Ghost Cat - Thelma's Dilemma

by Carol Colbert

  “Same place as the trunk went, I guess. Help me get it secured and the tarp over it.” Jim and Sarah struggled with the tarp until it was on. “If we had had this the first trip, the trunk wouldn’t have fallen off.”

  Ophelia and Thelma exchanged a look.

  Ophelia ran over to Mrs. Johnson and nuzzled her ankle until the old woman picked her up and hugged her goodbye, then Ophelia meowed and ran into the house. Gertie tried the same thing with Jim, but he just said “Suzanne. Come get this cat!”

  Sarah had Jim drag in a thirty pound bag of kitty litter and make an extra box while cleaning out the one Gertie used. She put food out and hid treats in all the places she knew that Gertie liked to explore, hoping that the cats would find them after they left and would not be hungry. She left the television on for them so that they would not be afraid. She then shut the shades and the bedroom doors, and turned on the nightlights. By this time Jim was yelling.

  “Are you ready yet, Sarah?”

  Sarah said a few choice words under her breath and then grabbed a shopping bag and threw two pairs of jeans and sweaters in it, plus a change of underwear and pajamas. Then she grabbed another bag and threw some of Jim’s belongings in that bag. “Yes, Jim, I am ready.”

  None of them noticed the two white tails sticking out of the tarp on top of the van. “Thelma, your tail!” Ophelia whispered. Both cats positioned themselves to where they thought would be the least bumpy ride. Neither of them had a clue what to do next, but they figured they had several hours to figure it out.

  Thelma spit out the red ring. “I hope Sarah took the same purse she put the journal in.”

  Chapter 13

  Sarah couldn’t help thinking that they forgot something. She mentally went over the important items in her mind. Locked the doors, made extra kitty litter box for Snowball, put out enough snacks and food in various places the cats could find them, they have enough water, left TV on low for them, shut bedroom doors so they can’t get into my stuff, I have my purse, I have the journal, we have Cooper, we have his leash, what am I missing?

  Sarah was sitting in the way back with Cooper, Riley, Suzanne and Mr. Pickles were in the second seat, and Mrs. Johnson was in front sitting next to Jim. Cooper seemed happy. He was looking out of the window and had his tongue hanging out. The big duffle bag was behind the way back seat. They did not bring a cooler this time. No room for it and Jim had not given Sarah any notice to get one ready anyway.

  “Jim, does Don know that we are coming?” Sarah asked, having to speak loudly from the way back.

  “Yeah, I called him and got direction to Gertie’s ashes final resting place and told him that we were coming. I made it a point of telling him that we needed this to be a fairly quick trip.” Jim said, adding that last part somewhat for Mrs. Johnson’s benefit.

  “Not really final resting place with ashes, they will just blow all over the place.” Riley said.

  “Did you tell him that I am coming with you?” Mrs. Johnson asked Jim.

  “Well, no, wouldn’t you rather it be a surprise?”

  “Yes, I would, actually.” Mrs. Johnson smiled.

  Jim hadn’t mentioned it to Don because he didn’t know if that was a good idea. Mrs. Johnson was all set to reunite with him and if Don had said “who?” or said that he did not wish to see her, that would put Jim in a position he did not wish to be in. Not that he liked the one he found himself in now anyway. At least Mrs. Johnson seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and not overly chatty.

  They were not making very good time because it was now the rush hour. The weather was holding up. Jim hoped that they could get in another few hours driving before having to stop for anything.

  “I have to go bathroom, daddy!” Suzanne said.

  Jim groaned. “O.K. sweetie, I’ll find an exit.”

  “I have to go real bad, daddy!”

  Jim found an exit and then looked for somewhere that had a bathroom. The area did not look very safe. Jim and Suzanne ran into a party store to see if they wouldn’t let Suzanne use their facilities.

  Mrs. Johnson, still in the front seat, said “Oh, look, here comes a man with one of those squeeze things, I bet he is going to ask if he can clean our windows.”

  Sarah took a good look at the approaching man. “Lock the doors, that is no squeeze thing in his hands, it is a big knife!”

  The man walked close to the van and Cooper started to growl. The man continued walking on his way.

  Jim and Suzanne ran back to the van. “All set, honey?” Sarah asked.

  “They wouldn’t let Suzanne use their bathroom, we have to find somewhere else and quickly!” Jim said.

  They drove for a couple of blocks, everyone in the van searching for somewhere, anywhere that could accommodate Suzanne. They had gone almost three miles before they noticed a fast food place. Jim pulled in and he and Suzanne quickly jumped out.

  The restaurant had one of those unisex bathrooms and Jim was not about to let Suzanne out of his sight, so he went in with his little daughter for her safely.

  “Sorry, daddy.”

  “It’s O.K. Suzanne.” Jim waited patiently for the first couple of minutes, then became a bit more jumpy. “Everything O.K. in there, Suzanne?” Suzanne answered him by singing a song. “Suzanne, are you about done in there?” Her father asked again. Jim finally heard the toilet flush and Suzanne came out and washed her hands. Jim was very anxious to get back on the road, they had spent a lot of time finding a bathroom.

  When Suzanne and Jim walked out of the bathroom, they saw the rest of their group in line or sitting down eating French fries. Jim could not believe his eyes. When he walked over to Sarah she said “Well, you two were taking so long that we got bored in the car. Besides, it gave me a chance to let Cooper out he has been so good so far. Since we had to stop anyway, it would be good for all of us to make sure we don’t have to stop again too soon.”

  “I guess.” Jim said. The females took turns using the bathroom and then they all joined Cooper back in the van. Cooper happily gobbled up the French fries the others brought him.

  The entrance back on the southbound expressway was blocked off for some sort of construction, there were three orange barrels blocking their way. That added yet more time to their travels. They had gone a grand total of fifteen minutes after they were back on track when Suzanne said “Daddy, I have to go bathroom!”

  “You just went!” Riley yelled at her sister.

  “No I didn’t, I tried, but it didn’t work!” Suzanne argued.

  Jim looked into the rearview mirror and said “Can you hold it for a few, Suzanne?” They were driving through a major city and the traffic was heavy.

  “I’ll try, daddy.”

  “Try real hard.” Riley told her.

  They finally cleared the city traffic and Jim was able to pull up to a gas station and this time Sarah took Suzanne in while Jim topped off the gas tank. When they got back into the van, Mrs. Johnson said “Oh look, there is an Applebee’s, are we going to stop for dinner anytime soon?”

  “Are you hungry, Mrs. Johnson?” Jim asked, wondering how she could be so soon after their fast food restaurant stop.

  “Yes, I only had coffee at that other place, I don’t eat that kind of food.”

  Sarah and the girls were not hungry. In the end, Jim and Mrs. Johnson went inside and had dinner, while Sarah and the girls played with Cooper and let him run around. It was almost dark and had gotten much colder.

  “Mom, how long before we get there?” Riley asked.

  “I don’t really know, Riley, we have made so many stops already. I wish your father would have waited until the early morning to leave, but we didn’t, so we just have to make the best of it.”

  Jim had finished his dinner and was patiently waiting for Mrs. Johnson to finish hers. Unfortunately, she had decided to pick that moment to decide she wanted to talk. In fact, Jim was very uncomfortable. He was trying to be polite, but she was diving him insane with her endless chatter.<
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  “Do you want to get a coffee to go, Mrs. Johnson? I wonder how Sarah and the girls are doing out there with Cooper.” Jim said, trying to prompt Mrs. Johnson to finish her dinner.

  “Oh no, I don’t do well with drinking in the car, sitting presses on my bladder you know. How do you think Snowball and Gertie are holding up? Think they miss us?” Mrs. Johnson asked.

  Chapter 14

  Ophelia and Thelma were, in fact, as frustrated as Jim was at that moment, maybe even more so. “Why on earth would they stop so often?” Thelma said. “I know I slept through most of the trip to Riverview, but it certainly did not seem to take this long.”

  “Adela stopped quite a bit when we moved there. I didn’t mind it so much though because she had me in the front of the car and fed me well. It was warm in there too, not freezing like it is in here.” Ophelia said.

  They heard Suzanne and Riley arguing as they were outside of the van. Thelma whispered to Ophelia that they needed to be quite. It certainly wouldn’t do for anyone to find them at this point.

  It seemed like forever, but finally the vehicle started moving again. “Are you hungry, Thelma? I am starving! Did you bring any food?”

  “Like we had so much time to pack, Ophelia? I brought the ring, my paws were busy getting in here! We barely made it as it was.”

  “I know, I know. So, what is the plan for when we finally get there?”

  “Bathroom, coffee, food, in that order too. Beyond that we have a lot of planning to do. We could ring the doorbell as ourselves and ask to be included when they spread Gertie’s ashes, I suppose, but there is not enough room in the van for us. It is not close at all to Gertie’s house to the place we need to be.” Thelma said.

  “What if they ask us how we knew they were planning to do that, on that exact day, especially when this trip was so spur of the moment?”

  “Not only that, they would ask where we were for the memorial and why haven’t we been around all this time. Even if we escaped that conversation and we all squeezed into the van to go to the right place, what are we supposed to say or do then? Tell them that’s O.K., we will just walk home?”

  “They would also no doubt ask how we got there, where are we staying, etc. When they do spread the ashes, we have to be in cat form in order to get away. As I see it, our dilemma is twofold. How we get to the spot and how we get away from everyone once we are there.” Thelma said.

  “Another thing too, Donald and I grew up together, basically, but we certainly do not look like we did, if you know what I mean.” Ophelia said.

  “The age appearance thing, yes, I see what you mean. He has aged, but we take much longer to show our ages, thank Goodness. So, that pretty much leaves out us just showing up and asking to be with them when they do the ashes thing. I do wish that we could take your mom’s ashes back to Enchanted, but I suppose she will get as close as possible. That is a shame though.”

  “How to get there is easy, can’t we just stay up here?” Ophelia said.

  “Look behind you, Ophelia that is a suitcase, your owner’s suitcase to be more exact. She will want to have that the moment they stop for the night, which they will and which should be soon.”

  “Why don’t we just stay here and let them discover us? Then they would take us into their warm hotel rooms and more importantly, feed us. Wouldn’t that be better than to continue being knocked around every time Jim changes lanes or makes a turn? It is not like they would turn around and take us back at this point, so, wouldn’t that work?”

  “As tempting as that sounds, we can’t do that, Ophelia. We are not going to return to Riverview with them, we will be getting off and staying off the van once we reach the phantom exit. It would be one thing if Jim and Sarah were alone, I know they would eventually give up looking for us, but do you really think that Suzanne, Riley or Mrs. Johnson would just say oh they are gone? Oh well.”

  “They are going to find out we are gone when they get home anyway.”

  “True, but they won’t know where to look for us. If they know we are up here, they will no doubt organize an all-out search for us when we disappear. I can’t imagine having to comfort Suzanne all the way back home if she knew we were missing. I can’t do that to the little sweetheart.”

  “You know, Ophelia, I didn’t ask to be put in that situation, but I have grown rather fond of the Gaunter family and especially fond of Cooper. Even though he could not fully communicate with me, we bonded and became allies.” Thelma said. “He would bark to alert me when someone came back home. That allowed me to change more often.

  “I never developed a strong bond with Mrs. Johnson, but it wasn’t her fault that I was in the car when she left for Michigan. She is a good woman and has always treated me fairly. I can’t say that I will miss anything about my time in Michigan though. At least you were able to have some time as yourself once in a while. I wasn’t kidding when I said that Adela never left the house. She would for groceries maybe once a month, other than that she would just cook in bulk and freeze for later. She was a good cook though, I’ll give her that.” Ophelia said.

  “Tell me about the red ring, Ophelia, what is its powers and how could it be that me and Luna have never heard of it before?” Thelma asked.

  “My mom, Gertie, never told me much about anything to do with our powers. I found out quite by accident that I even had any. I used to watch cartoons on the television and see where when a character would get very angry, smoke would come out of their ears.”

  “Oh, I know, Suzanne watches a lot of cartoons.” Thelma said.

  “Well, one day I became so angry with my mother, that there was this thick cloud of blue smoke that just appeared.”

  “But not from your ears.”

  “No, not from my ears,” Ophelia laughed. “Never can tell where exactly it originates from, but it is just there. It frightened me and I forgot all about being angry with my mom. I just ran up to her and hugged her, wanting her to protect me. I am guessing I was only about four years old at that point.”

  “My mist used to be much thicker and darker blue, much like yours. Now it is a much lighter shade and less of it. I guess we have our own way of aging. What did aunt Gertie say about it? How did she explain it to you?”

  “That is just it, she never did. She just said Oh, it has started and then warned me not to show my anger in front of other people.”

  “But did you?”

  “Oh heck yeah, every chance I got, to that Donald kid. Freaked him out too!” Ophelia laughed.

  “So you and Donald did not get along? Not even as kids?”

  “Not really. I guess we resented each other. I resented him for just being there and I guess he resented me for the same reason. Mom and I would argue all the time and he always took her side.”

  “When did you learn about Enchanted?”

  “Oh, I always knew about Enchanted. Mom told me all these wonderful stories and that was actually part of where the resentment came in. Donald could not go there and we could not go as long as he was living with us. Mom said that his destiny was on this side. I know that I am named after my Aunt Ophelia, yours and Luna’s mother. My mom showed me the ring when I was very young and she told me that it was our way back to Enchanted. The sun shines on the stone and the light from that opens the passageway, I believe. She hid the ring from me when I kept threatening to run away and find it. I guess I was a brat then, still am sometimes. Sorry the way I treated you when we first met by the way.”

  “Not a problem, you shocked the hair off me when you asked me who the hell was I.” Thelma laughed.

  “You shocked me back when you answered.” Ophelia laughed as well. “So, I guess all of this is meant to be.”

  “And as such, it will all work out the way it is supposed to.” Thelma answered. “But we still have some things to figure out, Thelma said, shivering in the cold wind. That is a nice story about the ring, but it might not be entirely true. It does not have to be a sunny day in order for the rocks to brea
k away and allow entry. It also can open just a bit so you can crawl through, or, in many cases, an entire road appears, like a full exit and vehicles drive right through it. It was snowing really hard when I found myself on the side of the expressway the day the Gaunter family took me. “

  “I guess I have a lot to learn about us. I want to hear more, but we are going to be deaf by the time we get anywhere with all the noise this tarp is making flapping around!”

  After what seemed like several hours, the vehicle turned and Thelma knew that they had exited the expressway. It took her a few moments to get her footing, but she managed to peak out of the tarp.

  “Ophelia, we are pulling up to a hotel. We have to figure something out really quickly, no place to hide in here!”

  “Can we jump into the suitcase itself?”

  “I wish you would have come up with that little gem hundreds of miles ago, Ophelia. Let’s see if it is locked!”

  They were very lucky that there was no lock on the suitcase. Between the two of them they were able to use their teeth to unzip the flap enough to crawl in, digging themselves into the clothes.

  “Ophelia!” Thelma hissed. “Get out there and close this damn thing up again before someone sees us.”

  “All by myself? How?”

  Just then the suitcase moved and they hid themselves further between the clothes. Someone zipped it back up and they were lifted off of the roof and were carried into the hotel. They could not see anything and only heard muffled sounds. What seemed like an hour later they were placed on the floor and they listened for any voices or sounds as to where they were and how long it would be before someone opened the case back up? It really wouldn’t do for there to be two dead cats in it when someone did open it.

  Several minutes later the zipper on the suitcase was opened and they could hear what sounded like Mrs. Johnson singing. Ophelia chanced a peek and when they saw her walk into the bathroom and shut the door, both cats jumped out and made a beeline for under the bed. Both hurting their heads when they hit something solid.