“Morning, Earl.”

It was the usual greeting he got as he arrived for work. It was only technically morning in that most people were still asleep and it was hours before sunrise.

“Another early day,” Earl groaned as he passed through security.

“At least mornings are quiet,” Tessa, the TSA agent checking him, said.

“They’re usually quiet,” Earl reminded her. “Except when they’re not.”

Tessa shrugged.

“Those are the rare exception.”

Earl left the conversation at that and hurried through the airport to the small deli he worked at. It was one of the few eateries that was open this late, or early, depending on how you wanted to look at it. Either way, he got to work setting out the breakfast sandwiches, fruit bowls, and drinks.

The job didn’t pay much but he enjoyed watching all the different kinds of people who came through the airport. There were those who wore pajamas, those who wore business attire, and everything in between. Right now, the few people he saw were either wandering like zombies, half awake, or wide awake on caffeine or jet lag. A solitary man staggered by as he sipped from a small bottle of whiskey.

That guy could be trouble, Earl thought to himself and was relieved when the man continued on his way without incident. The fact that there were stores in the airport that sold those whiskey bottles at this hour was ridiculous. The last thing anyone needed was a drunk passenger at this hour.

A woman with a small pet carrier approached his counter and Earl put on a smile.

“What can I get for you?” he asked.

“Ham and cheese, please,” the woman replied, pointing.

The sandwiches were all pre-made and wrapped in plastic wrap so all he had to do was grab it from behind the counter and hand it to her while she paid for it.

“What’s your pet?” he asked while he rang her up.

“This is Mister Longshanks,” the woman replied, brightening.

She held the carrier up so Earl could see inside and a fluffy orange cat meowed at him from inside.

“He’s adorable,” Earl told her.

“Thank you,” she smiled back at him and then set the carry case back down while she grabbed the sandwich and stowed her debit card.

A loud bark startled both of them and another woman screamed out, “No, Chauncey, leave it!”

Before Earl knew what was going on, a large dog bowled over his customer as it lunged for the cat in the carry case. The plastic bent and snapped and the dog shoved it’s head inside. An orange blur shot out and dove behind the counter before climbing up Earl’s leg, torso, and finally onto his face, spitting and clawing as Mister Longshanks tried to get away from the dog.

Not to be denied, Chauncey the dog crashed through the glass display case and bit Earl’s leg, tugging him forwards and knocking him off balance. The cat and his owner shrieked and the dog lunged once more, catching Mister Longshanks in his mouth. There was a moment that seemed to last for eternity as the dog stood there, triumphant, before shaking Mister Longshanks violently in his mouth. The sound of snapping bones and a brief yelp from the cat was followed by shocked silence as Chauncey padded over to his owner and dropped the now very dead cat at her feet.

“Bad Chauncey!” the own cried, bopping him on the nose as though he’d only done some minor misdeed.

“Longshanks,” the cat’s owner gasped, still on the floor and crawling towards the lifeless body.

Earl was just getting to his feet, about to call for airport security, when a pair of officers arrived.

“What’s going on here?” the lead officer asked, taking in the scene.

“That dog,” the cat owner cried, “killed my cat!”

“Oh get up,” Chauncey’s owner snapped, “it’s just a cat.”

“The dog also caused all this damage and it bit my leg,” Earl added and showed them his bleeding leg.

“Could we get medical and facilities down to Mike’s Deli?” the other officer said into their radio.

“Ma’am,” the first officer said to Chauncey’s owner, “come with us please.”

“I have a plane to catch,” she replied with a dismissive wave. “Cats are dime a dozen, just get another one.”

She turned to leave but the officer grabbed her by the arm and turned her back.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but you’re going to need to come with us.”

Her face flushed red at once and she tried to pull free of the officer’s grip.

“How dare you!” she shrieked. “You have no right to touch me!”

She slapped the officer across the face. In a flash the officer had her on the ground, knee on her back, and was handcuffing her.

“Assaulting an officer, resisting arrest,” he was grunting as the woman struggled against him.

“Chauncey, bite!” the woman cried, but the other officer was already holding the dog by the collar and keeping him under control.

Meanwhile, the woman who’s cat had been killed was still crying over the small, crushed body. The officer’s took a statement from Earl and finally the woman whose cat had been killed. The shouts and cries and barking grew quieter as the officers finally towed the woman and Chauncey away.

A young man arrived, carrying a small case of first aid supplies. The name tag on his shirt read Mike.

“How’s everyone doing here?” Mike asked, taking in the mess.

“Are you injured at all?” Earl asked the woman who shook her head as she placed Mister Longshanks back into his carry case. “I got a dog bite on my leg,” he told Mike and showed him his leg, “and clawed a bit by a cat.”

“Let’s move to the seats over there,” Mike said and the three of them walked across the way to where a few seats were set up against the far wall.

Earl wasn’t sure if Mike had also meant for the woman to join them but he wasn’t going to send her away. As they sat, Earl saw a pair from facilities arrive and begin sweeping up the mess around the deli.

“You’ll still probably want to have your doctor take a look at this,” Mike said as he disinfected the bite wound.

Earl chuckled to himself, as though he had money to spend on that.

“It doesn’t look too bad, really,” Mike said as he began placing gauze over it. “How’s the pain?”

“Not too bad, really,” Earl answered.

Beside him, the woman just sat there, crying as she looked at her dead cat.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.

“No,” the woman gulped. “My baby’s dead and that other woman acted like he was nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” Earl couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Well, I need to catch my flight,” she laughed darkly to herself and got up. “Sorry you got hurt”

She walked off and Mike began dabbing some sterile gauze patches on the cuts on Earl’s face from Mister Longshanks claws.

“Sounds like an exciting morning,” Mike muttered.

“Just another day in paradise,” Earl replied.

“You want me to bandage any of these up? They don’t look that deep.”

“No, just as long as I’m not still bleeding.”

“Then I guess I’m all done.”

Mike cleaned up the few wrappers and such and threw them away before leaving. Facilities had cleaned up the mess and removed the rest of the broken glass, leaving his counter open on both sides. That wasn’t ideal. There were replacement panes available but those would take a bit more time to get over here and installed.

“Thanks guys,” he told the two from facilities.

“Sure, no problem.”

They took their filled trashcan and turned to leave.

“We’ll be back with new glass soon.”

“Sure,” Earl nodded.

As the two from facilities walked away, the man from before who was still sipping on his whiskey came by, grabbed a sandwich and walked away. Earl briefly considered calling after him but instead just grabbed his radio.

“I got a shoplifter, possibly drunk, male, in business attire.”

It was certainly one of those mornings.