Song of War Chapter One

Home is more than a house. That is true for a cat named Zeus. He is a powerful Maine Coon who calls home wherever he lays his head.

Zeus and his three friends patrol the path to Lake Seaham and the surrounding area. There are actually three paths but the other two merge into the main path as it heads west toward the lake. The main path runs east to west and has a dense tree line on the south side and the backyards of occasional houses on the north side.

The town of Seaham lies to the south and the last major road on its northern edge runs on the opposite side of the woods. That main road is Apple Lane and it has two roads splinter off it near Lake Seaham. The first called Lake Seaham Road leads to the lake and the houses that surround it. The other is First Avenue which goes into a small community and intersects with Blueberry Lane and Cherry Lane.

The main path runs behind the houses of Blueberry Lane. Its eastern most point comes out on a gravel road which leads to a couple farms. To the west the path goes about two miles to a hill that overlooks Lake Seaham.

The middle path also starts near the gravel road but further north. Its route runs behind the houses that face south on Cherry Lane and continues a couple hundred feet past First Aveneue where it starts to curve. The path heads south and connects with the main path at about its half mile mark.

The north path is the most isolated and least used. It starts where the gravel road meets the north woods and travels along the ridgeline for about a mile. Then it cuts steeply down the hill before leveling out and merging with the main path past the one mile mark.

Zeus knew all three paths like the back of his paw as did his three friends. Sundown is a Siberian with white fur on his chest to offset the rest of his black cat appearance. Torch is a Kurilian Bobtail, rocking that orange tabby look and was almost as big as Zeus. Zuki is a Siamese with a definite attitude but enjoyed the company of the others. Together or alone they patrolled the three paths. Why? That is what cats do.

The others had houses to return to but Zeus no longer did. He once lived in one of the houses on Blueberry Lane with two young men but on moving day he was out on patrol and they did not wait for him to return before driving away. The neighbor lady realized what happened and kind of adopted him after that. She is a retired nurse named Lucy who told Zeus it broke her heart when they did that. She left food on her back patio and he sometimes let her pet him while he ate. But he vowed not to enter four walls again and refuses Lucy's invitations into her house.

He did sleep on her patio sometimes. Or crash under the porch at Sundown's house or in the bushes outside Torch's. He never stayed at Zuki's plus she never offered. Besides that there were plenty of trees and bushes to get cozy under all along the path to Lake Seaham.