Beyond her, the Miner house was silent, unlit, but that meant nothing; the old lady often sat in silent darkness, rocking and remembering. But when Anna stepped onto the porch, smelled the harsh odor of gunpowder, and almost lost her grip on Bruiser as the huge tom hissed and struggled in her arms, she doubted that she’d find a placidly rocking old woman sitting in that house.
The storm door was closed, but Anna saw that the inner door was wide open, revealing the black maw of the living room within…and when she elbowed open the screen door, Bruiser was out of her arms and sucked into the surrounding blackness within a second. Anna was too out of breath to yell for him to come back; instead, she leaned against the open door frame, sucking in lungfuls of chilly air until she began coughing
