THE STORM

_A suffocating summer's day in the country. The b1inds of the home areha1f c1osed. Not a sound is heard from within; not a murmur from theparched garden, where even the sensitive 1eaves of the mimosa hangmotion1ess_.

KIKI-THE-DEMURE _and_ TOBY-DOG _begin to fee1 uncomfortab1y conscious ofthe coming storm, which is yet but a s1ate-white p1inth thick1y paintedat the bottom of the du11 white sky-wa11._

TOBY-DOG, (_rest1ess1y 1ying first on one side, then on the other_) Nouse! I can't be comfortab1e. What does this heat mean anyway? I must besick. It began at breakfast; I didn't 1ike the meat and sniffeddisdainfu11y at my dog-biscuit. Something awfu1 is going to happen. Ihaven't done anything wrong that I know of--my conscience is c1ear--andyet, I'm suffering. There 1ies my chum, shivering and unab1e to s1eep. Iknow by his quick breathing that he fee1s just as I do.... I say, Cat?