by Patricia Fry
“What’s that?” Lily asked as Lana tore open a bandage.
“What?” she asked. When she saw that Lily was pointing at what she wore around her neck, Lana said, “That’s a key.” She put the bandage on and patted Lily’s little leg. “A key to my future, I hope.”
“Oh?” Savannah said with interest.
“Yes. I found this in my coffee cup here at the office one morning. I’d been hearing about the keys being distributed and was pretty excited to be one of the chosen few.” She shook her head. “Oh, I don’t know if it’s a legitimate godsend or a mean trick someone’s playing. One patient suggested it’s a promotional ploy—you know, maybe a new company’s moving up here and they’re using these keys to get folks hyped up.”
“So you don’t believe in it?” Savannah asked.
“Not enough to let my cabin lease lapse.” She leaned closer to confide, “However, I will be at the big to-do Sunday—just in case.”
“Well, good luck, Lana,” Savannah said. “I hope you get the opportunity to follow your dream. In the meantime, you make a wonderful nurse. Thank you for taking care of Lily.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said, patting Lily’s hand.
Savannah dug into her tote for her wallet. “How much do we owe you?”
“Oh, no charge. I’m sure the doctor would agree. It was a small mishap. Anyway, I enjoyed meeting you all.”
Savannah smiled. “Well, thank you. Listen, I’d better go. I have to make a call.” She grimaced and took a quick breath.
Lana asked, “Is something wrong?”
Savannah nodded. “Unbelievably, our cat’s missing.”
“Your cat? I thought you were visiting up here.”
“Yes, we are. We travel with our cat sometimes and today he got away from us. Jennie thinks he could have been taken to some awful encampment where derelicts hang out and do horrible things. I’m afraid they’ll hurt him.” She started to cry. Waving her hand in front of her face, she said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so emotional.”
Lana frowned and squeezed Savannah’s hand. “You love him, that’s why. How did he get away?”
Michael was quick to respond. “It’s just something he does. He’s an unusual cat.”
Lana thought about what he’d said for a moment. “You must be really worried about him.” She smiled. “I love cats. I have two of my own. Sometimes I bring Gladiola to work with me. The patients love it, especially the children.”
“A cat in a doctor’s office?” Savannah questioned.
“Yeah, he has his area away from where Doc does any surgery or anything.”
“He does surgery here?” Michael asked.
“Minor surgeries. But still, we need things to be sterile.” Lana said, “Hey, about the encampment you spoke of, I’ve never been there, but I know people who have. I volunteer sometimes down the hill with the homeless and some of them go up there, I guess to get high and do whatever they do without anyone bothering them. There are stories of people going missing up there.” She looked Savannah in the eye, then glanced at Michael. “You aren’t planning to go up there, are you?”
Savannah thinned her lips. “I’m not sure.”
“Well don’t. Mrs. Staples is right; bad things happen up there—at least that’s the rumor. I don’t know how true it is.”
“Thanks,” Savannah said, “but I have to get my cat back. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”
The nurse was quiet for a moment, then suggested, “Talk to Mrs. Lancaster.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Lois Lancaster’s son is up there a lot.” She sneered. “One of her sons runs an upscale lodge and the other one frequents a hooligan hangout.”
“Are you talking about that bicycle-riding cat thief?”
Lana’s eyes widened. “He’s the one who took your cat?”
“I think so,” Savannah said.
“Well, Paul Lancaster does have a reputation for stealing—you know, food and other things they need up there, but I’ve never heard of him taking a cat.”
“He steals things on his bicycle?” Savannah asked. “He must not take anything very large.”
“Oh, he has friends with cars,” Lana explained.
“Where is this place, exactly?” Savannah asked.
“Savannah,” Michael scolded, “like Lana said, you can’t go up there.”
“But I’d still like to know where my cat is.” She faced Lana and waited for her answer.
After a brief hesitation, the nurse said, “It’s about three miles south up a dirt road.”
“So, between here and the Bear’s Den Lodge?”
“Yes, but on the other side of the lake. There’s a one-lane bridge that mainly only locals know about.”
Savannah glanced at Michael. “So, close to Craig’s cabin. Thanks, Lana,” she said, reaching into her tote again. This time she pulled out a copy of her book. She smiled. “You said you like cats; do you read about them?” Before Lana could respond, she explained, “This is a story about my cat, Rags—the one who’s missing. It’s autographed.”
Lana’s face lit up. “Well, thank you. Oh, this looks great. I know what I’m going to be doing tonight—snuggling with my two fur kids and reading about Rags. Thank you,” she gushed. She held the book to her chest and said, “Good luck finding him, Savannah.”
“How’s my angel?” Gladys asked when the others returned to the waiting room.
“She’s fine,” Savannah said.
“I got a band-aid,” Lily said. “It has a bunny on it.”
Gladys ran her hand affectionately over Lily’s head. “It sure does.”
“Isn’t that a cute bunny?” Jennie said. “Did the bunny make the hurt go away?”
Lily nodded.
Michael took the toddler from Savannah as they stepped out of the doctor’s office. They waved at Lana and thanked her again, then Lily pointed across the grass. “I want to swing, Daddy. See, Bethany’s swinging. I want to swing.”
When Michael hesitated, Savannah said, “Yeah, let her swing for a few minutes. I want to call Craig.” She walked away from the others to make the call.
“Hi Beth-Beth,” Michael said when he and Lily joined her and Cassie at the swing set. Gladys and Jennie trailed after them.
“Is that what they call you,” Jennie asked, “Beth-Beth?”
Bethany nodded. “Sometimes.”
Jennie chuckled. “They used to call me Lulu.” When Bethany laughed, she explained, “My middle name is Louise. My grandmother called me Jennie Lu. And some of my classmates picked up on that and I became Lulu.” When she saw that the children were listening intently, she said, “That was okay, except at that time there was this cartoon character named Lulu. Little Lulu. She had dark hair in curls just like I did, so I became Little Lulu, even though I wasn’t so little. I was one of those girls who outgrew all my friends.”
“I’m the shortest one in my class,” Bethany announced.
“You go to school?”
She nodded. “Pre-school at the church.”
“Nice,” Jennie said.
“Jennie, do you want me to walk you home,” Gladys offered, “or do you want to watch the girls swing for a while?”
“I am tired,” Jennie said, “but not tired of your company. So I think I’ll spend more time in your company.” She smiled. “It’s been such a lovely day.” She looked at Savannah, who stood a ways away, talking on the phone. “Except for the little problem with that beautiful cat.”
“Did you talk to Craig?” Holly asked when Savannah returned minutes later.
Savannah nodded. “Yes. He said he knows the place where Jennie thinks Rags might be, and he’s on his way up here to see if he can get in there and maybe find him.”
“Oh my goodness,” Jennie said, “alone?”
“He says he knows some of the law-enforcement people up this way and he wants to get with one of them on what’s the best way to handle the situation
.” Savannah smiled down at Teddy in the stroller and ran her hand over one side of his face. “Sweet boy,” she murmured.
Michael grabbed Lily’s swing and held her in midair for a moment. He chuckled when she giggled and squealed. “Hey, gang,” he said, “it’s getting late. Our chef’s meeting us at the cabin in less than an hour. We’d better get back there.”
“We have a chef coming to cook for us?” Savannah exclaimed,
“How cool is that?” Holly said. “Who, Christopher?”
“Thad,” Keith said, “the kid who lost the key in the river.”
“I hope he knows how to clean up his mess,” Gladys muttered. When the others looked at her, she said, “I watch the cooking shows and some of those chefs can be really sloppy. They leave awful messes behind when they step up to the judging table.” She shuddered. “I sure wouldn’t want to clean up after them.”
Holly put one arm around Gladys. “Don’t you worry about that. We’ll all pitch in.”
“Yeah,” Savannah said, “and who knows, maybe Thad’s a neat-and-tidy cook.”
“Let’s hope so,” Gladys grumbled.
****
“Eight fish,” Adam said, admiring the string he and Cassie carried toward the cabin. “And the biggest one’s mine!” he announced.
“I caught three,” Cassie said, beaming.
“So did I,” Adam said, “only I had to put one back because it was a baby.” He turned to Michael. “Can we come up here next year when that fish is bigger, now that I know how to catch him?”
“Sure,” Michael said, winking knowingly at Keith.
“So did you girls have a good time shopping?” Michael asked.
“Yes,” Bethany said. “I bought a pillow pet.” She held it up. “See, I can sleep with him. His name’s Buddy.”
“Cool,” Michael said.
“We found a little girl,” she continued.
“She was crying,” Lily said, exaggerating a pouty face.
Keith stared down at the girls. “Oh?”
“Where?” Cassie asked. “Why was she crying?”
“She was lost,” Bethany said. She looked up at Holly. “Huh, Mommy? She was lost.”
Holly nodded. “Well, she had run away…”
“And all because of those ridiculous keys,” Gladys griped.
“Really?” Michael questioned.
“Yeah,” Savannah said, “she lost a key her family had received and her parents started arguing. Evidently that scared her and she ran away.”
“That nice lady gave her a key,” Bethany said.
“Jennie,” Holly explained. She faced the men. “Can you imagine someone being willing to give her key away, when everyone seems to believe they’re so valuable?”
“Unless,” Savannah said dramatically.
“Unless what?” Keith asked.
“Well, unless Jennie’s the one passing out the keys.”
“Is she wealthy?” Michael asked.
Holly shook her head. “She seems to live a rather meager lifestyle.”
“Well, isn’t the one giving away the keys supposed to be wealthy?”
“Who really knows?” Gladys asked.
Savannah responded, “I guess only the pastor does.”
“So she got one of those keys and she gave it to the little girl?” Adam asked.
“Shelby,” Bethany said. “That’s the girl’s name—Shelby.”
“So Savannah, how’d your cat get away?” Keith asked.
Before her aunt could respond, Bethany announced, “Rags found Shelby.”
“Yes he did,” Savannah said, “and we took him to a nice restaurant at a lodge on the other side of the mountain and he was a really good boy. Sure was a nice place. Great food and great service,” Savannah explained.
“Wonderful ambiance,” Gladys added.
“Before we took the shuttle up the hill, we let the girls play at the playground and Rags had a good time,” Holly said.
Gladys laughed. “He had a blast.”
“Of course,” Michael huffed, “there’s a sandbox there.”
Savannah smirked at him playfully. “He didn’t use the sandbox.”
“Did the little girl get in trouble when she got home?” Adam asked. “I would have been in so much trouble.”
“I don’t think so,” Gladys said. “Jennie gave the child her key so she wouldn’t get in trouble.”
Savannah petted Lexie and asked, “How’d you do today, pretty girl?”
“She really seemed to enjoy the outing,” Michael said.
“Yeah, she’s a good hiker,” Adam agreed.
Cassie added, “She went into the water trying to catch fish. Uncle Michael had to tie her up so she wouldn’t scare them away.”
When Savannah gave Michael a stern look, he defended his action by saying, “We didn’t want her eating our bait and getting a hook in her mouth.”
“Oh, yeah, of course not.” Savannah ruffled the dog’s fur. “Will you take her again tomorrow?”
“I think so. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be left behind.”
Keith watched the dog for a moment. “She’s going to sleep well tonight.”
“I think we all will,” Holly agreed.
“Not me,” Savannah said, her voice weak. “Not until Rags comes home.”
When the cabin came into view, Michael suddenly stopped. “Hey! Something’s not right.” The others looked around to see what had alarmed Michael, and he pointed. “Did we leave that window open?”
“I don’t think so,” Holly said. She cringed. “Although I opened it this morning after I burned that piece of toast. I’m sure I closed it, but maybe I forgot to lock it.”
Michael walked cautiously toward the cabin, motioning for the others to hang back. When he tried the doorknob he realized that it was unlocked. “Well, that’s odd,” he muttered. He slowly pushed the door open, stopping in the doorway. “Damn,” he said, setting the tackle box and fishing poles down.
“Oh no,” Keith uttered when he looked into the room.
“What?” Savannah asked, moving closer.
“Wait there,” Michael told the others. “Let Keith and me take a look around.” When the men returned, Michael said, “Okay, it looks like whoever it was is gone.”
“So what happened?” Holly asked, walking up the walkway holding Bethany’s hand.
“The place has been ransacked,” Keith explained.
“Good golly!” Gladys exclaimed, when she stepped inside. “Was it a bear? We had one tear into our tent once in Yosemite.”
“I don’t think so,” Keith said. “It looks more like man’s work than bear’s. Nothing seems to be broken, just rifled through.” He tightened his lips and shook his head. “Now isn’t this a fine mess someone has made for us.”
“That key,” Savannah muttered. When the others looked at her, she said, “Someone knows we have a key. I’ll bet it’s Charles Rankle.” She ran into the bedroom, promptly returning with an air of satisfaction. She held up the key and announced, “He didn’t find it!”
“Good,” Holly said.
“Yeah, we outsmarted that smarty pants, didn’t we?” Gladys said.
Adam chuckled and repeated for Cassie’s benefit, “Smarty pants.”
Cassie laughed along with him.
“Well, we’d better clean up this mess before our chef arrives,” Savannah suggested. “When’s he coming?”
“Any time,” Keith said. He added, “Hey, I’d be in favor of giving that key to Thad. What do you think?”
“Why?” Holly asked.
“Well, he can’t find his, and I think he’s deserving of a windfall, if that’s what’s behind the key phenomenon.”
“We can’t give it to anyone,” Savannah reminded him. “It’s Iris’s, unless she decides to give it back to the woman who originally owned the lamp.” She frowned. “I sure wouldn’t hand it over to her jerk of a husband so he can
go out and buy a hog.”
“Yeah, why does he want a hog, anyway?” Adam asked. “To eat or for a pet?”
“Not a pig hog,” Keith said, chuckling, “a motorcycle. That’s what they call a motorcycle.”
“Ohhh,” Adam said. “Now I get it. Yeah, I could see him riding a big motorcycle.” He gestured. “One of those with tall handlebars.”
****
The two families had cleaned up the cabin clutter left by the intruder and had washed up after their fishing excursion by the time Thad arrived.
“Come in,” Michael invited. “You look nice. Changed your clothes, huh?”
Thad nodded. “As my mother used to say, I clean up nice.”
“Yes, you do,” Savannah agreed.
“Whatcha got there?” Holly asked.
Thad held up the shopping bag he carried. “Oil for the fish, and some seasonings. I use a certain oil for cooking them.” He addressed Michael, “Did you clean them?”
“Sure did,” Keith said from the kitchen. “Just finished. Those are some nice-looking trout.”
“Thanks,” Adam said.
“Thanks,” Cassie mimicked.
Keith feigned a glare at the children. “Are you rubbing in the fact that you caught more fish than I did today?” When the children began to giggle, he headed toward them, making a face and twisting his fingers into claws. “’Cause if you are, I’m going to get you!”
Cassie squealed and Adam picked up a small ottoman and held it defensively in front of himself, laughing at his uncle.
“Simmer down,” Holly instructed. “Why don’t you kids play that new game of Monopoly while we help Thad fix dinner? You can set it up there on the coffee table.”
“Okay,” Cassie said, taking the game from a shelf. When she saw Gladys walk into the room, she asked, “Grammy, want to play Monopoly with us?”
Gladys thought about the invitation for a moment. “Sure, but it’s been a while since I’ve played, you’ll have to remind me of the rules.”
“Yeah, and this is National Parks Monopoly,” Adam explained, “so it’s different than regular Monopoly.”
“Hmmm,” Gladys said, “sounds interesting.”
After the children had set up the game board, organized the play money, and chosen their tokens, they heard a commotion coming from the kitchen.
