He stuck his head slightly up in the air seeking the scent of his feline companion. Zeus went to find Tatania.
Chapter Four
Zeus found Tatania at the library enjoying a lobster salad served by the librarian. Tatania had developed an interest in scientific journals. At the library, she immediately went to the reference section.
Then she moved on to the periodical section and flipped open the Sears Catalogue. At the fishing section, she rolled around on bug baits.
Zeus kept leaping from table to table, sometimes startling the library patrons awake. Cats are blessed with stealth and speed. Tatania saw a Shakespeare compendium and opened it to Oedipus.
“We have very literary cats,” Grace said, walking in the library with Jack.
“I think Tatania may move on to Greek Mythology next. She’s on Shakespeare’s Oedipus now.”
Grace saw Tatania blinking her eyes on top of the play about a man who unwittingly slayed his father to marry his mother.
“What was she looking at before that?”
“Scientific journals and the Sears Catalogue.”
Grace knew that Tatania sometimes gave Jack and her clues to the mysteries through the books she chose. But what could scientific journals, Oedipus, and the Sears Catalogue together mean?
The librarian looked at the Sears Catalogue.
“It’s open to a section on fishing bait. Bugs. Maybe one of our local fishermen opened it without me noticing. Tatania might have followed the scent of a favorite fisherman to it.” The librarian suggested while stroking Tatania under the chin.
Every successful fisherman is her favorite fisherman, Grace thought.
“What are they doing?” Grace looked up at a platform being erected on a flagpole outside the library.
“Flagpole sitting contest,” the librarian said.
“Next it will be ice block sitting.”
“Best entered on the hottest day of summer.”
Tatania looked out the window at a human struggling to reach the top of the flagpole for the flagpole sitting contest. Tatania ran out and lept on top of it. She sniffed the top of the flap pole carefully and then jumped off of it. The human was still struggling to get to the top.
“Why sit on a flagpole?” Grace asked.
“New fad. It started with a sailor nicknamed Alvin Shipwreck Kelly who sat on a flagpole for hours,” the librarian said.
“Bad nickname for a sailor. I wouldn’t want to nickname an aviator like Jack, Crash.”
“Oh, you’d be the first to call me that if I crashed, Grace.”
“Shipwreck set a record for sitting on a flagpole for 13 hours and 13 minutes.” The librarian read from a periodical.
“What does that pay?”
“I don’t know. Someone promoting something. What will they think of next?”
“I think there are kids that put a donation box at the bottom of the pole too.”
“High above the money.”
“Everyone wants to show their endurance. Set a record. If you can’t swing a bat like Babe Ruth, or fly like Lucky Lindy, you can still sit on a flag pole.”
Chapter Five
Zeus and Tatania led Grace and Jack back to the Dance Pavilion. Tatania climbed on Grace’s lap. She smelled lobster salad on the cat’s breath. Tatania ate better than her.
A butterfly flew inside, and lit briefly on Zeus’s nose, as if to kiss the black and white kitty. Zeus watched the butterfly soar over the Dance Pavilion.
A low flying biplane flew over the beach. Two flappers stood on each side of it, as it dancing to the music.
“Guys from the war are traveling all over the country and giving rides in planes,” Grace said.
“Hopefully only the guys that were trained as aviators during the war.” Jack put his arm around Grace.
“Curtis Aviation School is the bees knees. Guys can still learn to fly.”
“I’m going to remember you said guys can learn, Grace.”
“You’re the one who told me. You train dogs with food. And men with sex.”
“I agree.” Their friend, Annie Knickerbocker laughed. She wore a smile like she was at the best party every time you saw her. Her ebony cigarette holder matched her headband in her blonde bobbed hair.
“I hope we’re as happy as them when we’re together as long as them,” Grace said, watching a white haired couple on the dance floor, dancing to another waltz.
“We were. They’ve been together for months. They met at a checkers game after their spouses died.”
“Those checkers games must get wild.”
Annie Knickerbocker counseled a girl who looked about fifteen who was complaining that her boyfriend, who looked about the same age, wasn’t making any moves.
“Take him dancing. Then he’ll have to hold you,” Annie advised.
The dancers looked energized after the fifteen minute break. Cups of joe made them nimble, quick, caffeinated contestants.
“Myrtle and Fred are getting a little rivalry going with Jimmy and Matilda,” Annie announced. She’d changed to a different headband with a matching cigarette holder.
“Everyone looks in it to win it.” Grace watched the enthusiastic display of the Charleston.
Myrtle appeared unusually animated even by a five cups of joe caffeinated standard. You could tell she thrived on the attention. And with her sparkling dress, she drew the audience, men leaned forward to get a glance at her. Fred, her dance partner, looked dour, a man who pursed his lips like he’d spent an eternity sucking on sour citrus.
Jimmy and Melanie looked healthy and wholesome. Judging from the money thrown at them, they were crowd favorites.
The vaudeville midgets did somersaults in the aisles during dances. A clown blew up balloons and sold them to kids. They were all working for Nick. A lot of money kept flowing to Nick.
Who would most want to separate Nick from his money? Tatania mulled over clues while someone held the door open for her to go outside. She did some of her best mystery solving standing in doorways.
When Nick called a break, Melanie scooped up the money and ran out the door. Tatania decided to go back inside.
Melanie seemed a little nervous when she returned and sat next to Grace.
“We need more money for my Mom. We sent the dollar bills that a lady with matching headband and cigarette holder threw at us. I picked them up and wired them through Western Union at Hotel Del Coronado. It’s been a tough year for my parents. My Dad got a job to help out in a factory. But he couldn’t be away for long. And,” she bit her lip, “he lost fingers in one of the machines. They didn’t do anything to help. The factory boss was a creep.”
Zeus jumped on Melanie’s lap and put his paws on her shoulders. He bumped his nose gently against hers. Melanie smiled. A genuine smile, not the fake smiles she displayed on the dance floor.
“We could loan you money,” Grace said.
Jack looked surprised.
“We’d be devastated if someone in our family needed money for surgery and we didn’t have it.” Grace watched Zeus put his paw up and meow.
“I’d be upset if my little boy kitty needed vet care. Or Tatania. And I—” Grace couldn’t finish the sentence. She might be capable of anything to save Zeus.
“If I needed money for Zeus, God forbid, I might—”
“—I don’t know what you might do. It doesn’t mean I would. And you can keep your offer of a loan.”
“I’m sorry,” Grace said softly.
Melanie walked away.
“I didn’t mean to upset her, Jack. Why wouldn’t she take the money?” Grace touched Jack’s arm.
“If Zeus needed something, or Tatania, or you, I might kill for it.”
“Might?”
“Melanie needs money. I understand. She’s sympathetic. She needs the dough for her family’s doctor to treat her mom. How far would we go if Tatania or Zeus needed vet care and we were looking for money?”
“To the moon and back.”
> “We wouldn’t steal though, would we?”
“Hypothetically, no.”
“Beautiful cat,” a flapper said, standing next to them. And the beautiful cat wound through her legs in agreement, marking her as a human of impeccable taste.
Chapter Six
Coronado lay between a beautiful bay and the sea, a small peninsula blessed to be filled with a magnetic force that drew people to it. If you had to leave, you’d want to return. There was something magical yet elusive about the timeless appeal of Tent City cottages that kept people returning year after year since the beginning of the twentieth century. To stay at the Del was luxury, but to look at the same view of the magnificent sea, required only a few dollars for a Coronado Tent City cottage.
Melanie pulled a rhinestone headband that matched her dress over her head. Dancing under the Pavilion’s ceiling lights, her bobbed hair seemed to sparkle.
“She looks like a star,” Annie said. She alternately smoked and reapplied lipstick. “I need a lipstick that doesn’t stay on my cigarette holder.” Tonight, her ebony holder kept getting red smudges on it. Grace considered the white cigarette, red lipstick, and black cigarette holder and said, “Well, black, white and red do make a nice ensemble. You look like the cat’s pajamas.”
“I know, Dear.”
Annie liked to carry dollars in her wrist purse. She’d pull out a roll, freshly minted from the bank that day, and watch the bills flutter amidst the dancers.
“I love sailors.” Annie smiled at the fishermen walking by with their catch of the day.
Nick was away and Annie enjoyed sitting in his swivel chair.
“Do you know who invented swivel chairs?” Grace asked.
“Thomas Jefferson.”
“Bees Knees. He was smart.”
“I think Nick is ultimately a showman. The dance marathon, the vaudeville midgets, and the two-headed calf embryo, they’re all just a version of Barnum & Bailey’s circus.”
“Dancing is so important,” Annie said.
“Martin was shy when we met. And I was ready to move things along. So I took him dancing. Then he had to hold me during the dance and I kissed him.” Annie blew out smoke.
“It was love at first sight when I met Martin. Months later, Martin felt the same way and we were married.”
Chapter Seven
“Have we got an exciting program for you,” Nick bellowed. “Our tap dancer Candy will begin another dancing round, tap dancing her way into your hearts. And wallets. Like my wife did to me. Then, we’ll have sprints for prizes with varying dances: Charles, Two Step, Three Step, Quick Step, Fox Trot, Waltz, Cake Walk, Black Bottom, and Swing.”
“I hate Melanie’s Dad’s boss for being so cruel to her family when her dad lost his finger at the factory. He belongs in hell with my former Aunt Alice. When she dies, I’m sure she’ll go to hell because frankly, I don’t know how it could be hell without my former Aunt Alice there.”
“What was the worst thing she ever did?” Jack asked.
“It’s hard to choose.”
Zeus meowed.
“One thing was worse than the others. She hated cats. Fortunately, I think cats usually stayed away from her. One day, she was outside, and she started calling a cat. The cat wouldn’t come near her.
She turned towards me, and asked me to call the cat. I was just a kid. And the cat was cute. And I thought, maybe she saw the cat was cute and wasn’t going to do anything bad. So, I called the cat, and the cat came over.
She was holding a garden hose. She sprayed the cat with water. The cat looked shocked.
I felt terrible. I knew the cat came forward because I was calling him. That’s when I knew she was the most loathsome person imaginable. She’d used me and then made me watch her spray the cat. She should never have been born. The world would have been a much better place without her in it.”
Jack picked up Tatania.
“Anyone who abuses animals deserves to be in Dante’s innermost circle of hell.” Tatania draped herself around his neck, head resting on his shoulder.
“I felt so guilty and duped. The cat trusted me and came forward.”
“Cats are smart. They have good judgment.”
Zeus put his paws up on Grace’s leg. She bent down and picked the little tuxedo cat up. He didn’t like it if Tatania was picked up and he wasn’t. She had Jack, Zeus, and Tatania now. And her former Aunt Alice had taken off to Europe when her uncle was killed. Hopefully, she was nowhere near cats. The bright spot that came out of her uncle’s murder was she met Jack while he was a Pinkerton Detective investigating it. And now they were a detective team. Jack put his arm around Grace.
“Amazingly, you can adjust to doing everything while moving during a dance marathon. Guys learn to shave standing up. Dolls learn they can eat standing up,” he said.
“And sleep while their partner stays awake?”
“Yeah, but men and women have done that to each other for ages. Just now while dancing. You don’t want the biggest guy for a dance marathon. You want one you can help stay upright. Dolls can beat guys in endurance and stamina. You’re like cats. Won’t stop or lose focus if you want something badly enough.”
“Thank you.” Grace smiled.
It was their island. And they were determined that no one would taint it with a dance marathon scandal.
Grace pulled out the jar of Spratt’s Treats and held one up for Tatania, to see if she would stand on her hind legs to eat it. Tatania looked at Grace, looked at the treat, and then patiently pulled Grace’s arm down so the treat was under Tatania’s mouth. Then she delicately ate it.
Grace looked at Jack with his green eyes, dark hair, and skin kissed brown from the sun. There was always this uncertainty that he wouldn’t always be there. She carried a vague uneasy feeling that she could be separated from Jack. She swallowed, ignoring a lump in her throat, choosing to savor the moment instead.
Tatania reached in Grace’s purse, pulled out a dollar bill, and batted it around.
“You don’t need that, Tatania.” Grace gently took it from her.
Jimmy hurriedly threw back a box of Cracker Jack, pouring the caramel corn and peanuts into his mouth.
“Don’t choke on the prize.”
“I’m choking on us not winning first prize yet.” Portions of Cracker Jack flew out the sides of his mouth.
“Grace is the only prize I ever wanted.” Jack smiled.
“You have the table manners of a queen,” Melanie said, watching Grace nibble on a cupcake.
Grace suddenly felt self conscious. She preferred petit fours but since the unfortunate incident, had avoided any.
“Oh, I’m capable of devouring as much as the next girl.” Grace smiled at Melanie. Something about her seemed a little poignant. Like she’d become someone who learned early that she shouldn’t expect a lot out of life. The dance marathon was her one opportunity to travel. To feel accomplished. To experience a world beyond her home town. And to change her family’s life.
Melanie relaxed by petting Tatania.
“Jimmy doesn’t have any pets. Besides me,” she said.
Chapter Eight
“I love the Naval Aviators,” Annie said, watching a man in uniform walk in the Dance Pavilion.
“Tatania is the bees knees at sea. She could be an admiral. So could Zeus.” Grace pet her cats proudly.
“They have the early morning wake up call down. Maybe we should send them over to wake up the Navy. If they ever need help, with early morning reveille, they’re only one cat away from it. Maybe even Nick’s Dance Marathon needs traveling cats,” Jack said.
“Cats are expensive. I’m very careful with the expenses. Even though Nick is my Dad. I treat it like it’s my money,” Fred said.
Grace and Jack looked at each other. Embezzlers always say that. But why would the son and daughter-in-law who kept winning first place kill the proverbial golden goose laying the golden eggs?
“Jimmy got into Yale when he was fifteen
with only rudimentary schooling. He had a good native intelligence.” Melanie looked at Jimmy proudly.
While grooming her paws, Tatania would watch Jack remove change from his pockets. Cats are exceptionally good multitaskers. She reached in Jack’s pocket and pulled out a coin herself. She batted it around.
“How did you meet Frank?” Grace asked Veronica.
Veronica and Frank exchanged looks. It wasn’t that difficult a question. And then, Frank spoke: “We met during the Great War.”
“Were you in the Army?”
“I was going through basic training. And Veronica’s dad had a party for the recruits at their house.”
“It was love at first sight,” she said, drawing on a cigarette, and revealing a Southern drawl, “for him.”
“I took the best out of Kentucky. Bourbon and Veronica.”
“The bourbon being considerably older. Of course,” Jack said.
“Grace hooked a charmer with Jack.” Annie Knickerbocker stood at the bar. Zeus meowed and lifted his rear end up for Annie to pat in greeting.
“I was uncertain about marrying Frank,” Veronica confided to Grace and Annie.
“Did you get bored?” Annie asked.
“No, it’s just that I don’t usually like them once they get past the infatuation period. When they’re not completely infatuated and adoring me, I don’t want to be there.”
Annie threw back her head and laughed, the deep husky laugh of a girl who liked her cigarettes a lot. She had one in a six inch ebony holder, dangling from her lips.
Magical Cool Cat Mysteries Boxed Set Volume 3 (Magical Cool Cats Mysteries) Page 2
