Noah convinced me over breakfast to stay with him for the weekend, after letting me know he’d informed Priscilla, my boss at The Ranch, that I was safe and unharmed. On my second afternoon at the cabin, I sunk my hands into the warm, sudsy water, and I watched him through the kitchen window where he stood in the yard bathing Woof, the neighbor’s cow dog. The handsome mutt had one green eye, one blue, and boundless energy. At this moment, he pinned his normally perky ears back in a droopy, sad gesture.
Suddenly, a deep baritone penetrated the glass, and the lyrics sung by Noah came through. I recognized it as his own invented version of Brahm’s Lullaby for a dog.
“Scaredy-cat, close your eyes.
Daddy’s right here beside you.
I’ll protect you from soapy stings,
You will wake up in my arm
