Wednesday, 5:00 p.m.
On the mountain, Little Guy stood and nudged King. The dogs touched noses. King whined. Little Guy wagged his tail and trotted down the mountain.
Still worried about the dogs, Aurora stepped outside and listened. Did she hear a faint bark? “King! Little Guy! Come now,” she hollered. Irritated by the disturbance, crows screeched from the top of a skinny pine.
Aurora started back inside, then stopped and listened. She was sure she heard a dog bark. She pulled the door shut and ran down the hill to the dock.
Across the cove, buzzards circled Smith Mountain’s shore. Aurora froze, called again for the dogs. Nothing. She looked back at Robert’s house. Should she ask him to help? Wait, that was definitely a bark. It sounded like Little Guy—a frantic Little Guy. If anything has happened to the dogs….
All thoughts of calling Robert gone, she unlocked the storage room on the dock, put on her life jacket and grabbed the oars to the rowboat. For a moment she stood on the floating dock and looked across the large cove at the buzzards. She shoved the rowboat into the water and headed for the opposite shore. She dreaded what she’d find.
When she discovered the buzzards were interested in a dead catfish instead of her beloved King, Aurora started to push the rowboat back into the water. Then Little Guy dashed out of the woods. He barked, ran a few steps, barked again. Aurora hesitated, looked at her watch. Should she follow him? Sam would be home soon. If she’d brought her cell phone she could call him, tell him to come in the pontoon boat, ask him to bring her jacket and a flashlight. She thought about going for help, but if she left to get Sam or Robert, she would lose valuable time, time that could be important to King’s life. If she followed Little Guy now, he might lead her to King. She chose not to go back to the house.
“Okay, Little Guy. I’m right behind you.” Dog and woman vanished into the woods.
Aurora slipped on dry leaves, grabbed a branch to keep from falling. Little Guy disappeared in the brush. Which way had he gone? She called; he didn’t come.
Aurora had no desire to wander aimlessly through the woods and brush, especially in the dark. Darkness scared her, always had, and if she were out here much longer, night would overtake her. She knew wild animals roamed the mountain. She’d seen bear, bobcats, coyotes. Even mountain lions had been sighted by boaters, hunters and four-wheelers. She needed a plan.
Unless she heard or saw Little Guy again, Aurora decided she would stick close to the shore. That way, she could retrace her steps and eventually return to the rowboat. And if she needed help and if a boat happened by, maybe the occupants would hear her shouts and come to her aid.
Too many “ifs.” But she had no choice.