Emily by Storm Jk Read Free Book Online Page B

together again.
     

Chapter 7
    Emily woke just before dawn and slowly untangled herself from the men. It amused her to see both the girl cats lying on top of Vladimir; they had missed him too. The boy cats had tucked themselves around her and Eric for heat. Emily went to the walk-in wardrobe and threw on a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt before heading quietly downstairs to begin the day. It was Emily ’s duty to put on the coffee and the smell would entice the men out of bed to make breakfast while Emily fed the animals. This was her favourite time of day, saying good morning to each one of her motley crew on the farm, and often Applejacks would join her on her circuit. Eric and Vladimir would feed the cats before making breakfast, the cats made sure they were fed first.
    Applejacks was waiting for her by the back door. All the gates on the farm had special latches that Applejacks could use and he came and went as he pleased. There were two windows in the house that he could open if he wanted Emily’s company and Eric had moved the TV to a position so that Applejacks could watch. This had come about after Applejacks had made it known that he liked to watch car racing. This still astonished the trio, especially at the intensity of Applejacks when a race was on.
    When Emily had asked why he liked it, all Applejacks would say was, ‘It’s fast.’
    Kissing his muzzle, Emily said a soundless good morning, her communication with Applejacks was rarely vocal now.
    ‘ So, this is the new one who caused so much trouble yesterday ,’ Applejacks observed. He wanted to smell the dog but knew better than to do so without Emily’s introduction.
    Rumour was still sitting on the quilt and Emily knew she had not moved off it all night; freedom would take a while to sink in. Reaching out to Rumour, Emily invited the bitch to follow them around the farm. They would take it slow as it would take weeks to build the muscles in her body. Rumour ’s tail wagged with happiness. The night had been so strange and she had not been able to sleep with all the new sounds and smells. Limping slightly, she slowly hopped down the few steps of the house. Applejacks touched Rumour’s nose with his muzzle to say hello while Emily reassured Rumour that Applejacks was her friend. Rumour stayed close to Emily, after having been in a cage for three of her four years she did not remember what it was like to walk around. Projecting to the bitch, Emily reassured her that she would get used to her freedom, it would just take some practice.
    Emily stopped in her tracks. A wave of excitement came over her; suddenly she knew what to say to Vladimir to make him stay. After feeding the animals she returned to the farmhouse and Rumour flopped on the quilt, the exercise had made her tired and she slipped into a natural sleep. Applejacks had decided to go to the bottom field as it had a big old fig tree and a large dam. The day was looking to become hot and this was the coolest spot on the farm, he would see if the old donkey wanted to come with him.
    Entering the kitchen, Emily could see a bowl of yogurt with nuts and berries waiting for her and a large mug of coffee. The men had eaten and were in the shower. She could hear Eric laughing and was glad that he had repaired his relationship with Vladimir, the argument on the phone had been especially bitter. After breakfast, Emily had a quick shower and asked the men to join her in the large barn just half a kilometre from the farmhouse. The men could tell that Emily was up to something as she shot a request to Applejacks to join them as well.
    The barn was almost empty and had big doors that opened and shut with a remote system, they were much too heavy to manually move and the barn had been built the previous summer. Emily had had it fitted out to double as an emergency centre for animals as the region was prone to bush fires. The large space was insulated and air-conditioned and had a small separate room with a large