker served for breakfast and casual snacking while a well-stocked wet bar occcupied the remaining corner.

He hung his robe on a hook and got dressed - jeans and a five-button waffle-weave Henley and thick socks. He had never cared for being barefoot in the house no what the floors and wearing socks kept his feet clean for bed. And Scott Ryder was considered by some to be a "clean freak", including the ones who maintained his dossier. Probably it was considered a weakness of possible vulnerability.

Doesn't matter. If I can be clean I'm gonna be clean. If I can't it won't kill me. If it doesn't go on too long.

Three weeks ago it had gone on for a while.