Louie wasn't sure why he had driven up to the cabin the day after Sharon left. But He and the Ugly Pup (looks like the name was stickin' to the dog and it certainly was a fittin' one) had hopped into the pickup and the cabin was where they ended up.

Louie was on just pouring a bucket of water into the potted lilac when the most mournful noise he had ever heard broke forth from 'round the corner. He dropped the bucket and ran - Ugly Pup might be only a dog - but whatever was making him crie out like that wasn't something Louie wanted to leave him alone with...

But as he rounded the corner - there was just The Ugly Pup, plopped on his hindquarters facing the screened porch; howling fit to wake the dead; in a deep basso that somehow sobbed. Saddest thing Louie had heard in the last month of Sundays. Whatever was making the fool dog go on so?

When he stepped up onto the porch to check the door, Louie spotted the diminished body of Mjolnir curled on the cushion and felt like plopping down himself to add to the Ugly Pup's noise. Instead, he bowed his head a moment, then pulled his jack-knife from his pocket and cut the cushion away from the spokes of the rocker where it was tied on. He picked it up, cat and all, and carried it out to the truck, where he placed it carefully behind the seat.

"C'mon there Ugly", he called - "we've got a chore".

An Hour or so later he shoveled a bit more dirt into the gaping hole next to the gate of the graveyard. It was still plenty deep enough to take the lilac bush Sharon had left; though he wouldn't be tranplanting the lilac until later in the Autumn. Until then, Mjolnir was buried deep enough that nothing would bother his remains, and he was close to those he had loved.

Louie thought about calling the emergency number Sharon had left with him; but no, She'd be home for Thanksgiving - that would be plenty of time to tell her about Mjolnir and where Louie placed him.

"Well Ugly", he told the still mournful dog, "They say all things shall pass, but I somehow never really expected either Aunt Kathy or that danged Tomcat to go and leave us her in the holler. I'm glad Sharon has that youngster. A bit of the holler to be with her."