Page 108 of Meet Cute Reboot

“The ghost cat?”

He nods.

I listen more closely as the cat continues to wail. There’s something different about this sound. Unlike the groaning, which seems to come from everywhere at once, the cat’s crying seems to come from below, from a fixed point.

“I don’t think that’s a ghost. I think it’s a real cat.”

“A real ghost cat.”

“No, I mean, it’s coming from below. From your crawlspace.”

I crouch next to a nearby floor vent and turn my head to listen more closely. “It’s definitely louder down here.”

“Great, the ghost cat is in my crawlspace.”

“It’s not a ghost cat. It’s a real cat. In your crawlspace. Have you ever gone down there and checked?”

“That’s a definite no.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like spiders. Or dead bodies. The cat or the human variety.”

“We need to check your crawlspace,” I say. “Where are your flashlights?”

“I’m supposed to have flashlights?”

“In case of emergencies? Like hurricanes?”

“We have hurricanes here?”

I lower my forehead to my hand. “Oh my gosh.”

“It’s the 21stCentury. Our phones have flashlights.”

“Where’s your crawlspace entrance?” I ask as I stand.

“Around the back. Do you realize how old this house is?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So, I’m telling you. There are dead things under there. Ghost cat is probably the least of them.”

“I’m going to get my phone.”

We agree to meet outside. I dash upstairs and grab my phone off the nightstand and then I run back down and out the backdoor. Luke is standing by a ground-level, lean-to structure. The peeling paint reveals wood that looks as old as the house.

I join Luke who is peering skeptically down at the covered entrance.

“Head in,” I say. Literally. He’ll have to go headfirst. Crawlspaces were named “crawl” for a reason, especially under older houses.

“I’mgoing in?”

I give him my Gary Coleman what-you-talkin’-bout face. Diff’rent Strokes is the one 80s show I happened to watch when Madison and I were kids.

“I thought you were going in,” Luke says.

“You’re the guy.”