by Patricia Fry
Arthur patted the old man on the back. “No, Tom, not yet. You still have some animals to care for, and…”
Before he could finish, a car pulled into the driveway. A boy of about fourteen waved and called out the window, “Hi, Grampa!” When he stepped out of the back passenger door, he ran up to the horses. “Hey that’s Sophie and Charger!” He looked at Arthur and Savannah. “Aren’t these Grampa’s horses?”
“Yes,” Tom said. “Used to be. Remember, we did some downsizing a year or so ago and now this young man takes care of the horses.”
When the youngster seemed to be moping, Arthur said, “Hey, I don’t live far away, maybe you’d like to come to my place and ride them sometimes.”
The boy lit up. “Really?” He looked back at the couple who were approaching. “Can I, Dad?”
The woman hugged Tom and the man shook hands with him and gave him a man-hug. The woman said, “Tommy, did you even greet your grandfather?”
“Oh, sorry,” he said, running to Tom and giving him a hug. “I love you, Grampa. Can I go look for eggs?”
Tom smiled widely and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Sure, son, go on. There could be some nice fresh ones waiting for you.”
Arthur reached a hand out to the man. “I’m Arthur, a friend of Tom’s. This is Savannah. She’s visiting from Hammond with her family. We’re out for a ride…”
“With cats?” the woman asked, when she saw Rags at the end of his leash and Koko sitting nearby.
Savannah nodded.
“I’m Reggie,” the man said, “Tom’s son. This is my wife, Serena.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Savannah said.
“Do you live nearby?” Arthur asked.
“Actually up closer to Hammond,” Serena said, “but we’re thinking about…”
She looked at her husband and he continued, “Yes, we may be moving down here with Dad. Heaven knows he won’t leave the ranch, and it would be good for Tommy to get a little ranch experience. Where we live, it’s pretty citified—you know, a corporate area.”
“You’re moving in with me?” Tom asked. He swiped at one eye and said, “I don’t need babysitting, you know. I can still collect the eggs and feed the chickens. I’ve been thinking about getting some goats and maybe a steer; I guess I could use a little help with that.” He glanced at Tommy. “And we’d better have a horse for the boy, if that’s what he wants. A horse from good stock.”
“Sounds great, Dad,” Serena said. “So you don’t mind us intruding in your life?”
“No, just as long as you don’t try to change my ways too much. I like having a sip of brandy after dinner.” He leaned forward. “By the way, do you cook?”
“Oh, Dad, you know she does,” Reggie said. “Remember when we stayed with you after Mom died, and how much you enjoyed Serena’s cooking?”
“That was you?” He slapped his knee. “Dang, I have been visited by an angel today. This is wonderful. Yes, now go get your stuff and move right in. I’ll air out the extra rooms.”
“Never you mind,” Serena said. “We’re here to help you now. You just relax with Esmeralda and do the things you want to do. You let us know what those things are, and we’ll all learn to adjust.”
Tom fought back a barrage of tears and said to his son, “Reggie, where’d you get her? I really like her, you know it?”
“We’d better go,” Arthur said. “The horses are getting antsy, and we promised them a good ride.”
“Are you going to race the horses?” Tommy asked, returning to the group with a basket of eggs. “Charger’s really fast, you know.”
Arthur and Savannah grinned at one another and he said, “Maybe.”
“Except that we have the cats with us,” she reminded him. “We don’t want to bounce them off the horses.”
“Just have them hold onto your leg with their claws. They won’t fall off then,” young Tommy suggested.
“Thanks,” Savannah said, facetiously. “Oh,” she said, “before we go, Tom, I’d love to trim Esmeralda up for you if you have some sharp scissors or maybe a razor you use for the animals.”
“You’re going to shave her?” Tom shouted.
“No, no,” she protested. “Maybe just her underside, where most of the matting is. She’s pretty uncomfortable with those mats.”
“Mats?” Tom questioned.
Savannah grinned. “Yes, her fur has become tangled in spots and it pulls and it’s hurting her. I’m a veterinarian, and I’d be happy to trim her up for you. If you have a cat comb or brush, I can smooth out the fur on her back. You’ll hardly know the difference when you look at her, and she’ll feel so much better.”
“I think you should let her do it, Dad,” Serena said.
With old Tom’s blessings, the two women scrounged around and found the tools they needed. Then they worked on Esmeralda while Reggie and Tommy cleaned the chicken coop. Meanwhile, Tom pulled Arthur aside. “Would you mind putting away my—you know, little experiment on that table out there in the barn? Just put the pills in that little box out there and leave it in the bathroom. Put the liquor in the cabinet on the back porch, if you would.”
Arthur squeezed the old man’s shoulder. “I sure will. No problem.” Arthur looked into Tom’s face. “Welcome back.”
“Here she is, Tom,” Savannah said a little while later, “your beautiful Esmeralda. What do you think?”
“She looks just like she always does,” Tom said. “What do I owe you?”
“Nothing at all,” Savannah said. “It was my pleasure.”
“You say you’re a veterinarian. Hey, I always pay my way…” he started.
“Well, I can’t take money because I’m not currently practicing. Please, Tom, consider it a gift from an angel without wings to a wonderful man.”
She hugged him and, again, he became emotional.
Moments later, Tom and his family waved as Savannah, Arthur, and the cats rode off down the trail. Then the family walked back to the house with their arms around each other. Esmeralda strolled along behind them.
****
“So how was your ride?” Michael asked when Savannah and Arthur returned.
The two of them looked at each other knowingly. She said, “Amazing.”
Arthur nodded. “Awesome.”
“That good, huh?” Michael asked, skeptically.
“Yes.” Savannah lowered Rags to the floor and petted him. “These guys met Esmeralda, and between them, they saved a lonely old man—a charming, lonely old man—from possibly ending his life.”
“What?” Suzette said.
Arthur nodded. “The cats, a wingless angel, and beloved family members.”
“Sounds like another story for your book, Savannah,” Michael said.
“Or a whole book,” Arthur said. “It really was a wonderful experience.”
Savannah shook her head in awe. “It was the timing,” she said. “The timing was absolute perfection.”
Arthur chuckled. “Or old Tom might have been sitting there all night at that table. We don’t really know.”
When the others looked confused, Arthur said, “Savannah’s right, the cats led us to him. There he was in the dark barn, hiding out with a pharmacy full of meds.” He chuckled. “Some of them were pretty harmless, actually.”
“How do you know that?” Savannah asked. She then remembered. “Oh yeah, you put that stuff away for him, didn’t you? So what did you find?”
“There were bottles of baby aspirin, allergy pills, a stool softener, vitamins, antacids…”
Michael began to laugh.
More gently Arthur said, “He’s getting kind of confused, and maybe a little blind.”
“Yeah, he thought I was an angel,” Savannah said.
Michael put his arm around her. “Well, you are.”
Suzette chuckled. “It doesn’t sound like he was very serious about suicide.”
Arthur shook his head and added, “He also had a bottle of eye drops, a vial of sugar, and
a tiny jar of buttons.”
“Oh my,” Savannah said. “But the booze was real, right?”
“Yes,” Arthur said. “Most of it looked like it was homemade. There was cranberry wine, lingonberry wine, Kahlua, and a can of beer.”
When everyone laughed, Suzette said, “That’s funny, but it isn’t a laughing matter that poor old Tom wanted to kill himself.”
Arthur brightened. “No, but he has changed his mind. His son and his wife and their son arrived while we were there. They came to visit, but they plan to move in with him and help him out.”
Suzette clasped her hands in front of her. “How nice. I’m so glad. Margery, his housekeeper, has been worried about him. She’ll be relieved. She’s kind of frail herself.”
“So all is well in the Spence’s neighborhood?” Michael asked.
Arthur nodded. “Yes.” He focused on Michael. “So what did you do today? Did you have fun at the beach?”
“Boy, did we,” Michael said.
Savannah looked around. “You must have worn the kids out. Are they napping?”
He held up the baby monitor. “Yup. They’ve been down for almost two hours.”
“Wow. Can’t wait to hear about their day,” Savannah said.
****
It wasn’t long before the din in the sunroom had risen to include happy, melodic children’s voices. Teddy seemed most eager to share some of the details of their day at the beach.
“Puppy, Mommy,” he said excitedly as she held the nearly two-year-old on her lap.
“You saw a puppy?” she asked.
Teddy covered his face with his hands and said, “Crying.”
“The puppy was crying?”
When Lily rushed to her mother with her version of the story, Michael wrapped his arms around her and said gently, “Teddy’s telling the story, punkin. Let Teddy tell it, then you can tell Mommy your story.”
“Why was the puppy crying?” Savannah asked their son.
“It wasn’t a puppy!” Lily shouted.
“Oh?” Savannah said, wide-eyed. “What was it, Teddy?”
“Puppy,” he insisted.
When Gladys whispered something in the toddler’s ear, he listened, then looked at Savannah and announced, “Lion!”
“It was a lion?” she asked, astonished.
Teddy nodded vigorously. He made a sound that was a cross between a bark and a howl.
“That’s what the lion said?” she asked.
Teddy nodded.
“No, Teddy,” Lily complained. “It was a…”
“Just a minute,” Michael interrupted. “Let your brother tell the story.”
“Why was the lion crying?” Savannah asked.
He shrugged, turning his palms up, “No mommy, no water.”
“Oh, the lion couldn’t find his mommy and he was thirsty?” Savannah asked.
“Nooo,” Lily carped. She put her hands against her head in disgust. “That’s not right, Teddy. It wasn’t a African lion, it was a sea lion.”
“Oh, that makes more sense,” Savannah said.
Lily continued, “His mommy told him to get out of the water and wait on a rock for her to go get him some fish for lunch.”
“Ohhh,” Savannah said. “And you know this because?”
“Daddy told me,” she said matter-of-factly. Lily looked at Michael. “And that lady. Your friend.”
“My friend?” Savannah asked, puzzled.
Teddy took Savannah’s face in his little hands and made her look into his eyes. “Mommy, Mommy,” he said, vying for her attention. “I found a star.”
“Oh, a starfish?”
He frowned and shook his head, insisting, “No fish; a star, Mommy.”
“Nice,” she said, hugging him. “Sounds like you had a really fun day.”
“Wait,” Lily said, running out of the room. “When she came back almost immediately, she asked, “Daddy, where are my shells?”
“In that little bag in our room,” he said, pointing.
She started to leave again, but stopped and said quietly, “Daddy, where’s our room? I’m lost.”
Everyone chuckled quietly and Arthur said, “Yeah, I should give out maps to guests. It isn’t that big of a house, but it does have an odd floor plan. I can see how children could get lost.”
When Rags and Koko walked into the room, Savannah said, “But the cats seem to find their way around okay.”
“Either that,” Arthur said, “or they’re lost, too. They only find their way back to us because they hear us talking.”
“Could be, I guess,” Suzette said.
“Here, Mommy,” Lily said when she and Michael returned. “I found this pretty shell for you.”
“Well, thank you, honeybun. I love it.”
Lily pointed. “It has a rainbow on it. See the rainbow?”
“It’s beautiful.”
Meanwhile, Teddy slipped off her lap and ran to Michael, trying to see in the small bag. Michael asked, “Did you find something for Mommy, too?”
He nodded.
Michael poured part of the contents of the bag into his own hand. The toddler picked up the largest rock and gleefully gave it to Savannah.
“Did you find this for Mommy?” Savannah asked. She picked him up and snuggled with him. “It’s pretty. Can you say pretty? Pretty rock,” she recited.
He nodded.
“So what friend of mine?” Savannah asked Michael.
“Do you remember someone named Gwen?”
She yelped. “Yes. You saw Gwen?”
“She was out there with the baby sea lion. She’s some sort of marine biologist, I guess. She happened to be on the beach when she saw everyone gathered around the sea lion and she gave instructions and information about what was going on.”
Lily became more animated when she mimicked Gwen. “‘Don’t touch it. Stay away. It might bite.’”
“Biologist?” Savannah said. “In San Francisco? I had no idea. I’ve lost contact with both her and Sarah over the years.”
“Well, you’ll probably be hearing from her,” Michael said. “I gave her your number.”
“Great.”
“You might not think it’s so great,” Gladys said.
“Why?” Savannah asked.
“She’s not the Gwen you knew.”
“That’s right, Mom,” Savannah said, “you met Gwen when we used to hang out together in LA.”
“Yes,” Gladys said, “both Gwen and Sarah. They were nice girls. Normal.”
“Are you saying Gwen isn’t normal anymore? What do you mean?” Savannah asked.
“You’ll see. It’s kind of hard to explain, actually. I’m sure she’ll be calling you. She seemed eager to talk to you.” Gladys paused and said, “I don’t think she knew who I was. It didn’t appear that she could connect the dots.”
“But she sure remembered you,” Michael said. “Yeah, I think you’ll be hearing from her.”
Savannah gazed at him for a moment, then looked at her mother. Before she could say anything, Michael changed the subject.
“So Arthur, how are the cats doing—you know, those from the hoarding situation?”
“There are varying degrees of success with them. As you can imagine, they’re all better off than they were, but some of them have a tough recovery ahead.” He smiled. “Others are chomping at the bit to find their forever home. I believe they’ll ship some of them out to other cities where, perhaps, there are more homes available. They do that in situations like this—one city has only so many potential homes for cats in need.” Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Would you like a tour of one of the facilities? You gave your time to help raise money for the cats; maybe you’d like to meet some of them.”
“I was going to ask about that,” Savannah said. “Can we?”
Arthur looked at his watch. “Let me call Vivian out at Four-Paws Cat Shelter.”
“Tell her we’ll help feed or clean litter boxes if she wants, since it’s so late in the day
,” Savannah suggested.
Arthur winced. “Cuddles are more like what they need out there right now.”
“Oh, we can do that, too,” Savannah said gleefully.
****
Minutes later, Arthur pulled into the parking lot at the Four-Paws Cat Shelter.
“Gosh, this is large,” Savannah said.
“There’s a big need,” Arthur explained. He winked at her. “Maybe you’d like to take home a needy cat today.”
“Oh now, Arthur…” Michael started.
“How about you, Arthur?” Savannah teased. “You certainly have the room.”
“Yes, we do. That’s why Suzette and I have adopted a young brother and sister.” More reverently, he said, “I’ll introduce you to them. They should be ready to come home with us in a week or so. Right now, they’re still in intensive care and they’ll need intensive care of a different kind when they join our family.”
Savannah and Michael looked at each other; neither had anything to say.
“Vivian,” Arthur said as they entered the premises, “this is Michael and Savannah Ivey.”
“Oh yes,” she said, pointing at Savannah, “you were in the play with that hilarious cat, right?”
She nodded.
“And Michael is a veterinarian in Hammond,” Arthur said. He added, “In fact, so is Savannah, only she’s practicing being a mom now while Michael runs the clinic.” He turned to the Iveys. “Isn’t that right?”
They both nodded. “Nice to meet you,” Michael said. “I hear you’ve taken on quite a challenge.”
“Nothing new around here,” Vivian said. “It’s what we do and what we love.” She frowned. “Only I wish the need wasn’t so great.”
“It’s a beautiful facility,” Savannah said.
Vivian nodded, then grabbed Arthur’s arm. “Hey, I have a surprise for you. Come look at this.”
