Chapter 55
The morning fog snakes through the meadow, blanketing everything in gray.
The air is quite cold at this early hour.
It’s not even seven. I’ve pulled a flannel hoodie on over my pajamas and am walking back and forth through the meadow, calling Hugo’s name.
The grass has frozen overnight and each blade cracks under my boots.
I left a bowl of food for him on the deck last night, but when I checked this morning, the food was untouched, and half frozen.
“Hugo!” My breath clouds in front of me. He doesn’t come. He’s never done something like this before. Later, I’ll drive up and down the streets. I have to find him. I literally cannot imagine losing him. I bite my upper lip to stifle a sob. But then I let out a howl instead and kick at the ground.
The screams echo across the meadow. Breathing hard, I stand for a moment, looking up at the three Brook houses, staring down on me.
I don’t want to do it. But I have to, for Hugo.
I wait until nine, and then I huff it up Madeline’s curving drive. I pound on the door, not caring that it’s early.
Madeline answers, wearing a long black sweater, her red hair, curling and piled up on her head. I hate that I notice her clothes, at a time like this. That I notice they are beautiful and expensive and effortless. The fucking Queen of Cashmere.
“Elinor!” She sounds surprised when she opens the door. “So good to see you. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, fine.” I shake my head, not knowing why I said that. “No. I mean, actually, I have a problem. My dog is missing. Hugo. He ran off into the woods last night. I don’t know if he was chasing an animal or what, but he hasn’t come home. You haven’t seen him, right?”
“No. I’m so sorry. Can I get you a cup of coffee?” She gestures inside.
“No.” It comes out harsher than I mean. I need to keep my cool. “No, thank you. I’m just going to keep looking for him.”
“Okay.” She sounds uncertain. “He’s probably just off having an adventure.”
“Do you mind if I walk through your back property a bit?”
“Of course not.”
“You don’t think a bear would have gotten him, do you?”
“No,” Madeline says definitively. “They’d sooner run.”
“Yes,” I say, irritated. “So I hear.”
I go around the back of the houses, calling Hugo’s name as I go, hoping he’s run up here, looking for new fields to frolic in.
I come upon the sheep pens. The fog seems particularly thick around the animals.
I walk toward the fence and peer inside.
The flock stand huddled together. Some solid, some mixed.
It’s hard to imagine that this wool becomes the soft and luxuriant Merino wool that is made into expensive scarves and sweaters.
It looks so thick and wiry from here. The pen is full of dead grass and mud, and I am struck by how everything in this scene is the same shade of bleak.
Muddy white, brown, and black. The ground, the sheep, the air around them, the bare trees beyond.
It’s easy to imagine how difficult it must have been here, at the beginning.
Everything feels so raw. People must have felt so vulnerable.
I pound on Julian and Joan’s door next. Joan answers, with a look of annoyance.
“Can I help you?”
“Sorry to bother you so early,” I say formally. “But my dog is missing. He ran off last night.”
Joan stares at me, and it almost looks like she wants to say something but decides not to.
“So, if you see him, can you call me right away? He’s my baby and I need to find him.” I hold out a piece of paper with my cell on it.
She doesn’t take it right away. She is looking at my belly, with an almost pained expression.
“Sorry,” I say, dropping my hand slightly. “I’m sure I’m worried over nothing. I know he’s just a dog, but do you mind keeping an eye out? He’s a German shepherd.”
“I know.” Joan takes the paper from my hand and doesn’t say anything more.
I’m down the front steps before she speaks again.
“I’m sorry about the dog.”
“Thank you.”
In true Joan fashion, she’s the only one who hasn’t tried to assure me that Hugo is off having an adventure and that he’ll be home soon.