Losing Midnight

I took her away from her owner who was careless and abusive with her. I brought her to this country house from a city and she regularly brought me mice and voles. Because she had been allowed to roam city streets, she would run out the door at every opportunity but always came home to sleep at the foot of my bed. She didn't come in last night. I found her this morning, perhaps the victim of a wild animal attack, perhaps a car. I buried her near the dogwood field and now my house is so empty, even the bird isn't full of song and my Scotties have no one to bark at.