SUSAN
"Mom!" Ross yelled as he pounded on the door. "Are you okay?"
Susan hovered by his shoulder. Aladonia Cameron had been in her home less than five minutes and Susan had already been responsible for injury to her person. Had a shelf fallen on the hapless woman?
Ross rattled the locked doorknob. "Mo—"
The door opened. "Stop that this instant. I'm fine, if you don't count the ringing in my ears from your screaming."
Her hat had lost about half its fruit and it was tilted at a 90-degree angle on her head. Susan bit her lip when she saw Jezabelle perched on the high end, licking her little paws. Ross' mouth opened and shut; he looked just like the pet guppy she owned when she'd been in the fourth grade.
"Apparently, my hat appealed to the rat," said Aladonia.
It sounded so Dr. Seuss, Susan had to stifle a giggle. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cameron. She's always escaping her cage."
