Lesson
for Sardy
Midnight callout to a strange town.
Two small boys missing from school. Dim
streetlights, rows of dark shops and sheds.
My dog lifted her nose, led me
to a vacant lot; an old reefer.
Could those boys really be in there?
My dog insisted. Inside, deeper dark.
A cat leaped and hissed.
By flashlight, piles of junk.
My dog had found a cat in a reefer.
When did it hit me?
Search dogs don’t alert on cats.
Back to the reefer. My dog whined –
pleaded with me just short of English.
I stepped deeper into dark.
On a heap of old canvas, the cat –
large tabby in hiss-arch, ears flat back.
From an edge of canvas
dangled a tiny hand. Attached to an arm.
Two blond heads, boys who skipped
school. Fast asleep.
Two young truants taught me,
you can hide under a cat,
but the dog will find you.
~ Taylor Graham
From What the Wind Says (www.lummoxpress.com)