475 and 476: (Apple Cottage (the pet store) i and ii)
He does not move, except for muscles, which,
beneath his chin and by his mustache, twitch;
and his eyes, too, which watch the clicking clock,
latch, sentinels, as locked tight as a hawk;
and as the minutes march, his mustache moves
the more, as, huffing sighs, time he reproves
for keeping, from the keep he guards, his friend:
who surely has now met an unsure end.
He ups and paces to the front room door,
and takes from out of a nearby desk drawer
his ticket to the world, as is decreed:
his collar, still attached to its slip lead.
And out the door Sparky the Schnauzer goes,
to find his master, and defeat his foes.
~~~
While inside, as she watched the Schnauzer leave,
wan Winnifred the cashier cat was perched,
(where always she was perched, I do believe,
except for meals, or when the cash drawer lurched.)
Her eyes, peeled always back, had caught the scene,
and, as always, alertful, so she turned
to see if others had also been keen
enough to see it, and to be concerned.
But they were not. No-one had seen but she.
Each animal within the place was stirred
in its own business, and none could so see
what venture had, in their own doors, incurred.
Thus, as she scanned the pleasant pet store floor,
these were the animals, and their decor: