Hunter was lying on the rug with his chin on his paws when Mirabelle noticed his expression.
“Mad,” she whispered.
Agent Mirabelle crouched beside him. Had she thrown his ball badly? Had he discovered that she had borrowed his bed for important sitting?
Her shoulders drooped. A moment earlier, she had been enjoying her morning. Now it seemed her best friend was upset with her.
She offered him her banana.
“Peace snack?”
Hunter opened one eye, considered the proposal, and closed it again.
The case was becoming difficult.
Mirabelle sat nearby, watching him. Then Hunter gave an enormous yawn, stretched his paws, and settled more deeply into the rug.
A small snore followed.
Mirabelle tilted her head.
“Maybe sleepy.”
She looked at the banana, then at Hunter.
“Not mad?”
He offered another snore. It was a poor interview, even by Labrador standards.
Mirabelle’s face softened. Hunter had never told her he was upset. She had supplied that part herself, and her guess had felt so convincing that she was already offering an apology snack.
Now another possibility had occurred to her.
She did not have to know everything happening inside Hunter’s head to stop treating her first guess as a fact. There was room to wonder, and the friendship that had seemed troubled a moment earlier felt comfortable again.
Mirabelle placed his ball beside his paw.
“Agent H resting,” she reported quietly.
Then she took a bite of her banana.
Peace negotiations were hungry work, especially when only one participant remained awake.
Have you ever mistaken someone’s quiet or serious expression for being upset with you?
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