Is there a rule that the animals have to actually talk to me, instead of anybody else who is awake? I was already in bed. First Zoë (the dog) comes to whine at me. She only does that when she needs to go out. Unfortunately, I’m naked. And she absolutely will not go outside in the rain anyway. So I called Sam to handle that one. Then Shelley, the senior cat, comes into the room, goes out into the hallway, looks at me like an idiot, comes back in, leads me out—for what reason? I still haven’t figured that out. She has food, fresh water in the fountain, etc. Maybe she wanted me to turn off the storm? Alanna had her cuddle time earlier (unusual for her, she isn’t much of a cuddle cat—must be that storm again). She’s probably downstairs hiding under somebody’s bed now.