by Patricia Fry
As the remainder of the members and guests found seats, Margaret called out, “Sounds like our spokescat is losing his meow. How come he sounds funny?”
“This one belongs to Rags,” Ida explained. She laughed. “Oh, here he comes. He must recognize the meow.”
Everyone watched as the large gray-and-white cat sauntered into the room and looked around. When he spotted Ida with the chenille cat, he walked determinedly toward her and stood up with his front paws on her knees. He swiped at the cat with one paw a few times.
“Oh,” Edie said in alarm, “what happened to Rags? Savannah, you didn’t tell me he’d been hurt.”
“Shhh,” Savannah said, grinning. “He doesn’t know he’s handicapped. I think he believes he grew that cast on his own. He sure takes it in his stride.”
“Yeah,” Betty said, “he gets around well, doesn’t he?” She lowered her brow in concern. “What happened?”
“Oh, he was just being Rags,” Savannah said, not wanting to talk about the awful night the crooked detective from Colorado broke into their home and held them at gunpoint and how Rags attacked him. She figured it would be enough to tell the story in Rags’s memoirs. When she glanced around and noticed others waiting to hear why Rags was wearing the small cast on his front leg, she explained, “It’s just a hairline fracture. He’ll be good as new soon.” She grinned. “He has a good doctor, you know.”
Ida addressed Rags as he continued to stare at the stuffed cat she held in her hands. “Sorry, Rags,” she said. “I forgot the new Meowster, so I borrowed yours. Hope you don’t mind.”
Rags swiped at the cat again, got a claw in it and pulled it from Ida’s hands. He took it in his mouth and, straddling the large toy between his front legs, he walked up the staircase and out of sight.
“Well, that’ll teach you to take his toy,” Margaret teased.
“Yeah,” Betty added, snickering, “there goes a thief retrieving his booty. Remember when he took that cat the first time we met here?”
Once the laughter and chatter had died down, Ida called the meeting to order in earnest this time. She asked for reports from the committee leaders and those who were tending to feral cat colonies around the county.
Nola reported on the cats that had come to the Ragsdale Cat Ranch rescue shelter from some of those colonies, and she talked about the cat huts they’d designed to keep cats safe and comfortable in extreme weather conditions.
Colbi made a motion to allocate some of the alliance funds toward cat huts and everyone agreed. An activity to fund the cat-hut project was discussed and Colbi volunteered to be the committee chair.
When Ida asked for new business, Savannah introduced Sharon. “She’s a writer and an advocate for cats,” Savannah explained. “I’ve already told her about some of you—the work you do, and the fun you have with cats. She may want to interview you.”
“Welcome,” Ida said.
Others chimed in: “A cat writer, huh?”
“Boy do I have stories.”
“Fiction or nonfiction?”
“Do you have a card?”
Sharon stood. “Thank you for the welcome. I’ve enjoyed hearing about some of the things you’re doing on behalf of cats. In fact, I’m impressed.” She fumbled in the pocket of her oversized cardigan and pulled out a small notepad. “I don’t have my business cards yet. Haven’t been in town long. But I did bring a notepad. If you want to give me your contact information, I’ll get in touch with you. Oh, and to answer your question, I write nonfiction.” She chuckled and added, “Give-me-the-facts-ma’am-type pieces.” She glanced around the room. “Let me know if you have something that would make a good story, teach a lesson, educate people about cats, or help cats.”
“Okay, see Sharon after the meeting,” Ida suggested. “We can always use more positive publicity on behalf of cats.” Ida turned to Colbi. “Are you still writing about cats?” She frowned. “That’s what got you almost killed a couple of years ago, isn’t it?”
Sharon stared across the room at Colbi, and Margaret shouted out, “Yeah, and people say that cats can lower blood pressure! Not when you do what we do. Heck, just last week Max and I ran into a gang of hoodlums on a call to save a litter of kittens and their mama.”
“Oh dear,” Dora Lipton muttered. “What happened, Maggie?”
“Well, it wasn’t that the residents wanted the cats—on the contrary. But they didn’t like being told we were taking them. They didn’t appreciate having the animal-control people accompany us. So they protested and pushed back, saying they were within their rights to have cats in their apartment and all. Well, the cats weren’t inside and they weren’t being taken care of. They were outside, in a filthy and dangerous environment. Those people were dead wrong, but bent on flexing their muscles.”
“Did you get the cats?” Edie asked quietly.
“Oh yes,” Margaret said, a smile of satisfaction on her face. “We weren’t leaving without them. Mother and babies are doing just fine.” She made eye contact with some of those around the room. “So if you know anyone who wants to give a good home to some cute little tiger kitties, send them our way.”
Just then, Sharon leaned toward Savannah and quietly asked, “Can I use the restroom?”
“Sure,” Savannah said. She pointed. “Down the hall to the left.”
By the time Sharon returned, the meeting had been adjourned and most of the guests were milling around and chatting with one another. Sharon approached Savannah. “Something seems to be wrong with the toilet—looks like it might overflow. Is there another bathroom I can use?”
“Oh no. I’m sorry. Yes,” she said rather absent-mindedly, “upstairs on the right—third door.”
When Sharon approached again several minutes later, she reached a hand out and thanked Savannah for inviting her.
“Looks like you have a whole book of stories to write just here in this room,” Savannah joked.
Sharon nodded. “Yes, it does. I’ll be busy, all right.”
“Did you make contact with everyone you wanted to?” Savannah asked.
Sharon pulled out her notepad and looked at it. “Yes, I think so. Thanks again,” she said, turning and walking toward the front door.
Savannah noticed that Sharon stopped to speak to Gladys before leaving. She seems to fit right in, she thought. She smiled, thinking, It’s always nice to make a new friend. Even when she sort of came out of nowhere to solicit a friendship. Just then she heard a voice behind her.
“Do you have more lemonade?” Dora asked. “This pitcher’s almost empty.”
“Sure,” Savannah said, taking the pitcher from Dora and carrying it into the kitchen. She had just placed the refilled pitcher on the table when she felt someone’s hand on her back. She turned. “Oh, hi Colbi.”
“Hi,” Colbi said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you. Everyone’s bombarding me with ideas for a fundraiser.” She cringed. “I guess I sorta volunteered to be chairperson, didn’t I?”
“Well, it’s about time we do another fundraiser, and we usually have a lot of eager and enthusiastic help. You’ll do fine.” She added, “I’ll help, by the way. What are you thinking about? Another craft fair, barn dance, carnival? All of those were pretty successful, but the carnival was probably the most work.”
Colbi nodded. She shoved one hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Hey, I almost forgot about this. The new gal, Sharon, dropped it when she pulled something out to show you.” She looked around. “Is she still here?”
Savannah shook her head. “I think she left a while ago. What is it?”
“Looks like a printout of some sort.”
Savannah opened the folded page and examined it. “Oh, it’s from the Cat Alliance website. She probably went there to check us out,” she said, placing it on the buffet next to her phone. She smiled. “What do you guys have planned for the weekend, anything fun?”
Before Colbi could res
pond, Iris approached and laid one arm across her shoulders. “How’s the little baby-mama?” she asked. “Taking good care of my granddaughter?”
Colbi snuggled briefly with her mother-in-law. “You know we are.”
Iris smiled. “I know. She’s one fortunate little girl to have landed in this family. Oh, before I forget, Craig said five thirty is good for dinner tonight. Thanks for inviting us. I’ve been wanting to come by and see little Miss Rosemary and my son, who I haven’t seen all week.”
“I know,” Colbi said. “He keeps pretty busy supporting us and spending time with us.” She smiled. “We miss you guys too. That’s why we invited you over for dinner.” She hugged Iris. “We’re looking forward to seeing you this evening.” She turned to Savannah. “See you later. Thanks for hostessing the meeting.”
“I’m leaving too,” Iris said. “Thanks, Savannah, for your hospitality.” She craned her neck to look at the refreshment table. “Hey, are any of your peanut butter cookies left?”
Savannah eyed the platters. “Looks like it. Are you hungry?”
“No. Craig wanted me to bring him one.” She chuckled. “That man of mine loves your peanut butter cookies.”
“Help yourself,” Savannah said. “I’ll get a baggie for you.” A few minutes later, Savannah handed Iris a small plastic bag. “Thanks for coming. Glad you could make it, you busy hostel queen.”
“Ha!” Iris grumped. “You wouldn’t use that term if you saw what I really do all day—the behind-the-scenes manual labor.”
“I thought you hired people for that.”
Iris shook her head. “Well, it still requires that I get my hands and knees dirty sometimes. And when it comes to decision-making, the buck stops with me.”
“Oh you poor soul,” Savannah jested. She hugged Iris. “Always good to see you. Hugs to the cuddle cats.”
Iris smiled widely. “Sharon’s coming to interview me and photograph the cats tomorrow. We may become famous.”
“Yeah,” Savannah said, “you’ll have to open Kaiser Inns all over the world to accommodate the masses.”
Iris stared at her for a moment, then shook her head. “No thank you. One is enough for me.” She waved. “Bye, everyone.”
A few minutes later Savannah was discussing Angora and Persian cats with Janice Tuttle when Margaret approached with Lily in her arms. “Hi, honey,” Savannah said, smoothing the toddler’s hair and kissing her cheek. “Did Auntie wake you up?”
“No,” Margaret carped. “I did not wake her. She was in her room crying for you.”
Lily reached for her mommy. Once Savannah took her in her arms, Lily buried her face in her shoulder.
“What’s this?” Margaret asked, picking up something from the buffet. “Oh, I see. It’s from our website.” She studied it and added, “But it’s not right.” She looked around the room and called out, “Betty, there’s a mistake on the website.” When Betty joined her, Margaret explained, “We meet every first Thursday now, not every second. Remember we changed that.”
Betty looked at the page and nodded. “Yeah, I know. And I did make the change on the site.”
“When?” Margaret asked. “Maybe this is an old printout.”
Betty thought for a moment. “Let’s see, it was Monday. Yes, I’d forgotten to do it until Ida reminded me on Monday and I did it right away.” She glanced at the page in Margaret’s hand. “Take a look at the site, you’ll see that it’s correct now.” When she saw the puzzled look on Savannah’s face, Betty asked, “What’s wrong?”
Savannah stammered, “Oh…um…well, nothing I guess.” She squeezed Betty’s arm affectionately. “You do a great job with the website. I send people there all the time. It’s so informative and all.”
Savannah was aware that Betty responded, but her mind was somewhere else. If Sharon is the one who dropped this, then I’m confused, she thought. It appears that she knew about the Hammond Cat Alliance before we met yesterday. According to the date on this, she printed it out last Friday. Then why did she act like she’d never heard of our group when I told her about it yesterday? Savannah’s private thoughts were interrupted when Lily squirmed to get down.
“I’m leaving now,” Margaret said, watching the toddler trot into the kitchen after Gladys. She focused on Savannah. “Thank you for having us here again.” She glanced around the dining room and into the living room. “You have such a perfect meeting place.”
“Yes, purrfect,” Edie said, laughing. She waved. “Goodbye, everyone.”
“So, Vannie, what do you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?” Margaret asked, while watching Edie and a few of the others leave. “Anything fun?”
Savannah looked at her aunt then her mother, who had returned to the dining room with Lily. “Well, for one thing, I guess I’ll need to check the plumbing in the downstairs guest bathroom.”
Margaret frowned. “Why?”
“Yeah, what happened?” Gladys asked.
“I don’t know. Sharon said the toilet was stopped up or something, so I sent her upstairs.”
Margaret looked sideways at her. “It was okay when I used it.”
“Must have been before Sharon went in there.”
“Yeah, right before.” Margaret raised her eyebrows. “Weird.” She touched Savannah’s arm. “Well, I hope it’s not a major problem. See you soon.”
“Yeah, soon,” Savannah confirmed. When she heard Lily’s sweet voice asking to go potty, she said to her mother, “I’ll take her; I’m going in that direction.” A few minutes later, Savannah returned to the living room with Lily.
“So did you figure out the plumbing problem?” Gladys asked.
Savannah shook her head. “No. Didn’t see a problem in either of the downstairs bathrooms. I don’t know what happened.”
“Well, Sharon must have been mistaken,” Gladys said, smiling down at Teddy, who lay in her arms cooing at her.
Savannah looked at the printout on the buffet. “Yeah, I guess,” she said, not sure what to believe.
****
“Holly and Keith want to do FaceTime with us and the kids tonight,” Michael announced during dinner that evening.
Savannah’s face lit up. “Okay.”
“They suggested we text them when we’re ready. They want Teddy to be awake so he can see them. They’re afraid he’ll forget who they are.”
“Good idea,” Savannah said. “Mom, want to do FaceTime with us?”
“Oh, Vannie, I don’t do that stuff. I’m not even sure my phone has it.”
“Doesn’t matter, Mom. We’ll use my phone or Michael’s and pass it around so we can each talk face-to-face with everyone there in Colorado. I’m sure that Cassie and Bethany would love to see you instead of just hearing you in a regular phone call.”
Gladys rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll try it.”
Once they’d finished dinner and the clean-up, Savannah suggested, “How about ten minutes?”
Michael looked up from the book he was reading to Lily. “Ten minutes what?”
She chuckled. “FaceTime with your brother, silly. Text Keith and see if that’ll work.”
Michael picked up his phone. “Okay, I’ll check with them. It’s an hour later there, but it should be early enough.”
It was just after six thirty in Hammond, California when Michael smiled into his phone screen and said, “Hi, there, Cassie. How are you?”
“Good,” she said. “Where’s Lily?”
He held the phone so Cassie could see the toddler. “Right here.” He said to Lily, “See Cassie, punkin? Say hi to Cassie.”
Lily stared at the phone screen, then looked at Michael. She grabbed his hand and tried to look behind the phone. “Where’s Cassie?” she asked. “Where’s Beth-Beth?”
“Here I am,” Bethany said, pushing her cheek up against her sister’s. She waved enthusiastically into the phone. “Hi, Lily.”
Lily stared, then pointed and told Michael. “Beth-Beth. Cass
ie.” She leaned back against Michael and continued to stare at the phone.
Savannah and Gladys each took turns speaking to the children in Colorado and Savannah held Teddy up for everyone to see. He even responded to the familiar faces and the cheerful tones by smiling and kicking his feet.
“Hi, Teddy,” Holly cooed. “You’re such a cutie-patootie. Look how big you are.”
After the group had engaged in some lively conversation, Keith said, “Hey, did Holly tell you we got a new piece of furniture?”
“Yes,” Savannah said. “I want to see it. It’s an antique chair?”
“Yes,” Keith said. “Hold on. I’ll show you.” He moved with the phone to position himself. “See, it goes nicely with the mahogany side table, don’t you think so?”
“Don’t show the table!” Holly shouted. “It’s dusty.”
Savannah laughed. “Oh, I’ve never seen your house dusty. You’re an excellent homemaker.”
Holly leaned in next to Keith and admitted, “Not since I’ve been helping out more at Bethany’s school.” She exaggerated a pout. “Where’s Sharon when you need her?”
“Sharon?” Savannah questioned.
“Yeah, you know—the gal who cleans houses around here. You met her up at the Verano’s place before…well, before it blew to smithereens.”
“I did?” Savannah asked.
“Yeah, she came to clean the house.”
“Oh yes. Well, I didn’t exactly meet her. I mean, I recall a woman coming to clean, but I sure didn’t pay much attention to her. What happened? Isn’t she cleaning houses anymore?” Savannah chuckled. “I guess that’s a job you would hope to someday retire from.”
“I guess so. But the people who were using her sure aren’t happy.”
“Did she retire?” Michael asked.
“No one knows. She just hasn’t been showing up and she isn’t returning calls.”
“Gosh,” Gladys said, “did she work for you all for a long time?”
“Actually no,” Holly said. “Maybe three or four months. But everyone sure liked her.” She winced. “I had it all set up for her to come in here once every two weeks. We spent over an hour together discussing the job. She seems so thorough. She had a lot of questions and wanted a complete tour. I think I would have had a really clean house with Sharon on the job. My gosh, that woman had a nose for dirt.”
